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10:15 PM ET, February 17, 2026

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 Top News: 
Financial Times:
WBD tells Paramount to make its “best and final offer” within seven days, or get out of the way of Netflix's agreed $83B deal; Netflix granted a weeklong waiver  —  Netflix grants weeklong waiver to rival bidder in high-stakes battle for control
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Paramount says it is “prepared to engage” with WBD on takeover talks during a seven-day negotiating window, but doesn't say whether it will raise its bid  —  The company didn't indicate that it is willing to increase the price tag for its hostile takeover bid but said it was ready …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
WBD sets March 20 as the date for a special shareholder meeting to vote on the proposed $83B Netflix deal, which its board “continues to unanimously recommend”
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Netflix says Paramount has caused “ongoing distraction” and “mischaracterized the regulatory review process”, and its WBD bid raises national security concerns
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Stephen Colbert says CBS lawyers blocked an interview with Democratic US Senate candidate James Talarico, citing the FCC's equal time guidance for TV talk shows  —  Colbert and ‘The Late Show’ posted the interview with James Talarico on the show's YouTube page to bypass the FCC's oversight.
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
CBS says The Late Show was not prohibited from broadcasting a James Talarico interview and was given “legal guidance” that a broadcast could trigger an FCC rule  —  CBS said it did not force “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to pull an interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico …
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
By not airing Colbert's interview with Talarico, CBS bowed to FCC pressure preemptively as the agency hasn't formally eliminated talk show equal time exemptions
Krystal Hur / Wall Street Journal:
Filing: Berkshire Hathaway reports that it purchased 5.1M shares of The New York Times during the December quarter; NYT rises 3%+ after hours  —  In Warren Buffett's last quarter as CEO, his company further trimmed its holdings in iPhone maker  —  Berkshire Hathaway sold shares in Bank …
Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Versant's MS Now signs a deal with Crooked Media to air highlights from Crooked podcasts such as Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It, at 9pm ET on Saturdays  —  In a notable video podcast pact, highlights from Crooked shows such as ‘Pod Save America’ and ‘Lovett or Leave It’ will air Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Automattic adds an AI assistant to WordPress.com, enabling users to perform site-wide layout and style modifications via natural language commands  —  WordPress.com, the website hosting platform from Automattic, will now include a built-in WordPress AI assistant, the company announced on Tuesday.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Memo: Hearst CEO Steve Swartz says 2025 revenue grew 3% YoY to $13.5B and the company hit record profit levels, with B2B business accounting for 60% of profits  —  Hearst, the 138-year-old media giant, saw record revenues and profits last year, CEO Steve Swartz wrote in an annual memo to employees Tuesday, obtained by Axios.
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Talent agency Night Media, which represents social media celebrities and owns a podcast network, raised $70M to expand into gaming, sports, and music  —  Night Media Inc., the talent management firm that represents social media celebrities such as popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat …
 
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 More News: 
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Mediahuis is experimenting with AI agents for commissioning, writing, and more to “automate first line news”, which is reviewed by humans prior to publication
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Snapchat launches creator subscriptions in alpha, available to some creators in the US starting February 23; creators set custom monthly pricing
Matt Hughes / The Guardian:
Sources: the English Premier League extends its South America and Caribbean broadcast contract with ESPN through 2031 in a £450M deal, up 25% from the last deal
Discussion: Mirror
 Earlier Picks: 
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Future launches Future Optic, a commercial Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, service that aims to boost brand visibility on AI platforms like ChatGPT
Discussion: Ad Age
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
MPA: Japan's premium VOD sector hit a revenue of $7.2B in 2025, up 15% YoY; Netflix leads with 22% of revenue; Prime Video has the most subscribers at 19.3M
Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
Manchester-based local newsletter publisher Mill Media plans to expand to Leeds as its seventh brand if it gets 500 paying subscribers for the unnamed title
Discussion: HoldtheFrontPage
Derrick Bryson Taylor / New York Times:
How a cinematic clip of Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt made using Seedance spooked Hollywood, drawing condemnation from some and indifference from others
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Meta unveils Meta Adventurer and Fury glasses, each priced at $299, its first under its own brand, and a $399 Starfire model in collaboration with Kylie Jenner

New York Times:
Sources: Meta is building a standalone prediction markets app called Arena, which would probably rely on video game-like points instead of money wagers

David Gewirtz / ZDNET:
Anthropic launches Claude Tag, an agentic AI coworker for Slack that can learn context, give suggestions, and more, in beta for Claude Team and Enterprise tiers
 
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