Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
WBD shareholders vote to approve Paramount Skydance's deal to acquire the company; in a non-binding vote, they reject compensation packages for David Zaslav — But investors weren't OK with the lavish golden parachutes that CEO David Zaslav and other WBD top brass are set to receive through the merger.
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Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Comcast: Q1 media revenue, which includes NBCU, rose 61% YoY to $7.28B due to the Olympics and the Super Bowl, and domestic ad revenue rose 135% YoY to $3.45B — What kind of business tightrope are media companies walking in 2026? Comcast generated an extra $2.2 billion due …
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Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Comcast reports Peacock's Q1 revenue rose 71% YoY to $2.1B, the quarterly loss rose to $432M from $215M a year prior, and subscribers increased 12% YoY to 46M
Comcast reports Peacock's Q1 revenue rose 71% YoY to $2.1B, the quarterly loss rose to $432M from $215M a year prior, and subscribers increased 12% YoY to 46M
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The Wrap, MediaPost, Blockonomi, Yahoo Finance, The Streamable, Benzinga, Media Play News, Cord Cutters News, Reuters, Morningstar, Barron's Online and Light Reading
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: DOJ officials met with broadcast-TV operators to discuss sports' migration to streaming, part of an antitrust probe into the sports-media marketplace — Antitrust officials and broadcast station owners discuss the Sports Broadcasting Act under investigation
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, TVNewsCheck, Front Office Sports, Reuters, Barrett Media and Sports Media Watch
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Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:
Source: the FBI investigated NYT reporter Elizabeth Williamson after she wrote about Kash Patel's use of FBI staff for his girlfriend's security — The bureau said it is not pursuing a case, but the scrutiny is an example of the Trump administration weighing whether to criminalize routine news gathering.
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Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Robert Allbritton, who is transforming his news startup Notus into the Star; he plans to invest $10M this year and expects to break even by 2029 — Robert Allbritton, a co-founder of Politico, is betting big on the Star — Robert Allbritton was on a ski lift in Aspen, Colo. …
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@alexbruell
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
A former executive for MrBeast, Lorrayne Mavromatis, has sued the company, claiming sexual harassment, wrongful firing after maternity leave, and more — Lorrayne Mavromatis alleges female employees were subject to comments about their appearance from company leaders. Beast Industries has denied the claims.
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Los Angeles Times, Kotaku, Fast Company, Deadline, International Business Times, IGN, New York Times, TheGamer, @dexerto, Fortune, Associated Press, Variety, LADbible, Rolling Stone, NBC News, TMZ.com, Just Jared, Global News, Business Insider, The Verge, Courthouse News Service and The A.V. Club
Anna Koslerova / The Guardian:
Journalists at the Czech Republic's public broadcasters threaten to strike over plans to scrap license fees and move TV and radio funding to state control — Government aims to move TV and radio funding under state control, which critics say undermines independence
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Reuters
Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
Filing: Netflix plans a $25B share buyback, adding to a Dec. 2024 program that still has $6.8B for purchases; NFLX is down 13% since its Q1 earnings on April 16 — Netflix Inc. announced plans to buy back $25 billion in stock after the company's shares dropped following a weak financial outlook.
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The Ankler, The Information, Benzinga, Dow Jones Newswires, EasternEye, Watcher Guru, The American Bazaar, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Channel NewsAsia, The Wrap, Yahoo Finance, The Next Web, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Sherwood News and Anadolu Ajansı …, more at Techmeme »
Gil Kaufman / Billboard:
Spotify celebrates its 20th anniversary with a first-ever list of its 20 most streamed artists, albums, songs, podcasts, and audiobooks — But who else made the cut? … It was 20 years ago today that Spotify began to play. And to mark the streaming service's big anniversary …
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iPhone in Canada, Spotify, Associated Press, The Sun, Forbes, UPI, The Hollywood Reporter, Thurrott, Mashable, RTÉ, MobileSyrup, Just Jared, Barrett Media and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
Fernando Cardoso / Reuters:
Brazil's antitrust watchdog approves a plan to deepen investigations into Google's use of journalistic content over potential abuse of its market position — Brazil's antitrust watchdog CADE approved on Thursday a recommendation to deepen investigations into the use of journalistic content by Alphabet's …
Discussion:
Conselho Administrativo … and valorinternational
Peter Beaumont / The Guardian:
Israel strikes in Lebanon kill journalist Amal Khalil, making her the ninth journalist killed in the country this year — Lebanese PM calls attack a ‘war crime’ as Amal Khalil's death prompts fresh claims over targeting of media workers — Israel's killing of a prominent Lebanese journalist …
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Los Angeles Times, New York Times, SabaNet, France 24, @heathermcpherson.bsky.social, NBC Bay Area, Truthout, Committee to Protect …, CBS News, Arab News, Crypto Briefing, @gastropoda.bsky.social, Raw Story, Oman Observer, Associated Press, Reuters, Middle East Monitor, CNN, Drop Site News and Al Jazeera
Adam Lucente / AL-MONITOR:
Kuwait acquits journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin following 52 days' detention after he shared footage of damage resulting from the Iran war — The American-Kuwaiti journalist is expected to be released after 52 days in custody over posts about wartime damage. — American-Kuwaiti journalist …
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The Guardian, UPI, New York Times, Drop Site News, @liamjscott, @cpjmena, Zeteo, MS NOW, HuffPost and Committee to Protect …
