Top News:
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Letter: Tennessee Deputy Governor Stuart McWhorter urged David Ellison to move Paramount's corporate headquarters from California to Tennessee — Paramount CEO David Ellison and his family have deep ties to the Volunteer State and the mogul is now in a legal battle with California.
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
The Writers Guild of America sues Paramount and WBD in an effort to stop their merger, claiming the deal would hurt wages and working conditions for writers — The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, IndieWire, Reuters, US District Court, Northern District of California, Writers Guild of America West, Associated Press, MediaPost, The Wrap, Oh No They Didn't!, Deadline, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, @cinephiliabeyond.org, @filmbrainbmb.bsky.social, @susanrinkunas.com, Bloomberg, Sports Media Watch, Bloomberg Law, StreamTV Insider, Ars Technica, CNN, Barrett Media, NewsMax.com, Fox Business, Common Dreams, CNBC, Media Play News and ScreenRant
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Trump's recent comment on a “normal path” for CNN raised eyebrows amid the Paramount-WBD merger; Paramount would need CNN revenue to help pay off $80B in debt — The cable news channel may not be the ratings juggernaut it once was, but it matters to President Trump …
Discussion:
MS NOW, Variety, Reuters, New York Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, New York Post and TV Insider
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:
Fox Business, Deadline, PC Gamer, StockStory, Front Office Sports, Fast Company, The American Bazaar, The Wrap, Barrett Media, Axios, Reuters, Salon, CNET, Quartz, CBS News, Bloomberg, Business Insider and New York Times
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 …
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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 and Broadband TV News
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 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
Discussion:
BBC, Broadband TV News, The Sun, Telegraph, The Guardian, BBC, Cord Cutters News, Mirror, BBC, Digital Spy, BBC, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, TVBEurope and Radio Times
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, Daily Express, Radio Times, Press Gazette, Mirror, The Sun, Sky News, Daily Star, ITV News and GB News
The Athletic:
German soccer league Bundesliga is moving its US TV rights from ESPN to Versant's USA Network and Fandango in a deal, sources say, worth $100M over five seasons — Germany's Bundesliga — featuring Harry Kane, Bayern Munich and United States stars like Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Malik Tillman …
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
David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
Acting AG Todd Blanche has shown he's willing to stifle the free press, through subpoenas of WSJ, NYT, and WaPo reporters and a search of a WaPo reporter's home — The acting attorney general is showcasing his willingness to intimidate reporters whose revelations have upset the president.
Discussion:
New York Post, Associated Press, RADAR, @jbendery, Courthouse News Service, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, @theatlantic, @jonlemire, @dankennedy.net, @attorneynora.bsky.social, @dagtoddblanche, HuffPost, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Fox News, @steadystate2025, Media Matters for America, Washington Post, CNN, Above the Law, Committee to Protect … and Poynter
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
Reuters:
Sources: Lionsgate has attracted takeover interest from France's Bolloré Group, owner of Canal+, and Banijay, which just completed an $8B merger with All3Media — Lionsgate Studios (LION.N), the entertainment company behind the “Hunger Games” and “John Wick” franchises …
Discussion:
Bloomberg and r/MediaMergers
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:
Publishers Weekly, Engadget, @ednewtonrex, The Guardian, CNET, Gizmodo, Adweek, Plagiarism Today, The Bookseller, Books+Publishing and Good e-Reader, 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, Phandroid, How-To Geek, TechCrunch, Thurrott, Digital Trends, @spotify, Tom's Guide, Lifehacker, GB News, Android Authority, Hypebot, @spotify, The American Bazaar, @spotifynews, The Verge, Mashable, CNET, 9to5Mac and GSMArena.com
