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, Bloomberg, Benzinga, Financial Times, @brianstelter, The Information, CNBC, @great_katzby, @amolsharma.bsky.social, The Desk, Reuters, Matthew Keys on LinkedIn, NBC News, Dan Rayburn on LinkedIn, @sallyshin, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Variety, @asharma, @tvgrimreaper, @asharma, CNN, Awful Announcing, @amolsharma.bsky.social, Cord Cutters News, The Hollywood Reporter, Status, @asharma, Deadline, Business Insider, The Hill, Ad Age, Media Play News and TVNewsCheck
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 …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Bluesky says it now has 20M+ users after hitting 15M on November 13, and the app has been #1 in the US App Store since November 13, per Appfigures — 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, @randfish.bsky.social, @jaz.bsky.social, @bryanruby.com, @Tibor@mastodon.social, Washington Times, @gordonshorten.bsky.social, @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social, @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social, @lif3asmaj.bsky.social, @tkaz99.bsky.social, @willoremus@threads.net, @mosseri@threads.net, @aarnegranlund.bsky.social, @henrymance.bsky.social, @timboard.bsky.social, @nachristakis.bsky.social, @evankirstel.bsky.social, @johnspurlock.com, @conorsen.bsky.social, @jay.bsky.team, @o.simardcasanova.net, @keithedwards.bsky.social, @oremus.bsky.social, theJasmineBRAND, @paleofuture.bsky.social, The Irish Times, Business Insider and Forbes, more at Techmeme »
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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
Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:
A profile of The Green Line, a Toronto-based local news site that combines traditional reporting, community events, and solutions and action — The Green Line combines events, explainers, and solutions to appeal to young Torontonians. — Toronto-based local news site The Green Line …
Discussion:
@carolynjack, @tassosmorfis and @niemanlab
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, The Daily Beast, Bloomberg, New York Post, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, TVNewsCheck and Radio & Television …
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.
Amanda Gerut / Fortune:
A Brooklyn federal grand jury indicts two brothers over allegedly running illegal sports streaming service 247TVStream, offering live NFL, NBA, and NHL games — “Thanks to the work of our prosecutors, along with our domestic and international law enforcement partners, the illicit digital streaming site …
Discussion:
US Department of Justice
Sean Burch / The Wrap:
Statement: Jay Penske says The Hollywood Reporter has replaced co-EIC Nekesa Mumbi Moody with Shirley Halperin, following staff cuts in June and August 2024 — 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
RELATED:
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
Discussion:
NPR, Newser, Raw Story, The Desk, @benmullin, Austin American-Statesman, @passantino@threads.net, CNN, Bloomberg Law, Associated Press, Reuters and New Republic
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Trump Media now has a ~$7B market cap despite struggling to build a profitable revenue stream; Similarweb says site visits fell 20% MoM to 10M in October 2024 — Trump Media & Technology Group's revenue and share price have sagged as its losses have piled up.
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
ProRata.ai agrees licensing deals with Daily Mail-owner DMG Media, the Guardian, Sky News, and others; sources say DMG bought a stake that values it at ~$130M — Groups including Guardian and Daily Mail agree licensing deals to ensure payment for content — ProRata.ai, a US artificial …
Discussion:
Press Gazette and @davidgrayrhodes
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:
@devinmadson.bsky.social, Michael Eisenberg on LinkedIn, Oren Zeev on LinkedIn and Spines
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