Top News:
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
BBC DG Matt Brittin says the BBC and UK public service broadcasting face “real jeopardy” as license fee erosion drives BBC's third consecutive annual deficit — The BBC closed out a year that included its most-watched title in “The Celebrity Traitors” and its best drama debut in three years with …
RELATED:
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
The BBC reports license fee payers fell 539K YoY to 23.3M in 2025-26, the biggest fall since 2020-21; license fee income rose £36M to £3.9B after the fee uplift — The number of households paying the BBC license fee plummeted last year at a time when the corporation is desperately seeking a revamp of its funding model.
Discussion:
BBC, Digital Spy, Cord Cutters News, Mirror, The Guardian, Telegraph, BBC, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, TVBEurope, BBC, BBC and Radio Times
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
BBC Commercial reports 2025-26 revenue flat YoY at £2.2B, EBITDA up 17% to £267M, £377M returned to BBC, down from £391M; DTC and consumer products drove growth
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter
Steven McIntosh / BBC:
Scott Mills was the highest-paid BBC presenter in 2025-26, earning ~£745K before his exit in March, followed by Greg James, Stephen Nolan, and Laura Kuenssberg
Scott Mills was the highest-paid BBC presenter in 2025-26, earning ~£745K before his exit in March, followed by Greg James, Stephen Nolan, and Laura Kuenssberg
Discussion:
Deadline, The Standard, Mirror, Press Gazette, Sky News, The Sun, The Standard, Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Star, ITV News, GB News and Radio Times
Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Paramount's lead trial counsel says the company is still aiming to close the WBD deal by the end of September and is prepared to bring the case to SCOTUS — Paramount Skydance is still aiming to close its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of September despite …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Deadline, Fast Company, The American Bazaar, Reuters, NewsMax.com, CBS News, Fox Business, Media Play News and Business Insider
RELATED:
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
A coalition of 12 US states led by California files an antitrust lawsuit to block Paramount's WBD merger, alleging it lessens competition in three markets
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Ankler, Status, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, The Daily Wire, @tedstew, Deadline, @bedoyausa, PocketGamer.biz, Paramount, New Jersey Business News, Sports Media Watch, @agrobbonta, Raw Story, American Prospect, JURISTnews, @tedstew, @nycmayor, State of California, @markruffalo, @sharonwaxman, @jbflint, @pweiser, ByteHaven, @bedoyausa, @keithellison, @jeremymbarr, Politico, @eriqgardner, @matthewstoller, @profpaulnary, @tedstew, @brianstelter, @danielnmiller, @johnmarknewman, @choprausa, @eriqgardner, @garyheff, Wall Street Journal, @eriqgardner, @alexweprin, @gigibsohn, @brianstelter, @richardrushfield, @rogoswami, @profpaulnary, @maxwelltani, @newyorkstateag, @jbflint, @agrobbonta, @ddayen, Townhall, Los Angeles Business Journal, @pressgirlk.bsky.social, @bradlander.bsky.social, One America News Network, Gizmodo, New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Salon, How-To Geek, Wall Street Journal, @laurenshirsch, NPR, CNN, The Verge, @kimmasters.bsky.social, UPI, Graphic Policy, New Republic, CNET, Blockonomi, Quartz, Financial Times, TechCrunch, @moondogrick.bsky.social, @tdogmedia.bsky.social, Bloomberg, The Guardian, NBC Los Angeles, Politico, The Wrap, KRON4 and Annotated DC
Variety:
Sources: David Ellison has, for several months, been meeting about a bill to launch a US federal film tax incentive, which is said to have bipartisan support
Sources: David Ellison has, for several months, been meeting about a bill to launch a US federal film tax incentive, which is said to have bipartisan support
Discussion:
Breitbart, @danielnmiller, New York Times, @lucas_shaw, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and The Wrap
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Paramount says US states' lawsuit “reflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws” and the delay “will only harm entertainment workers”
Paramount says US states' lawsuit “reflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws” and the delay “will only harm entertainment workers”
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Streamable, Variety, Axios, Screen, Bisnow, @bristei, @brianstelter, The Wrap, Awful Announcing, MediaPost, New York Sun, Washington Examiner, TV Tech, Barrett Media, IndieWire, New York Post, Free Press Action Fund Feed, Consequence, Reporters Without Borders, ScreenRant, Lawyer Monthly, National Politics, Bloomberg and New York Times
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist Pat Oliphant, 90, has died in Santa Fe, NM; at the height of his career, he was syndicated in as many as 500 newspapers — The winner of countless awards, including a Pulitzer Prize, he was described in 1990 as “the most influential political cartoonist now working.”
Discussion:
The Daily Cartoonist, Washington Post, The Wrap and The Indian Express
A.J. Katz / The Wrap:
Hachette, Elsevier, Cengage Learning, and author Scott Turow sue Google for allegedly using millions of copyrighted books and articles to build AI models — Publishers claim the tech giant used millions of copyrighted works without permission to build its Gemini artificial intelligence models
Discussion:
Plagiarism Today, Adweek, Publishers Weekly, The Bookseller, @ednewtonrex, Books+Publishing and Good e-Reader
Hannah Miller / Bloomberg:
Thomson Reuters agrees to sell a 51% stake in its legal and tax publishing business to KKR for $500M, but will keep editorial control of its content portfolio — Thomson Reuters Corp. agreed to sell a 51% stake in its legal and tax publishing business to investment firm KKR & Co. in a $500 million deal.
Discussion:
Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires and Canadian Press
Reuters:
Thomson Reuters says it is cutting “a small number of” engineering roles; a source says it plans to cut up to 500 jobs, or 5.2% of its operations and tech unit — Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) on Monday said it is cutting “a small number of roles” in engineering …
Discussion:
NewsBlues.com, Silicon Republic and Motley Fool
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Semafor hires Adam Banicki as its first head of video and says video is on pace to generate high-seven- to low-eight-figure revenue by the end of the year — The publisher, which has five new shows in development, has hired Fortune's Adam Banicki to create video programming for its C-suite audience
Discussion:
@semaforben
Ben Strauss / ESPN:
Fox will reportedly make $250M on World Cup hydration break ads alone; the new ad slot may be appealing to European national leagues whose revenue is flat — The legacy of this summer's World Cup is not likely to be political interference or referee conspiracies that benefit Lionel Messi.
Discussion:
Sports Business Journal, Renew Economy and Awful Announcing
Trishla Ostwal / Adweek:
eMarketer: chatbots like ChatGPT and Google AI Mode will make <$1B in ad revenue in 2026; OpenAI projected $2.5B in ChatGPT ad revenue in 2026 and $100B by 2030 — OpenAI is projecting $100 billion in ad revenue by 2030. Emarketer puts the ceiling for the entire chatbot ad market at just $5.41 billion.
Discussion:
Forbes, @rustybrick, @mgsiegler, @garymarcus, John Battelle's Search Blog, @edels0n, @glenngabe and @edzitron.com, more at Techmeme »
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Spotify launches Talk to Spotify, letting users create playlists and more via voice, rolling out in beta to Premium users age 18+ in the US, Ireland, and Sweden — The new beta feature works from the Home or Now Playing views on mobile. — Spotify already uses a lot of AI (too much some might say) …
Discussion:
Spotify, TechCrunch, Tom's Guide, The Verge, Thurrott, 9to5Mac, How-To Geek, Android Authority, Hypebot, CNET and GB News
Reuters:
Germany's media regulator says Google's AI Overviews and Perplexity are subject to media law, after a court said Google may be liable for inaccurate AI content — Germany's media regulator said on Tuesday that Google's AI Overviews and Perplexity AI are subject to the country's media laws …
Discussion:
Engadget, smays.com, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land and Droid Life, more at Techmeme »
Scott Roxborough / The Hollywood Reporter:
RoseBerry Media launches vertical streamer Epis, featuring originals and versions of BBC, Fremantle, and All3Media shows adapted for vertical viewing — The premium mobile-first streamer is launching with more than 100 titles, including adapted versions of Fremantle, BBC and All3Media formats.
Discussion:
Advanced Television and Deadline
