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3:40 PM ET, March 12, 2026

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Universal says it is shifting to five weekends of exclusive theatrical runs, up from three, and will move to a minimum of seven weekends in January 2027  —  Theaters will get a minimum of five weekends of exclusive play and then, starting next year, seven.  A pandemic-era policy was guaranteeing only three.
Kayla Cobb / The Wrap:
Disney+ is rolling out Verts, its new short-form video feed, to US users on its mobile app, featuring clips from movies and TV shows on Disney+  —  Users will be able to swipe through a stream of scenes from movies and shows on Disney+  —  Disney's experiment with vertical video begins this week.
Arushi Jacob / Variety:
UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report finds that films with casts that are 41%-50% BIPOC achieved the highest median global and domestic box office receipts in 2025  —  Increasingly diverse audiences across the United States also prefer diverse content in theatrical film releases …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Substack launches the Substack Recording Studio, letting creators prerecord videos with up to two guests, share screens, and auto-generate clips and thumbnails  —  Publishing platform Substack is continuing to invest in video content as it launches the Substack Recording Studio …
Discussion: On Substack
Cameron Baker / Bloomberg Law:
The Teamsters union formally asks the DOJ's antitrust division to block Paramount's acquisition of WBD, saying the merger threatens nearly 15,000 union jobs  —  The International Brotherhood of Teamsters urged the Department of Justice to block the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion: Morningstar
Erik Wemple / New York Times:
In NYT v. DOD, the Pentagon argued that a box on WaPo's website asking for tips about the military crossed the line into “solicitation” not protected by 1A  —  When lawyers for The New York Times and the Pentagon gathered in a federal courthouse last week to debate the department's …
Discussion: Media Nation
Kendra Barnett / Adweek:
NewsGuard launches an AI content farm detection tool in partnership with Pangram Labs, which says it's seeing 300 to 500 of these sites emerge each month  —  Plus, a plug-in with The Trade Desk may help advertisers avoid showing up next to AI-generated news content
Nicole Meir / The Associated Press:
The AP Fund for Journalism doubles the size of its local news program to 100 members, who can now share some of their content via the AP's distribution network  —  AP Fund for Journalism (APFJ) today announced 50 additional news organizations are joining its landmark local news program …
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
CNN plans to debut a six-episode series called Kara Swisher Wants To Live Forever about longevity science, with interviews of Sam Altman and others, on April 11  —  CNN will debut a new original series, Kara Swisher Wants To Live Forever, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on April 11.
Discussion: CNN
Todd Spangler / Variety:
TikTok plans to launch TikTok Radio, a live audio channel that blends creator content and music, on March 13 on the iHeartRadio app and on 28 US stations  —  In teaming with iHeart, the viral video app is dropping the visuals: The companies are launching TikTok Radio from iHeart …
Payton Turkeltaub / Variety:
Google's video production unit, 100 Zeros, and Range Media Partners are launching a slate of vertical microdramas with dozens of scripted and non-scripted shows  —  Range Media Partners and Google's production initiative, 100 Zeros, is adding a range of microdramas to its roster.
 
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 More News: 
Astrid Suárez / Associated Press:
Inter American Press Association: press freedom in the Americas suffered a “dramatic deterioration” in 2025; the US has “restrictions” on freedom of speech
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
PitchBook: VC dealmaking in the media sector fell 69% YoY to $165M across 47 deals in the first two months of 2026, as investors take an “AI-first” approach
David Gilbert / Wired:
Q&A: Louis Theroux, director of Netflix documentary Inside the Manosphere, on interviewing those on the extreme edges of the media as they film you, and more
 Earlier Picks: 
Laura Cress / BBC:
The UK ICO and Ofcom asked social media platforms to implement “highly effective age checks” to bar under-13 accounts, similar to tools required for adult sites
Alexandra S. Levine / Bloomberg:
Google's AI Futures Fund invests $1M into Animaj, an AI animation studio focused on making high-quality videos for children on YouTube
Discussion: Pulse 2.0, Dexerto and Gizmodo
 

 
From Techmeme:

Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal:
President Trump signs two executive orders aimed at speeding the development of advanced quantum computers and mitigating the security threats they present

Chloe Taylor / CNBC:
South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi index falls 10%, dragged down by SK Hynix and Samsung; STMicro and ASML fall ~7%, and US tech stocks fall in pre-market trading

Bloomberg:
Sources: Tencent is negotiating exits from several game studio investments in Japan, including Tokyo-traded Marvelous, as it reassesses its global portfolio
 
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