Dan Thomas
@danielthomasldn.bsky.social
Global media editor at the Financial Times; former chief UK business, telcos, property etc.
More pain for the BBC: US government looks at joining Donald Trump lawsuit www.ft.com/content/6142...
US government looks at joining Donald Trump lawsuit against BBC
Move raises clear conflict of interest concerns between president and state, says broadcaster
ft.com
Interesting report from Ofcom: - VPN use has doubled since porn laws on age - Kids are using them, which suggests the govt may have to do something under the social media ban - dating apps emerge as an area of concern, with a tenth of 17-year-olds using them (?!) www.ft.com/content/f2f7...
VPN use in UK doubles as people circumvent porn laws
Regulator Ofcom found evidence of children using the technology to get around curbs
ft.com
MPs currently making sure that BBC DG Matt Brittin gives Count Binface as much coverage on Question Time as Nigel Farage in the Clacton by election in his grilling on the Culture select committee
Brutal by Sky and ITV to finally annnounce their broadcast merger a few hours after the England Mexico all nighter. But SkITV is finally here - full details below www.ft.com/content/6135...
Sky agrees £1.6bn ITV deal as UK broadcasters take on streaming rivals
Combination will leave US media giant Comcast in control of a broadcaster that reaches 21mn households
ft.com
Bob Iger’s long goodbye. The Disney veteran talks exclusively to the FT about his 20 years at the top - the $90mn M&A spree for Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel and Fox (as well as early talks about a mega Apple merger), the botched succession and cursed second tenure - and what happens next
Bob Iger’s long goodbye
For two decades, Hollywood’s most indispensable executive has been synonymous with Disney. Can he really tear himself away?
as.ft.com
Big UK media scoop: Ministers will back the UK’s broadcasters with proposals to force social media and video platforms such as YouTube and Meta to make public service news content more prominent - a major victory for the PSB but a fresh battle with Big Tech www.ft.com/content/7f14...
Home - Financial Times
News, analysis and opinion from the Financial Times on the latest in markets, economics and politics
ft.com
Good that kids won’t see it
Dan Thomas@danielthomasldn.bsky.social · 2mo agoBig UK media scoop: Ministers will back the UK’s broadcasters with proposals to force social media and video platforms such as YouTube and Meta to make public service news content more prominent - a major victory for the PSB but a fresh battle with Big Tech www.ft.com/content/7f14...
Officials also see the need to tackle head-on the rise of misinformation and disinformation on social media, and address concerns from the likes of ex-ch 4 boss Alex Mahon that trusted British news is being buried by foreign algorithms that drive viewing habits as.ft.com/r/9f64fa65-f...
Ministers to make YouTube and Meta boost prominence of UK news
Move expected in British government green paper would set stage for fresh battle with Big Tech over online misinformation
as.ft.com
Dan Thomas@danielthomasldn.bsky.social · 2mo agoBig UK media scoop: Ministers will back the UK’s broadcasters with proposals to force social media and video platforms such as YouTube and Meta to make public service news content more prominent - a major victory for the PSB but a fresh battle with Big Tech www.ft.com/content/7f14...
Big UK media scoop: Ministers will back the UK’s broadcasters with proposals to force social media and video platforms such as YouTube and Meta to make public service news content more prominent - a major victory for the PSB but a fresh battle with Big Tech www.ft.com/content/7f14...
Home - Financial Times
News, analysis and opinion from the Financial Times on the latest in markets, economics and politics
ft.com
Harry Potter shops raided after London Centric investigation…. HMRC officials seize till receipts… ministers treating now central London gift shops as a tax enforcement issue…. www.londoncentric.media/p/harry-pott...
Harry Potter shops raided after London Centric investigation
Plus: Is London’s iPhone theft era really coming to an end? • A £9.5m mansion next to Henry VIII's childhood home • Go underground for your phone coverage
londoncentric.media
I had lunch with new BBC director general Matt Brittin six days in, where over jalapeño cornbread he opened up about taking on one of the hardest jobs in public life, his plans for the Beeb and whether his tenure may be counted in the life span of one of his chickens www.ft.com/content/2a83...
BBC director-general Matt Brittin: ‘It’s worth fighting for’
The former Google executive on the challenges facing the public service broadcaster, his plans to cut 2,000 jobs — and what impartiality means in a polarised world
ft.com
Billionaire James Packer among backers lined up for OnlyFans deal ft.trib.al/MdeTHtn
Billionaire James Packer among backers lined up for OnlyFans deal
Australian media mogul’s funds to invest in Architect Capital SPV taking a minority stake in platform
ft.trib.al
Scoop: OnlyFans, the UK-based streaming platform used by sex workers, is nearing a deal to sell a minority stake valuing it at more than $3bn just a month after its owner died. The deal is likely to include new financial services for its unbanked creators www.ft.com/content/e06c...
OnlyFans nears deal to sell minority stake at more than $3bn valuation
Discussions with Architect Capital come less than a month after the UK-based platform’s owner Leonid Radvinsky died
ft.com
As many as 2,000 jobs are set to be cut by the BBC across its departments as part of a radical downsizing of the UK’s national broadcaster ahead of the arrival of new director-general Matt Brittin. Scoop on FT.com www.ft.com/content/735f...
BBC to cut one in 10 jobs in radical downsizing
New director-general Matt Brittin to replace Tim Davie next month
ft.com
I wrote about whether the traditional British tabloid can survive as readers are being lured by social media feeds and influencer content.. but what I did not realise was that in Feb all newspapers ceased to report circulation numbers publicly via ABC www.ft.com/content/ac2e...
Can the traditional British tabloid survive the digital age?
Social media feeds, AI summaries and influencer-driven content are luring readers away
ft.com
Ministers confirm our FT scoop from last week as Ian Cheshire - the former Ch 4 chair and City veteran - is named new Ofcom chair www.ft.com/content/4a16... via @ft
Ian Cheshire named new Ofcom chair
Former Kingfisher chief is the government’s choice to replace Lord Michael Grade at the media regulator
ft.com
Scoop: Tim Davie will make an immediate return after he stands down as BBC DG with the govenment lining him up to take over as a chair of its creative industries council from Sir Peter Bazalgette. No gap year for Tim.
Will Saturday Night Live work in the UK? Critics already have their knives sharpened but Sky are making a big bet on the show - telling me that it has already been extended from six to eight episodes to give the cast more time to hit their stride www.ft.com/content/8141... via @ft
Will Saturday Night Live work in the UK?
Sky is placing a multimillion-pound bet on remaking the long-running US comedy show for a British audience
ft.com
BBC faces a real-term funding freeze for the World Service as talks to secure a last minute deal go to the wire Scoop with @lucyfisher.ft.com www.ft.com/content/7daa...
BBC faces real-terms funding freeze for World Service
Government in final negotiations over deal expected to set inflationary increase in funding for global news provider
ft.com
Will be interesting to see if Axel Springer change the Telegraph’s EU stance.
Dan Thomas@danielthomasldn.bsky.social · 5mo agoMassive UK media scoop - Germany's Axel Springer is poised to agree a shock £500mn deal for the Telegraph in a move that will scupper the acquisition of the UK newspaper group by the Daily Mail. W/ the FT's finest @JFK_America @ArashMassoudi www.ft.com/content/e5cb...
Axel has CONFIRMED our FT scoop “Axel Springer was founded in 1946 under a British press licence. He built his company inspired by the tradition of Fleet Street. The Telegraph was his North Star,” said Axel Springer boss Mathias Döpfner in a statement confirming the £575m deal.
Dan Thomas@danielthomasldn.bsky.social · 5mo agoMassive UK media scoop - Germany's Axel Springer is poised to agree a shock £500mn deal for the Telegraph in a move that will scupper the acquisition of the UK newspaper group by the Daily Mail. W/ the FT's finest @JFK_America @ArashMassoudi www.ft.com/content/e5cb...
Massive UK media scoop - Germany's Axel Springer is poised to agree a shock £500mn deal for the Telegraph in a move that will scupper the acquisition of the UK newspaper group by the Daily Mail. W/ the FT's finest @JFK_America @ArashMassoudi www.ft.com/content/e5cb...
Axel Springer poised to buy Telegraph in £500mn deal
German media group has gatecrashed a proposed acquisition by the owner of the Daily Mail
ft.com
All3Media and Banijay combine to create $8bn global TV powerhouse - only on ft.com. RedBird IMI and Banijay will be equal partners in the world’s largest independent TV maker, with Marco Bassetti, Jane Turton and Jeff Zucker all taking management positions www.ft.com/content/5fca...
All3Media and Banijay combine to create $8bn global TV powerhouse
Combined group will be the world’s largest independent TV maker producing shows from MasterChef to The Traitors
ft.com
GB News, the right-leaning TV broadcaster, said that it remained dependent on financing from investors including hedge fund boss Sir Paul Marshall after posting another annual loss www.ft.com/content/f119...
GB News takes fresh funding from investors despite narrowing losses
Revenues for right-leaning broadcaster rise following bigger TV and online audiences
ft.com
Paramount executives sipped champagne out of paper cups on the legendary studio lot in Hollywood to celebrate. Netflix execs consoled themselves with the $2.8bn break free. Inside Project Warrior, or how Paramount beat Netflix in $110bn battle for Warner. www.ft.com/content/e352...
Project Warrior: How Paramount beat Netflix in $110bn battle for Warner
Ellison father and son viewed deal as a matter of survival to compete with tech giants that now dominate Hollywood
ft.com
Scoop: The BBC set to cut hundreds of millions of pounds - a tenth of its costs over the next three years - in a move likely to lead to fresh job cuts. Staff told in a conference call held by director-general Tim Davie this afternoon www.ft.com/content/4503...
BBC set to cut hundreds of millions of pounds in latest restructuring plan
Director-general Tim Davie tells staff broadcaster aims to trim about a tenth of costs over three years
ft.com
One person close to the Will Lewis exit from the Washington Post told the FT: “Bezos lost patience after the Super Bowl thing". Lewis was spotted at a Super Bowl party on the same day as his newspaper was firing 300 staff.
Story here: www.ft.com/content/5fa6...
Will Lewis steps down as Washington Post publisher after job cuts
British journalist was appointed by Jeff Bezos to turn around the storied newspaper
ft.com
Dan Thomas@danielthomasldn.bsky.social · 6mo agoWill Lewis has just told staff at the Washington Post he is stepping down
Will Lewis has just told staff at the Washington Post he is stepping down
Obviously terrible but also now think the FT now needs a taco editor
Press Gazette@pressgazette.co.uk · 6mo agoA journalist who works as the taco editor for Texas Monthly magazine was briefly detained multiple times last week by ICE agents in Texas in what he suspects was a coordinated operation nypost.com/2026/01/26/m...