Mediagazer

4:20 PM ET, July 17, 2026

Top News:

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

Apple raises the price of Apple Music, with the individual plan up by $1 to $11.99, and some Apple One bundles, the first price hike for Apple Music since 2022 — Apple has raised the price of Apple Music today in the United States and other countries. Starting today, Apple Music's Individual plan …

Discussion: Variety, MobileSyrup, AppleInsider, iDrop News, Thurrott, Digital Trends, iPhone in Canada, iClarified, @philthepill.online, BGR, The Verge, The Apple Post, Digital Music News, Forbes, MacRumors, Music Business Worldwide and MacDailyNews, more at Techmeme »

Deadline:

A US district court judge says she'll issue a ruling by July 22 on state AGs' request for a temporary stay that would pause the Paramount-WBD merger — U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín heard arguments from both sides in an 80-minute hearing in Oakland on Friday.

Discussion: CNN, Variety, Bloomberg, @jbflint, @labuzamovies.com, @jbflint, @jbflint, @jbflint and r/MediaMergers

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

In a filing disputing state AGs' request for a temporary restraining order, Paramount argued its merger with WBD would increase theatrical motion picture output — Paramount Skydance began to lay out its legal argument Thursday against an antitrust lawsuit brought by a dozen states …

Discussion: Deadline, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, The Bulwark, Graphic Policy, People's World, Breitbart, The Hollywood Reporter, TV Central, Bloomberg, The Wrap, Cosmic Book News and @laurenmeidasa.bsky.social

Patrick Hipes / Deadline:

Sinclair-owned TV stations affiliated with ABC and NBC aired Trump's speech about elections, using Sinclair's feed; Sinclair owns or operates 177 stations — Trump's address tonight began at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and lasted about 25 minutes. As expected, the brunt of the remarks were regarding elections …

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

President Trump says ABC and NBC should have their licenses revoked for not carrying his speech, alleging they are part of a “plot” to continue election “fraud” — Donald Trump lashed out at ABC and NBC, the two networks that chose not to carry his speech live …

Ariel Zilber / New York Post:

Madison Square Garden files a defamation suit against Wired over an article alleging MSG kept a list of gay celebrities; Wired says it stands by its reporting — Wired Magazine used stolen data to falsely accuse Madison Square Garden of creepily surveilling a “list” of gay celeb fans …

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Playboy has relaunched a print edition with a “respectful and modern” take on nudity; in 2025, its parent company had a $12.7M net loss on $120.9M in revenue — Playboy Bunnies and Playmates have returned to print. — The team behind a relaunched Playboy magazine have spoken …

Discussion: Page Six, PinkNews, @pressgazette.co.uk, TMZ.com, DrunkenStepFather.com and Gay Times

Edward Helmore / The Guardian:

DHS announces plans to shorten visas for foreign journalists in the US from up to 5 years to 240 days and cut those for Chinese journalists to 90 days — Visas will be shortened to 240 days, down from five years, and Chinese journalists will be limited to 90 days

Discussion: The Korea Times, Reporters Without Borders, The Hill, Department of Homeland …, One America News Network, @whodat35.bsky.social, France 24, Bloomberg, The Reporters Committee …, Kyodo News, Associated Press, Time and New Republic

Axel Springer SE:

Axel Springer plans to confer the 2026 Axel Springer Award on Peter Thiel in a ceremony scheduled for September 24, with a tribute by CBS News EIC Bari Weiss — Recognizing an entrepreneur, investor, and thought leader who has significantly shaped digital transformation

Discussion: The Wrap, @justinbaragona.bsky.social, @gracegeorge23.bsky.social, Telegraph, @gilduran.com, The New World, @gilduran.com, @gilduran.com, @jeremymbarr, @gilduran.com, @gilduran.com, @masnick.com and @radundtat@berlin.social

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Netflix says ~300 titles on its app used generative AI in 2026, mostly in post-production, “to deliver higher quality output more quickly and at a lower cost” — Some titles used AI to create ‘enhanced crowds, historical battle sequences, and worldbuilding establishing shots.’

Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q2 revenue up 13% YoY to $12.56B, vs. $12.59B est., and says it will give fewer engagement updates starting in 2027; NFLX drops 7%+ after hours

Scott Nover / Washington Post:

A US Court of Appeals rules that the DOD's policy requiring government escorts for journalists working at the Pentagon could stand, a blow for the NYT's case — Judges sided with the government over the New York Times in a major press freedom case. — Summary

Discussion: New York Times, The Wrap, Media Nation, Reason, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, CBS News, Washington Times, @scottnover and Reuters

Max Tani / @maxwelltani:

On a CBS News editorial call, Bari Weiss announces that Mike Pesca, longtime host of recently ended podcast The Gist, is joining as editorial head of podcasts — New: On CBS News' morning editorial call today, Bari Weiss announced that Mike Pesca, the longtime host of the Gist, is joining the network as its editorial director of podcasts.

Discussion: @djlavoie.bsky.social, TV Insider, @pescagist, @simonowens.bsky.social and Inside Radio

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Newsweek's publishing revenue is set to drop ~20% this year but it's on track for $100M in revenue due to its healthcare-focused DSP contributing 40% of revenue — The publisher is on pace to surpass $100 million in revenue, powered by ad-tech, a rankings business, and events

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More News:

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU accepts X's plan to meet DSA transparency obligations and give researchers access to data, giving X six months to implement it, following a €120M fine

Discussion: European Commission and Social Media Today, more at Techmeme »

Connor Stringer / Telegraph:
Court docs: Trump drops part of his BBC lawsuit, dismissing claims against its commercial and production arms but continuing the lawsuit against the broadcaster

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Advanced Television, Variety, HuffPost, GB News, Telecompaper, The Wrap, NewsMax.com, Forbes, Seoul Economic Daily and Financial Times

Tim Ingham / Music Business Worldwide:
Sony Music Publishing completes its acquisition of the full music rights portfolio of Recognition Music Group, backed by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC

Discussion: Billboard

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
An NYT reporter finds AI-generated, unauthorized biographies of herself and other journalists on Amazon, where AI-made books with elusive “authors” proliferate

Discussion: The Overspill, @brianfagioli, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, Six Colors, WBEZ Chicago, @evacide@hachyderm.io, @kashhill.bsky.social, @picardonhealth.bsky.social, @kashhill.bsky.social, @kashhill.bsky.social, @kashhill.bsky.social and Pixel Envy

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Beehiiv launches Community, which lets subscribers chat with each other, adds an AI tool that helps creators manage their audiences, and adds programmatic ads

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Variety, beehiiv, Pulse 2.0, @dannygroner.bsky.social, @dannygroner.bsky.social, Inc.com, Meredith & The Media and The Wrap

Earlier Picks:

Rob Waugh / Press Gazette:
A look at issues with DMCA, which is weaponized to silence reporting, turbocharged by automated requests, and places the burden of proof on the attacked party

Discussion: Dominic Ponsford on LinkedIn

Borys Kit / The Hollywood Reporter:
Marvel Comics is moving from NYC to Burbank, CA, asks 100+ employees to relocate by July 2027, and names Stephen Wacker editor-in-chief, replacing C.B. Cebulski

Andy Beckett / The Guardian:
How Paul Dacre broke new ground to sell readers an angry perspective at the Daily Mail and helped radicalize the UK's rightwing press, now run by his disciples

Discussion: The Daily Sceptic, @Fife4Europe@mastodon.scot, @ukbastard.bsky.social, @wyrdscience.bsky.social, @junesim63@mstdn.social, @ChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk, @lukewarm24.bsky.social, @junesim63.bsky.social and @mimmymum.bsky.social

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Trump Media plans to launch the Truth API on August 1, providing real-time data from trending Truth Social accounts to news organizations and trading firms

Discussion: The Verge, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Financial Times, CNN, Bernard Sharfman on LinkedIn, International Business Times, Euronews, MS NOW, Coinpedia Fintech News, Washington Post, @senblumenthal, Blockonomi, @jessicatarlov, @acyn, @richardhanania, @senwarren, @danielsgoldman, @garymarcus, @adamkinzinger, @phl43, @darrigomelanie, @stanveuger, @radiofreetom, @mr_derivatives, @david_dierking, @amandacarpenter, @samstein, @allenanalysis, @faustianwigger, @brendanpedersen, @pitdesi, @benpershing, @growing_daniel, @rory_johnston, @lawrencelepard, @adamscochran, @jiratickets, @peterschiff, @andrewcurran_, @timkellogg.me, Quartz, The Wrap, New York Times, Cointelegraph, Associated Press, The Hill, The American Bazaar, crypto.news, BBC, Truthout, New Republic, Washington Examiner, Fast Company, @annmlipton@esq.social, @annmlipton@esq.social, @annmlipton@esq.social, Barron's Online, CBS News, @brian-noble.bsky.social, NOTUS, NewsMax.com, Bloomberg, Dow Jones Newswires, CoinGape, Wccftech, @wittywebhandle.bsky.social, CNBC, @jakelahut.bsky.social and Trump Media & …

From Techmeme:

New York Times:
Sources: Meta is in talks to rent computing power from its data centers to Anthropic in a deal that could be worth ~$10B over two years

Transformer:
Kimi K3 hype shouldn't alarm the US about “losing the AI race” to China; K3 is a good model but not frontier-level and likely lacks dangerous cyber capabilities

Michael Acton / Financial Times:
Sources: Apple has sent personal legal warnings to ~40 former employees who now work at OpenAI, directing them to preserve documents and meet with its lawyers

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