I Beats Paramount and Comcast in bidding Deal includes HBO and HBO Max; does not include WBD’s cable networks, which will be spun off Passing regulatory tests could be difficult In a move that gained steam in the 24 hours before it was announced, Netflix is buying Warner Bros. Discovery for $82.7 billion, closing a period during which two other […]
Friendly regulatory climate, urge to compete with streamers fuels merger talk The future of Warner Bros. Discovery appears to be headed in two directions: a split or an outright takeover by another media company. It’s clear that Paramount head David Ellison, whose Skydance bought the company last year, is looking for more. That’s what media observers are looking at, as […]
Splits company into two; aims to complete by mid-2026 Warner Bros. Discovery announced on Monday that it will separate the conglomerate into two separately publicly traded companies. Speculated for some time, the move will separate its streaming and studios business from its cable networks, making it a stand-alone company. One company (temporarily named “Streaming and Studios”) will house Warner […]
Warner Bros. returns HBO name to its streaming service Proving things can come full circle in media, Warner Bros. Discovery announced they were rebranding its streaming service from Max back to HBO Max, as it is focusing on quality instead of quantity as it continues to reduce the number of titles on its platform. So why the name change? Again? […]
Also: MLB teams desert Bally; “Velma” canceled With local hockey fans struggling to find Blackhawks games on the TV dial this season, the AHL’s Chicago Wolves are back for another season on WPWR (now branded as Fox Chicago Plus) with 30 games scheduled, mostly on weekends. “The Wolves are thrilled to be back on WPWR-TV for the upcoming season,” said […]
Chicago’s South Side MLB team resembles CBS Chicago’s ratings disasters in every way possible In the early 2000s, then-Chicago Tribune media critic Steve Johnson noted the management at CBS-owned WBBM-TV implemented what he called a “Viewer Alienation Plan”, a series of bad decisions repelling viewers from the station throughout the 1990s, including tabloid newscasts, awful anchor pairings, and a deer-in-headlight […]
Also: The U branding returns to Channel 26; CBS 2 boss takes over sister station in Detroit [Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on July 30 and updated to provide the latest information on CW 26’s shift back to independent status.] Making good on their promise, Warner Bros. Discovery filed suit against the NBA Friday after rejecting their matching […]
Celtics win in five in a truly awful series If one were to measure the excitement of the 2024 NBA Finals, it would be right between reruns of “Joanie Loves Chachi” and a White Sox game. But that’s where we are, and the matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics was one to forget from a competitive and […]
Your winners/losers in the 18th annual roundup of the worst in everything: Donald Trump. He’s back. Elon Musk. I’ll tell you what. You can click on this link, which leads to every story this space has featured on the arrogant billionaire, none of it positive. Jerry Reinsdorf. Speaking of arrogant billionaires, the 87-year-old is currently one of the worst owners […]
Plans to merge assets with WarnerMedia to spinoff to own company Here we go again. Sunday morning, Bloomberg published a report stating Discovery Communications and AT&T’s WarnerMedia would be merging assets, marrying Bugs Bunny and Friends with Oprah Winfrey and Chip and Joanna Gaines. The news was made official Monday, with AT&T spinning off those assets into a new, […]
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