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In 2026, Disney expects to shutter Hulu as a standalone app and service — and fully merge Hulu into Disney+.

Why did the Mouse House decide to essentially sunset the Hulu platform, which some users believe is superior to Disney+? Disney chief Bob Iger touted a number of benefits through the move, including increased engagement and lower churn rates.

But a major boon for Disney should come on operating expenses. In fiscal 2025, Hulu will have programming costs of $4.1 billion and non-programming expenses of $2.9 billion — increasing to $4.4 billion in content costs and $3.3 billion in non-content costs by fiscal 2027, according to projections by MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman. Disney has “an opportunity to drive additional cost efficiencies from the elimination of duplicative technology and administrative costs” at Hulu, he wrote in a July 14 note. According to Fishman, the benefits of combining Hulu with Disney+ are “likely still not fully captured in our current forecast.”

Of course,...

A tough bounce — the loss of rights to show NBA games — likely crimped Warner Bros. Discovery’s ability to attract advertising dollars during the most recent TV “upfront” market, with the company declining to reveal its level of ad commitments despite most of its rivals having done so.

The company acknowledged Thursday in a letter to shareholders that “negotiations for the U.S. upfront are largely complete,” noting that it “enjoyed strong pricing and resilient demand for sports programming, and firm pricing for general entertainment.” But there was no guidance for whether the volume of ad commitments it secured was greater than, equal to, or lower than what it nabbed in 2024. In the past, such an absence of disclosure has indicated a downturn in upfront commitments.

Warner was projected to lose $1.1 billion in TV advertising in 2026, approximately 23% of its total this year, according to a March research note by Robert Fishman,...

A special installment of “Daily Variety” podcast takes a deep look at the storied history of Paramount Pictures as David Ellison’s Skydance Media formally takes control of the studio after a long slog to closing the deal with Shari Redstone’s National Amusements Inc.

Jeanine Basinger, a respected Hollywood historian and film professor emerita at Wesleyan University, details the origin story of the film factory and what made Paramount unique from the start. Peter Debruge and Owen Gleiberman, Variety‘s chief film critics, weigh in on the qualitative value of the riches in Paramount’s vaults. And to look ahead at what’s in store for the company, MoffettNathanson media analyst Robert Fishman discusses what Wall Street hopes to see from the new owners.

Related Content: ‘Today Marks Day One of a New Paramount,’ David Ellison Says as Sale Finally Closes

Basinger, who has penned numerous books on Hollywood’s early history,...

Combining entertainment and technology in a new Hollywood giant is paramount for David Ellison. His Skydance Media has closed its takeover, unveiled in July 2024, of Paramount Global to form what the merger partners have called a “next-generation media and technology leader, positioned to win in today’s rapidly transforming media landscape.”

Ellison authored an open letter to shareholders, employees and creative partners, outlining in broad strokes his vision for the company.

That includes investing in growth areas, “anchored by our creative engines and superior storytelling,” and scaling the company’s direct-to-consumer business globally, as well as driving efficiencies.

Tech is a big part of the pitch, with Ellison touting a unified technology stock, merging Paramount+ and Pluto into one platform, and leveraging new technology to boost creatives. “We also want to empower our creative partners with technology that will enable them to tell bigger, more compelling stories fueled by human ingenuity,...

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to take a hit in terms of content. So it might not be as colorful (or as R-rated) as fans had hoped for going forward.

According to Variety, insiders expect the MCU to be far less saturated in the future. As a result, several big projects might be on the chopping block. "There's a reset of what a hit is, and I don't see them consistently hitting $1 billion as before - without China, with Disney+ exposure, post-covid, without megastars," a top talent agent told the publication. "China used Marvel, Disney and the U.S. film industry to seed their own."

Coupled with dwindling overseas returns compared to past box office hauls has led Marvel Studios to shift their focus. Now, the studio reportedly has no real sense of urgency in moving forward with their long-awaited Blade reboot, or even another Deadpool movie. Instead, Marvel...

Could have been worse. Could have been better. That’s the collective takeaway on Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” which pulled in $218 million globally following its July 25 bow.

But as with “Superman” two weeks prior, the superhero movie’s overseas haul — $100 million, including an anemic $4.5 million from China — offers a stark reminder of how much things have changed since pre-covid days and where the tripwires lie for the Disney-owned studio, which has ambitious plans for two “Avengers” movies in 2026 and 2027, respectively, followed by an “X-Men” reboot further out on the horizon. By contrast, “Avengers: Endgame” nabbed $614 million from the Middle Kingdom alone in 2019.

“There’s a reset of what a hit is, and I don’t see them consistently hitting $1 billion as before — without China, with Disney+ exposure, post-covid, without megastars,” says one top agent who represents several clients in the Marvel universe. “China used Marvel, Disney and the U.

Shares of Paramount are set to open higher Friday after long-awaited FCC approval for its merger erased a big question mark hovering over the company’s future, but amid ongoing uncertainty about its strategic plans under Skydance Media.

The stock is up about 1% ahead of the open at $13.40. The deal calls for David Ellison’s company to pay $4.5 billion to buy out a chunk, but far from all, of the Class B shares for $15 each.

Federal Communications Commission approval — authorizing the transfer of 28 licenses for Paramount owned and operated CBS stations to the Skydance-led ownership group — was the key last step to an official close, which is expected over the next few weeks.

“Now that the long, drawn-out sale process is finally nearing its end, Skydance leadership is poised to take control. With that, the real work begins — rebuilding Paramount, addressing the critical strategic questions ahead, and charting a path...

Despite Netflix’s strong beat on earnings on Thursday, it wasn’t good enough for some Wall Street investors as shares are down more than 5% on Friday.

The streamer posted a 16% increase in revenue to $11.08 billion and 45.6% jump in profits to $3.13 billion in its second quarter of 2025, primarily driven by more subscribers, higher pricing and increased ad revenue.

It also raised its 2025 revenue outlook from $44.8 billion to $45.2 billion, up from previous guidance of $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion, reflecting healthy subscriber growth and ad sales and the weakening of the U.S. dollar compared to other currencies. The update represents growth of 15% to 16% year-over-year.

Though William Blair analyst Ralph Shackart touted a “good quarter and positive tone that business trends remain strong,” he argued the results and guidance were “not good enough for elevated expectations.”

“The above-the-Street revenue guide was due in part to a weaker dollar. The outlook for Netflix remains positive in our view,...

Netflix’s second-quarter results are in, and so are the first Wall Street verdicts. Several experts further pushed up their stock price targets on the streaming giant and increased financial forecasts after what was generally seen as a strong set of figures with no major surprises.

Netflix exceeded some key targets for the latest period and also boosted its full-year 2025 financial outlook, but some investors had hoped for an even bigger quarterly outperformance and stronger forecast by the streamer, leading to a muted stock reaction. After the stock closed Thursday’s trading session up 1.9 percent going into the earnings report, company shares were down 2.5 percent as of 8 a.m. Et on Friday before the market open.

Given all that, Wall Street’s focus is now shifting to the company’s performance in the back half of the year.

A raft of content debuting throughout the end of the year and...

Four years ago, David Zaslav clinched a debt-heavy deal to merge cable mainstay Discovery Inc. — which he’d run since 2006 — with what was then called WarnerMedia. The story he told investors was that the two entities’ diverse array of media assets “are better and more valuable together.”

He doesn’t believe that anymore.

On June 9, Zaslav announced a plan that he had already signaled to Wall Street was coming: Warner Bros. Discovery would be breaking up. The move, expected to be completed by mid-2026, will create two separate public companies. The goal is to boost the value of the high-growth streaming and studio biz by amputating the declining TV arm that has been hurt by the shrinking pay-tv universe, while freeing up both companies to seek potentially value-accretive M&a deals. “The right path forward became increasingly clear,” Zaslav said on an investor call about the split.

Wbd Streaming & Studios, to be led by Zaslav,...

The atmosphere and focus were very different as streaming giant Netflix unveiled its first-quarter 2025 results after the stock market close on Thursday. There was, as the company has been planning for a year, no update on subscriber growth or figures, but instead more management emphasis on financial trends.

Wall Street analysts, several of whom have recently come out touting Netflix as a safer, “defensive” stock amid recession fears, have now reacted to what they read and heard in the latest earnings update. And the tenor is mostly positive, thanks to advertising revenue upside and confidence that financial forecasts and stock price targets have still been too low.

Netflix management, led by co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, touted in an earnings call such original hits as Adolescence and season 2 of The Night Agent. And analysts liked their commentary.

“Consistent Execution” is how Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris summarized his takeaways from the first-quarter earnings update.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs have introduced a new layer of caution and uncertainty for Madison Avenue as Hollywood fights for its share of tens of billions of dollars in ad spend during its annual TV upfronts in May. While the negotiations are always high stakes for media companies and buyers, an unsettled economy complicates the process.

“Even before [the tariffs], clients were cautious. That’s what we’ve been seeing pretty consistently,” one media buyer who requested anonymity told TheWrap. “But they have definitely increased the amount of caution, and I think that emphasizes the amount of flexibility that our clients are going to need.”

Madison & Wall CEO and principal analyst Brian Weiser, who recently cut his 2025 ad spend forecast citing negative factors including volatility around trade policies, said there’s a “proper understanding” of the chaos the Trump administration intends to bring. The S&P 500 alone lost over $5.83 trillion...

It has taken a few years, but more legacy Hollywood studios’ streaming businesses have started turning annual profits, with the rest touting progress toward that goal.

Netflix, crowned on Wall Street as the undisputed king of streaming, grew its subscribers, revenue and profit in 2024. Meanwhile, among studios — which have been refocused on streaming profits after their initial bullseye on subscriber gains — Warner Bros. Discovery last year managed to multiply a small 2023 profit for the business that includes, among others, its streaming operations, while Disney swung to its first-ever full calendar-year streaming profit. And Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Paramount Global narrowed the losses in the divisions with their core streaming businesses with an eye on profitability ahead.

Boosting the bottom lines were such factors as more selective spending on original programming, price increases and a push of cheaper subscription tiers that include advertising. “Netflix spends more on direct-to-consumer (Dtc) content than any other company,...

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav received a 2024 compensation package worth $51.9 million, compared with $49.7 million in 2023 and $39.3 million in 2022 when the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger closed.

The entertainment conglomerate disclosed latest pay details for its top executives in a regulatory filing on Friday.

Zaslav’s compensation increase of 4 percent was driven by higher non-equity incentive plan pay, up from $22.0 million to $23.9 million, and slightly higher stock awards ($23.1 million) and “other” compensation ($1.9 million).

Earlier in the morning, Wbd had unveiled that John Malone would move to the role of chair emeritus, staying “actively involved.”

Zaslav’s 2023 rise in compensation had been due in part to a decision by Wbd to change its executive compensation plan to focus on cash flow, rather than its stock price. In 2023, Wbd’s free cash flow rose in part due to the Hollywood strikes, which shut down productions for months.

In 2021, then-Discovery CEO Zaslav famously received a pay package worth $246.6 million,...

One of the biggest dramas on TV isn’t expected to launch formally until later in 2025, but it’s already playing out off camera at four of the biggest media companies in the nation.

When the NBA bounces later this year from Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT cable network to NBCUniversal’s NBC and Peacock and Amazon’s Prime Video, the league will spark perhaps the biggest transfer of audience and advertising dollars in the history of the medium since CBS lost a decades-old contract with the NFL to Fox in 1993. Viewership shifts caused by that move, including the loss of affiliates, still pressure CBS today. Warner could be in similar straits: The company is projected to lose $1.1 billion in TV advertising in 2026, approximately 23% of its total this year, according to Robert Fishman, an analyst with MoffettNathanson, due in significant part to the absence of the NBA on its networks...

“Netflix has won the streaming wars. Case closed,” wrote analyst MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman today in a bullish report including a “buy” rating on the shares (up from neutral) and new price target of $1,100, higher by $250.

“We raise our estimates with greater confidence in the margin expansion story,” Fishman wrote as Netflix stock oupaced its peer and the broader markets rising 4.2% in mid-afternoon trade to about $956.

In a day or recovery, other media and tech stocks on the move include Snap (up 5%), Lionsgate (up 4.2%), Tko Group (up 3.3%), Warner Bros. Discovery, Spotify, AMC Entertainment and Cinemark (up 3%), Disney (up 1.15%) and more.

Broader markets also rallied with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 390 points and the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 in positive territory after a brutal month marked by chaos around the Trump administration’s global tariffs.

With trade wars threatening to increase inflation, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent fanned worries Sunday...

Shares in Netflix rose Monday after Wall Street analysts MoffettNathanson lifted its rating to buy, from neutral, and set a $1,100 price target.

MoffettNathanson’s Robert Fishman in a March 17 investor note cited Netflix’s efforts to boost earnings from advertising as grounds for optimism. “We are now at another unique moment in Netflix’s history with the company starting to gain scale in advertising, which should unlock a new runway of growth in the business for years to come,” the analyst argued.

Stock in Netflix rose $36.75, or around 4 percent, to $954.75 during brisk mid-morning trading on Monday. Fishman writing about a “new runway of growth” followed the analyst earlier in March moving Netflix shares to the downside by writing in a March 6 investment note that the streaming giant turning password-borrowers into paying subscribers for revenue growth had possibly run its course.

In his latest note, a bullish Fishman with a wider...

A day after Disney disclosed its fiscal first quarter 2025 results — which included entertainment revenue rising year-over-year, Disney+ slightly declining as expected in subscribers and ESPN revenue also up — its stock dipped slightly even as five Wall Street analysts published relatively bullish post-earnings notes.

In its Feb. 5 filing, the Burbank-based entertainment giant also lowered what it plans to spend on content this fiscal year. In November, the Bob Iger-led company said it expected to spend $24 billion, while in its latest disclosure it said the figure will be around $23 billion for produced and licensed content, including sports rights. For fiscal 2024, Disney’s content spend was $23.4 billion.

The company’s stock was trading around $110 per share as of Thursday.

“In terms of cost cutting, as a company, we’re focused constantly on identifying opportunities where we’re spending money perhaps less efficiently and looking for opportunities to do it more efficiently,” CFO...

Netflix shares soared to a new all-time high of $999 per share on Wednesday after a blockbuster fourth quarter earnings report that included a record-breaking 18.9 million subscriber adds — nearly double Wall Street’s consensus estimates — for a total of 301.6 million globally and new price hikes on some of its plans. It also raised its outlook for revenue and its operating margin for 2025.

The stock, which opened the session at $998.02 per share, is currently trading below its new all-time high at around $965 per share, but is still up more than 11%. Its market capitalization currently sits at $413.57 billion — more than the combined market cap of competitors Disney, Paramount Global, Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery.

“It was clear that Netflix was in the perfect position to deliver its last report on subscriber numbers with a boom. However, this was above our best expectations, testifying to the continued success of the company’s global, high-margin...

Netflix stock flirted with the $1,000 mark Wednesday, hitting all-time highs in the wake of the company’s spectacular earnings report.

In detailing its fourth-quarter financials Tuesday, Netflix said it added a company-record 18.9 million subscribers during the period to reach 301.6 million worldwide. It also exceeded forecasts for revenue and earnings per share and announced price hikes in the U.S. and other markets. Rate increases generally irritate consumers but satisfy profit-hungry investors.

Investors piled into the stock on the news, sending shares up more than 10% to as high as $999 before they settled closer to $960.

It’s a dramatic turnaround from just two-and-a-half years ago, when shares slipped below $180 after the company reported subscriber declines and appeared to be vulnerable to new streaming competitors. Since then, the company has trimmed costs and added a cheaper advertising tier as well as implementing paid password sharing. Those moves, along with an appealing programming lineup including live sports,...

The Big Red N is flexing its power. Netflix shares zoomed to new all-time highs Wednesday, to nearly $1,000 per share, after the streaming giant posted strong Q4 subscriber additions and announced a series of new price hikes.

Netflix stock opened at $997.66/share Wednesday, up 15%, giving the company a market capitalization of more than $420 billion. [Update: Shares ended the day up 9.7%, to $953.99 — an all-time high closing price — yielding a market cap of $407 billion.]

After market close Tuesday, Netflix reported 18.9 million net new global subscribers — around double analyst expectations — to reach 301.6 million. It also announced fee hikes in the U.S. and other key markets, including on its ad-supported entry-level tier, demonstrating its pricing power.

Wall Street analysts marveled at Netflix’s quarterly report — the final one for which it will report subscriber numbers — and many raised their price targets on the stock. In announcing the Q4 earnings, Netflix raised its 2025 outlook for revenue to be between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion (up $500 million from its prior forecast) and for operating margin...

As Wall Street experts continue to assess the outlook for Hollywood stocks in 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery (Wbd) received an upgrade from MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman on Tuesday, but the expert in turn also downgraded his rating on shares of Fox Corp.

Why? “The themes of 2025 will in many ways be continuations of the themes of 2024, and for several media companies, that is exactly the problem,” he explained in a report entitled “Clock Is Ticking.” Last year was “one many eagerly sought to turn a page on, but this new chapter ahead may well throw more of the same at weakened players,” Fishman continued. “Linear seems set to continue moving in the same direction it has, and meaningful direct-to-consumer profitability for second- and third-tier players still seems a few years out of reach.”

He concluded with a warning: “After years of operating under these conditions, the room to maneuver for several...

Divergent priorities, an evolving media landscape, ongoing legal threats and the march of time just crushed a joint venture called Venu Sports.

Of Venu’s three big media partners, Fox may be a winner, some think. Warner Bros. Discovery is back where it started. Disney has complicated its business a bit, but that could pay off. Smaller Fubo, which held up Venu’s launch up so long that the venture became moot, has a pot of fresh cash and a new deep-pocketed parent, Disney, in the wings.

Venu’s story unfolded over the course of a full year. The three media giants announced Venu Sports in early February of 2024. Fubo filed an antitrust suit weeks later and won a temporary injunction so Venu could not make a planned August launch. But the partners burned through tens of millions of dollars anyway with the case still pending, hiring executives and engineers,...

Disney started off 2025 with a bang, unveiling on Monday a surprise merger of its multichannel video streaming service Hulu + Live TV with competitor FuboTV, forming a combined company that will continue to be publicly traded under the Fubo name, but with the Hollywood giant controlling 70 percent and a majority of the board.

Fubo will drop its lawsuit against Venu Sports, the sports streaming joint venture of Disney, Fox Corp., and Warner Bros. Discovery, as part of the transaction. And Fubo CEO and co-founder David Gandler will run the combined entity.

While experts expect more sector M&a ahead, the Fubo deal took most Wall Street experts by surprise. What is no surprise though is that analysts have chimed in on what the merger, expected to close in about 12-18 months, means for the space of virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) and beyond. In that sector, YouTube TV reported, a year ago,...

Amazon’s bid to be a Prime mover during TV’s annual Upfront Week is causing it to crash into long-held industry protocols.

The streaming and e-commerce giant plans to shift its upfront presentation to the Monday evening of the week of May presentations that top media companies hold annually for Madison Avenue. In doing so, Amazon will likely force some advertisers to abandon other events that have long been held in that slot. Fox Corp. traditionally holds an upfront presentation late Monday afternoon, while NBCUniversal’s Spanish-language Telemundo network has for the past several years held a Monday-night event and concert for advertisers.

Rivals believe Amazon’s maneuver will make Mondays more manic. What’s more, the new event is likely get in the way of not only their scheduled presentations, but ancillary meetings that have already been set between advertisers and the networks’ sales executives.

“The Upfronts are...

Netflix stock rallied over 11% on Friday after the company beat Wall Street expectations for its third quarter of 2024.

The company reported a 41% year-over-year increase in profit and 15% increase in revenue during the quarter as it added 5.07 million subscribers and continued to make progress in scaling its ad tier, with the offering’s member base growing 35% quarter over quarter.

Shares of the streamer, which are up more than 120% in the past year, closed at $763.89 on Friday – just shy of its 52-week high

Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich reiterated her buy rating on Netflix and upped her price target to $800 per share, calling it “one of the best-positioned companies within media,” citing its accelerating ads business as well as its gaming, live and sports businesses as drivers of future growth.

She added that the company’s “existing scale advantage is bearing fruit,” with healthy revenue growth and cost discipline drive operating leverage,...

Warner Bros. Discovery shares plunged more than 11% on Thursday as Wall Street is revising its expectations for the company following its dismal earnings results for the second quarter of 2024.

The company posted a wider-than-expected net loss of $10 billion during the quarter, which included a $9.1 billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to its networks segment and $2.1 billion in restructuring expenses and other adjustments.

The impairment charge was triggered in response to the difference between Wbd’s market capitalization and the book value of the networks segment, continued softness in the U.S. linear advertising market, and uncertainty related to affiliate and sports rights renewals, including the NBA. Additionally, Wbd reported a 6% year over year decline in revenue to $9.7 billion.

Wbd shares, which have fallen over 70% since the April 2022 merger, briefly hit a 52-week low of $6.73 per share on Thursday, but have since reversed some of its losses.

Bank of America analyst...

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery fell sharply this morning, touching all time lows well under $7 after disappointing quarterly earnings after market close yesterday that included a massive write-down at its networks division.

The stock fell to $6.73, a low. It’s trading down more than 12% at $6.76 right now. The company missed most Wall Street forecasts in its numbers yesterday and posted an enormous loss after a $9.1 billion impairment charge to account for slipping advertising and uncertainty around sports renewal rights after losing its lucrative NBA package.

Another $2.1 billion in write-downs and charges including severance after a wave of layoffs brought the total one-time hit to $11.2 billion.

Analysts were not pleased and pretty skeptical on a call after the numbers, pressing CEO David Zaslav and executives on the future of the business, without, it seems, getting much comfort.

“Another tough quarter continues to raise questions,” wrote Jessica Reif Erlich in a note to clients this morning.

Charles Barkley says he isn’t getting out of Warner Bros. Discovery’s sports game.

The roundball great, who is a mainstay of the long-running TNT studio show “Inside the NBA,” said Tuesday that he will put off previously articulated plans to retire and continue to work through what is believed to be a ten-year contract that kicked off in 2022. Warner Bros. Discovery is in the midst of a heated legal squabble with the NBA over keeping some passel of rights to show games after the league’s next season. Barkley’s reversal could be seen as a sweetener, though NBA executives are believed to have soured on their long-term alliance with Warner. NBCUniversal, Amazon and Disney are the league’s partners in a new rights deal that would commence next year.

“I love my TNT Sports family. My #1 priority has been and always will be our people and keeping...

What does the future hold for Paramount Global? The odds of a seismic M&a event seem to be increasing: Private-equity firm Apollo Global has reportedly offered $11 billion for Paramount’s Hollywood studios. Short of carving up the “mountain of entertainment,” as the Paramount+ tagline boasts, analysts say the overture could drive up bidding for the entirety of Paramount Global — which is what Shari Redstone, who owns a controlling stake in the media conglomerate, is understood to prefer.

Given that backdrop, let’s consider what Paramount Global comprises — and the potential effect of selling it off in its entirety or in pieces. As it stands, Paramount Global, led by CEO Bob Bakish, is made up of three segments: filmed entertainment, TV media and direct-to-consumer streaming.

The company’s filmed entertainment unit, which includes Paramount Pictures, is its smallest, representing 10% of overall revenue in 2023. Last year, the segment generated revenue of...

Shari Redstone holds Paramount’s ultimate fate in her hands, and appears to be narrowing her focus to David Ellison’s offer for the company.

Another day, another update on the potential sale of Paramount Global. Earlier this week, it was reported that the private equity firm Apollo Global Management had offered $11 billion for Paramount’s TV and movie studios, which constitutes a greater sum than the entire company’s current market cap. But a new report from the Financial Times suggests that Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone is not convinced by the offer, and is leaning toward a bid by billionaire David Ellison, owner of Skydance Media.

Redstone prefers to sell Paramount as a whole company, as opposed to stripping it for parts and selling it piece by piece. Ellison may bring in former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell and former CNN head Jeff Zucker to run cable and...

Paramount has a new offer on the table, but Shari Redstone might not even get out of bed for this one. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that private equity firm Apollo Global Management (also an investor in “Dune” studio Legendary Entertainment) offered Paramount Global $11 billion for its film and TV studio.

The specifics of exactly which assets Apollo wants to buy (and not buy) are unclear, but the film and TV studios would include Paramount Pictures and the production capabilities at networks like CBS and MTV. Linear networks would stay behind, as well as distribution platforms like Paramount+ and BET+.

Also unknown is if the iconic Paramount lot is part of the offer, which houses so much of Paramount’s studio production. When reached by IndieWire, a Paramount Global rep had no comment. Reps for Apollo did not return a request for comment.

Redstone is “unconvinced” by the offer,...

It appears Shari Redstone remains firmly opposed to breaking up Paramount Global.

Redstone, president of National Amusements Inc. — the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global — was “unconvinced” by Apollo Global Management’s $11 billion offer to buy Paramount’s film and TV studio, the Financial Times reported, citing anonymous sources. The reported price tag would be a premium over the market cap of the entire company. Instead, per the Ft report, Redstone is preferring to continue negotiating a deal with Skydance’s David Ellison, in partnership with RedBird Capital and Tencent, to sell Nai (and then merge Skydance with Paramount Global).

Shares of Paramount Global closed down 5.5% Thursday following the Ft’s report, amid an uptick in broader market indexes. That came after the stock popped nearly 12% following the Wall Street Journal’s report that Apollo had made an $11 billion offer to acquire Paramount Pictures and the Paramount TV studios group.

Apollo...

All that free cash flow from a strike-plagued 2023 is burning a hole in Hollywood’s pockets. Time to get back to work.

The key players in film and television will spend a combined $132.7 billion on content in 2024, MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman estimates. You know, if IATSE, the teamsters, and Hollywood Basic Crafts don’t walk out on AMPTP productions and onto the picket lines. But let’s be optimistic for a moment — much of the industry is.

Forty-five percent of below-the-line crew recently surveyed by entertainment-industry tracker ProdPro had a positive outlook for 2024 vs. 20 percent with a negative view. Businesses, like vendors, were even more optimistic: 54 percent had a positive outlook with 9 percent skewing negative.

Why the (relatively) sunny outlook ahead of another potential work stoppage? No one can afford another strike year. Ten billion dollars of production spending was put on hold due to the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes,...

A favorite and feverish game from Wall Street to Hollywood heading into 2024 is pairing up media companies, or pieces of them, to see what fits where in a high-stakes jigsaw puzzle that will shape the future of the industry.

Ongoing streaming losses, anticipated interest rate cuts (that could lower financing costs), more robust stock prices and the end of WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes — as well as actual, high-level conversations — have many believing that sluggish media M&a of all sizes could pick up dramatically in the new year. Just in this last week of 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery acquired Turkish streaming service BlueTV, Altice USA sold financial news streamer Cheddar and Lionsgate closed its acquisition of eOne.

There’s a logic to bigger deals as well. With Disney being “the only scaled legacy media company,” wrote Vijay Jayant of Evercore Isi, “a merger of some combination of NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Bros Discovery has strong economic rationale.

Two industry giants collided in showdown that led to a blackout for millions of pay TV customers — but then still managed to strike a deal. With the Walt Disney Co. and Charter Communications unveiling a new carriage agreement on Monday, both sides could argue success. But Disney executives also acknowledged that the entertainment powerhouse had to give and take to reach the new pact.

Overnight, Wall Street experts started sharing their analysis of where Disney and Charter won, and lost, in the new deal. Here is a closer look at some of their thoughts.

Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen, who has a “neutral” rating on Disney shares with a $94 price target: “a first down for both companies.” Nollen, like many of his peers, expects this arrangement to affect future carriage deals for Disney and other entertainment giants. “In the end this wasn’t as revolutionary a deal as Charter seemed poised to hold out for,...

Just as this summer’s New York City wildfire smoke, Los Angeles’ hurricane and sneaker-melting heat have brought home the reality of climate change, the Disney-Charter carriage battle is foregrounding the fragility of the pay-tv bundle.

Charter’s Spectrum TV service is in its fifth day of darkness as the companies fight over carriage terms, leaving nearly 15 million customers without access to 18 Disney networks, including ESPN, as well as eight ABC stations.

When the fight broke into public view on Thursday, initial reactions raised existential questions about the fate of the bundle. “Is this the video tipping point?” wondered the headline of a research note by Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris, who believes the situation poses “increased and sustained risk for not only Disney but for video economics.”

Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich also sounded the alarm in a note to clients today. “If this posture were to be...

Between the streaming wars and the pandemic, it’s been a topsy-turvy few years for Hollywood’s major studios.

Many aspects of the TV business have been turned inside-out by the subscription video-on-demand revolution. But now, as entertainment’s largest conglomerates face a perfect storm of financial pressures and macroeconomic uncertainty, there’s been a clear shift again to embrace the fundamentals and focus on profits, not market share, for new services.

For Hollywood, this means selling content to the highest bidder, especially to outlets outside the U.S. Business at MipTV, which runs April 17-19 in Cannes, and Mipcom in the fall, should reflect this renewed rush to bring in third-party bucks to help offset the ever-rising costs of scripted production.

“Fueled by cheap money and unbridled/naive optimism from [Wall Street], management teams were willing to spend whatever it took to establish their new streaming services,” Robert Fishman, a media analyst with MoffettNathanson,...

Netflix, after pulling itself out of a grueling series of setbacks in the first part of 2022, will face another test Thursday afternoon when it reports fourth quarter financial results.

In addition to kicking off quarterly earnings season for media and entertainment companies, the report will usher in a year of increased scrutiny for the streaming business. Having moved mountains (and billions of dollars) to try to compete with Netflix after years of letting it run away with the streaming game, media companies are still very early in their direct-to-consumer orientation process.

“Rather than being the new sliced bread, investors and executives have accepted that streaming is, in fact, not a good business – at least not compared to what came before,” MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman wrote in a note to clients this week. “But that pre-streaming era is now long gone and not coming back. If streaming is a mediocre business,...

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Finance experts are divided about Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock, which fell to a new 52-week low on Friday.

Several Wall Street analysts on Friday stuck to neutral ratings on it, suggesting investors stay on the sidelines for now as the newly merged entertainment giant works through its integration amid economic challenges. But others recommend the stock to investors, touting its long-term upside and signs of progress.

The different views were on display as analysts overnight shared their takeaways from the conglomerate’s third-quarter earnings report and call after Thursday’s market close. The news included an advertising revenue drop and an increase from 92.1 million to 94.9 million subscribers for its streaming services, led by HBO Max and Discovery+.

On the earnings conference call, management increased its post-merger cost savings target. And Warner Bros. Discovery (Wbd) CEO David Zaslav said that the company’s...

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Should Fox Corp., which owns the likes of Fox News, the Fox broadcast network and Fox Sports, recombine with News Corp, home to The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, The Times, The Sun, Dow Jones, book publisher HarperCollins, Realtor.com and a 65 percent stake in Australian pay-tv firm Foxtel?

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 91, has suggested such a recombination of his media empire, with both companies unveiling on Oct. 14 that they have formed special committees to explore a transaction.

The Murdoch businesses were all under the News Corp. banner until the company split in 2013, in line with a broader industry trend, to form 21st Century Fox, mostly made up of the faster-growing film and TV portfolio, and News Corp, housing publishing and other assets. The entertainment company in 2019 sold a big part of its business to the Walt Disney Co. in a 71 billion...

Fear and loathing are on the rise in Hollywood as top execs and rank-and-file employees grapple with growing uncertainty about their place in a rapidly changing entertainment industry. One pervasive concern: that the streaming-fueled content bubble has finally burst, with more consolidation on the way.

Wall Street darling Netflix lost 54 billion in market value in one day last month amid concerns about a slide in subscriber numbers and promptly reorganized its marketing department once again, axing writers on its fledgling Tudum fan site five months after launch. And the fallout from the Warner Bros. Discovery merger and Amazon’s acquisition of MGM has just gotten underway, with top exec Michael De Luca exiting the latter April 27 and squashed initiatives at the former. Neither the disrupted nor the disruptors are feeling too good these days.

“We’re all waiting on pins and needles for someone to pull the figurative trigger on the inevitable restructuring,...

Paramount Global shares were down about 1 midway through the trading day after the company reported a mixed bag of first-quarter results.

The stock initially dropped as much as 7 to near a 52-week low in the opening minutes of the session. Like most other shares in media and many in tech, it remains in the red for 2022 to date, though it hasn’t absorbed as much punishment as others caught up in the complicated challenge of how best to attack the streaming business.

Paramount said it reached 62 million total streaming subscribers for the first quarter, almost 40 million of that Paramount+, but core financials weren’t uniformly encouraging. Still, today’s investor reaction today was moderate compared with that in February, when Paramount held an investor day, announced a corporate rebrand from ViacomCBS and divulged soft quarterly numbers along with anticipated high costs to fuel streaming content. Shares fell more than 20 the following day.

Jb Perrette, Discovery’s president and CEO of streaming and international, acknowledged the company’s struggles in the sports arena even as it has gained scale in recent years.

“We’ve learned a lot over the last eight years, and we’ve made a lot of mistakes, frankly, in doing it in the sports space in particular,” the exec said during an online appearance at a streaming conference hosted by Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson. “We’ve been trying for years to figure out” EuroSport Player, the direct-to-consumer service available across Europe, added.

Perrette, who previously had a lengthy tenure at NBC and helped launch Hulu, called sports a “hamster wheel” because of its constant need to lure viewers with fresh, expensive programming.

Discovery acquired control of EuroSport in 2015 after being a partner with TF1 Group in the property starting in 2012. While EuroSport has Olympics rights in some territories through 2024 and is fairly well-penetrated,...

AMC Networks hopes to mark a new beginning in the coming year as it prepares for some very big goodbyes.

AMC is preparing to leverage the marketing platform provided by three buzzy series finales — AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and “Better Call Saul” and BBC America’s “Killing Eve” — to drive awareness and subscribers to its growing suite of streaming services, from drama-centric AMC Plus and SundanceNow to the niche-targeted Acorn TV, Allblk and Shudder.

The company aims to gradually remake itself from a cable TV programmer to a content producer and platform operator, supplying its streaming services with high-end shows. The sunsetting of the company’s three biggest series franchises in the same year is a turn-the-page moment at a time of massive transformation in the broader industry. AMC has no choice but to try to capitalize on the farewells of its linear tentpoles.

Matt Blank, the industry veteran...

Updated with closing stock price. Three Wall Street analysts offered positive sentiments Thursday about the prospects for Cinemark, the No. 3 U.S. exhibitor, after it outlined plans to reopen movie theaters in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Executives’ comments during a conference call with analysts Wednesday included an upbeat outlook for Warner Bros.’ Tenet, which is scheduled for July 17, followed by other studio releases in subsequent weeks. Cinemark’s quarterly results fell short of estimates, but the company’s footprint, which is largely outside of areas hit hardest by the pandemic, as well as its management approach offer reason for optimism.

Cinemark shares gained more than 2% Thursday to close at $16.72. Apart from one session last week above $17, the stock has reached its highest point since theaters closed in mid-March.

Exhibition, like other business sectors, remains under a cloud of uncertainty as cities and health experts chart a path forward...

Studios look set to gain the upper hand in skirmishes with exhibition over windowing as trends during the Covid-19 pandemic extend into the future with mid-range films generating the $50-$100 million range the most at risk of dwindling theatrical runs, according to a leading Wall Street analyst.

Exhibitors have until now been able to stand their ground with Hollywood, said Robert Fishman of MoffetNathanson in a report Monday. But “this time is different in that all of the major studios … are likely to be more aggressive with windowing strategies. As long as multiple studios push forward with Pvod or some other form of window changes, the balance of power in favor of studios shifts even more in their favor and reduces the leverage the exhibitors have as they would be unlikely to boycott multiple studios’ upcoming releases.”

The crux, Fishman believes, is that “the standard 90-day ‘dark period’ between theatrical...

Wall Street’s souring view of the movie exhibition business became a little more tart this morning after an analyst warned that theaters collectively could lose $380 million a year in profits from the introduction of a premium video on demand (Pvod) window, plus about $558 million from Netflix’s movie-making efforts. MoffettNathanson Research’s Robert Fishman dropped his recommendations for Regal Entertainment and Cinemark Holdings to “sell” after concluding that the…...

Watching new films at home could soon become a reality.

The pace of negotiations between studios and exhibitors will force studios to usher in their own premium video on demand (VOD) platforms as early as the end of this year, an analyst said on Monday.

This would potentially let audiences watch major blockbusters at home just weeks after their theatrical debuts.

Robert Fishman of MoffettNathanson Research said given there was no sign of agreement yet on price points, revenue-share deals and the length of theatrical windows prior to the start of the premium VOD release, he expected a common standard by early next year.

Fishman also downgraded his recommendation on Regal Entertainment and Cinemark Holdings – the second and third largest circuits in the Us behind Wanda-owned AMC Entertainment – to ‘sell’ in light of the fragility of the existing 90-day exclusive theatrical window.

Negotiations between studios and the theatre chains have been ongoing for some time, although they have...

Robert Fishman of MoffettNathanson Research switches recommendation on Regal and Cinemark to ‘sell’.

The pace of negotiations between studios and exhibitors will force studios to usher in their own premium VOD platforms as early as the end of this year, an analyst said on Monday.

Robert Fishman of MoffettNathanson Research said given there was no sign of agreement yet on price points, revenue-share deals and the length of theatrical windows prior to the start of the Pvod release, he expected a common standard by early next year.

Fishman also downgraded his recommendation on Regal Entertainment and Cinemark Holdings – the second and third largest circuits in the Us behind Wanda-owned AMC Entertainment – to ‘sell’ in light of the fragility of the existing 90-day exclusive theatrical window.

Negotiations between studios and the theatre chains have been ongoing for some time, although they have been conducted in private. The parties cannot formally convene because such discussions could be in breach...