8:25 PM ET, December 21, 2025
December 21, 2025
7:45 PM
Julia Ornedo / The Daily Beast:
CBS postpones a 60 Minutes segment on El Salvador's CECOT prison, which houses people deported by the Trump administration, just hours before it was set to air
December 20, 2025
7:00 PM
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Interview with WPP CEO Cindy Rose, who says AI puts pressure on the ad agency's pricing and WPP has 10K data scientists and software engineers and 12K creatives
December 19, 2025
6:00 PM
Ken Vogel / @kenvogel.bsky.social:
Politico ends its print edition after 19 years, as its early reliance on print ad revenue fades and its audience relies more on digital platforms
3:25 PM
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Google sues data scraping company SerpApi for allegedly using hundreds of millions of fake search requests to access copyrighted material from Google products
3:15 PM
Paul Glynn / BBC:
HarperCollins UK drops children's author and comedian David Walliams following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward young women
2:40 PM
Karl Bode / Techdirt:
The TikTok deal is the worst of all possible outcomes, shifting ownership of TikTok to Trump's allies, while maintaining the supposed problematic links to China
12:40 PM
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Netflix acquires avatar creation platform Ready Player Me to let its subscribers carry their personas and fandoms across games; the startup raised $72M
12:00 PM
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
The Kansas City Chiefs launch Foolish Club Studios, a first for an NFL team, to produce scripted and unscripted content that “might only be sports-adjacent”
10:40 AM
Bloomberg:
Sources: ByteDance is on track for ~$50B profit in 2025 after generating a ~$40B net income in the first three quarters, surpassing its internal target for 2025
10:15 AM
Natalie Korach / @nataliekorach:
Sources: VF's article by Chris Whipple featuring quotes from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles led to VF's biggest subscription signup day since 2016
9:40 AM
Financial Times:
Memo: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew says ByteDance's US entities will retain direct control over core US revenue drivers, including ecommerce, ads, and marketing
8:45 AM
Kirsten Chuba / The Hollywood Reporter:
TikTok's first awards show, held on December 18, handed out 14 awards, including Creator of the Year for Keith Lee; at the event, none of the screens worked
8:05 AM
Ryan Glasspiegel / Front Office Sports:
Sources: Netflix will pay Barstool a yearly fee “in the eight figures” for its video podcasts; Fanatics has pitched WWE podcasts to Netflix which airs WWE Raw
7:20 AM
George Winslow / TV Tech:
The National Association of Broadcasters launches a campaign to support live sports on free broadcast channels as more big games move to streaming services
December 18, 2025
8:15 PM
Jessica M. Goldstein / New York Times:
A look at Track Star, a YouTube music quiz show that has become a stop on the celebrity promo trail and has started creating documentary-style music features
7:55 PM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) agree to buy WildBrain's 41% stake in Peanuts Holdings for ~$457M, raising Sony's stake to 80%
7:10 PM
Ethan Millman / The Hollywood Reporter:
Universal Music Group partners with music creation platform Splice to build “advanced commercial AI tools” for musical artists
5:54 PM
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Memo: the TikTok US deal is set to close on Jan. 22; terms include retraining the recommendation algorithm on US user data and Oracle overseeing data protection
5:29 PM
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Internal memo: TikTok has signed a deal to sell its US unit; Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX will collectively own 45% of the US entity, and ByteDance will retain ~20%
4:50 PM
M.G. Siegler / Spyglass:
YouTube streaming the Oscars in 2029 makes Netflix's WBD bid less likely to face antitrust issues, as it shows Netflix might need WBD to compete against YouTube
3:25 PM
Emilio Casalicchio / Politico:
Downing Street makes changes to press access, cutting an afternoon briefing and promising more press conferences, which will be open to social media influencers
2:55 PM
Financial Times:
Trump Media agrees to merge with Google-backed fusion energy company TAE in a $6B deal and build the “world's first utility-scale fusion power plant” in 2026
2:10 PM
Will Sattelberg / 9to5Google:
Google returns as a partner service for Movies Anywhere, after leaving the service during a feud with Disney in October and November
1:35 PM
Anna Betts / The Guardian:
David Brooks, who wrote a NYT column last month decrying popular fixation on the Epstein story, appears in newly released photos of a 2011 event with Epstein
1:10 PM
Janko Roettgers / The Verge:
Atlas Obscura plans to launch Obscura Society, a WebXR-based lounge offering users 3D avatars for voice chats, portals to other VR apps, and more, in early 2026
1:00 PM
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
YouTube terminates Screen Culture and KH Studio, two large channels that used AI to create fake movie trailers; the platform earlier suspended the channels' ads
12:40 PM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix hires ESPN anchor Elle Duncan as its first on-air host for live sports and cultural events; she has appeared on SportsCenter, College GameDay, and more
11:45 AM
OpenAI:
OpenAI launches the OpenAI Academy for News Organizations, which offers journalists AI training, open-source projects, and practical use cases
10:45 AM
Jesse Whittock / Deadline:
Disney+ and Gulf region streamers Shahid and OSN+ announce a bundle offer; all three apps are available through Shahid, owned by Saudi broadcaster MBC
10:20 AM
Lanre Bakare / The Guardian:
Members of UK performing arts union Equity vote overwhelmingly in favor of refusing to be scanned while on set to prevent their likeness being used by AI
9:45 AM
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Dow Jones hires ex-Bloomberg Media CEO M. Scott Havens as its first chief growth officer, overseeing subscription growth and other consumer revenue streams
9:25 AM
Shane O'Neill / Washington Post:
Q&A with Christopher Anderson, who photographed Trump's inner circle for VF: “My job is to ... draw on my experience as a journalist and photograph what I see”
8:50 AM
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
CBS News and The Free Press announce Things That Matter, a series of town halls and debates, starting in early 2026, with Sam Altman, J.D. Vance, and others
8:30 AM
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
NBCU plans to add Arrival Ads, live ads that play when users turn on Peacock, and use AI to search live sports events for the optimal moment to place ads
8:10 AM
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple says it will roll out more App Store ads in 2026 “to increase opportunity in search results”; Apple's website says 800M+ users visit the App Store weekly
6:45 AM
Will Page / Pivotal Economics:
Analysis: music copyright's global value rose 5.2% YoY to a record $47.2B in 2024; the revenue split favored labels and artists at 62%, above songwriters' 38%
6:15 AM
Natalie Korach / Status:
Sources: Bari Weiss moved a planned internal CBS town hall, set to lay out her broader vision, from this month to 2026, after the Erika Kirk town hall flopped
5:45 AM
Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:
PEN America elects novelist Dinaw Mengestu as president, as the organization navigates free speech challenges across the US and criticism of its Gaza response
December 17, 2025
11:05 PM
John Rogers / Associated Press:
Peter Arnett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent who covered the Vietnam War for the AP and the first Gulf War for CNN, has died at 91
7:50 PM
Brian Stelter / CNN:
Senators Warren and Blumenthal call on AG Bondi to recuse herself from reviewing the WBD deal due to her prior employment with lobbying firm Ballard Partners
7:10 PM
Laura Cress / BBC:
Netflix wins rights to a FIFA soccer simulation game, developed by Delphi Interactive and set for release ahead of the 2026 World Cup, for free to Netflix users
6:25 PM
Raphael Minder / Financial Times:
TV Republika, the largest right-wing broadcaster in Poland, plans an English-language channel, seeking to fill a market gap in Europe for MAGA-aligned outlets
6:00 PM
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube says it will no longer give data to US Billboard charts after January 16, arguing Billboard's ranking formula doesn't count ad-supported streams fairly
3:50 PM
Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Filing: Comcast's offer to merge NBCUniversal with WBD valued Comcast's media and theme-park assets at about $81B; Comcast's overall valuation is about $111B
2:50 PM
Steven Portnoy / ABC News:
Democratic Senate Commerce Committee members accused FCC Chairman Brendan Carr of making “mafia threats” and encroaching on broadcasters' First Amendment rights
2:35 PM
Axios:
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr tells a Senate committee the FCC “is not an independent agency”; the agency removed “independent agency” from its site as he testified
1:35 PM
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta is testing limiting Facebook professional accounts and Pages to posting just two links per month, unless they subscribe to $14.99+/month Meta Verified
1:10 PM
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer:
🚨🚨 This is INSANE. I took this screenshot of the @FCC website at 11:52 a.m. ET where it explicitly states the FCC is an independent agency. 25 minutes later, it has been removed following Carr's comments during this hearing! See before and after screenshots below [image]
12:51 PM
Scott Feinberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
The Academy signs a multiyear deal that gives YouTube the exclusive global rights to the Oscars, beginning in 2029 and running through 2033, streaming for free
12:15 PM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix signs a deal with Barstool Sports to stream video versions of three podcasts, initially in the US; full video episodes will be removed from YouTube
10:33 AM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Paramount reaffirms its $30/share all-cash bid after WBD's board officially rejected it, saying its bid offers “superior value and certainty” for shareholders
10:00 AM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
SEC filing: WBD says the Ellisons offered David Zaslav a compensation package of several hundred million dollars, which Zaslav said was inappropriate to discuss
8:20 AM
BBC Press Office on LinkedIn:
BBC News hires Lindsay McIntosh, previously Head of News at The Sunday Times, as its Executive News Editor
7:25 AM
New York Times:
WBD says the Ellisons have “consistently misled” shareholders, including claiming Paramount's proposal had a “full backstop” but it “does not, and never has”
7:06 AM
Wall Street Journal:
WBD recommends shareholders reject Paramount's unsolicited cash bid, calling the offer “illusory” and saying it believes Netflix's proposal is still superior
5:45 AM
Joseph Berger / New York Times:
Norman Podhoretz, who transformed Commentary magazine into a controversial and influential neoconservative voice as its EIC from 1960 to 1995, has died at 95
4:55 AM
Wall Street Journal:
US prosecutors charge Nick Reiner with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his parents, Hollywood director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner
4:35 AM
Payton Turkeltaub / Variety:
UCLA study: among the most-watched streaming series in 2024, 80% of lead actors were white and white men accounted for 79% of all show creators, vs. 77% in 2023
2:35 AM
Chris Gardner / The Hollywood Reporter:
Daniel Kwan and 500+ writers, actors, and technologists launch the Creators Coalition on AI to push standards for AI training and use across creative industries
December 16, 2025
9:35 PM
Charles Gasparino / New York Post:
Source: Paramount has no immediate plans to sweeten its $30 per share, all-cash bid for WBD