Mediagazer: More than 500 writers, actors, and technologists launch the Creators Coalition on AI to push standards for how AI is trained and used across creative industries (Chris Gardner/The Hollywood Reporter)

2:35 AM ET, December 17, 2025

Top News:

Sources: WBD is preparing to tell its shareholders to reject Paramount's latest offer and plans to recommend they support the existing deal with Netflix — Company to recommend existing Netflix deal as soon as Wednesday — Warner Bros. Discovery is preparing to tell its shareholders …

Discussion: The Verge, Bloomberg, Media Play News, @michellef_davis, Financial Times, Cord Cutters News, Awful Announcing, The Hill, CNBC, Semafor and Benzinga

Bloomberg:

Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners is exiting from Paramount's takeover bid for WBD, citing changed investment dynamics since it joined the bid in October — Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners is exiting from the takeover battle for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

Peter Grant / Wall Street Journal:

The WBD deal could worsen soundstage vacancies as productions may shift to the studio's facilities, affecting companies like Hackman, owner of 60+ soundstages — Set and studio landlords like Hackman Capital are already suffering from a slowdown in U.S. TV and film production

Discussion: Daily Mail

Charles Gasparino / New York Post:

Source: Paramount has no immediate plans to sweeten its $30/share, all-cash bid for WBD — Paramount Skydance has no immediate plans to sweeten its $30-a-share, all-cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery - instead continuing to make its case to shareholders that its $78 billion offer is superior …

Discussion: Reuters, Livemint and @danprimack

Todd Spangler / Variety:

E.W. Scripps' board unanimously rejects Sinclair's unsolicited acquisition proposal of $7 per share in cash and stock, offered in November — Sinclair's takeover move came amid Nexstar Media Group's $6.2 billion deal for Tegna, which would expand the reach of Nexstar, the No. 1 biggest TV station owner group in the U.S.

Discussion: Cincinnati Business Journal, Axios, Baltimore Business Journal, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Deadline, The Wrap, Front Office Sports, @jbflint, E.W. Scripps Company, Radio & Television …, TheDesk.net, CNBC, TV Tech and TVNewsCheck

Christal Hayes / BBC:

The BBC says “as we have made clear previously, we will be defending” against Trump's defamation lawsuit and “we are not going to make further comment” — The BBC has said it will defend itself against a $5bn (£3.7bn) lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump …

Financial Times:
BBC lawyers argue that the Florida court has no jurisdiction over President Trump's case; Trump's lawyers counter that BritBox showed Panorama in Florida

Discussion: Associated Press, The Guardian, @brianstelter, Mediaweek, Politico, CNN, The Independent, Washington Examiner, The A.V. Club, BizPac Review, Reuters and CNBC

Justin Baragona / The Independent:

Nielsen ratings for Bari Weiss' town hall with Erika Kirk were 11% below total viewership for CBS News' standard programs in the same time slot, year to date — According to Nielsen, the Saturday night town hall saw a 41 percent decline in in the key 25-54 advertising demographic compared …

Jennifer Maas / Variety:

Sources: Disney has been hesitant to license its IP to Roblox because it doesn't consider it a safe platform, bucking the trend followed by Netflix and others — Here's a stat that might shock anyone who isn't the parent of a Gen Alpha kid: As of October 2025, online gaming platform Roblox boasted …

Discussion: Glossy

Chris Gardner / The Hollywood Reporter:

More than 500 writers, actors, and technologists launch the Creators Coalition on AI to push standards for how AI is trained and used across creative industries — The organization, which published four distinct goals and a call to action while gathering hundreds of signatories …

Discussion: Creators Coalition on A.I., Decrypt and @hitrecordjoe

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:

Instagram unveils its first TV app, initially available on Amazon's Fire TV as a test with plans to expand to other TV platforms — Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram unveiled its first dedicated TV app, which lets users watch the short-form video feature Reels on a larger screen.

Jessica Testa / New York Times:

Netflix announces a partnership with iHeartMedia to exclusively publish 15+ video podcasts from early 2026, including The Breakfast Club and My Favorite Murder — The streaming service now has about 30 video podcasts lined up for 2026, including the influential radio show “The Breakfast Club.”

Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:

USAGM is relocating from its current offices in Washington, DC, to a building apparently used by NASA; source: the old building is to be demolished — The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is moving out of its current television studios and administrative offices in Washington …

Discussion: @matthewkeyslive

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

The UK government begins its review of the BBC's charter, set to expire in 2027, as ministers consider license fee reforms and allowing more commercial revenue — The UK government has fired the starting gun on BBC charter renewal, a once-in-a-decade review of the broadcaster's funding and operating agreement.

Discussion: BBC, The Guardian, @jayrosen.bsky.social, New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
UK ministers say they are considering options for the BBC, including ads across its channels and subscriptions for older or more commercially oriented content

Discussion: GOV.UK, The Guardian, @stephenkb.bsky.social, Reuters, Deadline and The Drum

New York Times:

The US threatens economic penalties against European companies like Spotify if the EU does not roll back regulations and lawsuits targeting US tech giants — The Trump administration singled out European tech firms by name and promised economic consequences Tuesday unless the E.U. rolls back tech regulation and lawsuits.

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More News:

Dan Primack / Axios:
Event software company Cvent acquires video content platform Goldcast; source: Cvent paid just under $300M to acquire Goldcast, which had raised around $38M

Discussion: Randy Selman on LinkedIn, Boston Business Journal, Washington …, MarTech and Goldcast

Christina Van Waasbergen / Courthouse News Service:
Texas sues Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL, alleging they fail to adequately notify users that their CTVs record what they display for ad targeting purposes

Discussion: Breitbart, TheDesk.net, TechRadar, Ars Technica, TV Tech, The Streamable, The Verge, Texas Attorney General, Newsweek, MediaPost and NewsMax.com

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: DAZN is in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in US regional sports broadcaster Main Street Sports Group, formerly Diamond Sports Group

Discussion: Awful Announcing, TVNewsCheck, Barrett Media, Sports Business Journal and @thispersonstinks.bsky.social

Jacob Savage / Compact:
A writer argues that since 2014, DEI practices led to discrimination against white male millennials for entry-level and mid-level roles in Hollywood and media

Discussion: @megbasham, New York Times, @martianwyrdlord, @colorblindk1d, @costofglory, @prisonculture.bsky.social, @noahpinion, Blaze Media, @iterintellectus, @cernovich, @anncoulter, @posttim.bsky.social, @martianwyrdlord, @fischerking64, @andrealucaseeoc, @ggreenwald, @esrtweet, @andrealucaseeoc, @danfriedman81, Centrally Unplanned, @razibkhan, Cosmopolitan, @christopherrufo, @writes__code, @costofglory, @abigailshrier, @matthewschmitz, @shoe0nhead, @megbasham, @roddreher, @asymmetricinfo, @jamellebouie.net, @ianmsc, @jessekellydc, @binarybits, @asymmetricinfo, @blbalthaser.bsky.social, @davidmastio, @njdixon, @razibkhan, @hpmcd1, @inezfeltscher, @richardhanania, @jesspected.bsky.social, @l0m3z, @blbalthaser.bsky.social, @lhfang, @colorblindk1d, @blakesneff, @davidmastio, @herandrews, @dineshdsouza, @matthewschmitz, @l0m3z, @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social, @edroso.bsky.social, The Post Millennial, Louder With Crowder, @mattdpearce.com, The Daily Caller, @biettetimmons.bsky.social, HotAir, @lawrencehurley.bsky.social and @hannahgais.bsky.social

Washington Post:
Right-wing media is at war with itself as Tim Pool and others accuse Candace Owens of sabotaging MAGA with her conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk's killing

Discussion: RADAR, Daily Caller News Foundation, Raw Story, The Hill, Suggest and Washington Times

Earlier Picks:

Reuters:
Russia calls Deutsche Welle an “undesirable organization”, a label it applies to entities it says undermine its constitutional order or national security

Discussion: Deutsche Welle and Al Jazeera

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Howard Stern signs a new three-year deal with SiriusXM, after a report earlier this year suggested that his show was about to be canceled

Jem Bartholomew / Columbia Journalism Review:
US Press Freedom Tracker: 32 journalists arrested or charged in 2025, vs. 50 in 2024, and 170 assaulted, nearly as many as the previous three years combined

Discussion: U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @crystalheathdvm.bsky.social, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, Freedom of the Press … and @pressfreedomtracker.us

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
How the rise of AI has divided Hollywood: some oppose all AI use, while others, like director Timur Bekmambetov, say they are exploring ways to embrace AI tools

Discussion: @matthewkeyslive, @lucas_shaw and About Amazon

From Techmeme:

Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
OpenAI updates ChatGPT Images to generate images up to 4x faster and edit more precisely, and adds a new section in ChatGPT's app and website for images

The Information:
Sources: Amazon is in talks to invest $10B+ in OpenAI at a $500B+ valuation, with OpenAI using AWS Trainium chips; Microsoft keeps rights to sell OpenAI models

Bloomberg:
Sources: Waymo is in discussions to raise more than $15B led by Alphabet at a valuation near $100B, and has achieved an annual revenue run rate above $350M

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