Top News:
Jeremy Barr / The Guardian:
Smartmatic v. Fox News: a Smartmatic lawyer says Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch authorized a plan for Fox News to embrace Trump's 2020 claims to win back viewers — In key hearing in defamation case, Fox counters that network simply covered allegations by Trump associates
Discussion:
NPR, TVNewsCheck and The Wrap
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Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Smartmatic and Fox News ask a judge to rule in their favor in a $2.7B defamation case over Fox's 2020 election claims; a ruling is expected in the coming weeks — The case centers on false vote-rigging claims broadcast by Fox News during the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
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 …
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Bloomberg:
Sources: Comcast is looking to merge NBCUniversal, including NBC TV, studios, and theme parks, with WBD, whose shareholders would get cash and stock
Discussion:
The Wrap, Awful Announcing, The Movie Blog, The Ringer and Deadline
Reuters:
Sources: in talks with WBD, Netflix said a combination of its streaming service with HBO Max would benefit consumers by lowering the cost of a bundled offering
Discussion:
Digital Trends, New York Post and World of Reel
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
Discussion:
The A.V. Club, Mediaweek, Digiday, Screen, TVBEurope, Los Angeles Times, Sports Media Watch, The Wrap, Yahoo Finance, Cord Cutters News, The American Bazaar, The Hollywood Reporter, @nitishpahwa.com, Axios, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, The Streamable, Decode TV, Sports Business Journal, Blockonomi, Broadband TV News, Advanced Television, Proactiveinvestors UK, Wall Street Journal, NewsMax.com, Awful Announcing, Bloomberg and Screen Rant
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Economist reports revenue up 4% YoY to £170.3M in the six months to September 2025 and pre-tax profit up 28% YoY to £19.7M; a 27% stake is up for sale — Expressions of interest being gathered for Rothschild family 27% stake in The Economist.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News
Antonio Ferme / Variety:
A US federal trial of Carl Rinsch, accused of swindling Netflix out of millions when making sci-fi series White Horse, begins with an ex-Netflix exec testifying — “Our objective today is to figure out the nature of this project and what we must do to contain it.”
Discussion:
Business Insider
Tony Maglio / The Hollywood Reporter:
HBO Max's 4K Mad Men re-release had multiple errors, including lacking post-production edits in some scenes; a source says Lionsgate delivered the wrong 4K file — But the best one definitely did. … The 4K stream of the classic Lionsgate Television series for AMC Network came to HBO Max on Monday …
Discussion:
@bigrackspart7, @discussingfilm, GameSpot, @matthewsitman, @coreyatad, @uncle_june, @tvaziri, @thedougfiles, @benjamincrew1, @ign, @brandyljensen, @ditzkoff, @srirachachau, @seantwonames, @coopercooperco, @jamesdreamin, @madmenqts, @gentledoofus, New York Post, Wired, Daring Fireball, FXRant, Mirror US, Variety, The A.V. Club, Ars Technica, Deadline, Entertainment Weekly, The Verge, IndieWire, Rolling Stone, Gizmodo, The Daily Dot, Pixel Envy, TV Insider, Decider and Just Jared, more at Techmeme »
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.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify releases Wrapped 2025, adding features like Wrapped Party, its first live interactive experience, a Top Song Quiz, Listening Age, and Wrapped Clubs — Spotify Wrapped is back. After last year's widely criticized flop that included an AI podcast as its highlight …
Discussion:
Adweek, KSDK-TV, TechRadar, T3, Tom's Guide, MobileSyrup, Associated Press, Metro.co.uk, Business Insider, Android Authority, The Verge, Mashable, 9to5Mac, StyleCaster, iPhone in Canada, Spotify and Destructoid, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify unveils 2025's top 50 most popular US podcasts, led by The Joe Rogan Experience for the fifth consecutive year; 24 of the top 50 now offer video content — Almost half of the most-listened to 50 shows now have video available on Spotify — Spotify, as part of the annual Spotify …
Discussion:
Deadline, @iheartnoise.bsky.social, @teroterotero and Inc.com, more at Techmeme »
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:
Information Age, Associated Press, BBC, WinBuzzer, The Economic Times, Reuters, Tech in Asia, Crikey, 9News, iTnews, Al Jazeera and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
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 — As of this week, half of the states in the U.S. are under restrictive age verification laws that require adults to hand over their biometric …
Ellise Shafer / Variety:
HBO Max plans to launch in six European countries, including Italy and Germany, on January 13, leaving only the UK and Ireland left to roll out in Europe — HBO Max is coming to Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein on Jan. 13, the streamer revealed on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Decode TV, Broadband TV News and Lapresse.US
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, TVNewsCheck, Axios, @drewharwell.com, @pbump.com, @phildstewart, @seth_hettena, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, @scottnover.bsky.social, New York Times, Mediaite, Bloomberg, @premthakker.bsky.social, The List, @swin24.bsky.social, @kenwhite.bsky.social, The Hill, @browneyedsusan.bsky.social, Alternet.org, Joe.My.God., Mirror US, @atrupar.com, @atnj.org, @quakerorts.bsky.social and IJR
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