Explaining the Business of Entertainment
Spielberg. The Supreme Court and NCAA. Conan ending his TV show. This week in entertainment didn’t want for big names. But were any of them truly the “most important” story of the week? No. For that, let’s pull back and look at a slightly longer view. (Sign up for my
Someone sent me the headline about the flurry of House antitrust bills last Friday and said, “Story of the week?” That’s close. It was a big, important move, but it finished just shy from being “actual” news since it hasn’t passed the Senate yet. (And most bills go to die
Ever have a sense of deja vu? That’s one of my takes following the “massive month of M&A”. Because weren’t we just here? If I can take you back three years, to the summer of 2018. In the age before Covid, in June, a single judge in D.C. approved the
May was truly “media merger madness month”. On May 17th, Discovery announced they were merging with Warner Media. (I was on vacation.) On May 26th, Amazon announced they were buying MGM. (Then it was Memorial Day weekend.) Then last week I had a consulting gig I couldn’t say no to.
What a time to be alive and writing a column on the business of entertainment. I get back from vacation, and not only do I get a mega Hollywood divorce, but I get a mega Hollywood marriage. In the same story! This deal—AT&T selling Warner Media to Discovery—has me bursting
As the self-appointed judge of what is “most important” in entertainment each week, I often remind myself that “story” doesn’t mean “event”. That’s why I’m so excited about this week’s story. If a trend is happening slowly, sometimes it flies under the radar, and we miss it entirely, which doesn’t
For the second week in a row, we all knew the most important story of the week by Tuesday. And even more than the election, the news of a potentially very effective Covid-19 vaccine has direct benefits to the entertainment industry. (Sign up for my newsletter to get all my
Let’s zig while everyone else is zagging, shall we? Sure, PVOD is officially a thing for one theater chain and one studio. But we knew a compromise was coming eventually. Meanwhile, I’m looking at the power brokers of entertainment for my story of the week. Most Important Story of the
The initial draft of this weekly column went very long in the “data of the week” section. So long it’s going to be its own article next week. (It isn’t that time sensitive.) Meanwhile, the biggest story is one of omission… Most Important Story of the Week – The Incredible
When CBS finally merged with Viacom after a “will they/won’t they” that rivaled Ross and Rachel (and previously Sam and Diane, I’m told…). The big question was, “What is their strategy?” Will they be a content Arms Dealer, as Rich Greenfield suggested? Will they lean into the declining bundle, as