Ironically…

The planet's most fanatical Israel loyalists now own and control (or are about to) Paramount, CBS, TikTok, Warner Brothers, CNN: all acquired in the last two years by Netanyahu's close friend, Larry Ellison, right as public support for Israel in the US and the west collapses: https://t.co/vTjO0NDffs

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 9, 2026

...support for Paramount, CBS, TikTok, Warner Brothers, and CNN are all collapsing, too. Oh, I don’t mean they’re about to dry up and blow away. But Ellison is not exactly capturing the bleeding edge of the communication business. I’m sure people are paying for Paramount streaming now; but even Disney and Amazon are having trouble attracting subscribers. CBS was the old folk’s home network long ago, and isn’t turning that reputation around anytime soon.  Tik Tok I don’t know about, but Warner is the fabulous invalid that won’t die, and saw its best days decades ago.  CNN? Isn’t cable dead yet? Does anybody want to pay to stream that?

Even streaming services have gone to providing discounts through other service providers, like cell phone companies. It’s what’s keeping most of them alive. I remember when “premium cable channels” were the sinecure of the future. Where are they now?

There’s a reason some cell phone companies advertise dirt cheap rates: you don’t get to add several streaming services at that rate. And if you don’t want to pay for them, how does that benefit Paramount or CNN or CBS? I still have a TV antenna (I’m old, I remember those days). The Golden Child and her husband don’t. I’m pretty sure they don’t watch Paramount, CBS, or CNN. Or Warner, for that matter.

As I say, those legacy brands aren’t going to disappear tomorrow. But they aren’t exactly Google or Apple, striding confidently into a future they are helping create. CBS News once ruled; but then Cronkite retired. CNN dominated; then FoxNews came along. My parents were the last people I knew dedicated to cable TV come hell or high water. Nowadays the biggest customers seem to be bars and restaurants with lots of big TeeVees; and then it’s only sports channels. I hardly stumble across even FoxNews in public anymore. If Ellison was investing in podcasts, he might have something. If he caught one that was influential for more than 15 minutes. But all I can see is, he’s investing in the past.

And nobody lives there anymore; or at least, not for very long. (Honestly, the whinging Gen Xers and Millennials constantly blaming the Boomers for the world they are now adults in are more mired in the past than anyone I know. They seem to think they were guaranteed a world comfortable and convenient to grow up in. I lived through all the financial turmoil that followed the post war boom like a plague of locusts, what seemed like a permanent cycle of boom and bust (mostly bust), the world post-Boomers still don’t think existed before they came along. I wasn’t handed everything on a platter, either; and the country wasn’t a meritorious democracy where everyone held hands and sang “Kum bah yah.” Most of what you’re complaining about now is a result of history, not personal inconvenience to you. Get over yourselves and take responsibility for what you’re doing. The rest of us had to.)

(Yes, I am a prickly old man. What of it?)