What subscriber reporting change means

The best way to get investors to stop focusing on something is to stop telling them at all. Netflix said Thursday it will no longer report quarterly membership numbers and average revenue per membership starting in the first quarter of 2025. This is a significant change for the company and for the so-called “streaming wars,” … Read more

News on negotiations with ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, #23, during the NBA game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2024. Jevone Moore | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images The National Basketball Association’s exclusive media rights negotiating window with current partners Disney and Warner Bros. … Read more

Details of David Ellison bid

Shari Redstone, president of National Amusements, speaks at the WSJ Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, on Oct. 21, 2019. Mike Blake | Reuters Skydance Media’s offer to acquire National Amusements and merge its studio with Paramount Pictures isn’t a conventional takeover. The question for Paramount Global shareholders might be: Is it better than … Read more

Jim Cramer updates his media stock ranking and puts Fox over Disney

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday updated his ranking of major media stocks, putting Fox at the top of the list, trailed closely by Disney. Five months ago, Cramer ranked Disney as No. 1, with Fox in second, followed by Warner Bros Discovery and then Paramount. But according to him, it’s time to revisit this ranking … Read more

Paramount stock slumps on reports of equity raise for merger

Paramount Global‘s stock slumped 8% on Thursday after CNBC’s David Faber reported the company would need to raise as much as $3 billion in new equity if it were to merge with David Ellison’s Skydance Media, according to sources familiar with the deal. This deal comes as media mogul Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of … Read more

Streaming platforms are shrinking their content libraries

Every day the streaming landscape is looking more and more like the beast it sought to slay — cable. Looming talks of platform bundles come as major streamers push ad-supported plans, limit password sharing and lean into live sports coverage. The goal of exponential subscriber growth, fueled by pandemic lockdowns, has shifted. Wall Street wants … Read more

Warner Bros. Discovery directors Miron, Newhouse resign after antitrust probe

The exterior of the Warner Bros. Discovery Atlanta campus is pictured after the Writers Guild of America began its strike against the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 2, 2023. Alyssa Pointer | Reuters Two Warner Bros. Discovery directors, Steven Miron and Steven Newhouse, are resigning following a U.S. … Read more

NBC Paris Olympics opening ceremony to play on IMAX

A view shows the logo of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in Paris, France, March 19, 2024.  Benoit Tessier | Reuters Many of the world’s greatest athletes will make their big-screen debut in IMAX theaters this summer. NBC announced Friday that its live coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony on July … Read more

ESPN executives talk streaming plans in CNBC documentary

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

Part Two’ box office opening sparks interest in ‘Part Three’

Sandworms emerge on the desert planet Arrakis in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.” Warner Bros. | Legendary Entertainment After a two-month drought, “Dune: Part Two” has delivered a much-welcomed deluge of ticket sales to the domestic box office — and its success could bring a third franchise film to cinemas. The Warner Bros. and Legendary … Read more