Top News:
Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Money manager Mario Gabelli said it's “highly likely” he will tender his clients' WBD shares to Paramount in an effort to spark a bidding war for WBD — Money manager Mario Gabelli said it's “highly likely' he will tender his clients' Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. shares …
Discussion:
NBC Bay Area and iPhone in Canada
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Washington Post:
Right-wing influencers such as Benny Johnson, Laura Loomer, and Jack Posobiec campaign against Netflix's bid for WBD, casting Netflix as a Democratic stronghold — Laura Loomer and other right-wing media figures cast Netflix as a Democratic stronghold and want the government to block it from buying Warner Bros. Discovery.
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
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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
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Plain Dealer, Newcomer, Daring Fireball, The Asian Age, @simonowens.bsky.social, MakeUseOf, Tech Times, @buccocapital, @kwcollins.bsky.social, /Film, AppleInsider, Comic Book and DevX
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
Sources: after Netflix announced its WBD deal, Larry Ellison called Trump to argue it would hurt competition; Paramount CEO David Ellison promised CNN changes
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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:
Reuters, The Streamable, TVNewsCheck and Daring Fireball
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:
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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 …
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Josh Taylor / The Guardian:
Australia's ban on social media for users aged under 16 comes into effect; platforms that do not comply risk fines of up to AU$49.5M — Accounts held by users under 16 must be removed on apps that include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and Threads under ban
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Newley Purnell / Bloomberg:
Reddit launches new safety features globally for under-18s, like stricter chat settings, as Australia's social media ban for under-16s takes effect
Reddit launches new safety features globally for under-18s, like stricter chat settings, as Australia's social media ban for under-16s takes effect
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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.
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Spotify, Android Police, 9to5Mac, Digital Music News, KARE-TV, Benzinga, Thurrott, iPhone in Canada, Billboard, Hypebot, Deadline, MobileSyrup, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge 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
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Variety, New York Post, Poynter, TV Insider, Showbiz411, 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 »
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:
Deborah Sophia on LinkedIn and Diff, 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, BusinessCloud and Forbes
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, Deccan Chronicle, BMI, Livemint and Moneycontrol
