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Shari Redstone, chair of Paramount Global, attends the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. The consortium has been waiting for word from Paramount's special committee on whether the panel will recommend its bid to acquire the company to Redstone. Spokespeople for Skydance, Redstone's National Amusements and Paramount's special committee declined to comment on Friday. Previously, Redstone rejected an offer by Apollo in favor of exclusive talks with Skydance. Redstone has preferred a deal that would keep Paramount together, as Skydance's offer would, CNBC previously reported.

Persons: Shari Redstone, David Ellison's Skydance, CNBC's David Faber, Ellison, Spokespeople Organizations: Paramount Global, Allen, Co . Media, Technology Conference, Skydance, Apollo Global Management, Sony Pictures, RedBird Capital, KKR, Paramount, Apollo, Sony, CNBC, Redstone Locations: Sun Valley , Idaho

Spokespeople for Paramount, Redstone's National Amusements, the special committee and Skydance declined to comment. Sony Pictures and private equity firm Apollo Global Management have sent a letter to the Paramount Global board expressing interest in acquiring the company for about $26 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Paramount Global shares jumped more than 12% on the news that Sony and Apollo submitted a letter formalizing its interest, earlier reported by The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. A $26 billion offer for Paramount Global values the company higher than the company's current $22 billion enterprise value. Redstone could also argue she's more comfortable with pushing forward at Paramount Global without a sale.

Persons: Skydance, hasn't, David Ellison's Skydance, Shari Redstone, It's, Redstone's, Bob Bakish Organizations: Paramount, Sony, Apollo, Skydance, RedBird Capital, KKR, Sony Pictures, Apollo Global Management, Paramount Global, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood, Matrix Asset Advisors, Aspen Sky Trust, Redstone Locations: Apollo

It's clear to the four major U.S. professional sports leagues that Disney 's ESPN is potentially interested in them taking an equity stake in the network. Talks have had few specifics, said the people, but may heat up as ESPN attempts to reach a rights renewal deal with the NBA. Sources say Disney is targeting 2025 as a potential launch date for an unbundled-from-cable ESPN streaming service. Disney has informed the leagues that it's also holding separate talks with strategic investors who can provide distribution benefits, according to people familiar with the matter. "We're looking for partners that are going to help ESPN successfully transition to a [direct-to-consumer] model," Iger said Wednesday.

Persons: Nikola Jokic, ESPN's Lisa Salters, Disney, Bob Iger, it's, Iger, I've Organizations: Denver Nuggets, Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Crypto.com Arena, Disney, ESPN, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, NBA, Comcast, Penn Entertainment, Football, MLB Locations: Los Angeles, Hulu

Digital Content Next shared the principles with its board and relevant committees Monday. Digital Content Next's "Principles for Development and Governance of Generative AI": Developers and deployers of GAI must respect creators' rights to their content. The urgency behind building a system of rules and standards for generative AI is intense, said Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next. How generative AI will unfold in the coming months and years is dominating media conversation, said Axios CEO Jim VandeHei. "Even with AI tools or generative AI models that work in text like ChatGPT, it doesn't change the fact we're already doing this work," said Looft.

Persons: Andrew Burton, Robert Frost, Vincent Van Gogh, Google's Bard, GAI, Jason Kint, I've, Kint, We've, Jim VandeHei, VandeHei, Barry Diller, Robert Thomson, Thomson, Diller, Chris Berend, Pope Francis, Chris Looft, Berend Organizations: New York Times, Getty, NBC, The Washington Post, Street, News Corp, Development, ., A.I, Digital, Facebook, Nasdaq, Market, Big Tech, International News Media, News Media, NBC News Group, Pentagon, Bloomberg, Axios Technology, Google, Disney, ABC, NBC News, CNBC Locations: New York City, New York, Washington ,

Comcast will likely sell its 33% stake in Hulu to Disney at the beginning of 2024, Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts said Tuesday. Comcast and Disney struck a deal in 2019 that allowed Disney the option to buy out Comcast's minority stake in 2024. Roberts also suggested the final price for Hulu will likely be higher than the $27.5 billion valuation initially set in 2019. Comcast and Disney have already held talks about Hulu this year, Iger said last week. Comcast executives had assumed Disney would buy out its 33% stake in Hulu when Bob Chapek was Disney's CEO last year.

Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday unveiled its new blended streaming service of HBO Max and Discovery+, called "Max." Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Discovery had more than 96 million global streaming subscribers, from either HBO Max, HBO or Discovery+, at the end of the fourth quarter.

Iger said this week that while a spinout was considered in his absence, it was concluded ESPN should stay with Disney. Another proposition floated to Disney was to have Comcast buy out Hulu. Iger has previously championed Hulu as part of Disney's strategy to offer three relatively low-priced services (Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+) rather than one mega-product that would likely be the most expensive streaming service. Selling Hulu would unwind this strategy, and it also may lead to cancellations of Disney+ and ESPN+. Even if Disney buys the remaining stake of Hulu, the sides must agree on fair market value.

One of the really interesting questions here – this will be fascinating – the core of linear TV is sports rights. When you look at the size and scope of the linear TV business, it's huge. Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty ImagesByron Allen, Entertainment Studios founder and CEO: I think linear TV will exist for a very, very long time. Simmons: I believe Apple, out of nowhere, will start making their own awesome televisions that have Apple TV embedded in them. We are witnessing early stages of this dynamic with deals like "NFL Sunday Ticket" on YouTube and the MLS deal with Apple TV.

The National Football League is finalizing a deal for the rights to its subscription-only package of games known as Sunday Ticket with Google's YouTube TV, according to people familiar with the matter. Goodell said earlier that the league aimed to announce a rights deal with Sunday Ticket by the end of the fall. The Sunday Ticket package has been the NFL's only set of media rights that has yet to be renewed through 2030. The deal with YouTube TV comes after various media operators, including Amazon , Apple and Disney's ESPN, considered the rights to the property. WATCH: I believe NFL media rights will be moving to streaming

Discovery logo is displayed on a smartphone screen and in the background, the HBO Max and Discovery Plus logos. Warner Bros. Discovery executives are close to formalizing a new name and platform for its soon-to-be launched streaming service that will combine the preexisting HBO Max and Discovery+ services. HBO, Discovery, DC Comics and Warner Bros. will be among the landing hubs on the platform, the people added. The pricing of the combined streaming service is still being discussed, the people said.

☆ Iger announces first big moves in new tenure as Disney CEO: Restructuring and departure of Chapek right hand Kareem Daniel
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Alex Sherman Lillian Rizzo Sara Salinas | Alex Sherman | Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Bob Iger, less than 24 hours after returning to the helm of Disney , told employees Monday that the company would be undergoing a restructuring in coming weeks. One of the first steps, Iger announced, would be the departure of Kareem Daniel, the company's head of media and entertainment, and right hand to now-departed CEO Bob Chapek. "This will necessitate a reorganization of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. As a result, Kareem Daniel will be leaving the company," Iger said in the memo, which was obtained by CNBC. Chapek reorganized the company to establish the DMED division and consolidate budgetary power for Disney's content and distribution divisions under Daniel.

Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesBenefits of bundlingFor consumers that buy many streaming services already, purchasing a bundle of them for a discount would be an instant money saver. For corporations, pushing together streaming services reduces the number of people who cancel each month, known in the industry as churn. But those companies also offer their own competing streaming services – The Roku Channel, Prime Video and Apple TV+, respectively – which could deter broader partnerships. Wireless companies already offer promotional pricing to streaming services as sign-up bonuses. From the standpoint of niche services, Peacock hasn't come to them with a coherent strategy, according to several people familiar with the talks.

Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek said he'd love to own Comcast's 33% stake in Hulu "tomorrow" but acknowledged the chances of an early deal are "less and less" as 2024 approaches. Comcast has an existing mutual agreement with Disney to sell its minority Hulu stake as early as January 2024. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said Wednesday he would also like to own Hulu if Disney decided to put the streaming service up for sale. The best way to value Hulu is to figure out what it would sell for in a theoretical auction, Roberts said Wednesday at the conference. Chapek told Faber this year's dip in the public valuation of Netflix should factor in to the eventual sale price.

The future of Hulu continues to be an open question as Comcast and Disney still haven't agreed on terms that will settle the company's future ownership. But Comcast executives are planning on Disney buying them out — even if they'd prefer otherwise. Disney owns two-thirds of Hulu and has an option to buy the remaining 33% from Comcast as early as January 2024. Some analysts and industry watchers have speculated Comcast might try to buy Hulu from Disney rather than the other way around. Disney could have positioned Hulu as its advertising play going forward, but CEO Bob Chapek has chosen to make versions of both Disney+ and Hulu with and without commercials.

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