Top News:
Amol Sharma / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Comcast plans to announce Wednesday that it will be spinning off its NBCUniversal cable TV networks including MSNBC and CNBC, with Mark Lazarus as CEO — New venture will house channels like E!, USA and MSNBC; company to announce several leadership changes
Discussion:
Axios, Status, Ad Age, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Desk, Awful Announcing, Business Insider, The Hill, The Wrap, CNN, Variety, NBC News, TVNewsCheck, CNBC, Cord Cutters News, The Information, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @brianstelter, @great_katzby, @amolsharma.bsky.social, Matthew Keys on LinkedIn, Dan Rayburn on LinkedIn, @sallyshin, @asharma, @tvgrimreaper, @asharma, @amolsharma.bsky.social, @asharma and Media Play News
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
The Economist, The Week, ITV News, and others have joined Bluesky in the past week, while Politico, Semafor, Tortoise have resumed their activity on the site — A wave of news publishers have arrived on Bluesky in recent days, following audiences and journalists departing X/Twitter.
Discussion:
@johnspurlock.com
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Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Bluesky has 20M+ users after hitting 15M on November 13, and according to Appfigures, has been #1 in the US App Store since November 13 — Bluesky, the social network and X competitor has been benefiting from a surge of departures from the Elon Musk-owned app formerly known as Twitter.
Discussion:
Engadget, The Hollywood Reporter, Similarweb, @jay.bsky.team, @randfish.bsky.social, @paleofuture.bsky.social, @nachristakis.bsky.social, @conorsen.bsky.social, Washington Times, @o.simardcasanova.net, @tkaz99.bsky.social, @keithedwards.bsky.social, @Tibor@mastodon.social, @henrymance.bsky.social, @oremus.bsky.social, @evankirstel.bsky.social, @aarnegranlund.bsky.social, theJasmineBRAND, @mosseri@threads.net, @willoremus@threads.net, @timboard.bsky.social, @johnspurlock.com, @lif3asmaj.bsky.social, The Irish Times, Business Insider, Forbes and CNET, more at Techmeme »
Kanis Leung / Associated Press:
Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai testifies for the first time in his years-long national security trial; he is already serving a jail term for a fraud conviction — Former Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai began testifying Wednesday in his landmark national security trial that is widely seen …
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Brendan Carr says Trump's complaint over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris is “likely to arise” in the FCC's review of the Skydance-Paramount deal — In an interview with Fox News' America's Newsroom, Carr said, “Broadcasters are differently situated to other speakers.
Discussion:
Fox News, Bloomberg, The Daily Beast, New York Post, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, TVNewsCheck and Radio & Television …
Sean Burch / The Wrap:
In a statement, Jay Penske says The Hollywood Reporter has replaced co-EIC Nekesa Mumbi Moody with Shirley Halperin, following staff cuts in June and August — Halperin recently resigned as editor of Los Angeles Magazine — The Hollywood Reporter replaced co-editor in chief Nekesa Mumbi Moody …
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and Talking Biz News
New York Times:
Filings: The Onion's Infowars bid was $7M, including backing from Sandy Hook families and $1.75M in cash; Alex Jones-linked First United's bid was $3.5M in cash — A hearing is scheduled for Monday to review the auction process, which is being contested by a losing bidder associated with Alex Jones, the Infowars founder.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, @benmullin.bsky.social, Politico and Business Insider
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Aaron Katersky / ABC News:
Filing: Alex Jones asks a judge to halt the sale of Infowars; a company affiliated with him, which was the losing bidder, seeks to disqualify The Onion's bid
Filing: Alex Jones asks a judge to halt the sale of Infowars; a company affiliated with him, which was the losing bidder, seeks to disqualify The Onion's bid
Discussion:
The Desk, NPR, @benmullin, Raw Story, @passantino@threads.net, Austin American-Statesman, CNN, Bloomberg Law, Associated Press, Reuters and New Republic
Brian Stelter / CNN:
Sources: MSNBC's Morning Joe meeting with Trump was driven by fears of retribution from the incoming administration, including governmental and legal harassment — New York CNN — — “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski announced Monday, in dramatic fashion …
Discussion:
Deseret News, Newsweek, New York Post, @keitholbermann, Digby's Hullabaloo, @brianstelter, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @wjcarter, @mediaevan, @emmavigeland, @adamjohnsonchi, The Independent, @prettybadlefty, Trending Politics …, @brianstelter, The Guardian, @marceelias, @cherijacobus, @daveweigel, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @mattwelch, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, The Daily Beast, New Jersey Online, @jeffgoldesq, Raw Story, Adweek, Mediaite, @brendannyhan.bsky.social, Check Your Fact, @schooley.bsky.social, @timfullerton.bsky.social, The Wrap, Washington Examiner, @meidastouch.bsky.social, Variety, CNN and al.com
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spines, an AI-powered self-publishing service for book authors that provides suggestions on edits, cover design, more, raised a $16M Series A after a $6.5M seed — Generative AI has upended how we write things, or even if we write at all. Now a startup wants to be the main character …
Discussion:
Michael Eisenberg on LinkedIn, Oren Zeev on LinkedIn and Spines
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
A lawsuit against Netflix and Meta claims the two made a deal where Meta scaled back original video programming in trade for Netflix data and ad spending — The proposed class action points to Meta's streaming ambitions with Facebook Watch, whose original programming division shuttered last year.
Dave Lawler / Axios:
Trump picks TV personality and 2022 US Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — - Kennedy, Trump's pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, would be Oz's boss if both are confirmed by the Senate.
Discussion:
CNN, The Independent, PBS NewsHour, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Breitbart, Le Monde, Roll Call, Entertainment Weekly, KTVU-TV, New Republic, The Guardian, @petermorley.bsky.social, The Lever, @ronfrankl.bsky.social, Alternet.org, MM+M, Lawyers, Guns & Money, @timobrien.bsky.social, @joel_montfort@threads.net, @pnwdreadpirate.bsky.social, @BrianJopek@mastodon.world, TVNewsCheck, WHEC.com, The Wrap, @ejfagan.com, The 19th, @jakesherman, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, FierceHealthcare, NBC News, USA Today, Bloomberg, @keithboykin.bsky.social, @thedesk.net, Virginia Mercury, STAT, Raw Story, Mediaite, @davidmwessel.bsky.social, Healthcare Dive, Trending Politics …, @edburmila.bsky.social, Benzinga, CNBC, Politico, Variety, Rolling Stone, NPR, People, New York Daily News, CBS News, Protect Our Care, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post and Business Insider
Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:
Sources detail continued financial losses at WaPo, internal competition for the top newsroom job, and staff dissatisfaction with a new return-to-office policy — Even before 250,000 digital readers unsubscribed from the Washington Post in protest, the paper was on track to lose at least as much money as it lost last year: $77 million.
Discussion:
Fox News, Breitbart, @claeshs.bsky.social, @charlottetklein.bsky.social, New York Post and @nymag