Media Matters and the FTC are clashing over the agency's requested stay of a preliminary injunction in a federal probe over advertiser boycotts. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier this month granted the left-leaning journalism watchdog group a preliminary injunction against the agency's civil investigative demand (CID) in the probe (see 2508180026). The FTC last week asked the court to stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal. It told the court (docket 1:25-cv-01959) it has issued 17 CIDs to advertising trade associations, brand safety rating organizations and advocacy groups like Media Matters as it investigates whether online advertisers or ad agencies coordinated the placement of ads in ways that had certain news outlets or platforms rated not "brand suitable" or "brand safe." The preliminary injunction impedes the FTC investigation by barring it from determining whether Media Matters has any information relevant to the investigation into advertiser boycotts, the agency said.

The FTC's probe of Media Matters is "a straightforward First Amendment violation," a federal judge ruled Friday, granting the left-leaning journalism watchdog group a preliminary injunction against the agency's civil investigative demand (CID). "It should alarm all Americans when the Government retaliates against individuals or organizations for engaging in constitutionally protected public debate," U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said in an opinion (docket 1:25-cv-01959). Media Matters filed suit in June, seeking to block the CID (see 2506230039). The judge said Media Matters was "engaged in quintessential First Amendment activity" with its reporting on Elon Musk and his X social media platform, and the subsequent FTC CID was a retaliatory act.

Newsmax told the SEC Monday it will pay $67 million to Dominion Voting Systems to settle the voting technology company's $1.6 billion defamation claims against the news network. Dominion sued over Newsmax's coverage of its voting machines during the 2020 election. In a statement, Newsmax said it "believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020. We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism."

The federal government's statement of interest in litigation charging various news outlets with violating antitrust law (see 2507110039) doesn't address all the ways the plaintiff -- the nonprofit Children's Health Defense -- fails to state a claim, the defendant news outlets said. In a response Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-02735), the Washington Post Co., Associated Press, Reuters and BBC said the DOJ-submitted statement expressly lacks a position on the facts alleged in the complaint or the news outlets' pending motion to dismiss, so it's not relevant to the motion to dismiss and doesn't save the plaintiff's claim. The suit alleges that the news outlets' collaboration with tech giants, supposedly about combating online misinformation, actually involved censoring and excluding competing online news publishers from online platforms.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses on Tuesday recommended dismissal of claims brought by LiveVideo.AI against National Amusements and its president, Shari Redstone, related to Skydance Media's purchase of Paramount Global. In a report and recommendation (docket 24-CV-6290) to the U.S. District Court for Southern New York, Moses said LiveVideo.AI's complaint that National Amusements, Paramount's majority holder, ignored its rival bid for Paramount was frivolous. Moore said that following its complaint, LiveVideo.AI has "flooded the docket with meritless, repetitive, and frequently incoherent filings."

Broadcasters should pay the costs that a mandatory conversion to ATSC 3.0 will impose on MVPDs, said DirecTV in a letter to the FCC Media Bureau, posted Wednesday in docket 16-142. Purchasing enough ATSC 3.0 receivers to convert DirecTV’s 1,800 nationwide feeds would cost close to $15 million, which “would be onerous” and “a dead-weight loss,” the company said. “Spreading the cost among the nation’s nearly 1,500 broadcast stations would not only yield a much more manageable financial responsibility for each entity but also place the costs on the parties who stand to reap the benefits of the ATSC 3.0 transition.” DirecTV said it currently can’t transmit ATSC 3.0 signals because its customers’ millions of set-top boxes can’t receive the signal, and it doesn’t have the capacity to carry both ATSC 3.0 and 1.0 signals simultaneously. It also noted that an Advanced Television Systems Committee working group on creating a standard for converting 3.0 signals for MVPD transmission doesn’t include any MVPD representatives. “Because of what MVPDs view as the domineering and uncollaborative behavior of the broadcast representatives in the Working Group, there is no longer any MVPD representation” in the group.

ESPN's and Fox's upcoming streaming services will be available in a $40-a-month bundle starting Oct. 2, the networks said Monday. Fox One and ESPN's streaming service both launch Aug. 21.

Fox Corp. said Tuesday its Fox One streaming service -- featuring all of Fox's news, sports and entertainment content, as well as local channels -- will launch Aug. 21 and cost $19.99 a month or $199.99 annually.

Disney's ESPN is buying the NFL Network and other NFL media assets, including its linear RedZone Channel and NFL Fantasy, in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN, the NFL said Tuesday night. The pro football league said the deal will make NFL programming available on ESPN's upcoming streaming service while it also remains on MVPDs and other streaming platforms.

Disney will integrate Hulu into its Disney+ streaming service and create "a unified app experience" of entertainment, news and sports, CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday. Speaking to analysts as he announced the company's Q2 financial results, Iger said the integration into Disney+ will happen in 2026. Disney acquired Comcast's share in the streaming joint venture last month (see 2506090058). It ended its most recent quarter with 127.8 million Disney+ subscribers and 55.5 million Hulu subscribers worldwide. Disney's ESPN has also reached a deal to buy the NFL Network and other NFL media assets (see 2508060006).