Top News:
Brian Stelter / CNN:
AT&T to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery in a $43B deal; the new company will be run by Discovery CEO David Zaslav — New York (CNN Business)The streaming TV race is about to get even more competitive. — On Monday morning AT&T (T) and Discovery, Inc. (DISCA) …
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Discussion:
Los Angeles Times: AT&T to spin off HBO, other WarnerMedia assets in a huge deal with Discovery. What went wrong?
Washington Post: WarnerMedia merger with Discovery Inc. will form a streaming behemoth that includes HBO, CNN, TBS, and TNT
Brian Steinberg / Variety: David Zaslav to Lead Combined WarnerMedia-Discovery as Landmark Deal is Confirmed
Charles Riley / CNN: The next phase of the streaming wars is all about scale
Lindsey Ellefson / The Wrap: Discovery CEO David Zaslav Commits to CNN After WarnerMedia Merger, Vows to ‘Lean Into’ News
Wayne Friedman / MediaPost: AT&T Readies WarnerMedia-Discovery Inc. Merger
Cynthia Littleton / Variety: How David Zaslav Overcame Stock Drama and Pandemic Woes to Pull Off a Stealth WarnerMedia Takeover
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: David Zaslav officially will run the combined company. AT&T will nominate 7 members of the board including a chairperson TBD. Discovery will nominate 6, one of which will be Zaslav.
Frank Pallotta / @frankpallotta: Zaslav says of CNN that “not only are we going to keep it” but now the new mission is “to take everything we have in news, combine it with CNN, and be a world leader in news.”
Claire Atkinson / @claireatki: AT&T CEO John Stankey has the demeanor of a man who just had a great weight lifted off his shoulders.
Discovery, Inc.: AT&T's WARNERMEDIA AND DISCOVERY, INC. CREATING STANDALONE COMPANY BY COMBINING OPERATIONS TO FORM NEW GLOBAL LEADER IN ENTERTAINMENT
Adam Bentz / ScreenRant: AT&T Officially Set To Merge WarnerMedia With Discovery In $43 Billion Deal
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable: OFFICIAL: Discovery to Merge with AT&T's WarnerMedia, with Discovery's Zaslav as CEO
Steven Perlberg / Insider: Inside CNN, where staffers are mostly relieved its parent company is merging with Discovery and are now speculating about Jeff Zucker's future there
Tim Peterson / Digiday: Cheat Sheet: WarnerMedia and Discovery bundle up
Alex Sherman / CNBC: Now that WarnerMedia and Discovery have tied the knot, the pressure's on ViacomCBS and NBCUniversal
Tyler Hersko / IndieWire: Discovery and WarnerMedia Upfronts Take on Added Urgency After Proposed Merger
Dawn Chmielewski / Forbes: WarnerMedia Deal Lands Another AT&T Win For Cable Billionaire John Malone
@kerrymflynn: HBO Max is $14.99 per month. That's not cheap, so many consumers may ask themselves: Is it really worth paying for when I already pay for Netflix? Enter Guy Fieri. I mean, Discovery https://www.cnn.com/... — a collab with @frankpallotta
Richard Blumenthal / @senblumenthal: This mega-merger combining two of the country's largest media conglomerates demands close scrutiny to protect consumers' pocket books instead of accelerating further concentration among corporate behemoths. https://www.cnn.com/...
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: ViacomCBS and NBCUniversal, come on down! You're the next contestants on Media M&A Match Game! https://www.cnbc.com/...
Anna Nicolaou / @annaknicolaou: scoop: the new company would be valued at $150bn. AT&T's board is meeting today at noon to approve the deal. AT&T is expected to control most of the combined entity. w/ @JFK_America https://www.ft.com/...
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Is Discovery+ rolling into HBO Max? Will NBA games air on TLC? What happens to NetherRealm Studios? Your biggest questions about WarnerMedia/Discovery answered, for people who care about what it means for their monthly bills, not the companies involved. https://www.ign.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw: A brief addendum to yesterday's newsletter.... HBO has now been sold twice in 8 years. The timing of each deal couldn't have been worse for its efforts to figure out tis future.
Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw: Just a few months into executing that vision, AT&T pulled the rug out from underneath the company. Again. Now it's looking at 2 more years of restructuring. And right as HBO Max expands overseas, a lot of the people working on it aren't sure about their future.
Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw: The AT&T deal led to the departure of most of Time Warner's leadership, and destroyed morale at the company. That deal also took so long to complete that HBO Max - a far more ambitious venture — was then one of the last major new streaming services to debut.
Jared Newman / Fast Company: AT&T's WarnerMedia merger with Discovery could mean higher prices for you
Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair: WarnerMedia-Discovery Merger Shows the Streaming Wars Are About to Go Nuclear
Claire Atkinson / Insider: AT&T is in deal talks to create a new streaming giant with Discovery
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: HUGE irony in Zaslav stressing building a creative culture — this was Richard Plepler's calling card, and yet, Plepler left HBO because he felt John Stankey was never on the same page with him.
Harold Maass / The Week: The daily business briefing: May 17, 2021
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: Here's what we're expecting this morning: An announcement AT&T has merged WarnerMedia into Discovery. https://www.cnbc.com/... Things to look for upon announcement: *Leadership/executive departures (expect Zaslav to run co) *Name of newco *What eventually happens to Discovery+
Rich Greenfield / @richlightshed: of mentions of WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar in the Discovery WarnerMedia press release $DISCA $T https://twitter.com/...
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: My first take of the day — with some details about how Elliott's investment in AT&T may have been the first catalyst for John Stankey's rejection of the decisions he helped make. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Brent Lang / Variety: AT&T Chief John Stankey, WarnerMedia Head Jason Kilar Address Discovery Merger in Staff Memo
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: Another major plot point to this story will be the follow-on copycat deals. NBCU ViacomCBS AMC Lionsgate MGM Sony Media bankers going to be busy tomorrow. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Alec Bojalad / Den of Geek: The Warner-Discovery Merger Proves That Big Is Never Big Enough in the Streaming World
@kerrymflynn: Nothing says “broadly appealing content” better than DDD and GGG https://twitter.com/...
Nicholas Carlson / @nichcarlson: The weekend started very differently for Jason Kilar (with this fancy WSJ profile) than it ended (with a new boss and king of WarnerMedia, David Zaslav). https://www.wsj.com/...
Mike Shields / @digitalshields: Considering all that is going on now, is Hulu the biggest lost media opportunity of all time? https://mikeshields.substack.com/ ...
Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw: I just got this text from a friend. Feels appropriate: “How does Stankey get to retain his position when he made the initial acquisition and now has to sell it off cause it didn't work exactly how everyone said it wouldn't work?”
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher: Yes John Stankey is as bad as we all knew at media strategery via @NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/...
Karl Bode / @karlbode: AT&T owned CNN's coverage of the Discovery move doesn't mention the 50k layoffs, the absolute chaos, the butchering of loved brands (Mad Magazine, DC's Vertigo imprint), nothing. Not a single mention of AT&T hubris or mistakes. Amazing: https://www.cnn.com/...
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: “AT&T would receive $43 billion (subject to adjustment) in a combination of cash, debt securities, and WarnerMedia's retention of certain debt, and AT&T's shareholders would receive stock representing 71% of the new company.” AT&T paid $85 billion for Time Warner in 2018.
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: It's official: AT&T and Discovery, Inc. have announced a deal under which AT&T's WarnerMedia will be spun off and combined with Discovery in a new standalone media company. Here's my full story... https://www.cnn.com/...
Peter Kafka / @pkafka: Reminder that @Caseybloys was the guy who made all the HBO shows you liked before AT&T showed up, and he's still there. For now.
Micah Gelman / @mbgelman: Zaslav FTW. A big deal. When Zaslav came to Discovery it was a provincial private company owned by John Hendricks and headquartered in Silver Spring, Md. He took it public, moved to NY, eased out Hendricks, bought Scripps, Eurosport, SBS and more. https://twitter.com/...
Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers: not all that far off https://twitter.com/...
David Pierce / Protocol: Bill Gates under the microscope
Erik Davis / @erikdavis: Big entertainment news to start the week! For anyone who's ever wanted to see the Justice League compete against one another on an episode of Guy's Grocery Games, we're getting closer to that becoming reality! https://twitter.com/...
Dave Itzkoff / @ditzkoff: A unified mega-library of content dedicated to a single objective: cast Jean Smart in everything https://twitter.com/...
Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw: The best part of everyone writing takes on this AT&T/Discovery business is we all get to do it again soon.
Frank Pallotta / @frankpallotta: .@brianstelter asks Zaslav if CNN will be spun off. Zaslav says “We love CNN... We think one of the true differentiators of the future is live news, live sports.”
Charles Gasparino / @cgasparino: Its amazing that Zaslav will run the combined biz given the economic involved. Reminds me of Chase buying the smaller Bank One to get its CEO, Jamie Dimon, to run the whole thing—AT&T, in Abrupt Turn, Will Shed Media Business in Deal With Discovery https://www.nytimes.com/...
Matt Draper / @mattdraperyt: Huge but kind of inevitable. AT&T seemed to never know what to do with all the media it had bought, which isn't surprising because they have no experience in it. Now Warner Bros, DC Comics and more are about to undergo huge changes AGAIN https://twitter.com/...
Edmund Lee / @edmundlee: The deal came together very quickly. In February, Mr. Zaslav sent an email to Mr. Stankey to discuss a possible deal. He added some emoji flair to his signoff with several 🏌🏻and one 😎. $t $disca https://www.nytimes.com/...
Hoai-Tran Bui / /Film: AT&T to Spin Off WarnerMedia, Including HBO Max, in $43 Billion Deal with Discovery
Dieter Bohn / @backlon: Well, the entire “AT&T decides to be a media company for awhile” saga was a very expensive nothingburger that turned out to be a big waste of everbody's time. ...just like most of the new shows it had planned for HBO Max heyoooooo https://www.theverge.com/...
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: Also — Zaslav says his number one priority will be relationship building, which he's known for and which Jason Kilar struggled with re: HBO Max's decision to put all 2021 films straight to HBO Max.
Peter Kafka / @pkafka: Since AT&T didn't have the money to make WarnerMedia work, where will the newco - which starts off with a ton of debt - find the money for that investment? https://twitter.com/...
Jack Mirkinson / @jackmirkinson: i'm shocked, simply shocked https://twitter.com/...
Brian Winter / @brazilbrian: I still think we're headed for a world with just 3-6 subscription mega-content services, with everything (TV, newspapers, premium delivery, etc) bundled together https://www.google.com/...
Brendan Foley / @thetruebrendanf: The history of Hollywood is written in the blood of companies that think they can buy a movie studio and will know how to spin the chaos of cinema into gold, and failing. https://twitter.com/...
Pdraig Belton / Light Reading: AT&T exits content big time in tie-up with Discovery
Oliver Darcy / @oliverdarcy: @pkafka: “Adding TimeWarner to AT&T didn't help AT&T sell more wireless or broadband plans. And it didn't help TimeWarner compete against Netflix and the rest of the internet...” https://www.vox.com/...
Zaki Hasan / @zakiscorner: No idea what this means in the long term, but I do feel comfortable saying the folks who think this is because of WB's handling of certain superhero properties should probably get out more. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Charles Gasparino / @cgasparino: One issue that hasn't been discussed is the future of Jeff Zucker at @CNN. Before the deal talks, he was on the way out but he and David Zaslav are close so dont be surprised if he stays https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
Southpaw / @nycsouthpaw: Warner Brothers studios, HBO, CNN, etc. all being bought by... the Discovery Channel. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Henry Blodget / @hblodget: Cheap AT&T phone plans for CNN staff... Probably not the transformational vertically integrated M&A synergies the deal-models were based on... ;-) https://twitter.com/...
Jeremy Barr / @jeremymbarr: I'm told that CNN will be having a town hall for employees tomorrow at which the impact of the merger will be discussed: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@cnbc: Discovery CEO David Zaslav tells @davidfaber he thinks the combined Discovery, WarnerMedia company can reach up to 400 million streaming subscribers across the world, up from the 100 million subscribers the 2 separate companies have today. https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Stankey: Expect the transaction to close in 2022. Plans for AT&T include focusing on mobile and broadband. More than double current fiber footprint. Tighter focus on the greater demand for connectivity. It's almost like AT&T realized it's a telecom company, not a media giant.
Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life: Verizon spins out Yahoo/AOL and now AT&T spins out WarnerMedia. These mergers never made sense since only synergy they brought was anti-competitive (i.e charging users less for HBO traffic vs Netflix) Highlights the importance of having an actual strategy https://www.cnn.com/...
Keith Boykin / @keithboykin: Just three years after AT&T acquired Time Warner, it's now spinning off Warner Media to create a new company with Discovery. The new company will be bigger than Netflix or NBCUniversal and become the second-largest media company in the US, behind Disney. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Re: some of the questions I got about WarnerMedia & Discovery. 1) The sale includes some of Warner Bros. Interactive/Warner Bros. Games, but not all. 2) The sale does include DC Comics. So yes Discovery now owns DC Comics. 3) Rooster Teeth is part of the sale, yes.
Alex Weprin / @alexweprin: In a press conference, David Zaslav confirms a detail in this story from @kimmasters and I last night: He approached John Stankey about an HBO merger a few years ago: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ ...
Shannon McCormick / @sadogre: These people pay me some pocket change now and again given how they've bought places I work for. All I can say is, what a bunch of dumbshits. https://twitter.com/...
Matthew Panzarino / @panzer: The chaotic good move would have been for Disney to buy DC
Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan / @sivavaid: If you follow the long story of media ownership over the past 40 years you see a constant churn of consolidation and spinning off, debt and more debt, with no discernible pattern and general failure all around. No model works better than any other. https://twitter.com/...
Grace Randolph / @gracerandolph: It's official. AT&T is going to spin-off Warner Media into a new company with Discovery. Discovery lead David Zaslov will run things, looks like Jason Kilar might be out after one year. I have a very busy day today with outside appts so might have to break this down tomorrow. https://twitter.com/...
Christopher Mims / @mims: The eternal cycle of media acquisitions by “tech” companies: 1. Company that makes money in unrelated way notices media companies growing 2. Buys them, messes them up or realizes not a fit 3. Spins them out, they die or start growing again Repeat. https://www.wsj.com/...
Jim Waterson / @jimwaterson: One of the tiny side effects of this mega US media merger on the UK would be that CNN and GB News end up with the same corporate backers. https://twitter.com/...
Joe Flint / @jbflint: As WSJ reported in last night's story, Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with John Stankey and WarnerMedia execs two years about a joint-venture but talks didn't go anywhere. https://www.wsj.com/...
Andrew Wallenstein / @awallenstein: No better new name for WarnerMedia-Discovery than: WMD Now there's an acronym with some oomph to it, no? 😉 https://twitter.com/...
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: Big takeaways: —Major course correction by AT&T, fully leaving content —Zaslav ascends to big new role —Doesn't look very promising for Jason Kilar —Company will be live sports, news, movies, lifestyle —$20B combined content spend —Rushed announcement https://www.axios.com/...
Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers: Winners: - David Zaslav - Jeff Zucker - Disney/Netflix (better outcome for them than an NBCU-WarnerMedia tie up) Losers: - John Stankey - Jason Kilar - The Discovery/WarnerMedia staffers who will fall victim to layoffs ($3b in cost-cutting measures is... a lot)
Rakesh Agrawal / @rakeshlobster: Let's have Disney buy CenturyLink now. Bankers, sign painters and business card printers need to get paid!
Rich Greenfield / @richlightshed: “Secretly architecting this deal for several months from my brownstone in NYC” says $DISCA David Zaslav to $T's John Stankey makes us think this deal has been in process since before Discovery launched @discoveryplus — very telling about the need for scale in the #streamingwars https://twitter.com/...
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: NYT: “The new company would create a new kind of media behemoth, one that is still living off the fat profits of old-school cable, while spending those profits (and more) on streaming.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Magdalene Visaggio / @magsvisaggs: this feels like a good thing. i dont think AT&T has been a healthy influence. https://twitter.com/...
Gady Epstein / @gadyepstein: Easily the funniest thing about the AT&T-Time Warner deal was watching Jeff Bewkes pretend to see the business logic of AT&T buying his company for more than $100bn
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: AT&T CEO John Stankey's note to staff: “We are now in a world where relevance and future success will be tied to greater scale and growth globally,” he says, explaining the decision to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery https://twitter.com/...
Steve Herman / @w7voa: No sale of @CNN, according to Zaslav who vows to make it “a world leader in news.”
Jake Cole / @thatjakepc: No one knows anything but the same 60 idiots will just keep absorbing fired employees' salaries into their own as they trade the country's dwindling content reservoirs back and forth for tax reasons https://twitter.com/...
Andrea Rene / @andrearene: But will @iamjohnoliver still do his “business daddy” bit on @LastWeekTonight??? I'm curious what services will be combined into a mega streaming subscription. I'd love to not have a dozen different apps to use. https://twitter.com/...
Jason Lynch / @jasonlynch: AT&T will retain Xandr, which had moved over to WarnerMedia, following the merger, AT&T CEO John Stankey told investors.
Scott Porch / @scottporch: “Now sources believe NBCU will turn its sights on ViacomCBS.” — @kimmasters https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ ...
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: A quick note here: what a win for David Zaslav, who goes from running an after-thought media company to one of the biggest media companies.
William Gallagher / AppleInsider: AT&T's WarnerMedia merging with Discovery in $43B deal to form new streaming service
RELATED:
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Sources: Jason Kilar is negotiating his departure as CEO of WarnerMedia, after being kept in the dark about the deal with Discovery until recent days — Jason Kilar has hired a legal team to negotiate his departure as chief executive of WarnerMedia, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Discussion:
Vox, CNN, @rebeccaarubin, The Streamable, CNN, @brooksbarnesnyt, Financial Times, @film_girl, @karaswisher, @rolandsmartin, nexttv.com, Heroic Hollywood, @danprimack, The Week, @jbenton, @borys_kit, @brianstelter, @theericgoldman, @richardlnewby, @mchenryjd, Collider, @mattbelloni, C21Media, @mattzeitlin, @panzer, @parryravi, @sherman4949, Digital TV Europe, @_christopherm, The Verge, @sherman4949, @katierosman, @davidpoland, @grynbaum, @jbflint, @richlightshed, The Desk, Bloomberg and Mediaite
Discussion:
Peter Kafka / Vox: It never made sense for AT&T to buy WarnerMedia. Now it's undoing its $100 billion deal.
Rebecca Rubin / @rebeccaarubin: WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar's compensation reached $52 million in 2020, which is nearly as much as #Tenet made at the U.S. box office https://variety.com/...
Ben Bowman / The Streamable: WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar Reportedly Eyeing Exit After Discovery Deal
Brian Stelter / CNN: AT&T's WarnerMedia and Discovery are in talks about combining
Brooks Barnes / @brooksbarnesnyt: Jason Kilar, the WarnerMedia chief, is said to be negotiating his exit. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Financial Times: Sources: AT&T board is meeting on Sunday to approve a deal to combine WarnerMedia with rival Discovery, creating a media giant with an enterprise value of $150B
Christina Warren / @film_girl: I cannot wait for the WarnerMedia book. What a fucking ridiculous 4 years. Stankey is such a clown. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher: Not a surprise given new deal that elevated David Zaslav. Assume they are celebrating the Polo Lounge, given how pissed Hollywood was at @jasonkilar for telling the truth about the future: Kilar, WarnerMedia Chief, Is Said to Be Negotiating Exit https://www.nytimes.com/...
@rolandsmartin: Wow. @jasonkilar about to bounce from @WarnerMedia. Who is smiling? Jeff Zucker. Don't be shocked if he tries to be Zaslav's #2. “Jason Kilar, the WarnerMedia chief, is said to be negotiating his exit” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Mike Farrell / nexttv.com: Eureka, AT&T is a Phone Company Again
Ryden Scarnato / Heroic Hollywood: WarnerMedia Chief Jason Kilar Negotiating Exit After Discovery Merger
Dan Primack / @danprimack: This is another reason that the whole “today's announcement was always scheduled to be today” defies common sense. https://twitter.com/...
Brendan Morrow / The Week: WarnerMedia CEO was reportedly ‘kept in the dark’ about $43 billion Discovery merger
Joshua Benton / @jbenton: May 14: Jason Kilar “has led one of the most radical overhauls in the entertainment industry, undoing centurylong business practices” https://www.wsj.com/... May 17: “Kilar has hired a legal team to negotiate his departure as chief executive” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Borys Kit / @borys_kit: A development that could be of interest to DC fans and observers. https://twitter.com/...
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: “Jason Kilar has hired a legal team to negotiate his departure as chief executive of WarnerMedia,” @brooksbarnesNYT reports, citing “two people briefed on the matter.” He says “Kilar was kept in the dark about the deal until recent days...” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Eric Goldman / @theericgoldman: Man, WarnerMedia's executive change ups have been crazy. Can only hope the merger with Discovery will bring stability. https://twitter.com/...
Richard Newby / @richardlnewby: Turnover rate like a warehouse temp job, lol. https://twitter.com/...
Jackson McHenry / @mchenryjd: [succession theme music] https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Adam Chitwood / Collider: WarnerMedia to Merge With Discovery, Creating a New Company
Matthew Belloni / @mattbelloni: An absolutely savage kicker on this story... https://twitter.com/...
Nico Franks / C21Media: Warner, Discovery in shock merger talks
Matthew Zeitlin / @mattzeitlin: WSJ May 14 (Friday): “Jason Kilar might have a career as a tour guide if this WarnerMedia chief executive gig doesn't work out for him” https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Matthew Panzarino / @panzer: my application is open. my only qualification is that I promise not to piss off every influential director in hollywood in one announcement https://twitter.com/...
Parry Ravindranathan / @parryravi: Finally! Your phone company no longer wants to own your media company. https://www.vox.com/...
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: To be fair, Kilar lasted longer than the last ... (checks notes) ... 463 other WarnerMedia leaders over the last two years https://twitter.com/...
Jonathan Easton / Digital TV Europe: AT&T to spin off media assets including HBO Max to standalone business with Discovery
Christopher Marc / @_christopherm: This is wild...Stankey got Kilar to butcher the film studio and give away high-budget films for free on HBO Max then goes behind his back to have him removed. Stankey is one cold-blooded motherfucker. Then again, Kilar was making more than Stankey. lol https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Jay Peters / The Verge: WarnerMedia CEO reportedly negotiating departure after being left out of AT&T-Discovery deal
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: And we can now soon add Jason Kilar's name to the section of recently departed WarnerMedia executives https://twitter.com/...
Katie Rosman / @katierosman: Privately, Jason Kilar hired a team of lawyers. Publicly he sent the company staff a rallying email punctuated by “a smiley face emoticon.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
David Poland / @davidpoland: Didn't even make it to the summer. Jason Kilar, the WarnerMedia Chief, Is Said to Be Negotiating His Exit https://www.nytimes.com/...
Michael M. Grynbaum / @grynbaum: WSJ, 3 days ago: “Jason Kilar might have a career as a tour guide if this WarnerMedia chief executive gig doesn't work out for him.” Today: “Jason Kilar has hired a legal team to negotiate his departure as chief executive of WarnerMedia” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Joe Flint / @jbflint: “Jason's still the CEO of WarnerMedia,” says AT&T CEO John Stankey. And I'm still the guy who did a massive profile of him two days before this deal was announced. Hopefully my future is still relatively safe.
Rich Greenfield / @richlightshed: Not shocking after being left out of today's merger news @jasonkilar negotiating his exit from @warnermedia ahead of Discovery merger $DISCA $T https://www.nytimes.com/...
Matthew Keys / The Desk: AT&T looks to merge media assets with Discovery
Tara Lachapelle / Bloomberg: Is AT&T Giving Up on HBO Max?
Hollywood Reporter:
John Stankey and David Zaslav discuss their vision for the WarnerMedia deal, saying the company will have a content spend that exceeds most competitors at $20B — AT&T chief John Stankey and Zaslav, who will lead the new venture, also addressed the status of WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar and the future of CNN.
Discussion:
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Stankey reiterating it became clear they were hitting an escape velocity. Again, Stankey orchestrated a massive $150 billion purchase of DirecTV and Time Warner, only to sell both for a fraction of the cost and lean back into being a broadband and mobile company.
Joe Flint / @jbflint: Discovery CEO David Zaslav on need to combine with WarnerMedia during investor call: “You gotta have content people love so much they would run home and pay for it before they pay for dinner or a roof over their head.”
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Zaslav says they plan to invest heavily in CNN's DTC offering, which is something that Kilar spoke to in the past. So looks like CNN+ (CNN Go?) is absolutely going to happen.
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Zaslav says the HBO Max AVOD product is still happening. Reiterates that bundling has worked very well for some competitors (Disney) and one super product has worked for others, so what happens with the platforms is TBD, basically.
Steve Kovach / @stevekovach: David Zaslav tells CNBC he wants his new company to reach 400 million streaming subsribers https://www.cnbc.com/...
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Zaslav, when asked if he plans to keep CNN or spinoff CNN, basically skirting around the question. He loves CNN, but no obvious, “yes, we're keeping CNN.” Stelter follows up with will Discovery allow CNN to run independently. Zaslav says yes.
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Zaslov: “We're probably the greatest entertainment company in the world.” Notes very specific IP: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Sex and the City, Entourage. This is how poorly Harry Potter was handled. When you think WarnerMedia IP you think Entourage before Harry Potter.
Ceren / @thejannissary: We will see. They said that diversity and representation remain key drivers of the DC universe moving forward and look how they mistreat Ray Fisher. Hollywood is full with bigshittalkers so I won't believe a “hopeful” word having to do with the future of DC/WB for now. https://twitter.com/...
Felix Salmon / @felixsalmon: 🤔 “We had the right strategy, we just didn't have the right shareholders” https://twitter.com/...
Ian Casselberry / Awful Announcing: AT&T to combine WarnerMedia assets with Discovery in blockbuster merger
Alex Weprin / @alexweprin: What will a Discovery-WarnerMedia streaming service look like? What will happen to Jason Kilar? What about CNN? The CEOs of AT&T and Discovery convened reporters on Zoom this morning to discuss: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ ...
Zack Sharf / IndieWire: AT&T Spins Off WarnerMedia and Merges It with Discovery: First Reactions to the Megadeal
Charles Barfield / The Playlist: WarnerMedia Is Merging With Discovery But The Big Questions Still Don't Have Answers
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Zaslov: “By 2023, we'll be generating over $14 billion in EBITA and over $12 billion in cash. This company is going to be a cash generating machine [I think he said.]...We're going to execute on that synergy, and we're going to spend more [more than $20b] on content.”
Julia Alexander / @loudmouthjulia: Zaslov: “Netflix is a great company, Disney is a great company....we think we can be in 400 million homes.” CNBC: “You think you can hit 400 million homes?” Zaslov: “There's billions of people in the world!”
John Johnson / Newser: AT&T Joins With Discovery to Create New Media Titan
Lillian Rizzo / Wall Street Journal:
WarnerMedia-Discovery merger puts pressure on rivals without enough scale, like NBCUniversal, which sources say viewed WarnerMedia as a possible target
Lindsey Ellefson / The Wrap:
Vice News names its news director Michael Learmonth as new EIC, filling a role that has been vacant since 2019 — Michael Learmonth was named Vice News' new editor in chief Monday, filling a role that has been vacant since 2019. He was promoted from news director, a job he held since 2016.
Discussion:
Katie Drummond / @katiedrumm: Everybody congratulate @learmonth who is now Editor-in-Chief of @VICENews ! https://www.thewrap.com/...
Fern Siegel / MediaPost: ‘Vice News’ Taps Learmonth As Editor In Chief
Michael Learmonth / @learmonth: Personal news: Thank you to @katiedrumm for nice quotes and all the support!! https://twitter.com/...
Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:
Former Hollywood Reporter editor Matthew Belloni has become a founding member of a new media company that has raised $7M and aims to launch this summer — Matthew Belloni, former Editorial Director at The Hollywood Reporter, has joined as a founding partner for a new media company that will cover politics …
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, @jimmaiella, @benyt, @sonnybunch, @mattbelloni and Variety
Discussion:
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter: Former Hollywood Reporter Editor Matthew Belloni Named Partner of Digital Media Startup
Nellie Andreeva / Deadline: Former Hollywood Reporter Editor Matthew Belloni Joins New Digital Media Startup Co-Founded By Jon Kelly
Jim Maiella / @jimmaiella: One of the first things I did after moving from cable to content 8 years ago was fly across the country to have a introductory drink with @MattBelloni. Excited to see what he builds here. Velvet rope email newsletter is very smart, very Studio 54. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ ...
Ben Smith / @benyt: Former THR boss @MattBelloni emails that he's joining this, as “many top journalists are moving to new platforms that value them as creators” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Apple:
Apple says it will bring lossless audio to all Apple Music subscribers for free and will support Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, available from June — The next generation of sound on Apple Music is coming to subscribers June 2021 at no additional cost — CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today …
Discussion:
TNW, Going against the grain, The Verge, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, @micahsingleton, @micahsingleton, @micahsingleton, Business Wire, New York Post, The Register, MacRumors, TechCrunch, @snazzyq, @wongmjane, @richontech, @chriswelch, @talkaboutdesign, @bzamayo, @tldtoday, @film_girl, @quinnypig, @ianfogg42, @rsgnl, @caseynewton, @caseynewton, ScreenRant, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, @hugorifkind, The Verge, @micahsingleton, Variety, @journeydan, @chrisbhoffman, @film_girl, @rayredacted, @reneritchie, Engadget, @viticci, @tomwarren, @reckless, @alexhern, @maxbalzer_, @reneritchie, T3, @stijndv, BGR India, MacRumors, @brandonbutch and @bzamayo, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Chris Welch / The Verge: Apple's $549 AirPods Max can't play lossless Apple Music — even when plugged in
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac: Apple Music pricing: Individual, family, and student plans, and how to save
Mike Peterson / AppleInsider: AirPods Max won't support Apple Music lossless over Lightning, HomePod also left out
Micah Singleton / @micahsingleton: More importantly, the price decrease is a blow to Spotify's goal to raise its average revenue per user (ARPU). Launching its upcoming Hi-Fi service at $15/month could've helped move the needle on its ARPU, which has been in decline since 2017. $10/month will not.
Micah Singleton / @micahsingleton: Lurking in the background in both of these announcements is Dolby Atmos, which powers spatial audio from Apple and 3D audio (along with Sony 360 Reality Audio) from Amazon. Surround sound audio will be a major focus for both (and likely Spotify) moving forward.
Micah Singleton / @micahsingleton: Apple is taking the stance that lossless music can't be played over Bluetooth, which means AirPods (in all form factors) will not officially support lossless playback. Can you open settings, turn on lossless streaming and it'll play? Yes, but Apple officially won't recommend it.
Richard Speed / The Register: Apple announces lossless HD audio at no extra cost, then Amazon Music does too. The ball is now in Spotify's court
Juli Clover / MacRumors: AirPods, AirPods Max and AirPods Pro Don't Support Apple Music Lossless Audio
Quinn Nelson / @snazzyq: This is friggin' awesome. The catalog going lossless is the cherry on top. And at no added cost! Same price. Apple Music just became the streaming service value king. https://twitter.com/...
Jane Manchun Wong / @wongmjane: Here it is — Apple introduces Lossless Audio in Apple Music https://www.apple.com/...
Rich DeMuro / @richontech: Now Apple Music announces spatial audio, coming in June for free to subscribers will make music sound like it's coming from various directions... https://www.apple.com/...
Chris Welch / @chriswelch: Apple just confirmed to me that lossless audio is *exclusive to Apple Music.* Subscription required. There won't be an option to purchase tracks or albums in that quality, nor will it be offered with iTunes Match. https://www.theverge.com/...
Maksim Petriv / @talkaboutdesign: “At no additional cost...” is the best part of this announcement. https://twitter.com/...
Benjamin Mayo / @bzamayo: Apple press release says they will send Dolby Atmos music to any W1 / H1 headphones, so we'll have to see how good the ‘spatial audio’ effect is. Currently, “Spatial Audio” is only supported on AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.
@tldtoday: damn Tim apple :o lossless audio for no extra $$ AirPods Max just leveled up https://www.apple.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Christina Warren / @film_girl: Are you fucking kidding me? https://twitter.com/...
Corey Quinn / @quinnypig: So nothing Apple sells supports the format, and they killed the headphone jack making it really hard to bring your own. Courage! https://twitter.com/...
Ian Fogg / @ianfogg42: Apple offers lossless audio to Music subscribers, but it's the spatial audio that is a more strategic move because of its synergy with AirPods Pro/Max today & likely future #AR products https://www.apple.com/...
Joe Rossignol / @rsgnl: Apple Music with Spatial Audio + Lossless Audio is available in iOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.6, macOS 11.4, or tvOS 14.6 or later, according to Apple.
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: Apple and Amazon using their unlimited cash flow to subsidize ‘free’ lossless audio to music customers has big ‘Google offering free photo storage just long enough to starve its independent competitors to death before starting to charge’ energy
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: @tylernol lossless audio has typically been a $10/month add-on. so either record labels approved a price decrease or Apple/Amazon are just eating the extra cost
Victoria Song / Gizmodo: It's Official—Apple Music's Getting Hifi Streaming
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac: Apple Music adding lossless streaming to entire catalog at no extra cost, Spatial Audio support with Dolby Atmos
Hugo Rifkind / @hugorifkind: Quite proud to have just caught London's summer. It lasted from 13.15 to 13.42 and I went out in the garden and ate a sandwich. Thunder now. Hope next year is nice.
Micah Singleton / @micahsingleton: AirPods Max also won't support lossless over the lightning cable, the company tells me. No Sonos support for lossless streaming just yet either.
Jem Aswad / Variety: Apple Music Unveils High-Quality Audio Option; Amazon Expands Its High-Def Plan
Daniel Bader / @journeydan: Wow, Apple isn't fucking around, will start offering up to 24-bit/48 kHz lossless for its entire Apple Music catalog starting next month without raising the $9.99 price https://www.apple.com/...
Chris Hoffman / @chrisbhoffman: So when will us YouTube Music subscribers get lossless audio? Probably... never? https://twitter.com/...
Christina Warren / @film_girl: Don't give me the wireless doesn't have the bandwidth bullshit. First, it could. Apple just has a lousy codec. Second, the $40 cable I bought to use these with a headphone jack still isn't enough? Are you kidding me?
@rayredacted: This is going to sell ALOT of airpods and airpods Max, but audiophiles will be quick to report that it isn't truly lossless if it is running on apple's implementation of BlueTooth. https://twitter.com/...
Billy Steele / Engadget: Apple Music will offer Dolby Atmos and lossless streaming starting next month
Federico Viticci / @viticci: Apple Music with Spatial Audio and lossless quality is official: - Spatial Audio powered by Dolby Atmos on all headphones with W1/H1 chip - Growing catalog of Spatial Audio music - Lossless quality (at 16 bit 44.1 kHz or 24 bit at 48 kHz) https://www.apple.com/...
Tom Warren / @tomwarren: Apple has officially announced lossless audio for Apple Music. It's arriving in June, and it tops out at 24-bit/192kHz https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Nilay Patel / @reckless: Very cool of Apple for offering three tiers - including a higher quality tier than its devices can even support - instead of pretending the CD was the pinnacle of audio quality https://www.theverge.com/...
Alex Hern / @alexhern: my most basic opinion is that I simply do not understand the point of any audio better than a 128kbps spotify stream https://www.apple.com/...
Max Balzer / @maxbalzer_: “Apple Music announces Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos; will bring Lossless Audio to entire catalog.” Also coming at no additional cost to subscribers. https://www.apple.com/...
Rene Ritchie / @reneritchie: Apple Music Lossless: 🍎ALAC format 💿 Starts at CD-quality 16 bit 44.1 kHz 📡 Goes to 24 bit 48 kHz 📱 Plays natively on Apple devices Hi-Res Lossless: 🤯 Up to 24 bit 192 kHz 🎛 Requires external USB DAC, etc. https://twitter.com/...
Stijn de Vries / @stijndv: Hmm look at what I found in the Apple Music website.... https://twitter.com/...
Vanshika Malhotra / BGR India: Apple Music officially gets Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos support for high-quality music experience
Brandon Butch / @brandonbutch: Apple just announced lossless & spatial audio! Coming next month at no additional cost. 🎵 https://www.apple.com/...
RELATED:
Micah Singleton / Billboard:
Amazon Music HD is now available to Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers for free, effectively cutting the Hi-Fi service's price from $14.99 to $9.99 per month
Discussion:
Music Business Worldwide: The music industry just took a backwards step on streaming pricing... in glorious HD
@amazonmusic: Our highest quality audio. Now at no extra cost. Discover over 70 million songs in HD. Tag the artist you're most excited to listen to in HD 👇 https://www.amazon.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Rich DeMuro / @richontech: OK, so if you subscribe to Amazon Music (as in, pay a monthly fee each month to listen), you can tap the button on this page to upgrade your streaming to HD quality for free (I subscribed over the weekend, so I'll be testing this out soon) https://www.amazon.com/...
José Adorno / 9to5Mac: On the same day as Apple Music HiFi launch, Amazon drops price of its HD streaming service
Chris Davies / @c_davies: Meanwhile, Amazon is also adding lossless audio to its Music Unlimited package. Previously you'd have had to pay $5/mo extra for Music HD. Amazon also includes both Dolby Atmos (like Apple will) and Sony 360 Reality Audio spatial sound https://www.slashgear.com/...
Rich DeMuro / @richontech: I like how the Amazon Music App shows you the features offered on each song https://twitter.com/...
Kintan Brahmbhatt / @kintan: Starting today, all Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers will get access to HD at no additional cost. That's BIG news! https://twitter.com/...
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors: Apple Music Launching Spatial Audio With Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio in June at No Extra Cost
Rich DeMuro / @richontech: Oh wow. And Amazon Music HD plays nicely with Sonos. Will have to listen to this later this morning to see if I can discern a difference in audio quality! https://twitter.com/...
John MacFarlane / @johnlmacfarlane: Apple and Amazon are clearly eating the incremental cost for the lossless, or higher bitrate streams. It's a good opportunity to learn if people, in any large numbers, actually prefer the formats (I would bet not). Hopefully it stays this easy to choose. https://www.billboard.com/...
Aaron Pressman / @ampressman: Monkey see, monkey do: Amazon Music drops HD tier surcharge, shaking up hi-fi streaming market after Apple announces lossless service at no extra charge https://www.billboard.com/...
Micah Singleton / @micahsingleton: NEW: Amazon Music HD is now available to Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers for free, the company tells @billboard. Amazon is the first streaming service to make high-fidelity music streaming available at $9.99 a month ($7.99 a month for Prime members) https://www.billboard.com/...
The Daily Beast:
Unlike many in the media, MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan and Ayman Mohyeldin are granting airtime to Palestinians instead of heavily relying on Israeli government accounts — NEW VIEW — Much of the American television news coverage of the ongoing violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip has followed a familiar …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Jerusalem Post, Forbes, @joyannreid, @hotlinejosh, Financial Times and @aaschapiro
Discussion:
Lahav Harkov / Jerusalem Post: Israel showed US ‘smoking gun’ on Hamas in AP office tower, officials say
Jemima McEvoy / Forbes: Blinken Says He's Seen No Evidence To Justify Bombing Of Media Building In Gaza
@joyannreid: Two incredible journalists and important voices whom I'm proud to call colleagues and friends. Thank God for @AymanM and @mehdirhasan, who are adding critical context and dimension to coverage of international issues that too often go without both. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ ...
Josh Kraushaar / @hotlinejosh: “Israel shared intelligence with the US showing how Hamas operated inside the same building with the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera in Gaza, officials in Jerusalem said on Sunday.” https://www.jpost.com/...
Avi Asher-Schapiro / @aaschapiro: It's being widely reported in the Israeli press that the Israeli army intentionally lied to international news outlets, saying a ground invasion of Gaza was imminent as part of a disinformation campaign to trick Hamas into exposing its fighters. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Reuters:
Axel Springer and Facebook strike a global deal, allowing content from Bild, Welt, Insider, and others to be distributed in Facebook News at its German launch — Axel Springer and Facebook said on Monday that they had agreed on a global cooperation deal under which content from the German publisher …
Discussion:
Fabio Chiusi / @fabiochiusi: “The agreement explicitly excludes the future ancillary copyright for press publishers” https://www.axelspringer.com/ ...
@pressgazette: Axel Springer (owner of Insider) has agreed a “joint global cooperation” with Facebook. Its content will now appear on the Facebook News tab. Axel Springer previously refused to sign up to a Facebook News deal, citing “inappropriately low remuneration” https://www.reuters.com/...
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
NBCUniversal is acting as a power broker between stars and advertisers as part of its upfronts, hoping its pull with talent will help it strike bigger deals — Comcast unit is pitching broad partnerships with stars during this year's TV-ad-buying ritual, hoping its pull with talent helps it strike bigger deals
Discussion:
Jeanine Poggi / Ad Age: AT&T-Discovery deal steals upfronts spotlight: Upfronts Download
Linda Yaccarino / @lindayacc: THIS. Is. Partnership. Thank you @kellyclarkson and @Wayfair for showing us how it's done. https://www.wsj.com/...
Eric Deggans At Npr / @deggans: Watching NBCUniversal's upfront, where Will Smith appears, in what looks like shorts and long johns (?) to plug dramatic version of Fresh Prince of Bel Air he's exec producing for Peacock. Even though Fresh Prince reruns on HBO Max. Which is joining a new company with Discovery. https://twitter.com/...
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
British GQ editor Dylan Jones departs after 22 years in the role; GQ to be led globally by American GQ editor Will Welch, as Conde Nast merges editorial teams — British GQ editor Dylan Jones is leaving the men's lifestyle magazine after 22 years at the helm.
Discussion:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
DVD rental and streaming company Redbox is going public via SPAC in a deal that values the combined company at $693M; Redbox had earnings of $114M in 2020 — Redbox, the DVD-rental kiosk and streaming company, is going back to the public markets. — On Monday, Redbox announced that it reached …
Discussion:
Alex Cranz / The Verge: Redbox still exists, plans to go public
Zack Zwiezen / Kotaku:
After publishing and removing an article listing Palestinian charities, IGN says it didn't mean to make it seem “we were politically aligned with one side” — Following the most recent set of violent military strikes by the Israel Defense Forces that have leveled entire buildings …
Discussion:
@ajenglish, @tha_rami, @tropicalmaku, @mattbinder, @papapishu, @charalanahzard, @tha_rami, @austin_walker, @iyagovos, A. Khaled's Blog, @dannyodwyer, @scully1888, @andyplaytonic and Axios
Discussion:
Al Jazeera English / @ajenglish: ⭕ LIVE footage of the moment an Israeli air raid bombed the offices of Al Jazeera and The Associated Press in Gaza City ⬇️ 🔴 LIVE updates: https://www.aljazeera.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Rami Ismail / @tha_rami: “IGN Israel upset to learn IGN tries to raise money for Palestinian children harmed by Israeli bombs” is so cartoonesquely evil that I don't even know what to say https://twitter.com/...
Maku / @tropicalmaku: If it wasn't transparent enough how evil and cruel the world can be. This is IGN Israel's response to the main IGN acknowledging Palestinian people's suffering and doing what they can to help support those people. https://twitter.com/...
Matt Binder / @mattbinder: i have no idea what happened here as i have nothing to do with IGN, but i am employed by the same parent company. Israel is an apartheid state. the Netanyahu government is a fascist regime. stand with the people of Palestine. https://twitter.com/...
Chris Person / @papapishu: I'm just gonna say that I really don't think that whoever made them do this is going to accomplish what they sought out to accomplish. https://twitter.com/...
Alanah Pearce / @charalanahzard: IGN didn't take this down. Their parent companies, @j2global and/or @ziffdavis did. Note that they also haven't removed any of IGN's other articles supporting international humanitarian aid. Just this one. https://twitter.com/...
Rami Ismail / @tha_rami: This is heartbreaking. Not a single fiber of me believes that anyone in editorial at @IGN supports this text. I believe this is a corporate statement in IGN's voice by corporate @ziffdavis or @j2global. I can't see any alternative sequence of events leading to this statement. https://twitter.com/...
Austin Walker / @austin_walker: Would really love to know who the “we” is that's speaking here, because my bet is that it isn't the people who fought to make the post in the first place. https://twitter.com/...
James Bartholomeou / @iyagovos: IGN's Support Palestine page is down, but GameSpot also have an incredibly helpful page with important links. Please do not harass IGN editorial staff for this. They risked their livelihoods making that page, and need support now too. #FreePalestine https://www.gamespot.com/...
Danny O'Dwyer / @dannyodwyer: [update from IGN quoted] My thoughts; The false equivalence surrounding The Question of Palestine is what enables the right-wing government of Israel to get away with apartheid and state-sanctioned terrorism. Thanks to posts like this, it will continue. https://twitter.com/...
Chris Scullion / @scully1888: Despite IGN management (because I can't see the editorial staff doing this) seemingly bottling it with a “we support both sides” argument, the IGN Israel Facebook post saying “we support the Israel state and the IDF soldiers keeping us safe” is still up. Draw your own conclusions https://twitter.com/...
Andy Robinson / @andyplaytonic: IGN's Israel edition here, condemning IGN's support for charities aiding Palestinian civilians (source: Instagram) https://twitter.com/...
Stephen Totilo / Axios: U.S. gaming outlets remove posts supporting Palestinians
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