Mediagazer: An interview with SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin on 2026 AMPTP talks, the Jimmy Kimmel suspension, Tilly Norwood AI controversy, the microdrama boom, and more (Cynthia Littleton/Variety)

4:15 AM ET, November 7, 2025

Top News:

Sources: Comcast has hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to evaluate a prospective offer for Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming businesses — Comcast has retained financial advisors and gained access to financial information as it explores a bid for Warner Bros Discovery's …

Discussion: Financial Times, The Guardian, Proactive, The Wrap, Variety, Awful Announcing and Deadline

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

WBD reports Q3 revenue down 6% YoY to $9B, a $148M net loss, $1.2B in debt repayment, streaming subscribers up 16% YoY to 128M, and $2.63B in streaming revenue — The company's streaming business was essentially flat year over year as subs stand at 128 million.

Discussion: Variety, Sports Business Journal, Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal, Streaming Better, The Wrap and Reuters

Max Tani / Semafor:

Sources: Condé Nast fired four staffers who were among a group of over a dozen that confronted its HR head over the Teen Vogue closure and other recent cuts — The Scoop — Condé Nast abruptly fired four staffers who were among a group of more than a dozen employees …

Juby Babu / Reuters:

News Corp reports Q1 revenue up 2% YoY to $2.14B, above $2.1B est., Dow Jones revenue up 6% to $586M, and News Media with “strong improvement in profitability” — Media conglomerate News Corp (NWSA.O) beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue on Thursday …

Discussion: MediaPost, Yahoo Finance, New York Post, Crikey, Mumbrella, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, News Corp and Capital Brief

Jeff Horwitz / Reuters:

Docs: Meta projected in December 2024 that 10.1% of its 2024 revenue, or $16B, came from ads for scams and banned goods, including ~$7B from “higher risk” ads — Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by Reuters show.

Discussion: MediaNama, The Wrap, Tech in Asia, AdExchanger, The Overspill, Reuters, NDTV Profit, @mulvihill79, @occrp, The Daily Beast, @jason_kint, @lmatsakis.bsky.social, @jamesw228.bsky.social, @agmacdougall, @cernovich, @girlsreallyrule, @jonathancohn.bsky.social, @jason_kint, WebProNews, eMarketer, @jason_kint, Platformer, @kyle_a_morse, Breitbart, @dylanreeve.com, TechCrunch, Ken Palla on LinkedIn, @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social, @thezedwards.bsky.social, Social Media Today, WeRSM, Ars Technica, CNBC, Engadget, @jvl.org.uk, @briankrebs@infosec.exchange, BonTech Labs, @rtushnet.bsky.social, Ukrainian National News, Forbes, Mashable, @jonkeegan.com, Sherwood News, Sherwood News, The Information, @mxbernhard.bsky.social, @joshsternberg.com, @chopaganda.bsky.social, @karlbode.com, @mattbrown.bsky.social, @shiraovide.bsky.social, @whotargets.me, @petertl.bsky.social and Morningstar, more at Techmeme »

Craig Silverman / Wired:
A look at CollectiveMetrics.org, a new nonprofit founded by two ex-Meta ad executives that aims to bring more transparency to digital advertising to fight scams

Discussion: Moneycontrol, Ben Colman on LinkedIn, Modern Diplomacy, The Keyword, @psst-org.bsky.social and @wired.com

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

An interview with SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin on 2026 AMPTP talks, the Jimmy Kimmel suspension, Tilly Norwood AI controversy, the microdrama boom, and more — Veteran actor sounds the alarm on the unchecked spread of generative AI content: ‘We need to protect our very dignity, our humanness’

Blake Brittain / Reuters:

The owner of the Entrepreneur magazine sues Meta in California federal court, alleging the company used “at least hundreds” of its works to train AI models — The owner of business magazine Entrepreneur sued Meta Platforms (META.O) in California federal court on Thursday …

Ja'han Jones / MSNBC:

USAGM Acting CEO Kari Lake plans to shut down Szabad Europa, RFE/RL's Hungarian service, for programming that has “undermined” Trump policy by opposing PM Orban — The de facto head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media says she's shutting down the Hungarian branch of Radio Free Europe because it opposed Orban.

Discussion: @conradsonjordan, The European Conservative, @karilake, @newsguy.bsky.social, @skylinereport, @thedesk.net, @karilake, NewsMax.com, Politico, @karilake and Breitbart

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:

Lionsgate reports Q2 revenue down 21% YoY to $475.1M, net loss of $113.5M, vs. $163.3M a year earlier, $276.4M in motion picture revenue, $198.7M in TV revenue — The Hollywood major released its latest financial results as a standalone film and TV studios company after splitting from its Starz streaming platform.

Discussion: TheDesk.net, Variety, The Wrap, Deadline, Lionsgate Studios and Media Play News

Tony Maglio / The Hollywood Reporter:

ESPN announces DraftKings as the new sports betting partner for ESPN Bet, effective December 1 with a “full rollout expected in 2026” — That was a short-lived exit. — Remember when ESPN was exiting the online sports-betting business an hour ago? Not anymore.

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Disney and Penn Entertainment agree to end ESPN Bet on December 1, after failing to capture significant market share; they signed a 10-year, $2B deal in 2023

Discussion: Defector, ESPN Press Room U.S., Barrett Media, Sports Business Journal, Cord Cutters News, Front Office Sports, Awful Announcing, PennLive, Dow Jones Newswires, Wall Street Journal, TVNewsCheck, @jeremydstanley.com, CNBC, Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Meta launches Vibes, its short-form video feed of AI-generated videos, in Europe through the Meta AI app, following its US debut six weeks earlier — Meta announced on Thursday that Vibes, its short-form video feed of AI-generated videos, is launching in Europe in the Meta AI app.

Discussion: Meta Newsroom, WinBuzzer and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Lawrence Bonk / Engadget:

Amazon is testing an AI tool called Kindle Translate that automatically translates books into other languages, for authors that self-publish on the platform — This is being advertised as a boon for authors who publish directly on the platform. … The appropriately-named Kindle Translate …

Discussion: About Amazon, Unite.AI, Neowin, TechCrunch and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:

Madison & Wall: US ad spending is expected to grow 8.5% this year to $435.22B and Meta, Google, and Amazon are projected to account for 56% of the US ad market — An increase in targeted ads helps fuel revenue growth, easing some concern about the technology — Big tech is spending big on artificial intelligence.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck

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More News:

C.J. Robinson / Columbia Journalism Review:
Tow Center identifies eight X bot accounts that use X's AI Note Writer API to write between 5% to 10% of the Community Notes visible to the public each day

Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:
A survey of 3,000 people in six countries: streaming viewers average 14 minutes looking for content to watch; 45% say the market is oversaturated with streamers

Discussion: Gracenote, The Verge, MediaBrief, nScreenMedia, Dexerto and TV Tech

Erik Torenberg / a16z:
a16z announces an eight-week new media fellowship for people with a record of creating “impactful content” via newsletters, podcasts, communities, and more

Discussion: @eriktorenberg, @eriktorenberg, @shanley.com, @amyalexca.bsky.social and @carlivelocci.com, more at Techmeme »

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nexstar reports Q3 revenue down 12.3% YoY to $1.19B and net income down 64% to $65M as ad revenue fell 23.5% to $476M due to lower political ad revenue

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, TheDesk.net, Deadline, The Wrap, Radio & Television …, Barrett Media, TVNewsCheck, Variety and Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Sky News:
Investigation: X amplifies right-wing and extreme political content in the UK, as Elon Musk endorses fringe politicians and encourages nationalist sentiment

Discussion: @peternimmo.bsky.social, @lencombs.bsky.social, Kaitlin Tosh on LinkedIn, @reijer.bsky.social, @peterstefanovi2, @greenpeteru, @allrightidiots, @chrislawsnp, @labourlewis, @skynews, @alonso_gd, @streettough, @supertanskiii, @jonburkeuk, @narindertweets, @eloquence@social.coop, @editkev.football, @alxrchrds.bsky.social, @gillmartin.bsky.social, @j4ck.xyz, WinBuzzer, Jörg Tittel on LinkedIn, @lorak.bsky.social, @Fife4Europe@mastodon.scot, @caroleducky.bsky.social, @bournemouth4eu.bsky.social, @ianbetteridge.com, @geomannie@mastodon.scot, @badassmutha.bsky.social, @jonathancohn.bsky.social, @altrocks.bsky.social, @stevemnomoremister …, @doctoryak.bsky.social, @pickardje.bsky.social, @drjennings.bsky.social, @mrjamesob.bsky.social, @johnnyryan@eupolicy.social, @pre@boing.world, @Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt, @ottoenglish.bsky.social, @iandunt.bsky.social and @felicityhannah.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Cable company Altice changes its name to Optimum Communications and will change its NYSE ticker symbol to OPTU on November 19

Discussion: Advanced Television, Fierce Network, TheDesk.net, The Wrap, @chronotope.aramzs.xyz, Variety and Cord Cutters News

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon signs a deal that gives its DSP access to iHeartMedia's streaming music and livestream radio now and to its podcasts and broadcast radio stations in 2026

Discussion: Radio & Television …, Zachary Claudio on LinkedIn, John Karpinski on LinkedIn, Barrett Media, Inside Radio and MediaPost

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

Discussion: Telegraph and City A.M.

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

Discussion: Elle, The A.V. Club and Daily Mail

From Techmeme:

Hyunjoo Jin / Reuters:
Samsung co-CEO TM Roh says the company rolled out Gemini AI features to ~400M mobile devices so far and aims to hit 800M in 2026; Samsung's stock jumps 5%+

Satya Nadella / sn scratchpad:
Satya Nadella says the tech industry needs to move past “slop vs sophistication” arguments and view AI as a “cognitive amplifier”, not a human substitute

Stephen Foley / Financial Times:
PwC US Senior Partner Paul Griggs says PwC decided to “lean in” to crypto work after years of taking a more cautious stance, following Trump's crypto embrace

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