Mediagazer: Skydance TV President Matt Thunell will run a merged division with Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, reviving Paramount TV Studios which was shut down in 2024 (Jennifer Maas/Variety)

9:20 AM ET, August 5, 2025

Top News:

Jennifer Maas / Variety:

Skydance TV President Matt Thunell will run a merged division with Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, reviving Paramount TV Studios which was shut down in 2024 — Skydance Television president Matt Thunell is set to add oversight of Paramount's TV studios to his duties amid the pending closure …

Discussion: Deadline, C21Media, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and LateNighter

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

David Ellison names Paramount Global's senior leadership team, appointing himself as CEO, Jeff Shell as president, and RedBird Capital's Andy Gordon as COO — George Cheeks, Cindy Holland, Josh Greenstein, Dana Goldberg will all get new roles, joining Jeff Shell and Ellison in the C-suite.

Discussion: Reuters, Variety, Deadline, The Wrap, Variety, Deadline, Sports Business Journal, New York Post, Adweek, Los Angeles Times, WORLD SCREEN and MediaPost

Joe Otterson / Variety:
Internal memo: Paramount Streaming President and CEO Tom Ryan is stepping down; Ryan became CEO in October 2020 after co-founding Pluto TV

Discussion: Mediaweek, TheDesk.net, The Information, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch says Fox One, a streaming service offering NFL and MLB games, Fox News programs, and more, will debut August 21 at $19.99 per month — The new broadband outlet, a venue that offers Fox Corp.'s Sunday-afternoon NFL games and post-season MLB play along with Fox News programs and more …

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Fox reports Q4 revenue up 6% YoY to $3.29B, ad revenue up 7% YoY to $1.1B, driven by Tubi and Fox News, and a net income of $719M, up from $320M in Q4 2024 — The company saw revenues rise across the board in tis fiscal Q4 quarter, as it prepares to launch its Fox One streaming service.

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Fox Corporation, Deadline and @earnings_time

Scott Nover / Washington Post:

Filing: VOA Director Michael Abramowitz has been fired after refusing what he called an “illegal” reassignment to run a broadcasting station in North Carolina — Kari Lake tried to dispatch Michael Abramowitz to North Carolina. When he refused, she fired him.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Poynter, The Wrap, @marionawfal, @w7voa, @scottnover, @kyledcheney and TheDesk.net

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

The Athletic signs podcast licensing deals for Pablo Torre Finds Out and Sports Gossip Show; a source says the agreement with Torre is in the seven figures — The Athletic signed two new podcast licensing deals to add to its coverage of more pop culture-adjacent angles in sports stories

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Patreon CEO Jack Conte says the platform paid out $10B+ to creators since its 2013 founding, creators now get $2B+ annually, and there are 25M+ paid memberships — Creators on Patreon have received more than $10 billion in payouts from fans since the company was founded in 2013, CEO and co-founder Jack Conte tells Axios.

Discussion: @sarafischer

Sara Fischer / Axios:

The New York Post plans to launch a daily Los Angeles-based newspaper called The California Post in early 2026, with News Corp veteran Nick Papps as EIC — - Los Angeles is home to the second-largest concentration of Post readers, per News Corp. — The vast majority (90%) …

Discussion: New York Post, CNN, New York Times, Variety, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, TheDesk.net, TODAY.com, Politico, The Gateway Pundit, American Thinker, Australian Financial Review, Mumbrella, Reuters, @henryporters, @tim_bays, @timj_b, @noahmallin, @blowryontv, @cmarinucci, @_bizbaz, @kellblog, @matthewkeyslive, @bristei, @jonchesto, @kentmoyer, @adriana_lacy, @spiccarella, @adamprobolsky, @edmundlee, @jg_cstt, @jimmyfailla, @jessicalessin, Newser, Fortune, @benfritz, @maxwelltani, @richontech, @sarafischer, NBC News, The Boston Globe, The A.V. Club, UPI, David Thalberg on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, Washington Post, The Post Millennial, The Guardian, Mediaite, @tranniehathaway.bsky.social, MediaPost, Wall Street Journal, Stacy Ezra Wormser on LinkedIn, The Daily Caller, Joe.My.God., @doughenwood.bsky.social, @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social, The Wrap, @tvmojoe.bsky.social, @honeymummy.co, Deadline, Fox News and Althouse

Rebecca Falconer / Axios:

Court filing: Trump and Rupert Murdoch agree to postpone Murdoch's deposition in the Epstein letter libel suit until after a ruling on the WSJ's dismissal case — President Trump and Rupert Murdoch reached a deal Monday to postpone the media mogul's deposition in a libel lawsuit related …

Discussion: HuffPost, @joshgerstein, Bloomberg, Deadline, NewsMax.com, Joe.My.God., Forbes, Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald and Southern District of Florida

Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal:

ElevenLabs launches Eleven Music, letting individuals and businesses use its AI model to generate music cleared for commercial use via English-language prompts — New model allows customers to create music with AI that is cleared for commercial use. But AI-generated music still faces legal battles and stiff opposition from artists.

Discussion: WinBuzzer

Josh Axelrod / Nieman Lab:

How some news organizations are using AI models powered by retrieval-augmented generation to surface the most newsworthy elements from very large datasets — “If we sit on the sideline and observe, I think the risk is too high that we are gonna be left behind.”

Discussion: @klingebeil.bsky.social, The Register, @tongli.bsky.social, @mikeananny.bsky.social and @niemanlab.org, more at Techmeme »

Jay Peters / The Verge:

IGN lays off staff, including eight members of the IGN Creators Guild, representing 12% of the bargaining unit, as parent company Ziff Davis cuts costs — The ‘perplexing’ cuts laid off eight employees at IGN. … Ziff Davis-owned IGN Entertainment has laid off staff, including eight members of the IGN Creators Guild.

Discussion: WebProNews, Angelo Caproitti on LinkedIn, Spilled, The Sun, @erikadams.bsky.social, @geminibros.bsky.social, @lukeplunkett.com, @jaypeters.net, @oswinstark.bsky.social, Aftermath and @ignunion.bsky.social

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