Top News:
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
BBC Strictly Come Dancing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are leaving at the end of this season after 10+ years; Strictly is the BBC's biggest show — Strictly Come Dancing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are exiting at the end of this season.
Discussion:
Daily Mail, Daily Star, E! Online, Mirror, GB News, HELLO!, The Sun, RTÉ, The Guardian, closeronline.co.uk, Variety, TheJournal.ie and Just Jared
New York Times:
In a letter, David Ellison told the WBD board that Paramount was WBD's only viable suitor, as offers from bigger companies would invite regulatory scrutiny — A letter from Paramount's chief executive, David Ellison, to Warner Bros.' board of directors reveals weeks of talks between the two companies.
Discussion:
The Information, The Movie Blog, New York Post, @futurexander.bsky.social, Media Play News, Reuters, @laurenshirsch, C21Media, @brianstelter, Screen, Wall Street Journal, Puck, MacDailyNews, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, Motley Fool, Mediaweek, Variety, CNBC, The Ankler, TheStreet, The Streamable, Straight Arrow News, Euronews, France 24, Times of India, RTÉ, Deadline and Benzinga
RELATED:
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Source: WBD plans to require potential bidders to sign NDAs before it shares sensitive financial data; sources say Amazon and Apple have shown an interest
Source: WBD plans to require potential bidders to sign NDAs before it shares sensitive financial data; sources say Amazon and Apple have shown an interest
Discussion:
CNBC, BGR, Cult of Mac, iClarified, AppleInsider, New York Times, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, The Wrap, TheDesk.net and Daily Mail, more at Techmeme »
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
TelevisaUnivision reports Q3 revenue down 3% YoY to $1.3B and $90.5M net income, down from $190.3M YoY; subscription and licensing revenue rose 3% YoY to $493M — Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision said third-quarter profit declined as the company continued its efforts to streamline operations …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter
Angela Fu / Poynter:
How Chicago journalists are covering the ICE raids, a task made more difficult by the agencies' unpredictability, lack of transparency, and attacks on press — 'It's really exhausting, mentally and physically. But somebody has to record history' — Ever since federal agents arrived …
Discussion:
The Independent, HotAir, Block Club Chicago and American Prospect
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
MuckRock and Sunlight Research Center merge; Sunlight provides training, tools, and support for investigative reporting, with a focus on local news — A merger between MuckRock and Sunlight Research Center will help slimmed-down newsrooms investigate local governments, public officials, and more.
Discussion:
Brandi Grissom Swicegood on LinkedIn, MuckRock, @niemanlab.org and @sarahscire.com
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The UK's Observer signs a commercial partnership deal with AI-powered news reader Particle News, joining Time, the LAT, Fortune, and The Atlantic — The Observer has signed a commercial partnership deal with AI-powered news platform Particle News as it ramps up its digital presence as a standalone brand.
Natalie Korach / Status:
Sources: WaPo is planning newsroom cuts to the audio, sports, and metro teams, and Opinion Editor Adam O'Neal said WaPo is in “severe financial distress” — On Tuesday morning, staffers at The Washington Post received a memo from Executive Editor Matt Murray …
Seb Joseph / Digiday:
Amazon Web Services announces AWS RTB Fabric, a real-time bidding service for ad buyers and sellers, aiming to cut integration hours between ad tech partners — The ad dollars are nice but the real prize for Amazon is the infrastructure itself - the rails on which the entire system runs.
Discussion:
The Hill, Amazon Web Services, Variety, AdExchanger, TVNewsCheck and The Register
Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information:
Source: Suno hit ~$150M in ARR from subscriptions to its app, up nearly 4x YoY; it has $10 and $30 per month subscription tiers, implying 5M+ subscribers — You can count the number of breakout consumer AI applications on the fingers of one hand. There's OpenAI's ChatGPT and...that's about it, at least so far.
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Former movie executive Bill Block launches GammaTime, a microdrama platform with more than 20 shows, with $14M in seed funding — Hollywood's next big bet is small—very small. Traditional studios and startups are jumping on the microdrama bandwagon that has swept through China and is making inroads in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Discussion:
The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, The Verge, @tyleraking.com and Business Insider
Andy Robinson / Video Games Chronicle:
Press Engine: 1,200+ video game journalists left the industry in the past two years; including amateur, part-time, and freelance writers, 4,000+ left since 2023 — ACCORDING TO PRESS ENGINE DATA, THE GLOBAL POOL OF GAMES JOURNALISTS HAS SHRUNK BY 25% — More than 1,200 video game journalists …
Discussion:
@davecook.bsky.social, 80 Level and @andyrobinson.bsky.social
Kayla Cobb / The Wrap:
VideoShops, an affiliate retail platform that lets creators start personalized storefronts with no minimum follower count, raised a $42M seed — Abra Potkin and Nicole Winnaman are changing that — When you think of the most basic definition of an influencer — a person whose recommendations …
Discussion:
Shop My Shelf, INC. and The Business of Fashion
Najat Kantouar / Wall Street Journal:
AI creative studio Wonder Studios, backed by OpenAI and Google DeepMind execs, raised a $12M seed led by Atomico and aims to release its first content in 2026 — The funds will double the company's engineering team and accelerate a push into intellectual-property ownership and content production
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Implicator.ai, TVNewsCheck, Business Insider, Insights, Tech Funding News, Sifted, Deadline and UKTN
James Hibberd / The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix plans to release the Stranger Things S5 finale in 350 US and Canadian movie theaters at 5pm PT December 31 through January 1 despite previous statements — The streamer has confirmed that the hit show's finale will be in theaters after previously seeming to shoot down the idea …
Discussion:
Screen Rant, Variety, Rolling Stone, IGN, UPI, Spyglass, Den of Geek, Media Play News, @thespaceshipper.com and Sherwood News
