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Monday, February 23, 2026 |
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Hey, happy Monday! We're about to go outside and build a snowman ☃️ here in the wilds of New Jersey. First, the latest about Netflix, NBC, Casey Wasserman, Brendan Carr, C-SPAN, and much more... |
This is 'not a political deal' |
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos tried not to say much when asked this morning about President Trump's threat against his company.
The threat, in case you missed it, came in the form of a Truth Social post reacting to a screed Laura Loomer posted on X. Trump said Netflix had to fire board member Susan Rice or "pay the consequences."
Sarandos, in London for the BAFTA Awards, visited BBC Radio 4's "Today" program, and when Amol Rajan asked about the post, Sarandos said, "This is a business deal. It's not a political deal. This deal is run by the Department of Justice in the U.S. and regulators throughout Europe and around the world."
But in this climate, can the politics and business be separated? Maybe only in court, if the DOJ sues to block Netflix's deal, as many observers expect it will.
Sarandos dodged Rajan's follow-up about Trump's post, saying, "He likes to do a lot of things on social media." Understatement!
Sometimes Trump just posts and moves on. Remember when he warned ABC about suing the network over Jimmy Kimmel's show last fall? No one else seems to remember, either. Nothing came of it. But in this case, influencers like Loomer will probably keep up the pressure against Netflix. Here's the rhetorical move they're making...
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What Susan Rice said vs. what Laura Loomer claims |
MAGA media types have been deriding Netflix as a "woke" political actor with too much power over popular culture, a charge the company has rejected. Loomer has fixated on the streamer's content deal with the Obamas and has repeatedly and falsely claimed that CNN is part of the Netflix deal, which it is not.
That's the backdrop for this: On Saturday Loomer went after Rice for criticizing companies that bent the knee to Trump and "are going to be held accountable" when Democrats win future elections.
"It is not going to end well for them," Rice said, specifically calling out media companies and law firms that acted in "short-term self-interest" and appeased Trump.
In Loomer's telling, Rice was "threatening half of the country with weaponized government and political retribution" for electing Trump. Some of her followers, like Sen. Ted Cruz, repeated the rhetoric: "Does Netflix stand by their board member threatening punishment & persecution for half of America that dares to disagree with her?"
Rice did not threaten "persecution for half of America," but that's the allegation being advanced.
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What about free market capitalism? |
Netflix has not responded to requests for comment about Rice. New York Post columnist Charlie Gasparino, whose X feed has been a must read for deal-watchers, noted that the Rice controversy plays right into "GOP skepticism of Netflix's politics."
But what about the traditionally conservative view that the government shouldn't meddle in the affairs of big business? Meddling is exactly what Trump is doing with his "pay the consequences" threat.
Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff condemned it on X, saying, "A president does not dictate what speech is allowed. A president does not dictate who a company can hire or fire or have sit on their board. A president does not dictate when a merger pleases him and when it does not. Only a dictator does. And we will not allow one in the US."
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Waiting on word from Paramount... |
The window for Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount to talk technically closes tonight. I'm not expecting to hear anything new out of the companies this morning. Variety's Todd Spangler and Matt Donnelly reported this morning that Paramount’s revised offer "will likely come in at $32/share."
Sarandos had this to say about Paramount on the BAFTAs red carpet last night: "If you wanna try and outbid our deal... just make a better deal. Just put a better deal on the table. Don’t make up stories, don't [spread] misinformation about market share. Just put a better deal on the table and see if you can win."
This morning Gasparino openly took a position on the bidding war: "If as my reporting suggests Paramount comes in with an offer of around $32-$33 a share, investors should take the money and run because the only way this Netflix deal gets through DOJ antitrust, is if the presidential election were tomorrow and a Dem is in office."
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👀 on state attorneys general |
On Friday California Attorney General Rob Bonta weighed in: "The proposed Warner Brothers transactions must receive a full and robust review, and California is taking a very close look. We are committed to fighting market consolidation that we find unlawful." |
After the USA won a gold medal in men's hockey for the first time since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980, Mike Tirico delivered a "masterclass to wrap up NBC's broadcast," as Matt Clapp wrote here. He urged all the dreamers out there to "go chase them and go get them. Because our country loves sports, and it brings us together unlike anything else."
>> During last night's closing ceremonies, NBC officially kicked off "its marketing campaign for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles," THR's Alex Weprin reports. Speaking of...
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Watching for Wasserman news |
With the Winter Olympics over, "L.A. is officially on the clock for 2028 Summer Games," as the LA Times puts it in this headline. And LA28 chair Casey Wasserman is continuing to face pressure over his old emails with Ghislaine Maxwell.
"He has told friends and colleagues he won't step down," Jeremy Herb, Elex Michaelson and I report in this new piece for CNN.com. "But behind the scenes, sources told CNN the US and International Olympic committees have been engaged in backchannel conversations about the future of the 2028 LA Olympics and Wasserman’s role."
NBC's parent Comcast could be influential, since Comcast pays the IOC billions of dollars to air the games in the US. The Wasserman controversy is "unwelcome and uncomfortable" for Comcast, a person involved in NBC's Olympics relationship said.
The source also pointed out that Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has both great pride in the Olympics and great aversion to scandal. Comcast has not commented on the LA28 situation, though, and doesn't have a vote in the matter...
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A key line from our story: "Potential replacements have been floated, including outgoing Disney CEO Bob Iger, sources familiar with the discussion told CNN." Josh D'Amaro officially takes over for Iger on March 18... |
'Arguably the worst moment,' WSJ editorial board says |
"Ahead of his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump is vowing to avenge the most damaging loss of his second term" – last Friday's Supreme Court ruling against his tariffs – "by promising even higher duties on imports," CNN's Stephen Collinson writes in this new piece. "Many Republicans, however, would prefer a course correction as midterm elections loom."
WaPo, PBS and other news outlets are releasing pre-address polls full of sour results for the president and his party. I just want to note this editorial by the Wall Street Journal in case you missed it: Trump, the editorial board wrote, "owes the Supreme Court an apology—to the individual Justices he smeared on Friday and the institution itself. Mr. Trump doubtless won’t offer one, but his rant in response to his tariff defeat at the Court was arguably the worst moment of his Presidency."
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FCC chair urges more 'pro-America' programming |
FCC chairman Brendan Carr "is urging broadcasters to air more 'patriotic, pro-America' content in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence," NPR's Chloe Veltman writes.
Carr shared lots of suggestions for programming in a press release on Friday. But the initiative is entirely voluntary. And as Veltman writes, many broadcasters "have already been working on patriotic, history-focused projects marking the 250th anniversary," without any government encouragement needed.
>> Democratic FCC commissioner Anna Gomez's reaction to Carr's campaign: "Nothing is more American than defending our constitutional rights against those who would erode our civil liberties. If broadcasters choose to participate in this FCC campaign, they can do so by defending their First Amendment rights and refusing government interference."
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That's what Magistrate Judge William Porter asked Friday. Porter "ripped into the Justice Department... for failing to inform him of the applicability of a law intended to protect journalists from government searches and seizures when it asked him for permission to raid a Washington Post reporter's home earlier this year," CNN's Devan Cole reported after the hearing.
The judge also said he's "a little frustrated with how the process went down." He sounded more than a "little" frustrated. He said he would rule in the coming weeks on the Post's effort to get Hannah Natanson's devices back...
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Hoda continues to co-host 'Today' |
Hoda Kotb is filling in for Savannah Guthrie for a third straight week as the search for Nancy enters its fourth week. Some context: Kotb was always slated to be part of "Today" during Winter Olympics coverage in Milan, and once the travel plans were scrapped, she anchored from New York. Now she will now remain at the anchor desk post-Olympics. NBC had been taking this day by day, and is now taking it week by week...
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>> Last night "60 Minutes" "finally screened Anderson Cooper's delayed segment on 'white genocide' in South Africa, days after he quit the program." (Beast)
>> Over the weekend C-SPAN "denied rumors that Donald Trump adopted his old 'John Barron' pseudonym to call the network's 'Washington Journal' program to complain about the Supreme Court," Stephanie Kaloi reports. (TheWrap)
>> "Axel Springer has become a new backer of a bidding consortium for the Telegraph led by Dovid Efune," Daniel Thomas reports. (FT)
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The 'Big Tobacco' comparison |
Execs at the companies detest the comparison. But "Big Tech may be on the verge of its Big Tobacco moment," Clare Duffy writes in this CNN.com piece about the "bellwether" social media addiction trial in LA.
"There are still weeks to go in the trial, and its outcome is far from certain," she writes. "But it's just the start of a wave of litigation inspired by the 1990s tobacco trials that plaintiffs hope could spur widespread industry change..."
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Talking to a chatbot before a mass shooting? |
A bombshell story by the WSJ's Georgia Wells: "Months before Jesse Van Rootselaar became the suspect in the mass shooting that devastated a rural town in British Columbia, Canada, OpenAI considered alerting law enforcement about her interactions with its ChatGPT chatbot," but opted not to do so.
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Takeaways from the BAFTAs |
Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" won big at the BAFTAs last night, nabbing six awards, including Best Film, while "Sinners" and "Frankenstein" took home three wins apiece. CNN's Thomas Page and Dan Heching have the full list of winners here.
>> CNN's Tom Page writes: "It was the clip heard around the world" from the ceremony – "a man yelling the n-word as two celebrated Black actors, Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, presented an award on stage." Here's what happened.
>> "The BBC has removed the BAFTA Film Awards from being available to stream on iPlayer after not cutting a racial slur from its tape-delayed broadcast on Sunday night," Variety's Naman Ramachandran and Ellise Shafer add here...
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A few Hollywood headlines |
>> Sean McNulty summed up the weekend box office thusly: "'Goat' shows legs as 🎥 newbies stumble." (Ankler)
>> Bad Bunny's "DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS" returned to the top spot atop the Billboard 200 albums chart "for a fifth nonconsecutive week," Keith Caulfield writes. (Billboard)
>> Last but not least, John Oliver gave "a brutal summary of the current state of Elon Musk's X" on "Last Week Tonight." He said "my personal advice is to not post on it at all." (Mashable)
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