Latest Business News
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Nine Stories Taps Josh McLaughlin as President
Veteran executive Josh McLaughlin is headed to Nine Stories Productions, the company run by actor Jake Gyllenhaal. McLaughlin most recently worked at his own shingle, Wink Pictures. Before that, he spent ten years at Focus Features, most recently as president of production, with his projects including Spike Lee’s Oscar-winning BlacKkKlansman, filmmaker Kasi Lemmons’s Harriet Tubman […]
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Broadway Box Office: Robert Downey Jr.’s ‘McNeal’ Sells Out First Four Previews
The new Broadway play McNeal, starring Robert Downey Jr., started off with a bang, with $746,230 brought in across just four performances last week. If the production, which is playing at the Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, had played the typical eight performances at that cadence, it would have brought in close to $1.5 million […]
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Fox Corp. Will Pursue M&A Deals, CEO Lachlan Murdoch Says
Fox Corp. is ready to deal. During an interview at a Goldman Sachs conference Tuesday, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch explained the company’s strategy in sports, news, and entertainment, but also indicated that it is quite willing to cut some deals. Murdoch, asked what the next couple of years look like for his company, said that […]
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DirecTV Rebuffs Disney Offer Ahead of Presidential Debate
Amid a fraught carriage dispute between the two companies, Disney has made an offer to run a debate special feed for DirecTV customers, but DirecTV rejected the deal after asking for a broader restoration of channels. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are scheduled for the first presidential debate Tuesday, airing on […]
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‘Suits: L.A.’ Nabs California Tax Credits to Relocate from Vancouver
A film and TV tax credit initiative designed to juice production and soundstage construction in California has lured Suits: L.A. to shoot in the state. The California Film Commission on Tuesday announced that the spinoff to the former USA Network series turned streaming juggernaut will get nearly $12 million, thanks to a program that incentivizes […]
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Kevin Hart Series ‘Fight Night’ Is a Hit, and “the Olympics Are Back,” Comcast President Says
Comcast and its NBCUniversal streamer Peacock are flying high across the board, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh signaled on Tuesday. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco in a session that was live-streamed, he shared that Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, the new limited series starring Kevin Hart, Taraji Henson, […]
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Dylan Douglas to Host Politics Show on SiriusXM (Exclusive)
Dylan Douglas, the son of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, is entering the media business in a significant way. Douglas has signed on to host a weekly limited series for SiriusXM, beginning Sept. 14. The series, Young American with Dylan Douglas, will run on the SiriusXM Progress channel 127 on Saturdays at 11 a.m., with […]
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AFL-CIO, Entertainment Unions Unveil Federal Priorities For Nonprofit Artists and Journalists (Exclusive)
The Department for Professional Employees, a trade department of AFL-CIO, the largest labor federation in the U.S., has put forward a slate of new federal policies it hopes can create more sustainable careers in the nonprofit arts and media sectors. The policies, which speak to concerns from nonprofit workers across 12 unions,including Actors’ Equity, SAG-AFTRA, […]
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The Sirius XM, Liberty Media Tracking Stock Combination Is Complete
The combination of audio entertainment giant Sirius XM Holdings and the Liberty Sirius XM tracking stock group of John Malone’s Liberty Media is complete. The new, consolidated publicly traded company will continue operating under the Sirius XM brand. Liberty Media, led by president and CEO Greg Maffei and chairman Malone, owned an 83 percent stake […]
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Jorge Ramos to Exit Univision at End of Year
In a seismic shift for Spanish-language TV news in America, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos is leaving the network after a 40-year tenure. TelevisaUnivision said that Ramos and Univision News both agreed not to renew his contract, which is soon to expire. He will step down as co-anchor of Noticiero Univision at the end of 2024, […]
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Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Succession Plan Challenged by Hedge Fund
Rupert Murdoch’s transition of power at News Corp. to his son Lachlan is being challenged by a major shareholder in the media company. Hedge fund Starboard Value went public with a letter addressed to shareholders of the newspaper giant, owner of The Wall Street Journal and New York Post, calling on the company to eliminate […]
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DirecTV Files FCC Complaint Accusing Disney of Negotiating in Bad Faith as Blackout Continues
DirecTV filed a complaint on Saturday with the Federal Communications Commission, alleging that Disney failed to negotiate in good faith as the satellite provider’s blackout of Disney-owned networks continues into a second week. The FCC complaint states that Disney “has failed to negotiate in good faith,” according to a statement from the service. “Disney has […]
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DirecTV and Disney Offer Dueling Discounts as Carriage Dispute War of Words Escalates
It takes a lot for a pay TV service to subsidize its own customers if they want to sample a competitor, but in a surprise move, DirecTV will do just that. With the carriage dispute between Disney and DirecTV dragging on, leaving Disney channels like ABC, ESPN and FX dark for millions of subscribers, the […]
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The Hollywood Labor Chief Pay Chart: Top Union Leaders’ Compensation Revealed
2023 proved to a be a landmark year for Hollywood labor as actors and writers called a historic double strike in the name of reshaping a transforming industry. As that battle was waged over issues like AI and compensation in the streaming age, chief negotiators for the striking unions, as well as the directors’ union, […]
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New Plan to “Revitalize” CBS Revealed In Filing by Skydance and Paramount
A new filing with the Federal Communications Commission outlines a plan to “strengthen and revitalize” the CBS broadcast network and its owned and operated stations, should Oracle founder Larry Ellison be allowed to assume control of the broadcast licenses. Ellison, the father of Skydance founder and CEO David Ellison (who would be the future CEO […]
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Donna Langley Talks AI, the NBA and the “Great Paradox” of Original vs. Franchise IP
NBCUniversal chief content officer Donna Langley weighed in on a wide range of topics of interest to Hollywood, including the state of theatrical films, how artificial intelligence will be used in the entertainment industry, and the give and take between developing original storytelling and the desire for franchise intellectual property. Speaking at a Bank of […]
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