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 …
Discussion:
Variety
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, Broadband TV News, TVBEurope, The Hollywood Reporter, Telegraph, The Guardian, BBC, Cord Cutters News, Mirror, BBC, Digital Spy, BBC, Reuters 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 — BBC Commercial increased EBITDA by 17% to £267 million ($357.1 million) in the 2025/26 financial year …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter and Broadband TV News
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
Discussion:
Deadline, The Standard, Mirror, The Standard, GB News, Daily Express, Radio Times, Press Gazette, Mirror, ITV News, The Sun, Daily Star and Sky News
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.”
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:
Mark Stenberg on LinkedIn, Andrew Friedman on LinkedIn and @semaforben
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, Barrett Media, Axios, Fast Company, The American Bazaar, Deadline, Reuters, NewsMax.com, CBS News, Fox Business, Media Play News, Business Insider and New York Times
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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
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, CNN, The Ankler, Status, New York Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, NJTODAY.NET, The Hill, No Film School, Deadline, @bedoyausa, Breitbart, Deadline, PocketGamer.biz, @tedstew, @agomezfcc.bsky.social, New Jersey Business News, New York Times, The Daily Wire, Raw Story, American Prospect, JURISTnews, @scottnover.bsky.social, The Wrap, @agrobbonta, Wall Street Journal, Paramount, Sports Media Watch, @tedstew, @nycmayor, @markruffalo, @sharonwaxman, @jbflint, @pweiser, @bedoyausa, @keithellison, @jeremymbarr, @eriqgardner, @matthewstoller, @profpaulnary, @tedstew, @brianstelter, @danielnmiller, @johnmarknewman, @choprausa, @eriqgardner, @garyheff, @eriqgardner, @alexweprin, @gigibsohn, @brianstelter, @richardrushfield, @rogoswami, @profpaulnary, @maxwelltani, @newyorkstateag, @jbflint, @agrobbonta, ByteHaven, Politico, @ddayen, Townhall, Los Angeles Business Journal, @pressgirlk.bsky.social, State of California, @bradlander.bsky.social, One America News Network, Gizmodo, @laurenshirsch, The Hollywood Reporter, Salon, New York Times, How-To Geek, Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Verge, CNN, @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
Washington Post:
A look at State Affairs, whose statehouse coverage is used to train LLMs powering a Bloomberg Terminal-like product; it's raised $70M and has 76 editorial staff — State Affairs combines media and technology at a time when tensions between the two industries are at a fever pitch. — Summary
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
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, 9to5Google, The American Bazaar, TechCrunch, Thurrott, Tom's Guide, The Verge, Android Authority, How-To Geek, GB News, Hypebot, CNET, 9to5Mac and GSMArena.com
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 …
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:
Globe and Mail, Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires, Canadian Press and Publishers Lunch
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:
StreamTV Insider, Deadline and Advanced Television
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:
Adweek, Plagiarism Today, Publishers Weekly, The Guardian, Gizmodo, CNET, @ednewtonrex, Books+Publishing, The Bookseller and Good e-Reader, more at Techmeme »
