Top News:
Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
In a letter to WBD shareholders, David Ellison says Paramount filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court seeking information in its hostile takeover attempt — - CNBC Councils — Join the CNBC Panel — News Tips — Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Paramount, Variety, StreamTV Insider, CNN, Awful Announcing, Axios, Business Insider, Deadline, The Wrap, Reuters, New York Post, The Verge, CinemaBlend, mxdwn Television, Front Office Sports, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, @lucas_shaw, Sharecast, The Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News, @stagewrite.bsky.social, Bloomberg, Barrett Media and Cord Cutters News
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Reeves Wiedeman / Vulture:
A profile of David Ellison, who is trying to build a media empire that could dwarf even the Murdochs' with help from his father and Oracle founder Larry Ellison — One weekend in 2006, Dean Devlin, a movie producer, was driving across Los Angeles to deal with an emergency.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amy Poehler's Good Hang won the Golden Globes' inaugural podcast award, beating five other nominees, including Call Her Daddy, SmartLess, and NPR's Up First — Amy Poehler won the inaugural Golden Globes podcast award for her talk show “Good Hang,” which features her freestyle riffs with fellow comedians, friends and celebs.
Discussion:
Variety, LaineyGossip, SiriusXM, New York Times, @jtes, Vanity Fair, People, Podnews, The Hollywood Reporter, Us Weekly, Barrett Media, Deadline, E! Online, New York Daily News, Just Jared and Washington Post
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Alison Herman / Variety:
Golden Globes review: the show tried to expand its reach and profitability in often clumsy ways, and the host was nearly derailed by Polymarket predictions — Over the last few years, the Golden Globes has made a concerted effort to improve its reputation.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Inc.com, Futurism, @milkkarten, The Wrap, @daniellamazzio, @mattxiv, @christress, @jbillinson, @dannygroner.bsky.social, @davidehrlich, @bristei, @aherman2006.bsky.social, @svershbow and @bwags
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Chartbeat data: global Google search referrals to publishers fell by 33% in the year ending November 2025, with US-specific organic search traffic down 38% — Google search traffic to publishers declined globally by a third in the year to November, according to new Chartbeat data.
Discussion:
@chrisharihar, The Guardian and @mikeelgan.bsky.social
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Nic Newman / Reuters Institute:
Reuters Institute survey: 38% of media leaders are confident about journalism in 2026, 44% say newsroom AI efforts are showing “promising” results, and more — We are still at the early stages of another big shift in technology (Generative AI) which threatens to upend the news industry …
Discussion:
Ricky Robinson on LinkedIn, Philip Hicks on LinkedIn and HoldtheFrontPage
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Eddy Cue says 2025 was a “record-breaking year” for Apple services: Apple TV set a monthly engagement record in December, with total hours viewed up 36% YoY — The Apple services executive released a note saying that Apple TV set new monthly engagement records, while Apple Music has hit subscriber records.
Discussion:
Apple, Deadline, Screen Rant, TechCrunch, WebProNews, @tvgrimreaper, Appleosophy, Thurrott, MacTech.com, Cult of Mac, Mirror, Forbes, Apple Must and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
Ampere Analysis expects streaming services' content spend to grow 6% in 2026 to $101B, crossing $100B for the first time, and overall content spend to grow 2% — Streamer spend on content is set to top the $100BN mark for the first time this year, according to an Ampere Analysis report.
Discussion:
The Streamable, Advanced Television, Screen Rant and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »
Corbin Bolies / The Wrap:
NYT editor Joe Kahn says the paper didn't withhold a story on the US plan to capture Nicolás Maduro at Trump administration's request, citing unverified details — Joe Kahn's remarks follow reports that the Times held off publishing details of the raid to capture Venezuela's president
Discussion:
New York Times and Townhall
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Google introduces new personalized ads in its Gemini-powered AI Mode, letting advertisers offer exclusives for users preparing to buy a product — Tech giant moves to gain an edge in race to monetise popular AI tools — Google is introducing new personalised advertising into its AI shopping tools …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Livemint, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Roundtable, TechRadar, The Verge, Vogue, Mashable, BMI, The Indian Express, Mumbrella, The Decoder, Moneycontrol, @owenslindsay1, The Information, @whoa-magic.lol, American Banker, Financial Times, BGR, Rohan's Bytes, Search Engine Land and Windows Central, more at Techmeme »
Jim Milliot / Publishers Weekly:
Circana BookScan: US print book sales hit 762.4M units in 2025, up 0.3% YoY, settling at levels higher than before the pandemic; graphic novels saw a 9.2% rise — Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... For the second consecutive year, unit sales of print books …
Discussion:
@publisherswkly
Luke Kawa / Sherwood News:
Morgan Stanley survey of audio habits in the US: 50% to 60% of listeners aged 18 to 44 reported listening to AI-generated music for 2.5 to 3 hours per week — That's enough AI music to last the run time of “Avatar.” — Video may have killed the radio star, but AI is starting to dance on its grave.
Discussion:
Bloomberg
