Top News:
New York Times:
Memo: MLB and ESPN mutually agree to end their national television deal after the 2025 season; ESPN was due to pay MLB around $550M/year in 2026, 2027, and 2028 — Major League Baseball and ESPN have “mutually agreed” to end their national television deal after the upcoming 2025 season …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Awful Announcing, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Front Office Sports, Sports Media Watch, @kylebutoverhere.bsky.social, @ceetar.bsky.social, The Desk, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap, Deadline, Newser, WUSA, Sportico, @wusiji.bsky.social, USA Today, Barrett Media, Variety, @robhanna.bsky.social, TVLine, @evandrellich.bsky.social, @tylerkepner.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, CNBC, KSTP-TV, Chicago Sun Times and Bloomberg
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
If X threatened an ad group with US government interference, we've hit a high level of coercion, and conservatives who complained of Big Tech bias should object — - Elon Musk's X — the thing we used to call Twitter — lost lots of advertisers after he bought it.
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Senator Warren urges the US DOJ to scrutinize Disney's deal to acquire a controlling stake in Fubo and merge it with Hulu + Live TV, citing antitrust concerns — Sen. Elizabeth Warren has urged the Justice Department to carefully scrutinize Disney's deal to acquire a controlling stake in Fubo …
Discussion:
Reuters, The Desk, Business Insider, Awful Announcing, Benzinga, Light Reading, Deadline, Media Play News, The Wrap and Yahoo Finance
Lauren Easton / Editor and Publisher:
Memo: AP is launching its Local Investigative Reporting Program, to be led by Ron Nixon, to support US state and local newsrooms in investigative reporting — In a memo to staff Thursday, Executive Editor Julie Pace announced AP will launch a Local Investigative Reporting Program led by Ron Nixon:
Discussion:
Ron Nixon on LinkedIn, @rebuildlocalnews.bsky.social, @sdkstl.bsky.social and TVNewsCheck
Justin Kroll / Deadline:
Amazon MGM Studios, Michael G. Wilson, and Barbara Broccoli form a JV to house James Bond IP rights, under which Amazon gains creative control of the franchise — In news that will send shock waves through the industry, longtime James Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli …
Discussion:
@jeffbezos, BBC, Variety, Mirror, About Amazon, The Register, GB News, The Hollywood Reporter, FemaleFirst, @joerussotweets, Variety, Breitbart, @mgsiegler, CBR, @marcusjdl.bsky.social, Entertainment Weekly, @cpmaz.bsky.social, NPR, @librarythingtim.bsky.social, @autismsupsoc.bsky.social, Collider, @richlightshed, Vanity Fair, @courier12.bsky.social, @deeketweak, @jacobkleinman, @nextbestpicture, @benroyturner, @bunndumm, @sonnybunch, Geoff Hollingworth on LinkedIn, The Daily Wire, @bennomatic@appdot.net, SlashFilm, @autismsupsoc.bsky.social, @illdave.bsky.social, @_patmurray@mastodon.social, Forbes, Gizmodo, Syracuse Post-Standard, Esquire, @billhuntbits.bsky.social, Engadget, Rolling Stone, GQ, Steve Siskind on LinkedIn, New York Times, @mutarada.bsky.social, Town & Country, Business Insider, Fortune, @benschwartz.bsky.social, The Playlist, @nedraggett.bsky.social, CNN, Yahoo Finance, LADbible, @vinzenzhediger.bsky.social, Axios, @davidjcourt.bsky.social, Financial Times, @michaelthec@poweredbygay …, Bloomberg, Carlo Bertucci on LinkedIn, CNBC, WPXI-TV, The Verge, The Information, Quartz, Wall Street Journal, @mrfengi.bsky.social, Los Angeles Times, Cord Cutters News, @taraconlan.bsky.social, WFAA-TV, Comic Book, @ronmarz.bsky.social, LADbible, CBR, Consequence, IndieWire, Gizmodo, Reuters, @moviessilently.bsky.social, Collider, World of Reel, @gigawattconduit.bsky.social, @jjdotbiz.bsky.social, @josie.zone, The Wrap, Screen Rant, @caseym.org, @gigawattconduit.bsky.social, NDTV, Just Jared and Oh No They Didn't!
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
YouTube plans to add a “premium lite” tier, a source says for the US, Australia, Germany, and Thailand, offering podcasts without ads and music videos with ads — - The service will continue to put ads in music videos — The tier will launch in areas that include the US, Australia
Discussion:
Music Ally, Cord Cutters News, The Media Leader, The Information, Adweek, 9to5Google, The Desk and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Andrew Deck / Nieman Lab:
Some journalists are taking freelance jobs with AI training data companies like Scale AI, which recruit them for tasks such as fact-checking and prompt drafting — The gig work platform Outlier is one of several companies courting journalists to train large language models (LLMs).
Discussion:
Rest of World
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Bloomberg News promotes Mark Gurman to managing editor for global consumer tech and adds senior editor Dana Wollman and two others to his team — Tom Giles, senior executive editor of global technology coverage at Bloomberg News, sent out the following on Thursday:
Discussion:
@markgurman and @markgurman
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
A NY court tells Nexstar to pay DirecTV $26.6M in a case over retransmission fees; a court earlier said Nexstar wrongly received $10.5M in fees in the same case — A New York court on Thursday awarded satellite and streaming television provider DirecTV nearly $27 million in a civil case brought …
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck and Cord Cutters News
Hannah Miller / Bloomberg:
Former Merit TV employees detail struggles at Dr. Phil McGraw's streaming service, including multiple rounds of layoffs, staff discontent, and low ratings — Merit TV has entered a crowded field of news networks. Can it find its audience? — Phil McGraw strolled onstage and waved at the cheering crowd.
Discussion:
The Desk, @thedesk.net, RADAR and TVNewsCheck
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
National Association of Broadcasters CEO Curtis LeGeyt calls for the FCC to end ownership caps that prevent TV and radio conglomerates from growing larger — The chief executive of the commercial broadcasting industry's largest lobbying group has called on federal regulators to eliminate national …
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
A look at London news startups, including Jim Waterson's London Centric, that launched since the Evening Standard's daily print edition closure in summer 2024 — Two upmarket London news start-ups are finding a growing (albeit small so far) market for paid online news about the UK capital.
Discussion:
@pressgazette, Alexander Smith on LinkedIn and LinkedIn
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