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1:30 PM ET, December 8, 2025

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 Top News: 
CNBC:
Paramount launches a hostile bid to acquire WBD, offering WBD shareholders $30/share in a $108.4B all-cash deal; sources say WBD rejected the same bid last week  —  Paramount Skydance is launching a hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery after it lost out to Netflix in a months-long bidding war …
Discussion: Axios, The Guardian, TV Tech, Variety, TechCrunch, TheDesk.net, MediaPost, Deadline, Awful Announcing, Wall Street Journal, CNN, /Film, Reuters, The Streamable, NBC News, Business Insider, Fox Business, The Hill, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, UPI, Thurrott, No Film School, PCMag, @ryanenos.bsky.social, @sherman4949, Screen, @obrien_kat@mastodon.world, @brianstelter, @karlbode.com, Inc.com, Pure Xbox, Breitbart, @mikeisaac, WTTG-TV, @msignorile.bsky.social, @joecarlsonshow, Washington Times, Michael Quigley on LinkedIn, Gianna Barberia on LinkedIn, Barrett Media, Hollywood Life, Mediaite, @panda-news.bsky.social, Washington Examiner, @kcfennessy.bsky.social, @sherman4949, @sternbergh.bsky.social, @rwmead.bsky.social, Mirror US, Gizmodo, @seldo.com, @lucas_shaw, Canoe, CBS News, @rosesbloom24.bsky.social, Cord Cutters News, @newsguy.bsky.social, @renegadecut.bsky.social, The Indian Express, @robertscotthorton.bsky.social, MS NOW, @schooley.bsky.social, Engadget, @stephentotilo.bsky.social, @kristoncapps.bsky.social, @franciswilkinson.bsky.social, Anadolu Ajansı …, @lucas_shaw, @mattmcneilshow.bsky.social, Entrepreneur, KDFX-TV, France 24, Fortune, Blockchain.News, Yahoo Finance, Washington Post, The Standard, Quartz, Comic Book, Financial Times, The Information, Telegraph, Livemint, @sarafischer, @danprimack, @alaynatreene, @teroterotero, @danprimack, Straight Arrow News, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, Pulse 2.0, @edmundlee, @sherman4949, Sharecast, @sherman4949, Media Play News, @teroterotero, Sports Media Watch, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, @rabichakra.bsky.social, @sherman4949, today.rtl.lu, @markjacob.bsky.social, @brianstelter, @annmlipton@esq.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, @laurenshirsch, Business Today, The Independent, @figgityfigs.bsky.social, Far Out Magazine, MacDailyNews, WPXI-TV, The Verge, Stevivor, The Post Millennial, Just The News, World of Reel, CBC News and Jerusalem Post, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
Paramount's WBD bid is backfiring in DC; a Trump official says Paramount seems to “believe the worst possible tropes” about corruption in the administration  —  The Scene  —  Paramount's aggressive quest for Warner Bros. — which escalated into a hostile $108 billion bid …
Bloomberg:
Paramount secures up to $54B in bridge loan financing, one of the largest of its kind, from Bank of America, Citigroup, and Apollo Global for its WBD bid  —  Paramount Skydance Corp. has lined up as much as $54 billion of financing from Wall Street's biggest firms to help support …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Filing: Paramount's outside partners for its WBD bid include Saudi Arabia's PIF, Abu Dhabi's L'imad, Qatar Investment Authority, and Jared Kushner's Affinity
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Ted Sarandos met with Trump in November, arguing that Netflix wasn't a monopoly; Sarandos agreed with Trump that WBD should sell to the highest bidder  —  Netflix Inc. co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos ventured to the White House in mid-November for a meeting with President Donald Trump.
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
President Trump says Netflix's WBD deal has “got to go through a process”, its big market share “could be a problem”, and he will be involved in the decision
Financial Times:
Sources: WBD's board wanted a proposal it could sign immediately, and Netflix was the only bidder whose paperwork was fully executable the night of December 4
PodcastingToday:
Piers Morgan's Uncensored launches its first spin-off, History Uncensored, hosted by former CNN anchor Bianca Nobilo, airing weekly on YouTube and as a podcast  —  Piers Morgan Uncensored is launching its first ever spin-off series, History Uncensored, presented by former CNN anchor and reporter Bianca Nobilo.
Discussion: Variety and Barrett Media
RELATED:
Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Source: Piers Morgan's YouTube-based venture Uncensored is raising £22.5M from The Raine Group, Theo Kyriakou, and others at a £97M pre-money valuation  —  The US-based merchant bank Raine and Greek media mogul Theo Kyriakou are among the backers of the former Mirror editor …
Discussion: The Wrap and Mirror
Mike Butcher / Pathfounders:
Alexandru Stan, founder of the software marketplace Tekpon, has acquired The Next Web media and events brands from The Financial Times  —  The European tech media space has been in quite a state of flux this past year or so, to put it mildly.  Under assault, it said, from an AI-driven plumet in traffic …
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
The Academy reports fiscal 2025 revenues of $269.2M, up from $263.1M in 2024, after cutting expenses from $220.1M to $208.1M; Oscars revenue grew to $150.5M  —  “It is so important that we continue to diversify revenue streams and control expenses to allow for a sustainable and impactful future," Academy CEO Bill Kramer tells THR.
Matt Donnelly / Variety:
A look at the auction for the Oscars' TV rights, as sources say Netflix is out, NBCUniversal gains ground, and YouTube and ABC remain active bidders  —  There are eight weeks left on the holy Hollywood awards calendar until Oscar nominations are announced, and it's not just artists and craftspeople hunting for trophies.
Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:
WPP Media expects global ad revenue, excluding US political ads, to grow 8.8% YoY in 2025 to $1.14T, and says AI investment drives more spending than expected  —  A new report from WPP Media says global ad revenue will reach $1.14 trillion this year  —  Advertising spending will grow …
 
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 More News: 
Variety:
Netflix scores the most 2026 Golden Globe nominations, with 35 nominations across film and TV; Warner Bros. and HBO got a combined 31 nominations
Kerry Flynn / Axios:
Samba TV raised up to $60M in venture debt to scale through acquisitions and new AI-powered measurement tools; Samba previously raised $69M in equity funding
Discussion: TVNewsCheck
Barbara Moens / Financial Times:
The EU says Meta agreed to make changes to its “pay or consent” model in the EU, including ad-lite Instagram and Facebook versions, but “the case is not closed”
 Earlier Picks: 
Kat Tenbarge / Wired:
Some Reddit moderators say a surge of AI slop on the site is eroding its authenticity and could lead to a feedback loop of AI models training on AI content
Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
A look at Paramount's culture shift under David Ellison, where the focus is on male-driven action movies, and not on prestige films seen as critics' darlings
 

 
From Techmeme:

Chris Welch / Bloomberg:
Google says it's working to create two different categories of AI-powered smart glasses: one with screens launching in 2026 and another that's audio-focused

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:
IBM agrees to acquire data streaming software maker Confluent for ~$11B in cash, above its ~$8B market value as of its December 5 close, paying $31 per share

Bloomberg:
President Trump says he will sign “a ONE RULE” EO on AI “this week” and “you can't expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something”
 
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