Mediagazer: President Trump says Netflix's WBD deal has “got to go through a process”, its big market share “could be a problem”, and he will be involved in the decision (Bloomberg)

9:00 AM ET, December 8, 2025

Top News:

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: Ted Sarandos met with President Trump in November, and both agreed WBD should go to the highest bidder; Sarandos argued that Netflix wasn't a monopoly — Netflix Inc. co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos ventured to the White House in mid-November for a meeting with President Donald Trump.

Bloomberg:

President Trump says Netflix's WBD deal has “got to go through a process”, its big market share “could be a problem”, and he will be involved in the decision — US President Donald Trump raised potential antitrust concerns around Netflix Inc.'s planned $72 billion acquisition …

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
WBD CEO David Zaslav, criticized for cutting costs, scrapping movies, and laying off thousands, may end up having the last laugh thanks to the Netflix-WBD deal

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Business Insider, Deadline and The Indian Express

Financial Times:
Sources: WBD's board wanted a proposal it could sign immediately, and Netflix was the only bidder whose paperwork was fully executable the night of December 4

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Documents and a source: WBD CEO David Zaslav's stock in WBD would be worth close to $660M if the Netflix deal closes

Discussion: The Information, Mumbrella, Los Angeles Times, DNYUZ, @dylanbyers, @jbillinson@threads.com, DiscussingFilm, @willmckinley.bsky.social, Puck, @devonheinen.bsky.social, Benzinga, @timkarr.bsky.social, The Daily Caller and The American Bazaar

Committee to Protect Journalists:

After the building fire, Hong Kong summoned AFP, FT, NYT, AP, Bloomberg, and WSJ journalists, telling them to avoid “trouble making”, and arrested a commentator — Chinese and Hong Kong authorities must immediately stop harassing journalists, release news commentator Wong Kwok-ngon …

Discussion: Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, The Guardian and The Daily Caller

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

The Academy reports fiscal 2025 revenues of $269.2M, up from $263.1M in 2024, after cutting expenses from $220.1M to $208.1M; Oscars revenue grew to $150.5M — “It is so important that we continue to diversify revenue streams and control expenses to allow for a sustainable and impactful future," Academy CEO Bill Kramer tells THR.

Discussion: Variety

Barbara Moens / Financial Times:

The EU says Meta agreed to make changes to its “pay or consent” model in the EU, including ad-lite Instagram and Facebook versions, but “the case is not closed” — Facebook agrees changes to ‘pay or consent’ model after talks with European Commission

Discussion: Dow Jones Newswires, Reuters, European Commission, Politico and Bloomberg

Matt Donnelly / Variety:

A look at the auction for the Oscars' TV rights, as sources say Netflix is out, NBCUniversal gains ground, and YouTube and ABC remain active bidders — There are eight weeks left on the holy Hollywood awards calendar until Oscar nominations are announced, and it's not just artists and craftspeople hunting for trophies.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Decider, DiscussingFilm, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Rant, New York Times, Offscreen Central, The A.V. Club, Deadline, @discussingfilm.net and World of Reel

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:

WPP Media expects global ad revenue, excluding US political ads, to grow 8.8% YoY in 2025 to $1.14T, and says AI investment drives more spending than expected — A new report from WPP Media says global ad revenue will reach $1.14 trillion this year — Advertising spending will grow …

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, The Drum, WPP Media, Communicate Online, Blockchain.News, AdExchanger, Mumbrella, Adweek and campaignlive.co.uk

Ellen Gamerman / Wall Street Journal:

Inside the creation of AI actress Tilly Norwood, which included 2,000 iterations; Particle6, its creator, says it has ~60 NDAs for projects involving Tilly — How the human behind Tilly Norwood brought her to digital life

Discussion: CBS News, Digital Music News, Associated Press and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Max Tani / Semafor:

Source: OpenAI privately complained to NBC News that the author of a story about OpenAI pressuring nonprofits was backed by a nonprofit involved in the story — The Scoop — Last month, NBC News broke the news that the artificial intelligence behemoth OpenAI had quietly issued a series …

Variety:

The WGA, which routinely opposes media mergers, says the Netflix-WBD deal must be blocked, and the Producers and Directors guilds express concern over the deal — SAG-AFTRA says proposed pact raises ‘serious questions about its impact on the future of the entertainment industry’

Jody Godoy / Reuters:
Congressional Democrats and Republicans criticize the Netflix-WBD deal, saying it would raise streaming subscription prices and lessen workers' pay and control

Katie Campione / Deadline:
SAG-AFTRA puts off taking a position on the Netflix-WBD deal but says a deal benefiting its members “must result in more creation and more production, not less”

Discussion: @variety, Yahoo Finance, Adweek, The Wrap, Bounding Into Comics, USA Today, Financial Times, The Hollywood Reporter, The Times, MediaPost, The Streamable, RNZ and Mobile World Live

John Koblin / New York Times:

Netflix's WBD deal should quiet concerns, for now, from CNN employees worried about the prospect of Paramount combining CBS News and CNN in a WBD acquisition — The prospect of Paramount's buying Warner Bros. Discovery had led CNN journalists to wonder if the channel may be combined with CBS News.

Discussion: Semafor, Poynter, Straight Arrow News, Forbes, Mock Paper Scissors, World of Reel, TVNewsCheck, Mirror US, American Prospect and NPR

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:

A look at Paramount's culture shift under David Ellison, where the focus is on male-driven action movies, and not on prestige films seen as critics' darlings — It's a brand-new day at the legacy studio, where prestige films are out, testosterone-heavy tentpoles are in and Brett Ratner is back on the call sheet.

Discussion: @jakelahut.bsky.social, @devonheinen.bsky.social, @vinzenzhediger.bsky.social, @mhweber.bsky.social, @badideas.bsky.social, @carlquintanilla.bsky.social, @karlbode.com, World of Reel, /Film, KDFX-TV and Comic Book

Oliver Darcy / Status:
Sources: David Ellison's interference in WBD's failed summer talks to extend HBO Max's South Park licensing deal left David Zaslav distrustful of Ellison

Discussion: Olu Akanmu on LinkedIn, David Grant on LinkedIn, @matbrunetvo.com, Cracked.com, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, @status.news and CNBC

Dominic-Madori Davis / TechCrunch:

A look at Hamlet, a startup that uses AI to process local government meeting videos and which plans to provide the tool to local journalists for free — The launch of Hamlet was quite personal for Sunil Rajaraman. — Back in 2022, he ran for city council in a small California town.

Discussion: Mariesa Lenz on LinkedIn and Plain Dealer

Kat Tenbarge / Wired:

Some Reddit moderators say a surge of AI slop on the site is eroding its authenticity and could lead to a feedback loop of AI models training on AI content — Reddit is considered one of the most human spaces left on the internet, but mods and users are overwhelmed with slop posts in the most popular subreddits.