Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Sources: Comcast, Netflix, and Paramount submitted second-round WBD bids on December 1; Paramount's includes financing from Apollo and Middle East wealth funds — Netflix reportedly made a mostly cash bid for the Warner Bros. streaming and studios entity; Comcast is also in the mix
Discussion:
The A.V. Club, Digiday, Mediaweek, TVBEurope, Los Angeles Times, Sports Media Watch, Screen, The Wrap, Yahoo Finance, Cord Cutters News, The American Bazaar, Wall Street Journal, @nitishpahwa.com, The Hollywood Reporter, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, The Streamable, Sports Business Journal, Blockonomi, Broadband TV News, Advanced Television, Proactiveinvestors UK, NewsMax.com, Awful Announcing, Screen Rant, Mercury News and Benzinga
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Charles Gasparino / New York Post:
Sources: if Netflix wins the auction for WBD, Paramount plans to go directly to WBD shareholders to argue that Netflix's bid would face regulatory issues — If Warner Bros. Discovery is leaning toward Netflix's offer in the high stakes race for the company's assets, rival bidder Paramount Skydance has a …
David Bauder / Associated Press:
The Pentagon denied the AP and others access to a few news briefings, claiming they're orientation events for the new press corps, which now includes Matt Gaetz — Outlets that reach millions of news consumers are being denied access to rare briefings by Pentagon officials this week …
Discussion:
Washington Post, @lauraloomer, @drewharwell.com, Defense News, @pbump.com, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, @scottnover.bsky.social, New York Times, @phildstewart, @seth_hettena, Bloomberg, @premthakker.bsky.social, The List, Mediaite, @swin24.bsky.social, @kenwhite.bsky.social, The Hill, @browneyedsusan.bsky.social, Alternet.org, Mirror US, @atrupar.com, @atnj.org, Joe.My.God., @quakerorts.bsky.social and IJR
Angus Whitley / Bloomberg:
YouTube says it will comply with Australia's social media ban for under-16s, after rejecting its inclusion in the crackdown and calling the regulation “rushed” — YouTube is taking steps to comply with Australia's upcoming under-16s social media ban, even after rejecting …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Economic Times, BBC, Tech in Asia, Reuters, Crikey, 9News, Al Jazeera, iTnews and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Former Paramount streaming exec Jeff Shultz is named CEO of Radial Entertainment, which was formed last summer from the merger of FilmRise and Shout! Studios — Paramount Global alum Jeff Shultz is taking the helm of Radial Entertainment, the recently formed entertainment company encompassing FilmRise and Shout!
Discussion:
TheDesk.net, Jeff Shultz on LinkedIn, StreamTV Insider, TVNewsCheck, Media Play News, Deadline, The Wrap and Realscreen
Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
A profile of India-based sports website Essentially Sports, founded in a college dorm in 2014 and now reaching 30M monthly readers and $8M+ in annual turnover — India-based sports news website Essentially Sports has scaled to 30 million unique users a month, after being founded in a college dorm room in 2014.
Samantha Cole / 404 Media:
Half of US states now require users to upload IDs or biometric data to access pornographic content, as Missouri became the 25th state to enact such a law — Missouri's age verification law, enacted on November 30, is the halfway mark for the sweep of age verification laws across the country.
Discussion:
MediaNama, Gamereactor UK, KSDK-TV, MacTech.com, Biometric Update and TechRadar, more at Techmeme »
Sara Fischer / Axios:
CNN partners with Kalshi to use its real-time prediction data in TV, digital, and social channel reporting, on-air data tickers, analysis, and fact-checking — CNN has stuck a partnership with Kalshi, the world's largest global prediction market company, bringing Kalshi's data …
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
YouTube launches Recap, which lets users review their most notable video habits over the past year, in the US on desktop and mobile, arriving globally next week — The new annual insights feature lets you review your top channels, interests, and other viewing habits.
Discussion:
Deadline, YouTube Official Blog, The Hindu, BMI, Digital Music News, GSMArena.com, Android Authority, Business Standard, Tech Times, NDTV Profit, NPR, PCMag, KHOU-TV, iPhone in Canada, DNYUZ, Dexerto, Thurrott, Search Engine Journal, Chrome Unboxed, TechCrunch, Pocket-lint, MacRumors, MakeUseOf, Destructoid, Android Police, WeRSM, 9to5Google, TechRadar, CNET, Variety, The Keyword and YouTube, more at Techmeme »
Zac Ntim / Deadline:
Netflix says Southeast Asian content on the platform grew nearly 50% from 2023 to 2024 and 40+ Southeast Asian titles were in its Global Top 10 in 2025 — Netflix has said global viewership of Southeast Asian content on its platform grew by nearly 50% from 2023 to 2024.
Discussion:
Variety
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Google is conducting a small test for some Discover users, replacing original news headlines with short AI-generated ones that are sometimes misleading or inane — Google tells us it's a “small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users”. … If we wrote those misleading headlines …
Sam Gutelle / Tubefilter:
Acast, with Little Dot Studios, is launching a UK-based program to boost ad opportunities for podcasters on YouTube; a beta version launches in January — In the US, podcast ad revenue is projected to soar to $2.5 billion this year. Meanwhile, across the pond, podcaster fortunes are improving as well …
Discussion:
Journalism.co.uk, Acast, Podnews and Advanced Television

