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T-Mobile + Sprint

Tim Höttges gets his merger

Moving the Market: Deutsche Telekom chief Tim Höttges and T-Mobile chief John Legere are on the verge of winning their long-sought merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, as a federal judge is expected to today rule in favor of combining the two wireless giants.

• The big picture: The deal will give Deutsche Telekom new leverage in the United States and put the U.S. wireless market under the control of just three companies: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.

• It is a blow to the group of state attorneys general who had staged an eleventh-hour effort to block the deal on antitrust grounds, arguing that the merger would raise costs for customers.

• Sprint stock surged more than 60 percent in after-hours trading; T-Mobile shares were up more than 10 percent.

Driving the deal: "T-Mobile and Sprint have long said the merger was crucial to their futures in an industry challenged by pricing wars," NYT's Ed Lee and Andrew Ross Sorkin write. "By combining with Sprint, T-Mobile has said it would be able to accelerate its development of 5G."

• "The deal is also important to Sprint, which has bled cash and subscribers in recent years. SoftBank, the Japanese conglomerate the controls Sprint, has been looking to raise cash for its newest tech investing fund."

What's next: "The parties have been notified of the imminent ruling," WSJ's Cara Lombardo and Drew FitzGerald report. "It is unclear whether the ruling could require the parties to make additional concessions beyond what they already agreed to offer the federal government."

• "Both companies have a contractual right to renegotiate their deal terms... [but] T-Mobile’s operating chief Mike Sievert, who is slated to take over as chief executive in May, said last week the company doesn’t have an interest in creating a material delay."

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Bezos' Man in Hollywood

Mike Hopkins to Amazon

Talk of Tinseltown: Sony Pictures Television chairman Mike Hopkins has been tapped to oversee Amazon’s video entertainment operations, including Amazon Studios and Prime Video, LAT's Meg James reports. The move makes him Amazon's most important man in Hollywood.

• The org chart: Hopkins will report directly to Jeff Bezos and oversee the Amazon Studios team led by Jennifer Salke. He replaces Jeffrey Blackburn, who is on a one-year sabbatical from the company.

• Hopkins was previously the chief executive of Hulu and has more than 20 years of experience in Hollywood.

The big picture: The move "signals that Amazon has decided it needs an entertainment industry veteran to make its mark in Hollywood," The Information's Priya Anand and Tom Dotan write. Amazon Studios has struggled with budget issues under Salke "and had to delay or cancel projects."

Richard Bord/Getty

Future of Television

Susan Wojcicki eyes TV subs

Big in the Bay: Susan Wojcicki has held talks with entertainment companies about offering their video subscriptions through YouTube, an product similar to Amazon Channels or Apple TV, The Information’s Jessica Toonkel and Alex Heath report.

• The plan would put YouTube in direct competition with Amazon and Apple, which already give subscribers the ability to sign up for outside services like HBO or Showtime. Facebook tested a similar idea but abandoned it.

The big picture: Such services "enhance the power of tech companies in streaming video, allowing them to play a gatekeeper role akin to that of cable operators in the traditional television world," Toonkel and Heath write.

🇺🇸 Granite State Grinder 🇺🇸

Tonight on your TV: The New Hampshire Primary. But the most important thing to watch for isn't the winner; it's how many voters turn out. Because as Vanity Fair's Peter Hamby notes in this smart new piece, Iowa's turnout was a red flag for Dems.

• What's next: MSNBC's special coverage kicks off at 6 p.m. ET. Mike Bloomberg has already won Dixville Notch!

Bill Pugliano/Getty

🇺🇸 Election 2020

Mike Bloomberg eyes Bay staff

Employees Wanted: Mike Bloomberg's campaign held a call with "hundreds of tech leaders" on Monday and "asked them to refer their most talented technical colleagues and friends to Bloomberg’s gargantuan election operation in New York," Recode's Teddy Schleifer reports.

• The big picture: "The request made plain Bloomberg’s comfort with — and, in some ways, dependence on — the Silicon Valley companies that have been persistently criticized during the 2020 Democratic primary."

• "Bloomberg’s rivals are going on the offensive against tech industry or downplaying their ties to it. But rather than minimizing his ties to Big Tech, Bloomberg is actively soliciting the industry’s help."

On the call: "Familiar faces within Bloomberg’s campaign made the pitch, including Gary Briggs, the former chief marketing officer of Facebook, and Jeff Glueck, the former CEO of Foursquare."

• "Together, Briggs and Glueck oversee Bloomberg’s digital advertising agency, called Hawkfish. Another key player in the Bloomberg’s Silicon Valley pitch: Rusty Rueff, a top fundraiser for the Obama campaign in Silicon Valley."

Market Links

• Jeff Bezos will probe Trump over JEDI award (WSJ)

• Masa Son marks first failure as Brandless folds (Protocol)

• Eileen Naughton plans to step down at Google (Fortune)

• Jack Dorsey frustrates video news publishers (Digiday)

• The Oscars hits a new ratings low: 23.6m (NYT)

Daniel Leal-Olivas/Getty

New Gigs?

BBC eyes Elisabeth Murdoch

Big in Britain: Elisabeth Murdoch, the media entrepreneur and daughter of Rupert Murdoch, has emerged as a surprise contender to run the BBC, iNews' Adam Sherwin reports. It’s unclear whether or not Murdoch is actually interested in the job, which pays £450,000.

• The big picture: Murdoch eschews the conservative politics of her fathers' news outlets and has split from her family in supporting a national licensing fee to fund the BBC. And as Sherwin notes, her appointment would help the BBC negotiate its future with Downing Street.

Other candidates, per Sherwin: "Charlotte Moore, BBC Director of Content; Jay Hunt, former head of BBC1 and Channel 4 who now leads Apple’s European TV commissioning; Alex Mahon, chief executive of Channel 4; ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall."

Cindy Ord/Getty

CBS Sports + William Hill

Sean McManus gets his book

Big with the Bettors: Sean McManus has struck a deal with William Hill to make the British bookmaker the official sports book and source of betting data for CBS Sports, the latest deal of its kind as media companies gear up for the widespread legalization of sports betting.

• CBS Sports says it has the second-largest digital sports operation in the U.S. with a monthly user base of more than 80 million. William Hill says it takes one out of every four U.S. sports bets.

The big picture: The deal comes at a time when media companies are eager to grow their audiences and capitalize on sports betting, which has grown in the U.S. since the Supreme Court overturned a ban on it in May 2018.

• Fox Corp. launched its own sports book, Fox Bet, after buying a 5 percent stake in The Stars Group.

• Both ESPN and Turner Sports have struck deals with Caesars Entertainment to develop sports gambling content.

• The Chernin Group sold Barstool Sports to Penn National Gaming, a regional gambling operator.

What's next: To date, only Fox has been willing to create an in-house sports book. Most media companies will test the waters over the next few years — with partnerships like CBS-William Hill, or content deals like ESPN and Turner — before deciding whether or not to fully jump in to the betting business.

📰 What's next: Postcard from the Sierras. NYT's Tim Arango profiles Carl Butz, the 71-year-old retiree who bought The Mountain Messenger, California’s oldest weekly newspaper, and saved it from extinction.

See you tomorrow.