Paramount Global and Skydance Media are making progress on a deal that would merge the media companies and buy out controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, according to people familiar with the matter. Paramount Global’s special committee, in charge of accepting or rejecting transactions, and David Ellison’s Skydance Media, backed by private equity firms KKR and RedBird … Read more
Bob Chapek, chief executive officer of Disney, speaks at the 2022 Disney Legends Awards during Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, Sept. 9, 2022. Mario Anzuoni | Reuters In his first public comments since Disney fired him as CEO in November 2022, Bob Chapek told CNBC he sees no reason for Disney-owned ESPN to add … Read more
Disney‘s ESPN is at a crossroads. For more than 40 years, the world’s largest all-sports network has grown annual revenue by increasing cable subscription fees. ESPN first charged pay-TV distributors less than $1 per month per subscriber in the 1980s. In 2023, ESPN’s monthly carriage fee was $9.42 per subscriber, according to data from S&P … Read more
Sports streaming platform FuboTV is suing Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery over their recently announced joint venture, citing what the company calls “extreme suppression of competition in the U.S. sports-focused streaming market,” according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by CNBC. The joint venture, announced earlier this month, aims to offer viewers a … Read more
The NFL isn’t just the most popular sports league in the U.S., it’s also the most valuable with the highest-rated programming and the priciest ad time. In 2021 the league signed an estimated $110 billion worth of media deals covering 11 years, which reportedly was nearly double the value of its previous contracts. “If you’re … Read more
Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images It’s the third act of the streaming wars. That’s the time a hero, seemingly beaten and broken, rises up and saves the day. But Wall Street is worried that hero may never come for Hollywood. Legacy media companies including Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Comcast and Paramount Global … Read more
