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Nov. 30 (UPI) — Swiss voters have rejected a tax on ultra wealthy residents and turned down a proposal to extend mandatory military service to women, initial poll results showed Sunday.

Nearly 85% of voters rejected military or civic service for females, and 79% voted against a 50% inheritance tax for the most wealthy Swiss.

The inheritance tax would have imposed the levy on individuals receiving a tax-free amount of 50 million Swiss Francs, or just over $62 million. The proposal, made by the youth wing of the leftist Social Democrats, would have directed the funds toward the nation’s climate change mitigation efforts.

The inheritance tax would have affected about 2,500 hundred Swiss, or about 0.03% of the population.

The mandatory military proposal, called “For a committed Switzerland,” would have extended compulsory military or civilian service to women. It already applies to Swiss men.

It would have expanded forms of service to include causes that benefit society, including environmental protection, helping vulnerable citizens and aiding in disaster prevention efforts.

The Geneva-based servicecitoyen.ch proposed the service initiative, ans was backed by a petition with 107,613 signatures. It had the support of the Liberal Greens, the Evangelical Party, the Pirate Party and the youth wing of the Center Party.

Polling ten days prior to the election predicted broad based opposition to both measures. Critics of the inheritance tax warned that passing it could lead to an exodus of wealthy people from the country and cause irreparable economic harm, and that any proceeds generated by the tax would not make up for the lack of spending by the people affected if they left.

YORBA LINDA — In the shadow of her husband’s boyhood home, former First Lady Patricia Ryan Nixon was remembered Saturday by relatives and friends as a woman whose uncommon emotional strength and enduring devotion will mark her place in history.

The hour-long morning funeral service, set on the grassy outdoor amphitheater of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, brought together an extended political family that included former Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Ronald Reagan.

“This is a time for tears, but also a time of smiles and happiness in our hearts,” the Rev. Billy Graham said as he opened the service under ashen clouds.

Graham, a close Nixon family friend and confidant, joined Gov. Pete Wilson, Sen. Bob Dole and family friends in eulogies emphasizing Mrs. Nixon’s tenderness at home and on the many campaign trails of the “Dick and Pat partnership.”

The 372 invited guests sat in silence on white lawn chairs facing the library’s reflection pool. They included family, colleagues and opponents who ran against Nixon. Among them was former Sen. George S. McGovern, whom Nixon defeated for the presidency in 1972.

Figures from the Watergate era and the Nixon Administration included Maurice Stans, Charles Colson, Rosemary Woods, H.R. (Bob) Haldeman, Ron Ziegler and Alexander Haig.

Just outside the library grounds, an estimated 200 others gathered on the parking lot to hear the funeral service broadcast from loudspeakers. The onlookers, many of whom were among the 5,000 to attend a public viewing Friday evening, broke into soft applause as luminaries–among them Bob Hope and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger–arrived by limousine.

Many of the guests took their places more than an hour before the 10 a.m. start, when Graham led former President Nixon and the immediate family to their seats near the former First Lady’s rose garden. After seeing the crowd, Nixon drew a handkerchief over his mouth and began to sob.

The audience then stood quietly as six U.S. Marine honor guards carried Mrs. Nixon’s mahogany casket to a white canopy, where a pedestal was decorated with flower arrangements. In the background, the Master Chorale of Orange County performed “My Country ‘tis of Thee.”

Graham and four eulogists took turns at a podium to praise Mrs. Nixon, who died Tuesday of lung cancer at age 81. The speakers referred to the personal hardships Mrs. Nixon endured in childhood and as wife of a political figure who knew triumph and profound tragedy.

“Few women in public life have suffered as she has suffered and done it with such grace,” Graham said. “In all the years I knew her, I never heard her say anything unkind about anyone.”

Cynthia Hardin Milligan, close family friend and daughter of President Nixon’s Agriculture Secretary Clifford Hardin, said the former First Lady’s appetite for adventure helped carry her through difficult times.

“It was that sense of adventure which led her to become half of the Dick and Pat partnership that began in California 53 years ago and brought them to heights of fame, power, turmoil, frustration and peace that few have experienced.”

Milligan also spoke of “a woman of substance,” who exuded warmth in her family life, where she spent hours playing with her grandchildren. Mrs. Nixon, Milligan said, was a perfect fit for the code name given to her by the Secret Service: “Starlight.”

“I came to know and appreciate Mrs. Nixon in her roles as mother, grandmother, wife and friend,” she said. “She always created an atmosphere of love and beauty in every Nixon home, including the White House.”

Milligan’s tribute was preceded by a eulogy from retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James D. (Don) Hughes, who served as a Nixon military aide and accompanied Mrs. Nixon in Venezuela in 1958, when Nixon was vice president and their cars were attacked by anti-American rioters.

During that trip, Hughes told the audience, he was bowled over at Mrs. Nixon’s display of courage. He said she was met by an angry mob that had been “whipped into a frenzy,” roaring insults and spitting on the motorcade.

“Throughout the ride, I never saw her flinch when the car was hit with various missiles and clubs,” Hughes said. “She remained totally composed and that alone made it easier for me and the Secret Service. . . . We left Caracas the next day through a tear gas mist . . . but we left in the Nixon style, with heads up and all flags flying.”

Wilson said that as a young Nixon political advance man in 1962, he was introduced to a woman whose fragile physical appearance belied an inner strength that radiated composure on the campaign trail, where Nixon waged an unsuccessful challenge to unseat Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown.

“Pat Nixon was a far bigger draw than the incumbent governor they were running against,” Wilson said. “Thousands lined up waiting for her. Children everywhere were drawn to her, whether it was in Africa, California or Moscow. She radiated dignity, quiet strength and wholesome charm.”

Wilson said the demands of Mrs. Nixon’s personal life, in which she nursed her parents through final illnesses and worked as a telephone operator and Hollywood extra to fund her education, prepared her for the rigors of public life.

“But in that fragile body,” the governor said, “beat a great Irish fighting heart.”

Many common themes connected the words of each eulogist, but it was Dole, the nation’s highest-ranking Republican, who spoke of Mrs. Nixon as one who “never forgot where she came from.”

“Washington, D.C., is a town where the monuments are tall, and the egos even taller,” Dole said. “Every once in a while, however, there comes along a rare spirit like Pat who dispels the cynicism and reminds us that compassion need not be legislated, it need only be . . . expressed by hugging a child, comforting a victim of a natural disaster or just personally answering a letter from one of the countless real people who turn to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when all other avenues seem closed.”

At some Washington events, Dole said Mrs. Nixon would stand in receiving lines for hours, knowing that for some it would be their only White House evening.

“As a friend of hers told me this week: ‘Pat Nixon treated everyone like a head of state,’ ” the senator from Kansas said. “In an age saturated with the false values of celebrity, Pat Nixon was as genuine as those signatures she insisted on signing on her letters.”

After the ceremony, Nixon and his family gathered in the library’s lobby with those who attended the memorial. The former President called his political friends forward and thanked all of them.

As they stood near him, Nixon began to talk of the strong-willed woman who had stood by him and assuaged his fears.

One time was during his 1952 vice presidential campaign, before making the “Checkers speech,” in which Nixon defended himself on national TV after his acceptance of an $18,000 fund for political expenses.

Just before going on the air, he said he turned to Pat. “I don’t know how I can get through this,” Nixon said he told his wife.

She responded firmly: “Yes you will.”

Twenty-two years later, just two months after he resigned the presidency, Nixon was admitted to Long Beach Memorial Hospital for treatment of a serious case of phlebitis, which nearly took his life. At one point, after being in shock for several days, he opened his eyes and saw Pat.

“Honey, I may not make it,” he said to his wife.

She responded the same way as she had in 1952: “Yes you will.”

Nixon’s remembrances touched the crowd.

“It was very, very beautiful and all about Pat,” said Rep. Robert K. Dornan. “She was just a great lady.”

Nixon insisted on shaking hands with everyone and soon, a long receiving line formed. One of the first to leave the reception was comedian Hope and his wife, Delores, followed by actor Buddy Ebsen and his wife.

The Reagans and Fords left through the basement and 80 minutes after the reception began, the Nixon family walked to the burial site, where Graham conducted a short service and said a prayer before the interment.

A stone marker notes the spot where Mrs. Nixon is buried. It reads: “Patricia Ryan Nixon: 1912-1993.”

Visitors will be able to see the grave site beginning today at 11 a.m., when the library reopens. Admission is free through Tuesday.

Times staff writer Lily Dizon contributed to this report.

Nov. 27 (UPI) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday the creation of a new voluntary military service amid concerns about a possible confrontation with Russia.

Calling it an “act of trust in our youth,” Macron made the announcement in a speech to troops stationed at a base just outside of Grenoble in southeast France, the BBC reported.

The new service will launch next summer, offering monthly payments to recruits, mostly aged 18 and 19, of at least 800 euros, or about $930, a month for 10 months of training, according to the BBC.

“The only way to avoid danger is to prepare for it,” Macron said. “We need to mobilise, mobilising the nation to defend itself, to be ready and remain respected.”

The new initiative seeks to recruit 3,000 initial volunteers and steadily increase to 50,000 youth joining by 2035, “depending on evolving threats,” with volunteers having the option to stay in the military or become reservists, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“We can’t go back to the times of conscription, but we’re in need of mobilization,” Macron said.

Macron has actively sought to bolster Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s ongoing invasion. France recently signed a deal to sell Ukraine 100 advanced fighter jets. More broadly, Macron helped spearhead the creation of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing,” a group of 34 mostly European countries willing to offer more security backing to Ukraine.

In his speech, Macron did not call out Russia, but said he was launching the initiative “at a time when all our European allies are moving forward in the face of a threat that weighs on us all, France cannot remain immobile,” The New York Times reported.

Other European countries, including Germany, Denmark and Poland, have looked into ways to increase the ranks of their respective armed forces, according to the Times.

Speaking during a press conference on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the idea that he was planning to attack Europe.

However, the specter of a confrontation between Russia and France has loomed, according to the BBC.

Recently, Gen Fabien Mandon, France’s chief of staff, raised alarms when he said the French military was planning around the assumption of a conflict with Russia in the coming years.

Nov. 25 (UPI) — Online retailer Amazon has begun to roll out its Leo Internet service that offers gigabyte speed via its satellite network for businesses and other organizations.

Amazon’s enterprise customers will be the first to use the Amazon Leo Internet service that includes a new “Ultra” antenna, and a wider rollout is planned for 2026, Amazon announced on Tuesday.

Amazon officials said Leo is designed to extend reliable, high-speed Internet to those beyond the reach of existing networks, including millions of businesses, government entities and organizations that are located in areas where Internet service is unreliable.

“Amazon Leo represents a massive opportunity for businesses operating in challenging environments,” said Chris Webber, vice president of consumer and enterprise business for Amazon Leo.

“We’ve designed Amazon Leo to meet the needs of some of the most complex business and government customers out there,” Webber added.

“We’re excited to provide them with the tools they need to transform their operations, no matter where they are in the world.”

The Amazon Leo Internet service uses an innovative network design, satellites and “high-performance phased-array antennas” to support download speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second and upload speeds of up to 400 megabytes per second.

A new antenna dubbed Leo Ultra enables users to attain such downloading and uploading speeds, which exceed those of the competing Starlink Performance Kit, according to The Verge.

SpaceX officials said a new V3 satellite will support faster uploading and downloading speeds next year.

Amazon also has more than 150 satellites orbiting the Earth to provide digital communications that are undergoing initial network testing that involves a small group of enterprise customers.

Commercial airline JetBlue is among Amazon Leo’s enterprise customers participating in the service’s initial rollout.

“We knew Amazon Leo would share our passion for customer-first innovation,” JetBlue President Marty St. George said.

“Choosing Amazon Leo reflects our commitment to staying ahead of what customers want most when traveling, such as fast, reliable performance and flexibility in our free in-flight Wi-Fi.”

Amazon Leo also enables enterprise customers to connect directly to their cloud-based accounts and establish private network interconnects so that they can connect and communicate with remote locations using their respective data centers and core networks.

MINNEAPOLIS — Since it was created in 2018, the federal government’s cybersecurity agency has helped warn state and local election officials about potential threats from foreign governments, showed officials how to protect polling places from attacks and gamed out how to respond to the unexpected, such as an election day bomb threat or sudden disinformation campaign.

The agency was largely absent from that space for elections this month in several states, a potential preview for the 2026 midterms. Shifting priorities of the Trump administration, staffing reductions and budget cuts have many election officials concerned about how engaged the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will be next year, when control of Congress will be at stake in those elections.

Some officials say they have begun scrambling to fill the anticipated gaps.

“We do not have a sense of whether we can rely on CISA for these services as we approach a big election year in 2026,” said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat who until recently led the bipartisan National Assn. of Secretaries of State.

The association’s leaders sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February asking her to preserve the cybersecurity agency’s core election functions. Noem, whose department oversees the agency, replied the following month that it was reviewing its “funding, products, services, and positions” related to election security and that its services would remain available to election officials.

Simon said secretaries of state are still waiting to hear about the agency’s plans.

“I regret to say that months later, the letter remains very timely and relevant,” he said.

An agency in transition

CISA, as the agency is known, was formed under the first Trump administration to help safeguard the nation’s critical infrastructure, including dams, power plants and election systems. It has been undergoing a major transformation since President Trump’s second term began in January.

Public records suggest that roughly 1,000 CISA employees have lost their jobs in recent years. The Republican administration in March cut $10 million from two cybersecurity initiatives, including one dedicated to helping state and local election officials.

That was a few weeks after CISA announced it was conducting a review of its election-related work, and more than a dozen staffers who have worked on elections were placed on administrative leave. The FBI also disbanded a task force on foreign influence operations, including those that target U.S. elections.

CISA is still without an official director. Trump’s nomination of Sean Plankey, a cybersecurity expert in the first Trump administration, has stalled in the Senate.

CISA officials did not answer questions seeking specifics about the agency’s role in the recently completed elections, its plans for the 2026 election cycle or staffing levels. They said the agency remains ready to help protect election infrastructure.

“Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, CISA is laser-focused on securing America’s critical infrastructure and strengthening cyber resilience across the government and industry,” said Marci McCarthy, CISA’s director of public affairs.

She said CISA would announce its future organizational plans “at the appropriate time.”

Christine Serrano Glassner, CISA’s chief external affairs officer, said the agency’s experts are ready to provide election guidance if asked.

“In the event of disruptions or threats to critical infrastructure, whether Election Day-related or not, CISA swiftly coordinates with the Office of Emergency Management and the appropriate federal, state and local authorities,” she said in a statement.

States left on their own

California’s top election security agencies said CISA has played a “critical role” since 2018 but provided little, if any, help for the state’s Nov. 4 special election, when voters approved a redrawn congressional redistricting map.

“Over the past year, CISA’s capacity to support elections has been significantly diminished,” the California secretary of state’s office said in a statement to the Associated Press. “The agency has experienced major reductions in staffing, funding, and mission focus — including the elimination of personnel dedicated specifically to election security and foreign influence mitigation.

“This shift has left election officials nationwide without the critical federal partnership they have relied on for several election cycles,” the statement said.

CISA alerted California officials in September that it would no longer participate in a task force that brought together federal, state and local agencies to support county election offices. California election officials and the governor’s Office of Emergency Services did what they could to fill the gaps and plan for various security scenarios.

In Orange County, Registrar of Voters Bob Page said in an email that the state offices and other county departments “stepped up” to support his office “to fill the void left by CISA’s absence.”

Neighboring Los Angeles County had a different experience. The registrar’s office, which oversees elections, said it continues to get a range of cybersecurity services from CISA, including threat intelligence, network monitoring and security testing of its equipment, although local jurisdictions now have to cover the costs of some services that had been federally funded.

Some other states that held elections this month also said they did not have coordination with CISA.

Mississippi’s secretary of state, who heads the national association that sent the letter to Noem, did not directly respond to a request for comment, but his office confirmed that CISA was not involved in the state’s recent elections.

In Pennsylvania, which held a nationally watched retention election for three state Supreme Court justices this month, the Department of State said it is also relied more on its own partners to ensure the elections were secure.

In an email, the department said it was “relying much less on CISA than it had in recent years.” Instead, it has begun collaborating with the state police, the state’s own homeland security department, local cybersecurity experts and other agencies.

Looking for alternatives

Simon, the former head of the secretary of state’s association, said state and local election officials need answers about CISA’s plans because officials will have to seek alternatives if the services it had been providing will not be available next year.

In some cases, such as classified intelligence briefings, there are no alternatives to the federal government, he said. But there might be ways to get other services, such as testing of election equipment to see if it can be penetrated from outside.

In past election years, CISA also would conduct tabletop exercises with local agencies and election offices to game out various scenarios that might affecting voting or ballot counting, and how they would react. Simon said that is something CISA was very good at.

“We are starting to assume that some of those services are not going to be available to us, and we are looking elsewhere to fill that void,” Simon said.

Karnowski and Smyth write for the Associated Press. Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.

Directed by Japan’s monomonikered Hikari, “Rental Family” — a beautifully moving and affably humorous story of human connection — kicks off with one funeral and culminates with another, demonstrating the evolution that our protagonist, Philip (Brendan Fraser), goes through during his personal journey between these two events.

The first funeral is a shock. Philip is a struggling actor in Tokyo, with one massively successful commercial as a toothpaste superhero mascot under his belt. His agent has booked him a gig as “Sad American,” a role he can easily play with his looming height, doleful eyes and a heart he wears on his sleeve. Late as usual, he dashes to check in for work and is shocked to stumble into a somber funeral. He’s even more shocked when the formally dressed corpse starts emotionally reacting to the tearful eulogies.

The scene is a marvel of revelation and reaction from Fraser and, in fact, much of the genius of his performance in “Rental Family” comes from his reactions, especially as he discovers the weird and wonderful new job he’s landed.

In the screenplay by Hikari and Stephen Blahut, Philip finds himself working for Tada (Takehiro Hira), who runs a company called Rental Family that’s hired by clients to provide staff to role-play in various real-world scenarios — the fake funeral, for example, or as a mistress apologizing to a spurned wife or just for friendship. Philip’s first role is quite complex: He plays a Canadian man getting married to a young Japanese woman in a show wedding for her conservative parents. She’s queer and needs an out in order to be with her real partner. Philip, who is earnest and honest to a fault, chafes at the lie but soon realizes that he’s helping someone to live their authentic life, so he throws himself into it.

Rental Family’s service is all about maintaining Japanese values of propriety and politeness through performance, and the little (or big) white lies are manipulations to get what the clients want: an apology, companionship, love, admiration, closure. Philip’s most challenging high-wire act proves to be posing as the long-lost American father of a shrewd and emotionally intelligent young girl, Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman), in order to secure her school admission. Both Philip and Mia’s mom (Shino Shinozaki), the client, soon realize that it’s much more complicated than just pretending to be a nuclear family for a school interview.

While playing daddy, Philip also juggles a role as a curious journalist profiling an aging, iconic (but largely forgotten) screen actor, Kikuo (Akira Emoto), from whom he learns surprising lessons about life, memory and legacy. He finds himself deeply connecting with these people, young and old, and learning from them, while becoming tangled in their lives.

Empathy pours off Fraser in waves, which is what made his Oscar-winning performance in “The Whale” work. Hikari channels that quality to good use in “Rental Family” but never oversteps. The film is sweet and affecting, never treacly or overly sentimental. She knows how to balance humor and poignancy, to allow Philip to be a grown man with his own needs and peccadilloes and mistakes, though we never question his motivations because of the inherent goodness that radiates off Fraser.

Hikari’s naturalistic style perfectly suits this story. The Tokyo that she showcases is one of quotidian everyday life, not the futuristic neon city that an outsider might capture. Hers is one of small, cramped apartments, karaoke bars, public transit, hotels, temples and schools. It’s a world occupied by normal people who sometimes need a little help, a little push to get the things they want in life. Philip is there to provide that service even though he’s also in need of his own connection to others.

But it’s the mishaps along the way that actually help Philip to grow. By the time we get to the second funeral, we see how much he has bloomed. Fraser has an openness to his expression that’s like a flower unfolding, beaming in the sunlight of recognition and personal fulfillment. As an actor, Fraser’s second act has been a sight to behold. He’s the emotional anchor of this life-affirming and quietly resonant film about the importance of being together — a movie that announces Hikari as a major talent.

Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

After 14 days, two “College GameDays,” two “Monday Night Footballs” and one election night, the protracted contract dispute between YouTube TV and Walt Disney Co. is finally over.

As my colleague Meg James reported last week, the two sides settled Friday after agreeing on a multi-year distribution deal for YouTube to carry Disney-owned programming.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Both sides touted the agreement as a win for consumers. Disney Entertainment Co-Chairs Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro said in a joint statement that the deal “recognizes the tremendous value of Disney’s programming and provides YouTube TV subscribers with more flexibility and choice.”

For its part, YouTube also noted that the settlement “preserves the value of our service for our subscribers” and “future flexibility in our offers.” The Google-owned platform also apologized to consumers for the “disruption,” saying it appreciated people’s patience during the dispute.

Of course, reaching an agreement is good for customers who had lost access to ESPN, ABC News election coverage and other programming during the two-week blackout.

But this is far from the last impasse that sports fans and other viewers will see — if history is any guide.

In fact, the number of blackouts related to carriage and contract disputes has been increasing over the last decade, particularly as the health of the television business has declined, raising the economic stakes for all sides.

Back in the day, contracts between content providers and distributors would last for five years or more because the industry was more stable and little would change over the course of an agreement.

That’s obviously all different now, with most deals today lasting about two to three years, reflecting rapid changes in a TV business that has been upended by streaming platforms.

In today’s TV landscape — with cable cord-cutters aplenty and many more options to watch your favorite shows and sports teams — negotiations are more fraught.

Traditional pay TV providers like DirecTV and Charter Communications are scrambling to retain their subscribers, while legacy media companies like Disney are trying to support their networks — particularly channels such as ESPN that have invested huge sums for those all-important sports rights that keep viewers engaged.

And in the midst of it all is the growing power of live TV streaming distributors, especially YouTube TV, which has become a much bigger force in the TV business.

The platform’s subscriber base has been quickly growing.

YouTube is approaching 10 million subscribers, making it the third-largest pay-TV distributor, behind Charter Communications and Comcast. Back in February, when it reached a deal with Paramount Global to avert a CBS blackout, that number was reported at 8 million.

Such growth is giving YouTube TV — with the financial backing of tech giant Google — more clout in contract negotiations, making them more willing to push back against fee increases demanded by legacy Hollywood media companies.

Disney sought rates similar to those paid by major distributors, including around $10 a subscriber per month for ESPN, CNBC reported.

“They realize their power,” said Brent Penter, associate analyst at Raymond James. “And they’re trying to use it.”

But Disney is no wilting flower, either. Last week, Disney’s Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston struck a tough tone on CNBC when talking about the negotiations, saying, “We’re ready to go as long as they want to.”

The Burbank entertainment giant has some of the most popular programming around, meaning it can command the biggest fees from providers. It also owns a competitor to YouTube TV in Hulu + Live TV and its new ESPN Unlimited direct-to-customer streaming service.

But in this dispute, Disney temporarily lost the distribution fees and potentially advertising dollars for any of its programs that a YouTube TV subscriber didn’t watch, making it a costly standoff.

No one wins in a blackout situation. But if you had to pick a winner, analysts say it might be the alternatives to YouTube TV — services like Fubo, Sling TV, DirecTV Stream and Hulu + Live TV.

If you’re a diehard Eagles fan who also happens to be a YouTube TV subscriber, and you refused to miss the game against the Packers last Monday, you might have signed up for temporary passes through one of these services. And if you liked it, well, you might choose to keep that subscription instead.

That also goes back to the complicated web of options consumers must wade through to find their favorite teams and shows.

“There is friction out there,” said Ric Prentiss, managing director at Raymond James. “Blackouts raise it to a head, where people say, ‘Wait, I don’t know how to navigate this,’ and they start looking at other alternatives.”

Stuff We Wrote

Film shoots

Number of the week

TV station owner Sinclair Inc. has an eye toward dominating the TV market. The Baltimore-based company, which is known for its conservative bent, has acquired about 8% of rival broadcaster E.W. Scripps, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sinclair also said in the filing that it has had “constructive discussions” with Scripps about potentially combining, though no deal has been reached. Scripps, however, has suggested that it is not interested in a merger.

Finally …

It might be a sign of the economy. My colleague, Suhauna Hussain, wrote about how McDonald’s is seeing lower traffic from one of its core customer bases, low-income households.

ESPN football is returning to YouTube TV after the service and The Walt Disney Co. settled their contentious contract dispute — ending the 15-day blackout of Disney channels.

The Disney-owned channels and ABC station signals were being restored for YouTube TV’s 10 million customers, the companies announced late Friday. The breakthrough came after the companies agreed on a new distribution deal for YouTube, which is owned by Google, replacing the previous pact that had expired on Oct. 30.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“This new agreement reflects our continued commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment and evolving with how audiences choose to watch,’’ Disney Entertainment Co-Chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement.

“It recognizes the tremendous value of Disney’s programming and provides YouTube TV subscribers with more flexibility and choice. We are pleased that our networks have been restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football.”

The outage surpassed the length of last year’s clash between Disney and DirecTV, which saw Disney channels being dropped for 13 days.

YouTube and Disney have been bickering over distribution fees. Google had rebuffed Disney’s earlier demands for fee increases to carry ESPN, ABC and other channels. The Burbank entertainment giant wanted to maintain revenue to help pay for Disney’s content production, streaming ambitions and ESPN’s gargantuan sports rights deals, including long-term contracts with the NFL and the NBA.

YouTube pushed back, pointing to declining viewership for ABC and other channels, for which Disney had been seeking fee increases.

Disney and other programmers have been trying to boost fees to offset the loss of pay-TV customers who have cut the cord or switched to smaller streaming bundles. YouTube also had accused Disney of holding out in an effort to scoop up aggravated YouTube TV subscribers considering a switch to its Fubo or Hulu + Live TV services, which compete directly with YouTube TV. The services offer most of the same TV channels.

The dispute highlighted the ongoing tensions between pay-TV distributors and programmers amid the shift to streaming. In 2021, the Disney channels were knocked off YouTube TV for two days in an earlier fee dispute.

A shrinking pool of big-bundle subscribers increasingly has been asked to shoulder higher programming expenses. Distributors, including YouTube TV, have tried to hold the line on prices, cognizant that their customers are tired of ever-escalating monthly bills. YouTube TV offered a package of channels for $35 a month when it launched in 2017. The service now costs $82.99 a month.

The cost of carrying broadcast channels (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) and sports networks, including ESPN, has skyrocketed due to the huge jump in costs for TV rights deals with major sports leagues. ESPN is the most expensive basic cable channel, costing pay-TV distributors nearly $10 a month per subscriber home.

Disney has defended its costs to pay-TV distributors, arguing that it provides high-quality programming that consumers love.

The company also is trying to transition its businesses to focus more heavily on direct-to-consumer streaming services, including Disney+ and Hulu + Live TV, that bypass the traditional pay-TV distributors.

The skirmish was just the latest between YouTube and a major programming company.

Since August, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp., Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Spanish-language broadcaster Univision have all complained that YouTube TV has been trying to use its market muscle to squeeze them for concessions.

“Rather than compete on a level playing field, Google’s YouTube TV has approached these negotiations as if it were the only player in the game,” the Disney executives Pitaro, Bergman and Walden wrote in an Nov. 7 email sent to employees.

YouTube TV customers have been without Univision and Unimas since Sept. 30. That dispute centered on YouTube’s plan to group the Univision channels with other Spanish-language programming on a separate tier rather than offer the channels as part of YouTube’s basic packages.

Univision cried foul, in large part, because the switch would mean less revenue because programmers are paid rates based on the number of households that receive their channels. Fewer consumers pay for the Spanish-language add-on.

YouTube countered that Spanish-language viewers were watching Univision on the main YouTube free video site — and that service has remained available.

This week, Lionsgate is betting that the odds will be in their favor when “The Hunger Games: On Stage” opens at London’s Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre.

The play, which is based on the young adult novel by Suzanne Collins and 2012 film that catapulted actor Jennifer Lawrence into the mainstream, is just the latest film-to-stage adaptation from Hollywood.

This isn’t a new playbook. After all, Disney revolutionized the space by adapting its animated films like “The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin” into Broadway musical hits. But it is one that studios are turning to again, particularly as they look to connect more deeply with audiences and expand the fan base of their franchises.

Last year, Universal Theatrical Group debuted a musical stage adaptation of the 1992 film “Death Becomes Her” on Broadway.

In addition to “The Hunger Games,” Lionsgate has several other theatrical shows in the works, including a stage adaptation of the 2017 film “Wonder” opening in Boston in December, as well as “Now You See Me Live” opening that same month at the Sydney Opera House.

Next year, there will be a stage version of “La La Land,” as well as a new production of the iconic classic “Dirty Dancing.” (Of course, the opposite is also happening, with “Wicked” as the most recent example of a book-to-stage-to-film pipeline.)

“When you look at the way that fans are engaging with entertainment, there are so many different mediums that are important now, and experiential is a big one,” Jenefer Brown, Lionsgate’s president of global products and experiences, said an interview. “With all of us spending so much time online and in digital mediums, the idea of that shared live experience in a theater is something that’s highly appealing.”

But getting “The Hunger Games” to the stage wasn’t easy — the process took almost seven years from the inception of the idea to first previews. As part of the show’s development, the producers also built a custom theater in London. Brown spoke with The Times about why the dystopian franchise was a good candidate for live theater and why communal experiences are so important.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

What made “The Hunger Games” ripe for the stage?

It’s an enduring story that has so much relevance to occurrences that happen in the world today. I think that there’s just a ton of cultural significance.

And what we know about “The Hunger Games” is that there’s always a new wave of fans that discover it. Now we’re seeing Gen Alpha reading the books and watching the movies, and of course, we have Gen Z fans and millennial fans, and parents from other generations who have been on the journey with their children. It’s a way to bring aspects of the book to life, maybe in a different interpretation, or to let fans be able to explore certain things in a greater depth than we were able to do on a movie screen.

What does a stage play do for audiences that, say, a series or ride does not?

When you’re seeing something live, we don’t have the tricks that we have behind a camera in a movie.

You have to really find ways to bring the audience on a journey, and you can’t hide anything. That’s part of the magic of the experience, and for fans to be there and be mesmerized by some of the things that we’re executing in real time on a stage with special effects and illusions and real people doing the stunt choreography and the stunt work right in front of you, I think that there’s a lot of value in that type of experience.

Does this allow you to reach different audiences than those who already saw the films?

Obviously, a lot of fans are interested, but I think theatergoers in general, who maybe haven’t been as exposed to “The Hunger Games” or aren’t super fans, are going to be interested from the theater side of it. There’s been a lot of buzz and excitement in London, in the theater world, knowing that we had a new theater being built.

In general, lots of of people want to engage with experiences. We’re seeing just a huge sort of upward trend in interest, particularly amongst Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences. Someone who maybe has read the books but hasn’t seen the movie yet will come see the stage show and then watch the movie. And I think this idea of all of it feeding each other, depending on which entry point you choose, is a really interesting thing for us as a studio to think about.

Did the pandemic turbocharge interest in live entertainment?

It’s an interest in live stage and live entertainment, and the idea of getting out again, supporting the arts and supporting shared experiences. We’ve definitely seen, thankfully, a recovery and an upswing in that area.

How big of a business is the stage aspect of Lionsgate global products and experiences?

We have three shows opening before the end of this year, and about that number slated for next year. So it really is a very busy and active space for us, and I think more in the pipeline. We probably are spending about a third of our time in this space, and I don’t see that changing.

Stuff We Wrote

Film shoots

Number of the week

$80 million

After a sleepy October, Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Studios’ “Predator: Badlands” conquered the box office this past weekend, grossing $40 million in the U.S. and Canada for a total of nearly $80 million worldwide.

The haul is the highest global opening for any film in “Predator” franchise history, surpassing 2018’s “The Predator,” which notched $73.5 million.

The strong start for the Elle Fanning-led “Predator: Badlands” provides a hopeful start for November’s theatrical fortunes. So far this year, domestic box office revenue is about $7.2 billion, up 3.1% compared with the previous year, according to Comscore. But when compared with pre-pandemic 2019, that number is still down 24.7%.

Finally …

My colleague, Malia Mendez, wrote about a TV writer who found a second career in ceramics after the slowdown in Hollywood left him out of work. His most popular workshop — Tattoo a Mug.

YouTube TV customers are bracing for another frustrating weekend.

For the last week, YouTube TV’s 10 million subscribers have been denied access to ESPN, ABC and other Walt Disney Co. channels in a dispute that has swelled into one of the largest TV blackouts in a decade. Instead of turning on “College GameDay,” “Monday Night Football” or “Dancing With the Stars,” customers have been greeted with a grim message: “Disney channels are unavailable.”

The standoff began Oct. 30 when the two behemoths hit an impasse in their negotiations over a new distribution contract covering Disney’s channels and ABC stations.

Google, which owns YouTube, has rebuffed Disney’s demands for fee increases for ESPN, ABC and other channels. The Burbank entertainment giant has been seeking a revenue boost to support its content production and streaming ambitions, and help pay for ESPN’s gargantuan sports rights deals.

Talks are ongoing, but the two sides remain apart on major issues — prolonging the stalemate.

“Everyone is kind of sick of these big-time companies trying to get the best of one another,” said Nick Newton, 30, who lives near San Francisco and subscribes to YouTube TV. “The people who are suffering are the middle-class and lower-class people that just love sports … because it’s our escape from the real world.”

Both companies declined to comment for this article.

The skirmish is just the latest between YouTube and programming companies. Since August, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp., Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Spanish-language broadcaster TelevisaUnivision have all complained that YouTube TV was trying to use its market muscle to squeeze them for concessions.

Here’s a look at what’s driving the escalating tensions:

Google’s growing clout in television

The struggle between Disney and YouTube reflects television’s fast-shifting dynamics.

Disney has long entered carriage negotiations with tremendous leverage, in large part because it owns ESPN, which is a must-have channel for legions of sports fans.

Programmers, including Disney, structured their distribution contracts to expire near a pivotal programming event, such as a new season of NFL football. The timing motivated both sides to quickly reach a deal rather than risk alienating customers.

But for Google’s parent, Alphabet, YouTube TV is just a sliver of their business. The tech company generated $350 billion in revenue last year, the vast majority coming from Google search and advertising. That gives YouTube a longer leash to hold out for contract terms it finds acceptable.

“This dispute is not that painful for Google,” said analyst Richard Greenfield of LightShed Partners, noting that YouTube TV could probably withstand “two weekends without college football, and two weeks without ‘Monday Night Football’ — as long as their consumers stay with them.”

Disney, however, depends on TV advertising and pay-TV distribution fees. The week-long blackout has already dampened TV ratings, which means less revenue for the company.

Consumers like YouTube TV

For decades, throngs of consumers loathed their cable company — a sentiment that Disney and other programmers were able to use in their favor in past battles. Customer defections prompted several pay-TV companies to find a compromise to restore the darkened TV channels and stanch the subscriber bleeding.

But YouTube is banking on a more loyal user base, including millions of customers who switched to the service from higher-priced legacy providers.

“I’ll stick this thing out with YouTube TV,” Newton said, adding that he hoped the dispute didn’t drag on for weeks.

“This is one of the problems facing Disney,” Greenfield said. “It’s been a noticeable change in tone from past carriage fee battles. If customer losses stay at a minimum, then Disney is going to be in a tough place.”

It boils down to power and money

YouTube TV is the fastest-growing television service in the U.S. Analysts expect that, within a couple of years, YouTube TV will have more pay-TV customers than industry leaders Spectrum and Comcast.

In the current negotiations, Google has asked Disney to agree to lower its rates when YouTube TV surpasses Comcast’s and Spectrum’s subscriber counts. Disney maintains that YouTube already pays preferred rates, in recognition of its competitive standing, and that Google is trying to drive down the value of Disney’s networks.

“YouTube TV and its owner, Google … want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service,” top Disney executives wrote last Friday in an email to their staff.

People close to YouTube TV reject the characterization, saying the service has been a valuable partner by providing a strong service that brings Disney billions of dollars a year in distribution revenue.

“The bottom line is that our channels are extremely valuable, and we can only continue to program them with the sports and entertainment viewers love most if we stand our ground,” the Disney executives wrote in last week’s email. “We are asking nothing more of YouTube TV than what we have gotten from every other distributor — fair rates for our channels.”

Higher sports rights fees

A major reason Disney is asking for higher fees is because it’s grappling with a huge escalation in sports costs.

Disney is on the hook to pay $2.6 billion a year to the NBA, another $2.7 billion annually to the NFL, and $325 million a year for the rights to stream World Wrestling Entertainment. Such sports rights contracts have nearly doubled in the last decade, leading to the strain on TV broadcasters.

In addition, deep-pocketed streaming services, including Amazon, Apple and Netflix, have jumped into sports broadcasting, driving up the cost for the legacy broadcasters.

The crowded field also strains the wallets of sports fans, and appears to be adding to the fatigue over the YouTube TV-Disney fight.

Newton wrote in a recent Twitter post that he was spending $400 a month for his various internet, phone and TV services, including Disney+ and NFL Sunday Ticket, which is distributed by YouTube TV.

“I’m already on all the major subscriptions to watch football these days,” Newton, a third-generation San Francisco 49ers fan, said. “You need Netflix. You need Peacock, you need Amazon Prime and the list goes on and on. I’m at the point where I’m not paying for anything else.”

The cuts in Hollywood just keep coming, following a sadly familiar script.

Last week it was Paramount, which laid off about 1,000 workers in the first wave of a deep staff reduction planned since tech scion David Ellison’s Skydance Media took over the storied media and entertainment company.

The cuts affected a wide swath of the company, from CBS and CBS News to Comedy Central, MTV and the historic Melrose Avenue film studio, my colleague Meg James and I reported. Another 1,000 layoffs are expected in the coming weeks.

But Paramount isn’t the only one in the media business that’s shedding jobs and payrolls.

Earlier, cable giant Charter Communications said it would lay off 1,200 people nationwide, as the company faces increased competition for its broadband internet packages. NBC News, too, laid off 150 employees last month amid declining TV ratings and lessening ad revenue.

Other recent media-adjacent layoffs included 100 cuts to Disneyland Resort’s Anaheim-based workforce and the massive 14,000 worker reduction at Amazon, including at the company’s gaming and film and TV studios.

And that doesn’t even include widespread job losses that happened earlier this year at companies such as Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal and Six Flags Entertainment Corp.

It all adds up to a grim picture for Hollywood’s workers, who have faced a near endless marathon of economic hurdles for the last five years.

First it was the pandemic, followed by the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023, cutbacks in spending after studios splurged on streaming productions, and the outflow of production to the U.K. and other countries with lower costs than California.

Then, in January, nature struck a blow, with the fires in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades destroying many industry workers’ homes.

Topping it off, Saturday marked the first day that millions of low-income Americans lost federal food assistance due to the government shutdown that began Oct. 1. That has affected some 5.5 million Californians and probably some who work in the entertainment industry.

“It’s been one crisis after another, without enough time in between,” said Keith McNutt, western regional executive director of the Entertainment Community Fund, which provides social services for arts and entertainment professionals. “People are concerned and very worried and really trying very hard to figure out where they go from here.”

McNutt reports that the nonprofit group has already heard from some people who were recently laid off, and has experienced a sharp increase in demand for its services, particularly from those in the film and TV industry. The fund offers healthcare and financial counseling and operates a career center. It also provides emergency grants for those who qualify.

Clients include not only low-income people who are always hit hardest in downturns, but also veteran entertainment industry professionals who’ve worked in the business for 20 to 30 years.

Those who were lucky enough to have savings saw those wiped out by the pandemic, and then were unable to replenish their rainy-day funds after the strikes and industry contraction, said David Rambo, chair of the fund’s western council.

“It has been snowballing very slowly for about five years,” Rambo said.

Many in the industry are hopeful that California’s newly expanded film and television tax credit program will bring some production — and jobs — back to the Golden State. That’s what backers campaigned on when they lobbied Sacramento legislators to bolster the program. Dozens of TV shows and films have received credits so far under the revamped program, but it’ll take some time to see the results in filming data and employment numbers.

And that doesn’t help the workers who were just laid off last month. For those folks, McNutt suggests calling the fund’s health insurance team to make sure they understand their options and also to spend some time with career counselors to understand how Hollywood skills can be transferable to other employers, whether that’s on a short- or long-term basis. Most importantly, don’t isolate yourself.

“You’re not alone,” he said. “Nobody’s alone in this situation that the industry is finding itself in right now, and so reach out to your friends, reach out to your colleagues. If you’re not comfortable with that, reach out to the Entertainment Community Fund.”

Stuff We Wrote

Film shoots

Number of the week

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ wild 11-inning win on Saturday over the Toronto Blue Jays notched nearly 26 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game since 2017, according to Nielsen data.

The 2017 Game 7 win by the Houston Astros over the Dodgers had an audience of 28.3 million.

The Dodgers are now the first Major League Baseball team to win back-to-back championships in 25 years. On Monday, thousands of Dodgers faithful turned out for the team’s victory parade through downtown L.A.

Finally …

You’ve no doubt heard of L.A.’s famous star tours. But what about a tour of a historic cemetery?

My colleague, Cerys Davies, wrote about local historian and guide Shmuel Gonzales — or as he calls himself, “Barrio Boychik” — and his walking tour of Boyle Heights’ Evergreen Cemetery.

The cemetery is the final resting place for many of L.A.’s early movers and shakers, including the Lankershims and the Hollenbecks, and it’s also a prime example of L.A.’s multicultural history.

Handwritten notes. Free product samples. Email responses to questions. And in some cases (shout-out to Surfing Cowboys in Malibu), an old-school phone call to discuss a gift item.

This is the kind of service that sets local businesses apart, offering personalized experiences you won’t find on Amazon.

From independent artists working at home to brands manufacturing in downtown Los Angeles, these businesses offer a diverse range of products and services that reflect the unique character of our city, which has been affected by wildfires, ICE raids and a struggling economy.

The gifts I’ve included here are all from Los Angeles-based businesses. They carry a personal touch — a connection to the people and the city. Some are handmade while others are manufactured, but all of them are a part of our city’s unique fabric.

Let’s keep it going and support small businesses in Los Angeles this holiday season. Our connection to one another is our strength.

If you make a purchase using some of our links, the L.A. Times may be compensated. Prices and availability of items and experiences in the Gift Guide and on latimes.com are subject to change.