Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
The Onion, backed by some Sandy Hook families and Everytown for Gun Safety, buys Infowars in a bankruptcy auction, and plans a January 2025 relaunch as a parody — The satirical news site planned to turn Infowars into a parody of itself, mocking “weird internet personalities” who peddle conspiracy theories and health supplements.
Discussion:
The Onion, Washington Post, Fox Business, Benzinga, Mediaite, The Ankler, NPR, Fast Company, Politico, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, CNBC, TVNewsCheck, Business Insider, New Republic, Le Monde, The Hill, David Wyatt on LinkedIn, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Guardian, CNN, @everytown@threads.net, The Desk, Engadget, Axios, @bencollins.bsky.social, To the Contrary, Block Club Chicago, The Present Age, Raw Story, Status, The Wrap, @maxwelltani, I guess this is a …, Mashable, @oneunderscore__, Variety, OMG.BLOG, Fortune, Newser, The Information, HuffPost, Houston Public Media, Breitbart, UPI, Plain Dealer, Bloomberg, Mother Jones, Financial Times, The Verge, Washington Examiner, RedState, USA Today, @oneunderscore__, The Hollywood Reporter, Laurel Pinson on LinkedIn, Boing Boing, Law & Crime, @zimbalist, @semaforben, @yonetteajoseph@threads.net, Alternet.org, @hadas_gold, @jamesrbuk, 6abc, @bencollins.bsky.social, @colbyhall, @benmullin, @sherman4949, @jamesrbuk, Digby's Hullabaloo, @bencollins.bsky.social, Laura Seaton on LinkedIn, @oneunderscore__, @daithaigilbert, @pkafka, @brianstelter, @claireatki, @bencollins.bsky.social, @sherman4949, @mick@cosocial.ca, Hollywood Life, The Daily Caller, @willguyatt, @pbump, @bencollins.bsky.social, @brianstelter, One America News Network, @theonion, ZeroHedge News, @laurenthomanwrites …, Rolling Stone, CBS News, The Gateway Pundit, RTÉ, Barrett Media, Deadline, Daring Fireball, Not the Bee, NBC News, New York Daily News, Consequence, Forbes, The National Pulse, AV Club, Daily Kos, Austin American-Statesman, Press Herald, Crooks and Liars, UnHerd and WHEC.com
The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney expects to spend $24B on content in 2025, up from $23.4B in 2024, due to sports programming expenses rising after NFL rate increases and NBA contracts — Rate hikes at the NFL and NBA may mean that sports drive the slight spending increase, with the company reporting $23.4 billion for this past year.
Discussion:
@philthepill.bsky.social
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Jennifer Maas / Variety:
In Q4, Disney added 4.4M Disney+ Core paid subscribers, reaching 120M in total, Disney+ Hotstar subscribers rose 1% YoY to 35.9M, and Hulu subscribers hit 52M — Disney ended its 2024 fiscal year with 122.7 million Disney+ Core paid subscribers, an increase of 4.4 million subs …
Discussion:
Advanced Television and IndieWire
Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:
Disney reports Q4 revenue up 6% YoY to $22.6B, TV network revenue down 6% YoY to $2.5B, and a $321M DTC streaming profit, up from a $387M loss in Q4 2023 — Streaming profit and studio are bright spots, while income from cable and theme parks declines — Disney's streaming business …
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Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Reliance and Disney complete their $8.5B Indian media merger, creating India's largest media group with $3.1B in annual revenue and 50M+ streaming subscribers
Discussion:
Financial Times, Times of India, The Wrap, Reuters, Deadline, Hindustan Times, The Hollywood Reporter and YourStory.com
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
In its Q4 report, Disney, which rarely offers guidance, shares growth expectations to 2027, including a ~$700M operating profit in DTC streaming in 2025
Discussion:
Orange County Register, Front Office Sports, Benzinga, Yahoo Finance, Financial Times, WHEC.com, @brianstelter and WORLD SCREEN
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Disney said Disney+ Q4 ARPU in the US and Canada, down 1% QoQ to $7.70, was affected partly by new wholesale arrangements with some distributors — The Walt Disney Company's recent distribution agreements with Charter Communications and DirecTV impacted a key metric that analysts …
Discussion:
StreamTV Insider, The Verge, The Streamable and Cord Cutters News
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Disney plans to add an ESPN “tile” to Disney+ for US subscribers on December 4, giving users access to some free ESPN content — Disney has called its next streaming blitz: In a few weeks, Disney+ will add an ESPN “tile” to the streaming service — and the company will include …
Discussion:
AdExchanger, Awful Announcing, Tv Technology, @sherman4949, Deadline and Barrett Media
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google plans to stop showing political ads to users in the EU in 2025 due to uncertainties around new transparency rules coming into effect in October 2025 — Google has announced it will stop showing political ads to users in the European Union next year due to uncertainties around the bloc's new transparency regulations.
Discussion:
The Keyword and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
CEOs at Nexstar, Sinclair, and Tegna, plus some analysts, say they expect deregulation and consolidation in the broadcast TV industry under Trump's FCC — Flush with political ad dollars and anticipating a deal-friendly environment, moguls are eyeing big moves to roll up lucrative local broadcasters.
Discussion:
Patrick Caligiuri on LinkedIn, @mediaevan and @WarnerCrocker@mastodon.social
Janko Roettgers / Lowpass:
Proposed Trump tariffs on consumer electronics imports may raise prices for TVs and streaming devices, causing a drop in sign-ups for Netflix and other services — Also: Binging goes global — In partnership with … With Donald Trump set to return to the White House in January …
Discussion:
Janko Roettgers on LinkedIn, The Japan News and Modern Retail
Wall Street Journal:
X names former Tubi CFO Mahmoud Reza Banki as its CFO; Trump pardoned Banki in January 2021 for making false statements; a source says he joined X in November — Mahmoud Reza Banki, former Tubi finance chief, joins platform amid financial challenges — Elon Musk's X Corp. named Mahmoud …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Fortune, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
A look at “blind box livestreaming”, an e-commerce trend in China that has become an entertaining and, some users and experts said, addictive pastime — How many plastic trinkets would you end up with? The game keeps many addicted, buyers and spectators alike.
Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
The EU fines Meta €797.72M for tying Facebook Marketplace to Facebook and “imposing unfair trading conditions” on rival websites, the first such fine for Meta — Facebook is undermining rivals by ‘tying’ its free Marketplace services with the social network, Brussels says
Discussion:
Reuters, Benzinga, European Commission, Meta, TechCrunch, The Mirror, The Information, Al Jazeera, Engadget, City A.M., The Times, New York Times, Times of India, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Bloomberg, @metanewsemea, Türkiye Today, WinBuzzer, Irish Independent, The Independent, Politico, Washington Examiner, Business Insider and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
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