Trump says he'll sue the BBC for up to US$5b. Good luck with that.
Over the weekend the short-fingered President Donald Trump spoke to reporters about his impending lawsuit against the BBC and said that he planned to sue for up to $US5 billion (that’s AU$7.65 billion).
This despite most legal experts saying that the case appears to be impossible to win, with Trump having a difficult time on a number of fronts - most pertinent of all being the issue of jurisdiction.
Most of his lawsuits have been losers, but he has been emboldened by payouts from media companies who see it as the cost of doing business in the current US political environment. The difference with the BBC is that they don’t have the pressing concern of upcoming M&A activity or broadcast licenses to worry about in the US.
I do wonder if Trump’s desire to sue media companies would extend further to not just the BBC who commissioned the documentary, but also to international networks that broadcast it?
I note that here in Australia the Panorama documentary in question ‘Trump: A Second Chance?’ aired on Channel 9 just a few weeks ago on Sunday November 3.
[UPDATE: It aired Nov 2024 and not just a few weeks ago… your humble ABW editor has no capability to read the calendar… ]
Former BBC director general Tony Hall has offered some thoughts on the Trump lawsuit. As per The Guardian:
Speaking to BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Hall said the move should be blocked if Trump proceeded with his threats. “No, [it] should not happen,” he said. “I don’t think we should agree to any money being paid to Donald Trump. You’re talking about licence fee payers’ money, you’re talking about public money. It would not be appropriate.”
Hall, who stepped down as director general in 2020 after seven years in the role, called the video edit a “serious error”, and said it should have “been recognised as such much earlier in the whole process”.
Ultimately, I expect that all of this will just blow over within the next couple of days. Trump will likely be too busy focused on all of the Epstein emails.
News Desk
Paramount are at work on a new Star Trek movie reboot and has hired Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley to do it. There’s something very funny about one of the former (Freaks and) Geeks being hired to write the new Star Trek film. While they’re probably not my preferred choice, it is a huge step up from seeing Alex Kurtzman from being allowed anywhere near Star Trek… the last few years of TV efforts have been pretty rough and patchy. Read: Variety
A story about the short-fingered President ranting on public media about the talent and ratings of comedian Seth Meyers is nothing out of the ordinary. But, the head of the FCCC retweeting his calls for Meyers to be fired is new. Read: Variety
Dan McGrath, an Emmy-award winning writer on The Simpsons, has died at the age of 61. Read: Deadline
YouTube has announced its own live-streamed late night talk show, the weekly Outside Tonight. Read: Late Nighter
11 pages from fantasy romance novel Bloodsong of Wycaro by author Carol Sturka has been released online via Apple Books. Read: Deadline #Pluribus
Aimee Hart explores the meaning to The Golden Girls inclusion into the world of Pluribus. Read: Polygon
Disney and YouTube have ended their 15-day blackout. Read: Deadline
The SAG Awards (Screen Actor Awards) have been rebranded as The Actor Awards ahead.
MSNBC has officially rebranded as MS NOW over the weekend. Not loving the animated graphic on screen that rotates through the meaning of the MS Now acronym… it moves too quickly and is distracting. Read: Deadline
A Gilmore Girls soundtrack featuring all of Sam Phillips music for the show is now streaming. Read: Remind Magazine
Production has wrapped on season 3 of Euphoria. Read: Deadline
That’s the newsletter for today.
Consider becoming a paid supporter of Always Be Watching.
Connect with Dan on Bluesky. Connect with Dan on Letterboxd. Connect with Dan on Linkedin. Email Dan @ alwaysbewatching.com or just reply to this email.
