Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: after Netflix announced its WBD deal, Larry Ellison called Trump to argue it would hurt competition; Paramount CEO David Ellison promised CNN changes — David Ellison has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Discovery, taking his case directly to shareholders after Netflix clinched a deal
Discussion:
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Financial Times:
Inside Paramount's new WBD bid: after six failed proposals across 12 weeks, and alleging WBD's board ignored a final offer, Paramount went hostile to buy WBD
Discussion:
One America News Network, The Guardian, France 24, The National, Business Insider, @marychilds.bsky.social, IWCP Online, The Times, Livemint, primetimer.com, Yahoo Finance, TechCrunch, CBC News, Fortune, Sports Media Watch, Axios, PitchBook, The North West Star, Sydney Morning Herald, BBC, The Wrap, SiliconANGLE, ABC, Deadline, Bloomberg, Ars Technica, TheDesk.net, The Independent, Reuters, Awful Announcing, NBC News and Semafor
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Netflix changed movie distribution and its executives now think that licensing shows leaves money on the table; YouTube may help Netflix's WBD antitrust case
Netflix changed movie distribution and its executives now think that licensing shows leaves money on the table; YouTube may help Netflix's WBD antitrust case
Discussion:
Newcomer, Daring Fireball, The Asian Age, @simonowens.bsky.social, MakeUseOf, Tech Times, @kwcollins.bsky.social, @buccocapital, /Film, AppleInsider, Comic Book and DevX
Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
Sources: Paramount's Gulf sovereign funding, accounting for ~30% of the deal's value, and potential political scrutiny led WBD to reject Paramount's initial bid
Sources: Paramount's Gulf sovereign funding, accounting for ~30% of the deal's value, and potential political scrutiny led WBD to reject Paramount's initial bid
Discussion:
The Streamable, Reuters, TVNewsCheck and World of Reel
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
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
Discussion:
Axios, Democracy Now, Yahoo Finance, Gulf News, France 24, Bloomberg, Financial Post, Game World Observer, @vanhollen.senate.gov, New York Times, @sherman4949, TV Tech, @scottnover, @kasparov63, @rpsagainsttrump, @sarafischer, @lucas_shaw, @hshaban, @scottnover, @sarafischer, @jczive, @semaforben, Fortune, @sarafischer, @lucas_shaw, Australian Financial Review, B&T, The Times of Israel, Politico, Bloomberg Law, @kylegriffin1.bsky.social, Motley Fool, CBC News, Fast Company, The Hill, NME, The Moderate Voice, @chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca, Financial Times, @vanhollen.senate.gov, The Movie Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Screen Rant, Reuters, @ryanenos.bsky.social, The National, @karlbode.com, Inc.com, masslive.com, UPI, Benzinga, @panda-news.bsky.social, WTTG-TV, @kcfennessy.bsky.social, Variety, PC Gamer, Business Insider, @rosesbloom24.bsky.social, @newsguy.bsky.social, @renegadecut.bsky.social, @schooley.bsky.social, @stephentotilo.bsky.social, @kristoncapps.bsky.social, @franciswilkinson.bsky.social, Gizmodo, Anadolu Ajansı …, @emptywheel.bsky.social, @bmdrew73.bsky.social, Media Play News, Washington Post, Sharecast, Straight Arrow News and CNBC
Barbara Moens / Financial Times:
The European Commission opens an investigation into Google to assess possible anticompetitive conduct by Google in “the use of online content for AI purposes” — Investigation is the bloc's latest challenge to American Big Tech companies — Brussels has launched an investigation …
Discussion:
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Jaspreet Singh / Reuters:
Spotify rolls out music videos to Premium subscribers in the US and Canada, following a beta launch in nearly 100 markets last year — Spotify (SPOT.N) said on Tuesday it is making music videos available to premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, as the Swedish streaming giant challenges YouTube for market share.
Discussion:
Spotify, 9to5Mac, Digital Music News, KARE-TV, Benzinga, Billboard, TechCrunch, Thurrott, MobileSyrup, The Verge, Engadget, Deadline, iPhone in Canada, Hypebot and Inside Radio, more at Techmeme »
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Matt Gutman is leaving ABC News to join CBS News as chief correspondent on January 5, reporting across the network as well as lead correspondent for 48 Hours — Gutman also will contribute to future seasons of 60 Minutes, and will serve as fill-in anchor. He will start in Jan. 5 and will be based in Los Angeles.
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Oliver Darcy / Status:
Sources: Tony Dokoupil is set to be the next CBS Evening News anchor beginning in the new year, despite an external search for a high-profile star
Sources: Tony Dokoupil is set to be the next CBS Evening News anchor beginning in the new year, despite an external search for a high-profile star
Discussion:
Variety, New York Post, Showbiz411, Poynter, TV Insider, The Independent, Barrett Media, Mediaite, @nickfield.bsky.social and @oliverdarcy.bsky.social
Michael Luo / @michaelluo:
The New Yorker adds Jason Zengerle and Ruby Cramer as staff writers for politics and Jon Allsop as a contributing writer; Emily Nussbaum will be theater critic — News from @NewYorker! Welcome to @zengerle @rubycramer @jon_allsop. New beat for @emilynussbaum. Also, belated welcome to @RuthMarcus @lsjamison and Manvir Singh. [image]
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter
Emily Sundberg / Feed Me:
Hamish McKenzie says Substack is starting to test native sponsorships with some writers but won't take a cut for now — “During the pilot, Substack is simply facilitating payments and is not taking a cut.” — ∙ Paid — Hello everyone. — Today's letter includes …
Discussion:
@emily_sundberg and @alexeheath, more at Techmeme »
Tyler Falk / Current:
The Public Media Bridge Fund awards $26M across 74 organizations that operate more than 180 public radio and TV stations — The Public Media Bridge Fund is awarding $26 million in its first round of grants to public media organizations that are most in need following the loss of federal funding earlier this year.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck
Jesse Whittock / Deadline:
Steven Bartlett's FlightStory makes a “seven-figure” investment in Maggie Sellers Reum's Hot Smart Rich, whose podcast reached 1.8M+ downloads in its first year — Terms of the deal haven't been fully revealed and the size of the stake isn't known, but the cash will go towards scaling HSR …
Discussion:
PodcastingToday, Forbes and BusinessCloud
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Trump attacks Paramount owners as “no better than the old ownership”, demanding an apology from 60 Minutes and Lesley Stahl for Marjorie Taylor Greene interview — Donald Trump said that the Ellison-owned Paramount is “no better than the old ownership,” as he lashed out at the company …
Discussion:
Mediaite, @realDonaldTrump …, MS NOW, @rayrobid, HuffPost, Entertainment Weekly, Newsbusters, Deseret News, Los Angeles Times, RUMBLE, LGBTQ Nation, Reuters, New York Post, Mediaite, CBS News, Wonkette, Washington Examiner, People, Fox News, Raw Story, Townhall, Showbiz411, Salon, Polygon.com, Mirror US, New Republic, NewsMax.com, The Hill and IJR
Kendra Barnett / Adweek:
PubMatic partners with Kontext to let advertisers choose the chatbots they'd like to appear in and use Kontext's tech to generate ads that fit the chatbot chats — The integration enables advertisers to buy ads across a range of AI interfaces through PubMatic or their DSP of choice.
Discussion:
AdExchanger
Deborah Mary Sophia / Reuters:
Wikimedia Foundation names Bernadette Meehan, who was the US Ambassador to Chile from 2022 to 2025, as its new CEO — Wikimedia Foundation, the operator of Wikipedia, on Tuesday named Bernadette Meehan its chief executive officer, tapping an administrator with deep policy expertise …
Discussion:
Diff, more at Techmeme »
Praveen Paramasivam / Reuters:
JioHotstar plans to invest $444M over five years to acquire and produce content from South India, as it plans to more than double its 200M+ subscriber base — India's JioHotstar plans to invest $444 million over five years to acquire and produce content from south India, an executive said on Monday …
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline, Press Trust of India, Moneycontrol, Livemint, Deccan Chronicle and BMI
