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Source: President Trump's team expects Paramount to make an eight-figure “allocation” for ads, PSAs, and other broadcasts that support conservative causes — Concerns about bribery allegations, angry CBS News staff and a looming high-stakes merger made for tense monthslong negotiations
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@michaelsderby.bsky.social, New York Post and Mediaite
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Paramount faces a backlash for settling with Trump; Democrat FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez says it “marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment”
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Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Paramount agrees to pay Trump $16M to settle his 60 Minutes lawsuit, stating the money will go to his future presidential library, without offering an apology
Paramount agrees to pay Trump $16M to settle his 60 Minutes lawsuit, stating the money will go to his future presidential library, without offering an apology
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
George Cheeks addresses Paramount's Trump lawsuit settlement, saying companies often settle to avoid “the high and somewhat unpredictable cost of legal defense”
George Cheeks addresses Paramount's Trump lawsuit settlement, saying companies often settle to avoid “the high and somewhat unpredictable cost of legal defense”
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
WGA East, which represents CBS News writers, says the Paramount settlement is a “transparent attempt to curry favors” with Trump to get Skydance merger approved
WGA East, which represents CBS News writers, says the Paramount settlement is a “transparent attempt to curry favors” with Trump to get Skydance merger approved
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Comedy Central delays the Season 27 premiere of South Park from July 9 to July 23, citing complications from the pending Paramount and Skydance merger
Comedy Central delays the Season 27 premiere of South Park from July 9 to July 23, citing complications from the pending Paramount and Skydance merger
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Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post, TV Insider, Full Feed, /Film, IndieWire, Animation Magazine, Denver Post, Rolling Stone, Decider, Deadline, Just Jared, TVLine, Bleeding Cool News, Gamereactor UK, Variety, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, Dexerto, The Hill and UPI
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Paramount says its settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret and 60 Minutes will release transcripts of presidential candidates in the future
Paramount says its settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret and 60 Minutes will release transcripts of presidential candidates in the future
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Dr. Phil's Merit Street Media JV, launched in April 2024, files for Chapter 11 and sues business partner Trinity Broadcasting Network for breach of contract — The TV personality's high-rated daytime Dr. Phil show ended a 21-year run after the 2022-23 season although it lived on in syndication.

The BBC says future music performances deemed high risk won't be aired or streamed live; Bob Vylan and six others had been labeled high risk before Glastonbury — The BBC had deemed Bob Vylan “high risk” before their controversial Glastonbury set on Saturday, the corporation has said.
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Variety, The Guardian, HuffPost, Daily Star, The Hollywood Reporter, Mirror, Deadline, @emergencybod.medsky.social and NME

Journalist Mario Guevara's lawyer says ICE has not allowed Guevara's family to post bond, leaving Guevara in custody despite a federal judge's order — The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the decision by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities not to comply …

Sandy Gall, an ITN presenter for 20 years and war correspondent who covered Vietnam, Uganda, Kenya, Afghanistan, and more, has died at age 97 — For nearly 50 years, he was ubiquitous on British television — first as a reporter and then as an imperturbable presenter on Independent Television's “News at Ten.”
Discussion:
The Guardian, Telegraph, The Times, The Herald, Trevor Young on LinkedIn and @lordbonkers.bsky.social

AI is making it easier to create VTubers and faceless voiceover channels, fueling a new wave of virtual YouTube and TikTok creators amid concerns about AI slop — One of the most popular gaming YouTubers is named Bloo and has bright blue wavy hair and dark blue eyes.
Discussion:
Michael Lingelbach on LinkedIn, @hoobsie.com and @zachbussey.tos.gg, more at Techmeme »

The UK government rejects a proposed 5% levy on streaming services and a 25% tax rebate on ad costs for indie films, among other committee recommendations — The U.K. government has firmly rejected calls for a 5% levy on streaming platforms and mandatory IP retention rules …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Advanced Television, Screen and Broadband TV News
Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
In an email, The Bulwark says it has tripled its Substack subscribers in the past year and now has 100K paid and 830K total subscribers — In an email, @BulwarkOnline says it has tripled its subscribers in the past year, and now has 100K paid, 830K total subscribers on Substack. The media outlet also says it also now has 1.3 million subscribers on YouTube.
Discussion:
@lauren_v_egan, @willsommer and @sarahlongwell25

Dentsu: the video game industry attracts less than 5% of global ad spend despite 3.4B gamers worldwide; 60+ game-based productions were in development in 2024 — With more than 3.5 billion gamers worldwide, the video game industry is a ripe area for companies to spend their ad and marketing dollars on a large, captive audience.
Discussion:
Rebecca Ulrich on LinkedIn and Magali Huot on LinkedIn

Google pulls 352 apps from the Play Store that were part of an ad fraud scheme behind 1.5B daily bid requests and whose estimated impact is in the seven-figures — The IconAds scheme used a variety of seemingly harmless apps to artificially drive up impressions
Discussion:
Forbes, Android Police and The Hindu

Similarweb: since Google launched AI Overviews, the number of news searches that result in no click-throughs has grown from 56% in May 2024 to 69% in May 2025 — Referrals from ChatGPT to news publishers are growing, but not enough to counter the decline in clicks resulting …

G/O Media sells gaming news site Kotaku to Keleops, the European company that acquired Gizmodo in 2024, leaving G/O Media with just one property, The Root — - Kleis declined to share the purchase price of the all-cash deal. … - “I like to trust people, and I know that people in this industry …
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