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6:55 AM ET, December 17, 2025

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 Top News: 
Wall Street Journal:
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 …
RELATED:
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
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: Dexerto and Glossy
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.
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  —  A New York intellectual and onetime liberal stalwart, his Commentary magazine became his platform as his political and social view turned sharply rightward.
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  —  Prosecutors say Nick Reiner killed his father and mother in their Los Angeles home  —  LOS ANGELES—Prosecutors charged Nick Reiner Tuesday …
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 …
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  —  In 2024, there were fewer leading roles featuring women and women of color than the year before, despite households of color …
Discussion: UCLA, Los Angeles Times and The Wrap
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 …
RELATED:
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
 
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 More News: 
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
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
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
 Earlier Picks: 
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
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
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
 

 
From Techmeme:

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google unveils Gemini 3 Flash, which it says has Pro-grade reasoning with lower latency, outperforming 2.5 Pro “while being 3x faster at a fraction of the cost”

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

Financial Times:
Sources: Blue Owl Capital won't back Oracle's planned $10B, 1GW data center in Michigan, after funding talks stalled due to concerns over debt terms and delays
 
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