"It’s a great business model when a whole bunch of people pay for something they don’t really care if they have or not” - Rob Manfred, on the cable bundle
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Live look at Skydance assets:
"They have the assets, and now all they have to do is execute and walk this extremely tightrope," says Puck's @MattBelloni of Skydance following the completion of its merger. cnb.cx/4yAPC5Q
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NFL fans can cancel their channel bundle for February and just subscribe to Disney+.
Disney+ will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14 in the US and 55+ international markets, providing another platform for ESPN's first Super Bowl production (@xpangler / Variety)
(Visit Mediagazer dot com for the link and full context!)
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They’ll almost certainly do what Disney did with Hulu and Disney+.
Solo price increases/ bundle discounts so paying for one ≈ paying for both.
The @paramountco and @warnerbros $111B merger is complete.
Antenna estimates that the existing Subscriber Overlap between Paramount+ and HBO Max is 7.5M Subscribers (as of Aug 2026). This represents 26.7% of U.S. HBO Max Subscribers, and 21.9% of U.S. Paramount+ Subscribers.
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Gerry Cardinale:
Today: Victory tour
2029:
Source: RedBird contributed $4B in new equity financing to help fund Paramount's WBD acquisition, bringing its total contribution to $6B (@chrispalmeri / Bloomberg)
(Visit Mediagazer dot com for the link and full context!)
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Chattering that Skydance/ Paramount/ WBD needs to invest in streaming content to "compete" with Netflix, etc.
That'll just create streaming losses.
Disney got to marginal profitability for its (non-sports) streaming business by cutting back on spending (and raising prices).
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US households today: ~128 million
US households with a channel bundle subscription:
6/30/26: ~62 million (Only 48% of all HHs)
2014: ~100 million
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The NYT and "some industry analysts" still haven't caught up.
The NFL's not exercising its change-of-control option because they can't get rid of CBS today. CBS (like Fox) stonewalled them on any new negotiations for more money before the end of the 2029 season.
(link in reply)
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Legacy broadcast networks now too impoverished to pay $15 million/ year for the #Emmys.
The #Emmys are officially moving to streaming via Amazon Prime Video courtesy of a new six-year deal worth around $15 million per year.
Under the new pact, the Emmys will be offered for free on Prime Video.
variety.com/2026/tv/news/emm…
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Today: Paramount + WBD
“Soon”: Tubi + Roku
(at the corporate level)
That should test the nonsense narrative of “Wait until the streamers consolidate and then the economics will improve!”
Spoiler alert: Streaming profits will never replace the monopoly bundle profits.
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Unless they can stop people from canceling their channel bundles (spoiler alert: they can’t), this story has only one possible ending…
I’m not going to minimize what Ellison & Co., faces but I need to remind my followers how WRONG the expert opinion has been about these guys. First the alleged experts (and I would put most reporters in that category) doubted they would win Paramount. Next massive doubt they would beat @netflix for $WBD. Aside from yours truly, who reported or even opinions @AGRobBonta would be forced to settle with whimper? Again $80B in debt ain’t nothing. Neither is combining studios and TV networks, streaming services etc. But I know for a fact they have a game plan and one of the best biz men in media, Gerry Cardinale of @RedBirdCap, working the numbers. Ellison is about as far from a lucky sperm kid as you can get and his old man is a savant.
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The magic of unaudited boasting!
If you boast about something, and it turns out to not have been true, you get to boast about it again if it becomes true!
Sources: despite saying in July that its 2027 Super Bowl ad inventory is sold out, Disney is seeking $10M-$12M per 30-second spot plus matching ad commitments (@bristei / Variety)
(Visit Mediagazer dot com for the link and full context!)
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US Theater Box Office
2026 Q3: 251 movies, $3.05 billion
2015-19 Q3 avg: 342 movies, $2.74 billion
Number of movies down 27%.
Box office $ gross UP 11%.
data: boxofficemojo.com/quarter/q3…
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Sling TV ended Q2 ‘26 with 1.707 million subscribers. This will depress their future numbers.
The programmers that sued to stop Sling Pass (WBD & Disney) can celebrate their Pyrrhic victory!
SCOOP: Sling TV is no longer offering its popular Day Pass and Weekend Pass feature to streamers who want limited-time access to channels like ESPN and TNT, @TheDeskDotNet has learned. thedesk.net/2026/10/sling-tv…
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TV Grim Reaper retweeted
"We had been selling nuclear weapons technology to a third world country, and they were now using it against us." - Bob Iger
🚨 HUGE DISNEY x NETFLIX DEAL 🚨
Disney is licensing a massive wave of hit shows and movies to Netflix! 🍿✨
Coming soon to your watchlist:
🌊 Percy Jackson and the Olympians
❄️ All 5 'Ice Age' movies
🔎 Will Trent
🌟 Pixar's Soul & Elio
🎓 Felicity
...and MORE!
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The NFL could be planning low budget packages for the increasingly impoverished linear TV networks!
That doesn’t increase the NFL’s overall rights fees though. That continues to depend on deep pocketed tech stepping up to pay big. But will it?
One of the big mysteries in media is YouTube's sports strategy.
I've got some exclusive details on how executives there are thinking about live sports. At first, I thought YouTube would be a major player buying sports rights. More recently, I started to second guess myself.
And now, after doing a little digging, I'm back to my original position. I think YouTube is going to be a major player buying live sports rights in the next five years.
My story:
cnbc.com/2026/10/02/youtube-…
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The NFL’s “leverage” over CBS due to the Paramount change in control was a mirage, as CBS, like Fox, stonewalls them.
Goodell badly misplayed his hand beginning with the current rights cycle.
🔥 Redbird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale says Paramount/CBS will not be renegotiating with the NFL for a few years, despite the NFL’s change of control provision, which expires in August 2027
from #bloombergscreentime with @Lucas_Shaw
LightShed from this past September👇
lightshedtmt.com/2026/09/11/…
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Nielsen US Streaming Video Top 10s, viewing via TVs, week ending 9/20/26
#Neagley (#1 original)
#TheBigBangTheory (#1 acquired)
#WhyDidIGetMarriedAgain (#1 movie)
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