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At a town hall in June with 150 HBO employees, a video unspooled with talent asking new WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey about the $85.4 billion merger of AT&T and Time Warner. “Hi John,” Bill Maher began. “Now that you figured out how to get the merger past the Justice Department, the next time Donald Trump sues me, I can use your lawyers, right? Because I think we all know there will be a next time.” Turns out the HBO host’s query was prophetic. On July 12, Trump’s Department of Justice appealed a court ruling that AT&T could acquire Time Warner. In the unlikely event the DOJ wins this time, it would mean the messy unwinding of a merger that already is being implemented. Time Warner shares have been delisted and…
Digital Netflix Chilled Global growth may be a concern for investors. p. 26 Deals Weinstein Sale Can Lantern buyers actually “begin anew”? p. 32 Rupert Murdoch Quite a week for the mogul as Disney and Comcast fight to buy his Fox assets, AT&T suffers a DOJ appeal over its Time Warner deal and the FCC has “serious concerns” about Sinclair’s Tribune merger. Dwayne Johnson The Rock fatigue? Skyscraper, the star’s fifth film in 14 months, underperforms with a $24.9 million domestic debut as a key China release looms. Keri Russell The Americans star celebrates her third Emmy nom by signing on to J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX and Guillermo del Toro’s next horror-thriller, The Antlers. Bill Shine The new White House press secretary (and former Fox News chief) endures…
In the 14 months since Sinclair Broadcast Group unveiled a $3.9 billion deal to purchase Tribune Media (and the company’s 42 local television stations), analysts have quietly predicted that federal regulators would approve the deal. But on July 16, the FCC’s politically conservative chairman, Ajit Pai, 45, turned things upside down, revealing that he has “serious concerns” about the tie-up and calling for an administrative law judge to take a look at whether Sinclair is planning to secretly control — through so-called “sidecar” deals — the local stations it must sell off to get the transaction approved. Sinclair, a broadcast behemoth that skews right politically, said it was “shocked” by Pai’s plan to designate the purchase to an administrative hearing, and Tribune Media’s chief executive Peter Kern said he was…
When New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed film and TV tax credit legislation July 3 that would allocate up to $85 million per year over the next five years, he pledged that the move would allow the state to “regain a competitive footing.” But the revival of New Jersey’s program arrives as states are jostling more fiercely for major studio projects, with the payoff of boosting local economies and spurring tourism. California, where Gov. Jerry Brown signed a June 27 extension to fund a $330 million annual film and TV program through 2025, hopes to retain what would otherwise be runaway production. “Currently, productions get the most benefit in California, New York, Georgia, Louisiana and New Mexico,” say Glenda Cantrell and Daniel Wheatcroft, authors of a book on tax incentives.…
Hollywood can’t get enough of real-life rescue movies. In the days leading up to the July 10 extrication of a Thai soccer team from a cave, two films — one from Ivanhoe Pictures (with Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu attached) and another via faith-based distributor Pure Flix — staked their claim. But cable news coverage doesn’t necessarily translate into box-office gold. Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips, about the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking, is the rare film that raked in money — $219 million worldwide off a $55 million budget — and landed an Oscar best picture nomination to boot (ditto for Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, which cost $18 million and earned $61 million worldwide). Clint Eastwood’s Sully missed out on a best picture nomination but was highly profitable nonetheless…
Media mega-merger chatter was once again in the air at Allen & Co.’s elite gathering in Sun Valley during the week of July 10 — even if moguls appeared to keep most gossip from reporters. A few takeaways: 1. QUEST FOR SKY Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Disney’s Bob Iger and 21st Century Fox leaders Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch were all in town. While they didn’t discuss the war for Fox and European pay TV giant Sky, Fox sweetened its bid for Sky to $32 billion on July 10, only to get trumped again by Comcast’s $34 billion offer a day later. 2. VIACOM DRAMA CBS Corp.’s Leslie Moonves and Shari Redstone, the boss of National Amusements, CBS and Viacom’s controlling shareholder, both attended but kept a low profile amid…
