Top News:
The Hollywood Reporter:
The Sky-ITV deal raises questions about US ownership of the UK's largest commercially funded free-to-air network and a key part of its cultural landscape — The acquisition — which will combine the U.K.'s biggest free-to-air commercial networks with its biggest pay-TV network …
Discussion:
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Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Sky agrees to acquire ITV's TV business for £1.6B, uniting the UK's two largest commercial broadcasters; ITV says shareholders will receive £950M from the deal — Combination will leave US media group Comcast in control of a broadcaster that reaches 21mn households
Deadline:
Sky strikes a £2.1B output deal with ITV Studios, ITV's production arm, until 2032; ITV Studios is not part of Sky's deal to acquire ITV's TV network — Sky has finally sealed a £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) deal to acquire ITV's television network operations.
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Alex Ritman / Variety:
AI-focused studio Particle 6 plans a full-length feature film to be led by the AI “actor” Tilly Norwood, as a hybrid production using film and TV professionals — Tilly Norwood, the AI “actor” who sparked a frenzy of anger in Hollywood and across the wider industry in late 2025, is set to front her first feature film.
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Netflix is studying its data to see why viewers quit its shows after S1, with some shows seeing a 30%-70% S2 drop, as it faces a quarter without hits — Netflix's biggest hits are losing more than half of their audience after one season — Good afternoon from Los Angeles.
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Garbage Day, Tom's Guide, Comic Book, @yeargain.bsky.social, 9to5Mac, @tmcallister.bsky.social, contextisking.com, @hoptimusprime.bsky.social, @iamjurassicmark.bsky.social, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, CinemaBlend, @trollbreath.com, @johngary.bsky.social, @lucas_shaw, @augustjpollak.bsky.social, Gizmodo, @mhwilliams.bsky.social, @jpgorman.bsky.social, David Giles on LinkedIn, @dannygroner.bsky.social, @mikecook82.bsky.social, Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn, @theillustriousq.bsky.social, @antonyjohnston.bsky.social, @sundownactproof.bsky.social, Spyglass and NextBigWhat
Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
Note to staff: The New York Times names Jody Quon as the next editor-in-chief of T magazine; Quon was previously creative director of New York magazine — Per a note to NYT staff this afternoon, Jody Quon is the next EIC of T magazine. [image]
Discussion:
The New York Times Company
Stewart Clarke / Deadline:
Indian streamer Zee5 pulls human rights drama Satluj, at the center of a government censorship battle since 2022, after two days, citing “current developments” — The film has been at the center of a censorship battle and tells the story of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.
Discussion:
The Indian Express, Forbes, BMI, MediaNews4U and Variety
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
Reddit says its AI-powered content moderation systems caught 25K “spammy posts and comments” per day in Q1, reducing users' exposure to such content by 20% YoY — Reddit Inc. is battling a new kind of spam: stealth marketing content created by brands that want to get mentioned …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Reddit Upvoted, StockStory, Digital Trends, The Deep View, MediaPost, The Next Web, Engadget, RuntimeWire and The Verge
Max Tani / Semafor:
Analysis: ABC's The View hasn't featured a single candidate running in a competitive midterm race since the FCC launched an “equal time” rule probe in February — THE SCOOP — The Federal Communications Commission has already changed the programming of one of television's …
Jeremy Barr / The Guardian:
A group of prominent conservative organizations petitions the FCC to deny license renewal requests from the eight local TV stations owned and operated by ABC — Prominent organizations accuse network of political, racial and sexual bias and supporting Chinese communist party
Discussion:
@claudiner66.bsky.social and @cdarwin@c.im
Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
UK left-wing news site The Canary suspends its national weekday print newspaper after two weeks, saying Lloyds closed its bank account and withheld funds — The Canary has reportedly suspended its national weekday print newspaper amid accusations of Lloyds closing its bank account and withholding funds.
Tim Donnelly / The New York Groove:
Why some staffers at Schneps Media want a union: low pay leads to high turnover and a loss of institutional knowledge at the chain of local newspapers in NYC — Turnover is high at the city's largest newspaper chain: 'There's not much in the way of institutional knowledge.'
