Mediagazer: Docs: TikTok generated $1.7B in TikTok Live global sales in one 2023 quarter, with $400M+ coming from the US, and projects Live will make $77B globally by 2027 (Alexandra S. Levine/Bloomberg)

5:30 PM ET, March 4, 2025

Top News:

Oliver Darcy / Status:

Sources: incoming Paramount president Jeff Shell asked CBS News chief Wendy McMahon and 60 Minutes boss Bill Owens in October to release the Harris transcript — As Paramount's merger with Skydance nears the finish line, CBS News chief Wendy McMahon and “60 Minutes” boss Bill Owens …

Discussion: New York Post, @freedomofpress@social …, Cord Cutters News, @chanda.bsky.social, @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social, @karlbode.com, TVNewsCheck, @passantino.bsky.social, @status.news, @simonowens.bsky.social, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social and The Streamable

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

Sources: WaPo CEO Will Lewis and Executive Editor Matt Murray skipped a premiere of Becoming Katharine Graham, a new documentary on the WaPo's fabled publisher — A premiere for a documentary about Katharine Graham, the longtime publisher, had people talking about changes at the paper, and in Washington.

Discussion: New York Post, @katemjackson.bsky.social, @tracyjan.bsky.social, @willoremus.com, @frankamari.bsky.social, @kmthurman.bsky.social, @tribelaw.bsky.social, @michelleboorstein.bsky.social, @msmilack75.bsky.social, @nxthompson.bsky.social, The Wrap and @katierobertson.bsky.social

Martin Baron / The Atlantic:

Jeff Bezos handled his ownership of The Washington Post admirably for over a decade but then faltered badly, cozying up to Trump to avoid the president's wrath — The day the world learned that Jeff Bezos would buy The Washington Post, the Amazon founder offered assurances that he would not cower …

Discussion: Media Nation, New York Post, @vincentmorris, Poynter, @adriennelaf, @corbinbolies, @hughhewitt, @brianstelter, @benmullin, @vincentmorris, @froomkin.bsky.social, @mariaramirez.bsky.social, @pbump.com, @postbaron.bsky.social, @shaneharris.bsky.social, New York Magazine, GeekWire and Mediaite

Kerry Flynn / Axios:

Firsthand, whose tools let marketers and publishers engage consumers through AI agents on their own sites or other sites as paid media, raised a $26M Series A — - The New York-based startup previously raised $6.6 million in seed funding, led by Radical Ventures.

Discussion: Kerry Flynn on LinkedIn

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

WBD says Max will launch in Turkey on April 15, replacing BluTV, acquired in late 2023, and reiterates plans to increase its investment in local productions — Turkey becomes the 77th Max territory and “marks a significant moment in the globalization of WBD's streaming service,” the company said …

Discussion: The Desk, Advanced Television, Broadcast, Variety, Leah Hooper Rosa on LinkedIn, Deadline, Richard Lambert on LinkedIn, Pressroom, Media Play News, C21Media and WORLD SCREEN

Axios:

Source: E.W. Scripps is laying off staff across multiple local news stations and will not fill any open positions; Scripps operates 61 stations in 41 markets — - Tegna laid off members from its fact-checking team in February. — Nexstar said it would lay off 2% of staffers in December.

Discussion: Adweek, @sarafischer, Adweek, @jaymesl.bsky.social and The Wrap

Hritam Mukherjee / Reuters:

India's top court allows podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, charged with obscenity, to resume airing his shows, provided they meet “decency and morality” standards — India's top court allowed a podcaster charged with obscenity to resume airing his shows on the condition they met standards of …

Discussion: Times of India, @ani, Times of India, ANI News, Telegraph India, Times of India, The Week, NDTV on YouTube, The Indian Express, NDTV, The Hindu, The Week, NewsBytes, Times of India, The Indian Express, The New Indian Express, @rshivshankar, NDTV, NDTV, @ani, Hindustan Times, Mashable India tech, Times Now, ANI News on YouTube, Hindustan Times, International Business Times, NEWS9 Live on YouTube, India Today, Wion, @aditi_muses, @vivekagnihotri, Deccan Herald, NDTV on YouTube, Geo News on YouTube, NDTV, Livemint, International Business Times, Hindustan Times, @padmajajoshi, Financial Express, The Wire, ET Now, Times Now, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, The Tribune, NDTV Profit on YouTube, CNBC-TV18, Outlook India, News18, ET NOW on YouTube, @nalinisharma_, News18, Livemint, ABPLive, Telegraph India and The Week

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada says the French media group doesn't regret its London IPO and “we're not in a hurry”, after its market cap fell to £1.7B, below ITV's — French broadcaster posts higher revenue in first results since UK listing last year

Discussion: Variety, Screen, @mediaevan, Reuters, Advanced Television and @canalplusgroupe

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Canal+ reports FY 2024 revenue up 3.6% YoY to €6.45B, EBITA up 5.4% YoY to €503M, subscribers up 0.4% YoY to 26.9M, and a debt level of €355M

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Investing.com, Canal+, BusinessLIVE, Deadline, Cineuropa, C21Media, WORLD SCREEN, Deadline, Deadline and Variety

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

MSNBC taps The Washington Post's Jackie Alemany to co-host The Weekend and serve as a Washington correspondent — MSNBC is, like other cable-news mainstays, giving roundtable shows a harder spin. — Jackie Alemany, who has logged stints covering politics at both CBS News and The Washington Post …

Discussion: The Wrap, Adweek, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Editor and Publisher, MSNBC, @bristei, Barrett Media, @richardhudock and Deadline

Bloomberg:

Filing: AP renews its request for a judge to order the White House to resume access for AP reporters at Trump's events and says a ban harms AP financially — The Associated Press renewed its request for a judge to order the White House to allow the wire service's reporters to resume covering President Donald Trump's events.

Discussion: The Guardian, TVNewsCheck and Deadline

Lauren Johnson / Adweek:

Amazon launches Complete TV, an AI-powered ad tool to let advertisers track their upfront commitments and to buy scatter TV inventory not sold in the upfront — The tool is free for advertisers buying programmatic guaranteed deals on Amazon's own properties

Discussion: Digiday, Lauren Johnson on LinkedIn, Business Insider, @daveclark, MediaPost and What's New in Publishing

Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:

David Zaslav says WBD is both looking at how much content it's producing and bringing HBO content to TNT and TBS that it doesn't plan on licensing to rivals — The chief executive also said the media giant is changing how it programs its cable channels, including looking at bringing HBO content to TNT and TBS

Discussion: Media Play News, @jbflint, @jbflint, @jbflint and @jbflint

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Reach reports FY 2024 revenue down 5.3% YoY to £539M, operating profit up 6% to £102M, digital revenue up 2.1% to £130M, and print revenue down 7.3% to £407M — Cost cuts and growing digital revenue helped Reach to increase its annual profits in 2024 as it released its results for the year.

Discussion: HoldtheFrontPage, Reach plc and The Independent

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More News:

Aidan Ryan / The Boston Globe:
The Maine Trust for Local News, which owns 22 newspapers, is laying off 49 employees and reducing print editions to cut costs and focus on digital products

Discussion: The Maine Wire, @aidanryan.bsky.social, @charlesornstein, @sahogan, Nieman Reports, @aidanryan.bsky.social, Bangor Daily News and Press Herald

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
UK parliamentary hearing: BBC DG Tim Davie says BritBox now has 4M+ US users and a “charter for a generation” to protect the BBC's independence is his goal

Discussion: Deadline and GB News

Annie Aguiar / New York Times:
After the success of crowdfunded show The Chosen, streamers are focusing on Bible stories with Game of Thrones-style intrigue and romantic comedy elements

Katie Robertson / New York Times:
A profile of WHCA President Eugene Daniels, as he pushes back on the Trump administration's hostility to reporters and navigates a move from Politico to MSNBC

Discussion: Alison Beyea on LinkedIn, TVNewsCheck, @katie_robertson, The Washington Free Beacon, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times and Deadline

Earlier Picks:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Gannett fires The Palm Beach Post Editorial Page Editor Tony Doris after he ran a cartoon on the Israel-Hamas war that drew criticism from a local Jewish group

Discussion: @davidmastio, @hoffmanmichaela, Between Rock and a Hard Place, Stet News, @benmullin.bsky.social, Stet News, @mbazzi.bsky.social, @shefalikulkarni.bsky.social, New York Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, @mehdirhasan.bsky.social and @espiegler.bsky.social

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Updated Nielsen numbers: the Oscars averaged 19.69M US viewers on ABC and Hulu, up from early numbers; the rise is mainly due to viewing on digital devices

David Enrich / New York Times:
A look at NYT v. Sullivan and whether SCOTUS' landmark 1964 decision can survive Trump's second term, as a growing right-wing movement seeks to overturn it

Discussion: @iamnickreynolds, @steveholbert4, @kenstonemedia.bsky.social and @cwalker.bsky.social

Alexandra S. Levine / Bloomberg:
Docs: TikTok generated $1.7B in TikTok Live global sales in one 2023 quarter, with $400M+ coming from the US, and projects Live will make $77B globally by 2027

Discussion: Axios and @ali_lev

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
The Trump administration exempts smartphones, laptops, hard drives, processors, memory chips, and machines used to make semiconductors from reciprocal tariffs

Martine Paris / Forbes:
Sam Altman says ChatGPT users had doubled in the past few weeks and that “10% of the world uses our systems”, which would peg the number closer to 800M users

Kate Pickert / Bloomberg:
AI could transform medicine by helping doctors and medical students improve their empathy and bedside manner before they interact with real patients

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