Top News:
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
David Ellison says Paramount plans to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streamer with 200M+ subscribers, but will let HBO “operate with independence” — Paramount Skydance plans to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streaming service, upon the completion …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, Washington Post, Deadline, Axios, Screen Rant, TechCrunch, TheDesk.net, Forbes, TV Insider, The Movie Blog, Deseret News, CNN, Dow Jones Newswires, PCMag, Los Angeles Times, PCWorld, Android Authority, CNET, UPI, Bloomberg, LateNighter, @matthewkeyslive, @reelpoporngeek, Alex Sherman on LinkedIn, @dkaszor.bsky.social, @mhwilliams.bsky.social, @sherman4949, @laurenmeidasa.bsky.social, @zsharf, @film_girl, Awful Announcing, @raykcx, Gizmodo, @annala7680.bsky.social, @matthewkeyslive, New York Post, Mashable, @azalben.bsky.social, @sherman4949, @whenbatmenfly, @jeremymbarr, NBC News, /Film, @bee_with_mee, Streaming Better, Broadband TV News, @jeremymbarr, @tvgrimreaper, Animation Magazine, @steele131, @sherman4949, Engadget, Yahoo Finance, WPXI-TV, The A.V. Club, Media Play News, The Verge, MacDailyNews and Hollywood Life
RELATED:
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Paramount says there are “no plans to divest or spin off a package of cable assets at this time”, after merging with WBD, creating a vast cable and TV portfolio — CEO David Ellison added that HBO would continue to — have “the resources and independence to do what it does best”
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Paramount President Jeff Shell was absent on Monday's WBD investor call, sources say amid an internal probe that he leaked details about a UFC deal in 2025 — Paramount President Jeff Shell, a key member of the management team during the company's pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion:
Sportico, @karlbode.com, Page Six and The Hollywood Reporter
Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:
David Ellison says Paramount's deal for WBD will leave the combined company with ~$79B in net debt; Paramount's offer includes $47B in equity and $54B in debt — Paramount Skydance (PSKY.O) CEO David Ellison said on Monday its deal for Warner Bros will leave the combined company …
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Q&A with Ted Sarandos on the scenario planning Netflix did before Paramount's final WBD bid, how Paramount's deal closing could lead to cuts of $16B+, and more — When Netflix Inc. dropped out of the bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. on Feb. 26, the news came as a surprise to many in Hollywood.
Discussion:
NBC News, Business Insider, Variety, Deadline, Fox Business, Raw Story, GamesIndustry.biz, CinemaBlend, Hindustan Times, Gizmodo, The Hollywood Reporter, GamingBolt, The Movie Blog, Awful Announcing, Media Play News, Barrett Media, Fortune, The Streamable, Dark Horizons, Front Office Sports, @carlquintanilla.bsky.social, Bleeding Cool News, The Wrap, Comic Book Movie, Benzinga, Cord Cutters News, Instapundit, New York Post and Screen Rant
RELATED:
Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal:
Netflix actually won by walking away from the WBD bid, collecting a $2.8B termination fee and driving up the price and debt load of the Paramount-WBD merger
New York Times:
Sources: WBD staff are bracing for widespread layoffs as David Ellison wants $6B in “synergies”; the internal mood is grim as staff preferred Netflix's proposal
Sources: WBD staff are bracing for widespread layoffs as David Ellison wants $6B in “synergies”; the internal mood is grim as staff preferred Netflix's proposal
Discussion:
Variety, StreamTV Insider, Media Play News, World of Reel, @jenrubin.bsky.social, The Ankler, The Olympian, RADAR, TechCrunch, Joe.My.God. and The Daily Beast
Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
Sources: Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters held a town hall to explain Netflix's decision to withdraw from the WBD bid; the town hall excluded a Q&A session
Sources: Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters held a town hall to explain Netflix's decision to withdraw from the WBD bid; the town hall excluded a Q&A session
Discussion:
Los Angeles Business Journal, BGR, Appleosophy, Times of India, The Sun, Inven Global and Kansas City Star
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Paramount agrees to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, paying $31 per share in cash, giving WBD an enterprise value of $110B
Paramount agrees to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, paying $31 per share in cash, giving WBD an enterprise value of $110B
Discussion:
Axios, Broadband TV News, NZ Herald, The A.V. Club, Decider, Deadline, Türkiye Today, Sky News, Variety, The Guardian, TMZ.com, Hindustan Times, Screen, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Paramount, TV Blackbox, iClarified, FinancialContent, Wrestling Inc., @steppencat.bsky.social, Superman, Times of India, Media Play News, NBC Bay Area, Engadget, @musiccomposer.com, The Wrap, The Verge, Crypto Briefing, Agence France-Presse, ABC7 and Reuters
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X announces a “Paid Partnership” label that creators can apply to their posts to indicate they're ads; until now, creators relied on hashtags to label posts — Social network X on Monday announced the introduction of a new “Paid Partnership” label that creators can apply to their posts to indicate they're advertisements.
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
SCOTUS declines to hear a dispute over copyrights for AI-generated material, in a case where a computer scientist was denied a copyright for AI-generated art — The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to take up the issue of whether art generated by artificial intelligence …
Discussion:
Decrypt, The Verge, Engadget, Courthouse News Service and Bloomberg Law, more at Techmeme »
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Lachlan Murdoch says Fox News expects CNN under the Ellisons to be a “strong competitor”, but adds that “running news is hard” — “We have been winning, and we win amongst strong competition,” Murdoch said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Wrap and The Observer
Max Tani / Semafor:
How CBS News' right-leaning, pro-Israel editorial leadership is covering the Iran crisis; Bari Weiss' outspoken approach led to her reposting false information — The News — Bari Weiss has long held a strong point of view on US policy toward Iran. Now she's testing to what extent …
Discussion:
DNYUZ, The Gateway Pundit, @joshkraushaar, @jeremymbarr, @maxwelltani, @justinbaragona.bsky.social, @maxwelltani, @scottjenningsky and Fox News
Jordyn Holman / New York Times:
Q&A with Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor on modernizing the platform, attracting new creators, managing a fully remote, four-day-per-week workplace, and more — Everette Taylor took over Kickstarter at a low moment for the crowdfunding pioneer, which made its name with small projects …
Discussion:
Gina Dukes on LinkedIn
New York Times:
An interview with Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr, who have helmed 7News Perth's nightly TV news for 40+ years and are the world's longest-serving news anchor team — On a sunny recent afternoon, Rick Ardon was having trouble picking out the right tie. — His first choice was vetoed as …
Discussion:
@sarafischer
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Inside the Podcast Business Summit and interviews with Kara Swisher, Adam Friedland, and others about how video podcasts won over audio, paywalls, ads, and more — The six biggest takeaways from this week's podcast business summit — Welcome back to Soundbite. This week has been a doozy.
Discussion:
Podglomerate and Forbes
