Top News:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Major brands were replaced by direct-response advertisers during commercial breaks of CBS News' December 13 town hall with Erika Kirk, moderated by Bari Weiss — During a Saturday-night town hall led by Bari Weiss, the recently named editor in chief of CBS News, most of Madison Avenue sought an off-ramp.
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Semafor:
In a letter to the Trump administration, the GOP Senatorial Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott said the Netflix-WBD deal raises “significant antitrust problems” — THE SCOOP — A key Republican senator Friday joined the mounting opposition in Washington to Netflix's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
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Lauren Hirsch / New York Times:
Sources: WBD chose Netflix partly fearing limited recourse if Paramount's bid failed, since Larry Ellison has not provided a personal guarantee — Larry Ellison is backstopping Paramount's bid for Warner Brothers, but Warner Brothers is concerned that the billionaire has not provided a personal guarantee to pay.
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The Times, Livemint, Front Office Sports, Fortune, Mobile World Live, Financial Times, Axios, Al Jazeera and The Movie Blog
Will McCurdy / PCMag:
Amazon rolls out Ask This Book to the Kindle iOS app, letting readers ask questions about plot or characters; authors can't opt out — Whether you're reading dense, challenging 19th-century classics or the latest thriller, sometimes even the best readers lose track of what's actually going on …
Discussion:
The Indian Express, @hypervisible.blacksky.app and Reactor, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Holder / Bloomberg:
A look at Netflix House in Philadelphia, a new 100K sq. ft. location for in-person experiences, which resembles a Disneyland attraction and a Dave & Buster's — The entertainment company's new “Netflix House” experience is bringing the brand's shows into former department stores.
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost — The loss of federal funding forced a difficult decision, the executive director of Arkansas TV said: Cut PBS, or go off the air entirely.
Discussion:
Cord Cutters News, Associated Press, Fox Business, The Hill, Denise Garner on LinkedIn, semipublic.co, Fast Company, TheDesk.net, TV Tech, @kennysmith.bsky.social, Washington Examiner, Steve Bass on LinkedIn, Current, Radio & Television …, TVNewsCheck, ArkansasTimes and Talk Business & Politics
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Google has removed dozens of AI videos from YouTube that depicted Disney characters, after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter flagging the links — Disney flagged the YouTube links to the videos in its letter, and demanded that Google remove them immediately.
Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney's Zootopia 2 surpasses $1B at the global box office, the fastest PG-rated film to do so after just 17 days in release — Disney's year-end holiday tentpole achieved the feat faster than any Holllwood animated film in history, as well as any PG-rated film.
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Trip Gabriel / New York Times:
R. Bruce Dold, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune, where he became editor-in-chief and publisher, is dead at 70 — As head of the editorial page, he encouraged The Tribune's support of Barack Obama, resulting in the paper's first endorsement of a Democrat running for the White House.
Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Arthur L. Carter, who started a Connecticut newspaper in 1981, bought and sold The Nation, and founded the New York Observer in 1987, has died at 93 — After making a fortune on Wall Street, he bought The Nation magazine and founded The New York Observer, which one writer called a “maypole of Manhattan gossip and intrigue.”
Aidan Ryan / The Boston Globe:
Boston Globe editor Nancy Barnes steps down from her role but will remain on staff as editor-at-large; she joined the paper as the first female editor in 2023 — Nancy Barnes, the editor of the Boston Globe, announced to staff Friday that she is stepping down from her role at the end of next week.
Discussion:
WBUR, Boston Business Journal and Media Nation
Financial Times:
OpenAI hopes the Disney deal boosts Sora, which has high costs and limited traction; Sensor Tower: users average 13 minutes per day on Sora vs. 90 on TikTok — Sora has struggled to build an engaged audience despite already hosting bootleg content from the Hollywood studio
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Nikkei Asia, MediaNama, Communicate Online and France 24
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