Top News:
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
The NAB's CEO says the FCC's “nearly unprecedented request” for Disney to reapply for TV licenses is contrary to established principles and creates uncertainty — In a statement Wednesday, the head of the top industry trade group said Carr's move to initiate an early review …
Discussion:
Variety, TV Tech, Variety, Reuters, Slate, USA Today, New York Post, The Independent, Ars Technica, @davidshepardson, Radio World, Rolling Stone, CNN, @brianstelter, The Wrap, MS NOW, @kylegriffin1, @jeremymbarr, Free Press Action Fund Feed, @outfrontcnn, @senmarkey, New Republic, One America News Network, Politico, Raw Story, UPI, Punchbowl News, NPR, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, Washington Times, Scripps News and Fox News
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New York Times:
Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro faced several setbacks since taking over, and must now guide the company through federal regulatory review of ABC's station licenses — Josh D'Amaro, who took the helm in February, will have to lead Disney through surprising new scrutiny from the president.
Discussion:
TheDesk.net, Poynter, NewsMax.com, CNN, Mock Paper Scissors, TV Tech, WVEC, Barrett Media, FOX 35 Orlando, Deadline, Variety, The Hill, MS NOW, TV Insider, NBC Bay Area, Reason, Washington Examiner, LateNighter, The Daily Wire, CBS News, Time, DNYUZ, The A.V. Club and Free Press Action Fund Feed
David Shepardson / Reuters:
The US FCC officially orders early license reviews of eight Disney-owned ABC stations, in LA, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Houston, and more — The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday ordered early license reviews of eight Disney-owned ABC stations in a major escalation …
Discussion:
@flotus, Federal Communications Commission, Axios, The Wrap, Business Insider, CNBC, @katiemiller, New York Times, Radio & Television …, The Guardian, Houston Public Media, Washington Post, @agomezfcc, Business Insider, Washington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, NBC News, Ars Technica, West Hawaii Today, @jcollins.bsky.social, Truthout, The Gateway Pundit, @brianstelter, @paulthedogman.bsky.social, @mcbridetd.bsky.social, @jbraden2008.bsky.social, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @alexweprin, @alexweprin, @nicoperrino, @brianstelter, @adamthierer, @shawnreynolds_, @sarahlongwell25, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @rogoswami, @mattyglesias, @jeremymbarr, Politico, RedState, CBS News, @freedomofpress@social …, Adweek, Rolling Stone, @TimBondy@mstdn.social, Triangle Business Journal, Newser, Forbes, TheDesk.net, The Boston Globe, Disney News, Newsbusters, The Verge, @kimmasters.bsky.social, @jonastraxler.bsky.social, Deadline, Awful Announcing, Breitbart, @chadbourn.bsky.social, Bloomberg, Cord Cutters News, Fox News, Forbes, Freedom of the Press …, Los Angeles Times, NewsMax.com, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Townhall, Bloomberg Law, Consequence, Media Play News, @oliviaoftroye@threads.com, Mediaite, Breitbart, @sfdb.bsky.social, The Indian Express, Baller Alert, Barrett Media, Variety, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, New York Magazine, The Wrap, LateNighter, CNBC, @karlbode.com, NBC News, @seanokane.bsky.social, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Reuters, @semafor.com, New York Daily News, Katie Couric Media, The Hill, The Verge and Semafor
Brian Morrissey / The Rebooting:
Guardian US MD Steve Sachs says the paper has a larger audience than WaPo, and 700K paid supporters, with reader revenue up 35% per year for the past two years — It's now bigger than The Washington Post — Possible is in full swing. The Rebooting hosted a dinner last night in partnership …
Discussion:
@jalefkowit@vmst.io, Steve Sachs on LinkedIn, The Rebooting and @jayrosen.bsky.social
Joel Khalili / Wired:
Q&A with Bloomberg CTO Shawn Edwards, who says Bloomberg is overhauling the Terminal with chatbot-style interface ASKB, currently open to ~125K users in beta — WIRED spoke with Bloomberg's chief technology officer about the big, chatbot-style changes coming to the iconic platform for traders.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News and Politico
Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Antenna: Roku's $2.99-per-month streamer Howdy hits 1M subscribers, after adding 300K subscribers in its first month and 100K+ every subsequent month — Streaming research firm Antenna has triangulated the numbers, adding that the low-cost service has better retention than other streaming services.
Discussion:
TV Tech, StreamTV Insider, TechCrunch, Media Play News, Cord Cutters News, Motley Fool, Yahoo Finance and Ars Technica
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon reports Q1 ad revenue up 24% YoY to $17.24B, vs. $16.87B est., and subscription services revenue up 15% to $13.43B — Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news. — CNBC Councils — Join the CNBC Panel
Discussion:
The Wrap, Variety, Amazon and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Alphabet reports YouTube's Q1 ad revenue rose 10.7% YoY to $9.88B, vs. $9.99B est., and Google's ad revenue reached $77.25B, up from $66.89B in Q1 2025 — Time spent viewing on YouTube, the internet's most massive video platform, keeps growing at a healthy clip — and with it …
Meta:
Meta reports Q1 revenue up 33% YoY to $56.31B, net income up 61% to $26.77B, and family DAP up 4% to 3.56B on average for March; META drops 6%+ after hours — Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2026.
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline and The Information, more at Techmeme »
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Sky News says the Iran war has been a “breakthrough” for Sky in digital video, with high engagement for its eyewitness journalism and in-depth analysis — The top editor at Sky News has explained why the channel can no longer rely on covering “commoditised” breaking news.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Divine, a Vine reboot financed by Jack Dorsey-backed nonprofit “and Other Stuff” and built by an early Twitter employee, debuts with ~500K restored Vine videos — A new project to bring back Vine's six-second looping videos is now available for download on the App Store and Google Play.
Discussion:
Engadget, Implicator.ai, CNET, Gizmodo, PCMag, Cult of Mac and Divine, more at Techmeme »
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
The CW and ESPN agree to let ESPN stream ~800 hours of CW sports per year; the CW and Roku plan to stream CW entertainment to The Roku Channel in Fall 2026 — Approximately 800 hours of college football and basketball, professional bull riding, WWE fights, NASCAR races …
