Top News:
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
A look at Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts' earlier bundling strategy for connectivity and content, and his plan now to unbundle in order to keep growing — Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts spent his career building an integrated cable giant. To grow, he now plans to split it apart
Discussion:
Puck, New York Times and Fortune
Rob Wile / NBC News:
President Trump's 2025 financial disclosures show $80M in income from settlements tied to his lawsuits against ABC, CBS, Meta, YouTube, and other companies — The annual report also includes $80 million in income from settlements tied to his lawsuits against companies like ABC, CBS, Meta and YouTube.
Discussion:
Citation Needed, Benzinga, New York Times, TheGrio, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, @john60612.bsky.social, @newenglandtopnews.bsky.social, Mother Jones, @meeks.house.gov, Esquire, New York Magazine, @blumenthal.senate.gov, @murray.senate.gov, Financial Times, Cryptonews, The Wrap, @eepetry.bsky.social, @mmeadway.bsky.social, @DrALJONES@mastodon.social, Mediaite, crypto.news, MS NOW, International Business Times, @saletan.bsky.social, The Guardian, Times of India, Raw Story, @democracydefendersaction.org, @hunterwalk.com, @normeisen.bsky.social, @newsjennifer.bsky.social, Straight Arrow, @rickstengel.bsky.social, Yahoo Finance, CBS News, @ianfraser.bsky.social, Bloomberg, Mandatory, @ScottEdelman@wandering.shop, @karlauerbach@sfba.social, Metro.co.uk, Politico, @passantino.bsky.social, Daily Mail, Baller Alert, UPI, Australian Financial Review, Reuters, BBC, NOTUS, Al Jazeera, Fox Business, Newsweek and CNBC, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Filing: Trump's earnings from Hollywood last year include $10.7M for Melania, tens of millions in legal settlements, Screen Actors Guild Pension, and more — A disclosure form reveals a $10.7 million fee for ‘Melania,’ legal settlements and a residual from ‘The View.’ It also suggests …
Bloomberg:
Bending Spoons, which owns Vimeo and AOL, closed up 40% in its US market debut on Wednesday at a $25.7B valuation, after raising $1.68B in its IPO — Bending Spoons SpA shares surged 40% above their initial public offering price after the company and some of its backers raised $1.68 billion.
Discussion:
Blockonomi, Gizmodo, CineD, The Information, Benzinga, Deadline, TechCrunch, Associated Press, Yahoo Finance, Newser, Reuters, Fast Company, The Next Web, Axios and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Nick Vivarelli / Variety:
The EU says Paramount has committed to exit its United International Pictures distribution JV with Universal as a condition for EU approval of its WBD merger — Paramount will exit its United International Pictures distribution joint venture with Universal as a condition for EU approval …
Discussion:
Deadline, The Movie Blog, The Hollywood Reporter and Reuters
RELATED:
Edith Hancock / Wall Street Journal:
The European Commission says Paramount offered concessions for its $110B WBD takeover to ease competition concerns, and sets a July 22 investigation deadline
The European Commission says Paramount offered concessions for its $110B WBD takeover to ease competition concerns, and sets a July 22 investigation deadline
Discussion:
Deadline, Blockonomi, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap, Screen, Media Play News, Advanced Television, Benzinga, BMI, TVBEurope, Telecompaper, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Proactive and NewsMax.com
The Guardian:
Canada will join the Eurovision song contest in 2027, becoming the first new participant since Australia in 2015; the contest will be held in Bulgaria — Country is first to join since Australia in 2015 as event director says it ‘continues to welcome the world’
Discussion:
Variety, Billboard, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, PEDESTRIAN.TV, Mediaweek, @opencage@en.osm.town, Eurovision Song Contest, Financial Post, Dexerto, PinkNews, Daily Star, Reuters, The Sun, RTÉ, @queenlorac.bsky.social, CityNews Toronto, The A.V. Club, Deadline, Politico, Just Jared and Mirror
Talking Points Memo:
TikTok is making it difficult for indie media outlets like TPM and Garbage Day to build audiences, sometimes taking down multiple videos without explanation — The Rise of the AI Censors — Last week, Oxford University's Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism released …
Discussion:
@pinemikey.bsky.social, El País, @jjdiablo.bsky.social and @hunterw.bsky.social
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
A photographer sues The Daily Mail in New York over “systematic” lifting of thousands of images from social media without permission from copyright holders — US copyright claim says Mail liabilities could run to $10m per year. — The Daily Mail is being sued over alleged …
Discussion:
Bloomberg Law
Jack Dunn / Variety:
As The Onion relaunches Infowars, a Q&A with comedian Tim Heidecker about becoming its creative director, the launch lineup, conservative caricatures, and more — David vs. Goliath. Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed. The Onion and Tim Heidecker vs. InfoWars and the Texas court system.
Discussion:
Fast Company and Associated Press
Leo Barraclough / Variety:
Canal+ drops some TF1 channels in France, Switzerland, and Africa after talks fail; TF1 recently launched a Netflix distribution partnership in France — Pay-TV giant Canal+ Group has ceased distribution of a number of channels from French broadcaster TF1 Group in France, Switzerland and across Africa after negotiations broke down.
Discussion:
Deadline and Telecompaper
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
BBC staff fear strike action inevitable as unions reject the corporation's proposal of a 1% or £500 pay increase, whichever is higher — Unions reject proposed below-inflation increase which comes as corporation prepares to cut thousands of jobs — BBC staff fear a strike …
Discussion:
Radio Times, @michaelsavage.bsky.social, National Union of Journalists … and GB News
Samantha Elkins / NBC News:
Cloudflare sets a September 15 deadline for AI companies to differentiate their web crawlers into search, AI training, and AI agents or face being blocked — Cloudflare gave AI crawlers a September deadline to separate the bots that gather content for search from those that harvest …
Discussion:
The Next Web, Cloudflare, MarTech, Help Net Security, RuntimeWire, TechCrunch, Cloudflare, The New Stack and The Register, more at Techmeme »
Ben Mullin / @benmullin:
Memo: the AP is offshoring some visual production jobs as it builds a centralized hub in India; sources: up to 30 jobs could be affected — News — the AP is offshoring some visual production jobs as it develops a production hub in India. I'm told up to 30 jobs could potentially be affected. This follows similar moves from other wire services. Note from AP Executive Editor Julie Pace: [image]
Discussion:
The Wrap, @mediaevan, @thefred.bsky.social and @newsguy.bsky.social
