Top News:
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Trump says that he will attend this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, marking the first time he will do so as president — Donald Trump said that he will attend this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, marking the first time he will do so as president.
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, Variety, @realDonaldTrump …, New York Times, Associated Press, NewsMax.com, Reuters, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Axios, Bloomberg, The Hill, @harrymccracken.com, Politico, NBC News, Washington Post, @whca, Daily Mail, The Wrap, DNYUZ, KVIA-TV, NOTUS, The Independent, Washington Times, The Post Millennial and Fox News
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
David Ellison says Paramount plans to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streamer with 200M+ subscribers, but will let HBO “operate with independence” — Paramount Skydance plans to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streaming service, upon the completion …
Discussion:
CNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Washington Post, Forbes, Tom's Guide, Dow Jones Newswires, Bloomberg, The Movie Blog, TechCrunch, @matthewkeyslive, @reelpoporngeek, PCWorld, Alex Sherman on LinkedIn, @dkaszor.bsky.social, StreamTV Insider, @mhwilliams.bsky.social, @sherman4949, @laurenmeidasa.bsky.social, @zsharf, @film_girl, @raykcx, Gizmodo, TV Insider, Mediaweek, PCMag, UPI, @annala7680.bsky.social, @matthewkeyslive, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Mashable, @azalben.bsky.social, @sherman4949, @whenbatmenfly, @jeremymbarr, Axios, NBC News, Android Authority, /Film, Deseret News, @bee_with_mee, Streaming Better, CNN, CNET, IndieWire, Broadband TV News, @jeremymbarr, @tvgrimreaper, Animation Magazine, TheDesk.net, MMA Fighting, @steele131, Screen Rant, @sherman4949, Awful Announcing, The Verge, The A.V. Club, Media Play News, WPXI-TV, LateNighter, Yahoo Finance, MacDailyNews and Just Jared
RELATED:
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Paramount says there are “no plans to divest or spin off a package of cable assets at this time”, after merging with WBD, creating a vast cable and TV portfolio — CEO David Ellison added that HBO would continue to — have “the resources and independence to do what it does best”
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Paramount President Jeff Shell was absent on Monday's WBD investor call, sources say amid an internal probe that he leaked details about a UFC deal in 2025 — Paramount President Jeff Shell, a key member of the management team during the company's pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion:
Sportico, @karlbode.com and The Olympian
Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:
David Ellison says Paramount's deal for WBD will leave the combined company with ~$79B in net debt; Paramount's offer includes $47B in equity and $54B in debt — Paramount Skydance (PSKY.O) CEO David Ellison said on Monday its deal for Warner Bros will leave the combined company …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Paramount's proposed $110B acquisition of WBD remains under active review by US antitrust officials, even though the odds of a legal challenge are low — Paramount Skydance Corp.'s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. remains under active review …
Discussion:
Blockonomi and @2xaught7.ing
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
SCOTUS declines to hear a dispute over copyrights for AI-generated material, in a case where a computer scientist was denied a copyright for AI-generated art — The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to take up the issue of whether art generated by artificial intelligence …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X announces a “Paid Partnership” label that creators can apply to their posts to indicate they're ads; until now, creators relied on hashtags to label posts — Social network X on Monday announced the introduction of a new “Paid Partnership” label that creators can apply to their posts to indicate they're advertisements.
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Lachlan Murdoch says Fox News expects CNN under the Ellisons to be a “strong competitor”, but adds that “running news is hard” — “We have been winning, and we win amongst strong competition,” Murdoch said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Barrett Media, The Wrap and @blowryontv
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
NBC News plans to expand chief data analyst Steve Kornacki's role in the 2026 midterms with a “Kornacki Cam” that will stream on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram — A live feed of Kornacki will stream on NBC's platform as well as on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram as the news division doubles down on the data wonk.
Discussion:
NBC News Press Releases and TV Insider
Lindsay Gellman / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Christine Tyler Hill, a crossing guard in Vermont, whose print magazine about her job now has ~2,000 subscribers, making her about $14K per month — Christine Tyler Hill is among a number of creative types who have found people still really love to get things in the mail.
Discussion:
Newser
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
In testimony at the High Court, The Daily Mail's royal editor Rebecca English denied using a private investigator to “blag” information about Prince Harry — Rebecca English shown emails at high court trial suggesting investigator ‘went out on a limb’ to help her
Discussion:
UPI, The Sun and Press Gazette
