Top News:
Richard Rushfield / The Ankler:
Analysis: in 2025, only 17% of North America's top 100 highest-grossing films were directed by non-white filmmakers, down from 27% in 2021 and 24% in 2023 — How to chase away our future, one complacent decision at a time — Last week, I had the whim to take a look and see where things stood for female directors in Hollywood.
Discussion:
Variety, People, Daily Mail, The A.V. Club and Deadline
Bloomberg:
Snap announces a deal to distribute Perplexity's search engine to Snapchat users; Perplexity will pay Snap $400M through a combination of cash and equity — Snap Inc. shares surged more than 25% in extended trading after the company announced a $400 million partnership with Perplexity AI Inc …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Forbes, Digital Trends, Blockonomi, Reuters, Neowin, Benzinga, NextBigWhat, The Indian Express, Moneycontrol, BMI, Social Media Today, The Information, Financial Times, Digit, Deadline, Business Insider, Silicon Republic, Search Engine Journal, SiliconANGLE, @shiraovide.bsky.social, Wall Street Journal, Snap Inc., The Hollywood Reporter, Engadget and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Ben Mullin / @benmullin:
Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei announces cuts affecting 19 people on its product, tech and design teams — Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei announces cuts affecting 19 individuals on the product, tech and design teams, per note. “This is a difficult, but necessary, move to meet our evolving tech strategy.”
Discussion:
The Wrap and @ellenychang
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: WBD is exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible split or sale of the entire company, with a public decision expected by Christmas — Paramount Skydance has a clear holiday wish this year: acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery. Fittingly, it may have to wait until Christmas to find out if Santa Zaslav delivers.
Discussion:
TVBEurope, @sherman4949, Sports Media Watch, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, TheDesk.net and Media Play News
Flora Garamvolgyi / The Guardian:
Hungarian journalists raise concerns after a pro-Orbán media group bought Blikk, the country's most-read tabloid with ~3M online readers per month, from Ringier — Blikk, a tabloid with about 3 million online monthly readers, bought by pro-Orbán media group Indamedia
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Sources: RedBird Capital taps Apollo to provide the debt for its £500M Telegraph takeover, ahead of a UK decision over whether to refer the deal to Ofcom — US buyer secures funding ahead of government decision on referring takeover to regulators — RedBird Capital Partners has lined …
Discussion:
City A.M.
Alex Simon / SFGATE:
Apple's MLS broadcasts stand out for their graphics, on-site crews, and global audience focus, as one Apple exec says sports viewing currently “kind of sucks” — How Apple's deal with Major League Soccer is changing the sports television game — As the first company to hit …
Discussion:
San Diego Union-Tribune
Scharon Harding / Ars Technica:
As Google's YouTube TV and Disney continue a contract dispute, customers have lost some access to DVR files and digital movie purchases via Movies Anywhere — In addition to reducing access to popular live content, the corporate conflict is highlighting another frustration in the streaming era.
Discussion:
Android Authority, Android Police, The Verge, 9to5Google and nScreenMedia
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Sinclair reports Q3 revenue down 16% YoY to $773M and $1M net loss, vs. a $94M net income YoY; CEO Chris Ripley calls Disney-Google dispute an “antitrust issue” — Company's ABC affiliates had boycotted ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ in September over host's Charlie Kirk comments
Oliver Darcy / Status:
McClatchy is eliminating its real-time national news operation, closing its Washington bureau, and withdrawing from the White House press pool — The calendar invite was vague, referring only in general terms to a restructuring update. The team wasn't too taken aback by it; they knew change was coming.
Discussion:
@steventdennis, @steventdennis, @andrwfhenderson, @will_doran, @steventdennis, @steventdennis, @steventdennis, @dani__battaglia, @will_doran, @jenns_stories, American Crisis, Facebook Groups, @dabenner.bsky.social, @hammbear2024.bsky.social, @damon.kiesow.net, @bryancurtis.bsky.social, @dewline.bsky.social, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, Media Nation, @paulguinnessy.bsky.social, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, Paramount Press Express, The Christian Post and r/Journalism
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix rolls out a new ad metric called monthly active viewers, or MAV, and says it has 190M such viewers across the 12 countries where it offers an ad tier — The streamer is rolling out a stat it calls monthly active viewers. — Netflix is rolling out a new advertising metric …
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
ITV reports January-September 2025 revenue up 2% YoY to £2.8B and digital ad revenue up 15% YoY, but warns the late UK Budget is causing advertiser pullback — UK broadcaster says uncertain economic outlook causing widespread caution — UK broadcaster ITV has warned of a sharp drop …
Discussion:
Telegraph, The Independent, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and campaignlive.co.uk
Alex Heath / Sources:
Inside Kalshi's NYC HQ on election night, as it handled ~$100M in mayoral race trades that day, calling it for Zohran Mamdani 36 minutes before any media outlet — Election night at Kalshi HQ Inside Kalshi's quiet Manhattan office on election night, co-founder Tarek Mansour showed …
Discussion:
Fortune and @alexeheath.com
