Top News:
Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: activist investor Ancora Holdings has built a roughly $200M stake in WBD and is planning to oppose the Netflix-WBD deal, favoring a deal with Paramount — Ancora builds a roughly $200 million stake in Warner Bros. Discovery and favors a deal with David Ellison's Paramount Skydance
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Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Paramount sweetens its WBD bid with a “ticking fee” worth ~$650M/quarter if the deal isn't closed by year-end and offers to fund WBD's $2.8B Netflix breakup fee — Paramount Skydance said Tuesday it has sweetened its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, adding a so-called “ticking fee” …
Discussion:
Variety, Variety, Deadline, MediaNews4U, The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount, ANI News, Washington Examiner, Mediaweek, StreamTV Insider, The Times, The Wrap, UPI, Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, Barron's Online, Yahoo Finance, Newsmax, Media Play News, Financial Times, Bloomberg, The Wrap, Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires
Amanda Meade / The Guardian:
Lenore Taylor, editor of Guardian Australia, is leaving the outlet after 13 years in senior roles and 10 years as editor; David Munk will serve as acting editor — Australia's longest-serving editor credited with transforming a fledgling news organisation into the fourth most-read news website
Tina Brown / FRESH HELL Tina Brown's Diary:
The Jeff Bezos who bought WaPo in 2013 is not the same one allowing its destruction now, and he has ended the myth that a tech billionaire could save journalism — The whole debacle of the Washington Post brand hara-kiri last week dispatched the myth that a tech billionaire could save serious journalism.
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John Kelly / @johnkelly:
The Washington Post's February 10 print edition featured two full pages of AP stories in the A section and a total of eight stories from the wire service — An entire page of wire stories in @murraymatt's @washingtonpost today, three of eight AP stories in the A section. [image]
Discussion:
Washingtonian, @kennysmith.org, @adamliptak and @arik.org
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
Tim Davie says the UK Foreign Office's deal with the BBC World Service ends in seven weeks; the office contributed £137M to the service's £400M funding in 2025 — As trust in Russia and China's state broadcasters grows, director general warns of the dangers of cutting back the service
Selome Hailu / Variety:
Nielsen: Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show averaged 128.2M viewers, above 124.9M for the game overall and down from 133.5M for Kendrick Lamar in 2025 — Measured by Nielsen, that's above the 124.9 million average viewers achieved by this year's Super Bowl overall but down from the 133.5 …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, MediaPost, TV Tech, CNN, TheDesk.net, Reuters, TVLine, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Awful Announcing, Deadline, Sportico, The Wrap, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Athletic, Rolling Stone, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, NBC News, Axios, NBCSports.com, @melvisacosta.bsky.social, Consequence, Front Office Sports, Media Play News, Oh No They Didn't! and Just Jared
TMZ.com:
Sources: Britney Spears sold her music catalog and other rights to Primary Wave, in a deal estimated to be “in the ballpark” of $200M — BRITNEY SPEARS I SOLD A PIECE OF ME ... AND THE WHOLE DAMN CATALOG!!! … Britney Spears just signed a massive new music deal …
New York Times:
Anna Wintour and Vogue's new US head of editorial content, Chloe Malle, hold a joint video interview ahead of the release of Malle's first print issue — In their first joint interview, Ms. Malle spoke about filling the shoes of Ms. Wintour, who urged people to “get over comparisons.”
Discussion:
@grynbaum, The Daily Beast, @jtes, TODAY.com and New York Times
Jonah E. Bromwich / New York Times:
A judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot deport Rümeysa Öztürk, a student threatened with deportation after co-authoring an op-ed critical of Israel — The student, Rumeysa Ozturk, who is from Turkey, was detained by immigration agents last year after she co-wrote …
Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:
At a US Senate hearing on the ownership cap for local TV, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy spoke against lifting the cap, and NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt supported raising it — The Senate Commerce Committee heard expert testimony from the commercial broadcasting industry's main lobbyist and the founder …
Discussion:
TV Tech, @mattfieldwood.bsky.social, @thedesk.net, @jgo4justice.bsky.social, Steven Waldman on LinkedIn, Barrett Media, Punchbowl News, The Hill, NCS | NewscastStudio, Rebuild Local News on LinkedIn, @mattfieldwood.bsky.social, @mattfieldwood.bsky.social, Free Press Action Fund Feed and GV Wire
Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:
Sources: E.W. Scripps sent layoff notices to dozens of Court TV staff after it sold the channel to Jellysmack; Court TV's linear feed will shut down on March 11 — Dozens of producers, editors and other employees assigned to the E. W. Scripps Company's legal network Court TV received layoff notices …
Alicia Park / Forbes:
Polymarket partners with Singapore-based Kaito AI to launch “attention markets”, letting users bet on “mindshare” and “sentiment” metrics from social media — The prediction market is partnering with an AI engine that tracks social media data to create markets about cultural relevance.
Discussion:
Front Office Sports, @kaitoai, @sjdedic, @tyler_did_it, NFTgators, The Block, CoinGape and Benzinga, more at Techmeme »
