THE NARATIV — Friday, Dec 5, 2025
Netflix Wins the Streaming War; Malone Keeps CNN; Ghost Counties Trigger Recount; Epstein File Deadline Arrives
📍 FIVE STORIES TO WATCH
1. NETFLIX WINS THE STREAMING WAR
The streaming wars are over. Netflix announced this morning it will acquire Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and streaming assets for $82.7 billion—the largest media deal in a decade.
Netflix gets everything: Warner Bros studios, HBO, HBO Max, the DC Universe, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Friends, Casablanca. A century of Hollywood.
The deal killed David Ellison’s bid to buy ALL of WBD—backed by $21 billion from Saudi, Qatari, and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds. Paramount’s lawyers called the sales process “tainted” and accused WBD of favoring Netflix from the start.
Bank of America’s analyst: “The streaming wars are effectively over.”
Three platforms remain: Netflix-HBO, Disney-Hulu, Paramount+. Everyone else is gone.
2. MALONE KEEPS CNN — FOR NOW
Here’s what nobody’s talking about: CNN doesn’t go to Netflix. It spins off into Discovery Global—a separate publicly traded company. John Malone keeps voting control for now. But Discovery Global is a smaller, weaker target than WBD ever was.
The Ellisons lost this round. They couldn’t grab Warner Bros, HBO, AND CNN in one package. But a standalone Discovery Global—loaded with debt, bleeding cable subscribers—is ripe for a future bid.
Malone is 84. He’s been calling CNN “left-leaning, anti-Trump” and wants it to “evolve back.” The Ellisons are patient.
Cable news now breaks down:
Fox — Murdoch (right)
CNN — Malone (drifting right, vulnerable)
MSNBC — Versant spinoff (left)
The streaming wars ended. The fight for CNN is just beginning.
3. GHOST COUNTIES TRIGGER RECOUNT DEMAND
The ghost counties story from Wednesday’s FiveStack just got bigger.
Tennessee’s 7th District special election: Republican Matt Van Epps defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn 53.9% to 45%. Race called at 99.4% reporting with 148,853 votes. Then 31,000 more votes appeared.
The math doesn’t work. 0.6% of 148,000 is roughly 900 votes—not 31,000. Election advocates are now demanding a recount.
T’s investigation found five phantom counties in the DDHQ data feed—counties that don’t exist: Burke County, Florida (6M+ votes), Stafford County, Pennsylvania, Allen County, North Carolina, Oklahoma County, Michigan, Hamilton County, Georgia.
None of these counties exist. Republicans are still running 13 points underwater from baseline in every special election since Trump took office.
Ghost Counties: The Votes That Don’t Add Up
Burke County, Florida held over six million votes on election night. Problem: there is no Burke County in Florida. Never has been. Florida has 67 counties and Burke isn’t one of them.
4. EPSTEIN FILES: DEADLINE DAY
Today is the deadline bipartisan lawmakers set for a DOJ briefing on the Epstein files. Senators Merkley and Murkowski joined Reps. Massie and Khanna demanding answers from AG Bondi about “new information” she claims to have. The 30-day release deadline is December 19. Judge Berman is weighing whether to unseal Maxwell trial materials—ruling expected next week.
5. HEGSETH: WORST IN 250 YEARS
Professor Terrence Goggin’s verdict on yesterday’s Narativ Live: Pete Hegseth is the worst Secretary of Defense in 250 years—”even worse than Jefferson Davis.” Pentagon IG confirmed Signalgate. Admiral Bradley testified on the boat strike that killed survivors. And Hegseth pushed out a four-star admiral for questioning legality.
West Point History Professor: "The Worst Secretary of Defense in 250 Years"
Three bombshells landed on Pete Hegseth in a single day. By nightfall, a West Point professor was calling him the worst Secretary of Defense in 250 years.
📖 COMING SOON:
THE GREATEST HEIST
BOOK 2 | Chapter 5
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