Meta has a long history of acquiring or building copycat apps and features that have ultimately failed and shuttered in less than a few years. But the unprecedented success of two of its biggest bets has regulators concerned its tactics are anticompetitive.

⚖️ Why it matters: Faced with a historic antitrust lawsuit, Meta argues its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp weren't meant to stifle smaller competitors but to help it remain relevant to users as the social media landscape evolved.

• The Federal Trade Commission disagrees but faces an uphill battle in trying to convince a federal judge that Meta should be broken up.

🏛️ State of play: In a landmark antitrust trial that began Monday in Washington, D.C., the FTC called for the unwinding of Meta's 2012 acquisition of Instagram for $1 billion, and its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp for $19 billion.

• Lawyers alleged Meta illegally used a "buy or bury" strategy to cement its social networking monopoly.
• They pointed to an email sent between CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-Facebook executives that suggested its Instagram deal wasn't just about adopting new photo features, but also stopping other apps from leapfrogging Meta while it struggled to transition from desktop to mobile.

👀 The other side: In a surprise move, Zuckerberg showed up to testify for roughly three hours on the trial's opening day.

• His main defense was that as social networking evolved, Meta needed to adopt new features to stay competitive.
• In its opening statement, Meta pointed to TikTok and YouTube's "Shorts" feature as examples of areas where it faces stiff competition.
• "It's reached a point where the vast majority of the experience is more around exploring your interests, understanding what's going on around the world, entertainment," Zuckerberg said.
• "Building a new app is hard," he said in testimony Tuesday.

Zoom out: Meta is also arguing that by revisiting both deals, which were already approved by the FTC, the government is sending a broader message to corporate America that no deal is ever final.

• The FTC argues that the social landscape has shifted significantly since it approved both deals.

💸 The big picture: There's no question that Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have helped the tech giant remain competitive over the past decade.

• Instagram is expected to make up more than half of Meta's overall U.S. revenue this year.
• With an estimated 3 billion monthly users, WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging services in the world. While it doesn't drive as much revenue today, it is expected to play a critical role in helping Meta expand to new, lucrative areas around business messaging services.

What to watch: Recent efforts by Meta to curry favor with the Trump administration haven't swayed FTC officials, sources told Axios, but that hasn't stopped the company from trying.

• Last week, Axios reported that Meta added Dina Powell McCormick, a former Trump administration official and prominent banker, to its board.

Following a breakout year in 2024, roughly a dozen publishers have introduced specialized coverage plans for women's sports.

💪 Why it matters: Once a niche topic, outlets now see women's sports as a driver of readership, revenue and growth, Axios' Kerry Flynn and I write.

The big picture: For media companies facing an increasingly competitive economic environment, women's sports have become an opportunity to expand their businesses. New investments include:

• USA Today is launching a new content vertical on women's sports called USA Today Studio IX that will feature news, multimedia content and events.
• Sports Illustrated announced last week it will host the SI Women's Games, a biennial event with athletes competing across six sports that will broadcast domestically in prime time with Scripps Sports and ION.
• Roku Channel is launching Women's Sports Now, a weekly studio show on women's sports, hosted by WNBA star Renee Montgomery and comedian Sarah Tiana.
• Bleacher Report created B/R W, a social brand focused on women's sports, on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok earlier this year.
• The Athletic and Yahoo Sports teamed up to launch a hub for women's sports coverage on Yahoo Sports' website and app, last fall.

💰 Zoom out: As viewership and attendance for women's sporting events has skyrocketed, so too has the marketing and commerce opportunities for brands.

• Ad spending on women's sports more than doubled last year, according to marketing analytics firm EDO.
• Ads aired during women's sports programs were 40% more impactful than the average primetime ad.

🎤 What's next: I'll be back moderating at the annual Business of Women's Sports Summit, hosted by Deep Blue Sport + Entertainment on April 22 in NYC.

• Use the code Sara2025 at check out for 50% off virtual tickets.

Go deeper.

ESPN and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) have until midnight to decide whether they want to sign another long-term distribution deal that would begin in 2026.

Why it matters: Without a new deal, outside parties will be allowed to start bidding for the UFC, which is one of the few major sports rights coming up for grabs this year.

• ESPN's current deal with UFC expires at the end of the year.

State of play: ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Mark Shapiro, who is president of UFC's parent company TKO, are reportedly in discussions about a deal extension, although it may not feature ESPN as UFC's sole distribution partner, Puck's John Ourand reports.

• The two sides were reportedly at odds last month over a technical glitch that impacted one of UFC's pay-per-view showings on ESPN+.

Catch up quick: ESPN struck a five-year $1.5 billion domestic broadcast deal with UFC beginning in 2019. They extended the deal for an additional two years in early 2019 to give ESPN+ exclusive pay-per-view streaming rights.

The big picture: Sports media executives and analysts have long believed UFC rights could eventually be divided among several distributors.

• ESPN and UFC could decide on a new deal that sees ESPN as one of several distributors, depending on the scope of interest from bidders.
• Netflix and Amazon have been rumored as potential bidders if UFC's exclusive deal with ESPN isn't renewed.

🎙️ What's next: I'll be discussing this and more with Ourand on his podcast, "The Varsity," out tomorrow.

Ratings for "60 Minutes on Sunday" have continued to flourish this year, as President Trump continues to rail against CBS for what he claims is unfair coverage.

📺 Why it matters: "60 Minutes" has been the top news program across cable and broadcast for the past 50 years.

• While press freedom advocates believe President Trump's rhetoric against the press has helped lead to a decline in news trust, the resilience of "60 Minutes" shows that a huge chunk of news watchers aren't swayed by Trump's attacks.

📈 By the numbers: Last week's episode, featuring a segment on Greenland and an interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, delivered a whopping 9.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings, up from its current season average of 8.47 million.

• The episode drew its biggest audience since shortly after the election on Nov. 14, 2024.
• "60 Minutes" episodes that aired between February and April this year have averaged 7.44 million viewers, per Nielsen ratings, which is down only slightly from its season average last year.

😬 The show drew ire from the president, who called on FCC chair Brendan Carr to punish CBS following the show.

• "They are not a 'News Show,' but a dishonest Political Operative simply disguised as 'News,' and must be responsible for what they have done, and are doing," Trump posted on his Truth Social account.
• "They should lose their license! Hopefully, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as headed by its Highly Respected Chairman, Brendan Carr, will impose the maximum fines and punishment, which is substantial, for their unlawful and illegal behavior. CBS is out of control, at levels never seen before, and they should pay a big price for this."

What to watch: Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS before taking office last year. CBS last month filed two motions to dismiss an amended complaint to the suit that upped alleged damages to $20 billion from $10 billion.

• The lawsuit alleges CBS engaged in "voter interference" in its editing of a "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris last year.
• Carr opened an inquiry into CBS News to evaluate whether it violated the FCC's news distortion rules when it edited the interview.
• The inquiry adds pressure to CBS, as it considers whether to settle Trump's lawsuit.

Despite several big live TV events, including the Oscars and March Madness, the percentage of TV viewing last month that went to streaming reached an all-time high, according to new figures out Tuesday from Nielsen.

Why it matters: March was an exceptionally competitive month for streaming, with new releases driving viewership gains across several services.

• For the first time last month, the 10 most-watched streaming titles were distributed by seven different platforms: Prime Video ("Reacher"), Hulu ("Family Guy"), Disney+ ("Bluey," "Moana 2"), Max ("The White Lotus"), Paramount+ ("1923"), Netflix ("Love is Blind," "Adolescence"), and Apple TV+ ("Severance"), per Nielsen.

📡 Zoom out: Overall, broadcast television continues to be more resilient compared to cable as viewership habits shift. Broadcast is accessible free with an antenna, which makes it a cheaper traditional TV alternative to cable in the streaming era.

🍿 What to watch: Netflix will report first-quarter earnings Thursday after the markets close.

• For the first time this quarter, the company will not report its subscriber figures, as it shifts focus to revenue and engagement figures.
• On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Netflix is aiming to achieve a $1 trillion market capitalization by 2030.

The White House barred an Associated Press reporter and photographer from an Oval Office press conference Monday, despite a court order last week that it must cease blocking the AP from such events beginning Monday.

❌ Why it matters: The Trump administration has indicated that it plans to appeal the ruling, but in the interim, the District Court order still stands, putting the White House in clear violation of the ruling.

⏳ State of play: The administration acknowledged the judge's order in a letter to an appeals court Monday while asking for an administrative stay to extend the period it can avoid having to abide by the ruling.

• It asked that a stay be granted until Thursday when both sides are set to deliver oral arguments in an appeals court.
• If the appeals court denies its emergency motion to extend the stay, the White House is asking for the stay to be extended "an additional seven days in order to provide the Solicitor General with an opportunity to seek relief," it wrote.
• The AP sent a letter to the appeals court in "opposition to the government's 'reiterated' request for an administrative stay."

Between the lines: Even if a stay was granted, the White House has a high bar to clear in getting a panel of three appeals court judges to rule in favor of overturning the district judge's decision.

• It would need to prove not just that it's likely to succeed on the merit of the case, but also that it's suffering irreparable harm from the ruling.

The big picture: In siding with the AP last week in its lawsuit against three Trump administration officials, U.S. district judge Trevor McFadden, who was appointed to his position by President Trump in 2017, set a new precedent for news companies covering public officials.

• His ruling stated that under the First Amendment, the government can't bar journalists from certain government events because of their viewpoints.

What to watch: The district court ruling doesn't prohibit the White House from otherwise choosing which outlets it wishes to engage with for interviews or questions at press briefings.

• The White House said last week that it will ignore reporters whose emails contain gender pronouns in the signature.
• It plans to impose its own seating chart for reporters in the briefing room in the coming weeks, Axios reported.

Rory McIlroy's dramatic win Sunday drove the highest Masters ratings since 2018, per CBS.

🏆 By the numbers: Sunday's final round drew 12.7 million viewers, up 33% from last year.

• The telecast beat Tiger Woods' surprise win at the 2019 Masters.

Why it matters: More media companies are looking to take advantage of golf's rising popularity, and the drama unfolding around the sport's plagued mega-merger.

• Pro Shop, a new media and commerce company focused on the intersection of golf and culture, raised $20 million last month from backers that include the PGA Tour.
• Good Good Golf, a golf media and lifestyle brand, raised $45 million two weeks later from a slew of heavy hitters, including Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions.

🇸🇦 What to watch: Talks to combine PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf have come to a standstill, the New York Times reports, despite hope from both parties that President Trump could help solidify a deal with the Saudis.

• While deal talks remain in limbo, events like the Masters that can bring players from both groups together, remain a commodity.