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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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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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Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Paramount faces a backlash for settling with Trump; Democrat FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez says it “marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment”
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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Freedom of the Press …, NPR, @agomezfcc, @agomezfcc, @agomezfcc, @agomezfcc, PJ Media, The Washington Free Beacon, Townhall, Axios, Reuters, CNN, Reuters, Variety, Media Nation, Page Six, New York Times, The A.V. Club, Vanity Fair, New York Post, Politico, The Wrap, The Hill, @megjames.bsky.social, Bloomberg, Truthout, Front Office Sports, Adweek, Raw Story, MarketWatch, TheDesk.net, The Federalist, Committee to Protect … and HuffPost

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.
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CNN, Variety, UPI, CBS News, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, People, Bloomberg, TV Insider, Newsweek, The Independent, Entertainment Weekly, WFAA-TV, Raw Story, @socalextremismwatch.com, The A.V. Club, Cord Cutters News, Bloomberg, @_rkconsultants, @ronfilipkowski, @_e_tto_, Mediaite, Dallas Morning News, TheDesk.net and @thedesk.net

Crunchyroll blames a third-party vendor for AI-generated subtitles, with errors and references to ChatGPT, and says it is working to rectify the error — At the start of last year, Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini told The Verge the company was “very focused on testing” …
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Pocket-lint, The Daily Wire and Game Rant
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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 …
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WXIA-TV, WAGA-TV, Atlanta Civic Circle, @attorneynora, @attorneynora and NBC News

Memo: HFPA members voted to oust President Helen Hoehne from her role and also ejected her from its board, as members aim to reverse HFPA's 2023 dissolution — Hoehne, who oversaw the organization through boycotts over diversity and its Eldridge acquisition, was also ejected from its board of directors
Discussion:
New York Times, The Movie Blog and Variety

ITV names Daniel Robinson the editor of Good Morning Britain, ahead of the program's transition to being produced by ITN; he was GMB's deputy editor since 2021 — Robinson will be at the helm as GMB moves production to ITV News at ITN next year. — Daniel Robinson has been named …
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Mirror

An interview with X VP of Product Keith Coleman about plans to let developers program AI agents to propose Community Notes, the old system, and more — The Washington Post's essential guide to tech policy news — Send news tips to: will.oremus@washpost.com
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mrcfreespeechamerica.org, MeidasTouch News, @mantzarlis.com, The Wrap, The Indian Express, TechIssuesToday.com, eWeek, MediaPost, Gizmodo, Tom's Guide, Moneycontrol, KnowTechie, PCMag, Livemint, Developer Tech News, The Economic Times, The Decoder, Analytics India Magazine, Mashable, Beebom, Business Standard, Digit, Tech Times and Business Today, 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 …
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Broadband TV News, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen, The Wrap and Advanced Television

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.”

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.
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Dexerto, Michael Lingelbach on LinkedIn, @hoobsie.com and @zachbussey.tos.gg

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, Digital Music News, Irish News, Rolling Stone, Sky News, RTÉ, BBC, Daily Star, NME, @emergencybod.medsky.social, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, Mirror, Deadline and HuffPost

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.
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MediaPost, Rebecca Ulrich on LinkedIn and Magali Huot on LinkedIn