Prime Video’s large ad-supported subscriber base means it has a significant amount of ad inventory that is affecting the negotiations that Netflix, YouTube, TV networks and other streamers are having with advertisers as they commit to buying billions of dollars in commercial time for the coming TV season. - The Wall Street Journal
"Especially in this dismal summer season, some box office watchers have questioned the need to pay attention to opening weekends at all. … (They say) negative headlines and unfairly judge the health of the movie theater business based on short-term fluctuations rather than trends over time." But that may not matter. - Variety
Some of the information revealed appears to contradict claims that the company has made publicly. One variable that Google Search apparently tracks is when and where users click, not just on Google’s core site but any page that is accessed within Google’s Chrome browser. - The New Yorker
"Redstone's change of heart, after months of drama and tensions spilling into the public, was the culmination of several forces that had been playing out behind the scenes, according to seven people close to the situation who were not authorized to comment on internal discussions." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
While they haven't made a formal offer yet, sources say that Bronfman, former CEO of Warner Music Group (and, before that, Seagram's, his family's business), and Bain (known for being co-founded by Mitt Romney) are reportedly assembling $2.5 billion to buy National Amusements, Shari Redstone's company, which controls Paramount. - Variety
"It (makes) sense that the movies are always horror, too, because that’s the genre with the most recognisable structures and beats. It’s far easier to understand the sudden arrival of a beloved character in a horror than in, say, a gentle coming-of-age drama." And next year are Popeye and Tarzan … - The Guardian
Google has agreed to pay $100 million CAD a year — or about $73 million in U.S. dollars — to broadcasters and other news outlets as part of the new Canadian Journalism Collective. The offer is made in exchange to be exempted from Canada’s Online News Act, which passed last year. - InsideRadio
California lawmakers have revived legislation to charge online platforms for the news articles they publish, a proposal that stalled last year amid divisions within the journalism industry and intense opposition from Google and other tech companies. - Yahoo!
"National Amusements, which owns a majority voting stake in embattled entertainment giant Paramount Global, said Tuesday that it has ended talks on a possible merger of Paramount with movie production company Skydance Media." The Redstone family, primarily Shari, owns the controlling interest in NA. - AP
Rachel Smolkin, CNN Digital's senior vice president of global news (and previously vice president and executive editor of CNN Politics, and before that managing editor of Politico), is the next president and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting. - Deadline
The CEO blamed flat revenue and rising costs. Yet nine senior staffers earn more than $300,000 each, and the best-paid 16 earn a total of $5.9 million. (The laid-off employees made $50,000-$60,000.) - The Boston Globe (MSN)
By 1940, Walt Disney himself referred to Donald Duck as “the Gable of our stable” – pairing Donald’s popularity with the Hollywood superstar Clark Gable, the biggest name at MGM Studios at the time. - The Conversation
Online streaming services operating in Canada will be required to contribute five per cent of their Canadian revenues to support the domestic broadcasting system, the country's telecoms regulator said on Tuesday. - CBC
The ramifications of this contracted environment have varied. Teams are making do with less by reducing the number of episodes they produce or by employing a smaller team. Companies laid staff off over the past 18 months (or shut down entirely). - Bloomberg
Bing Chen’s Gold House “operates behind the scenes of a dizzying array of projects. The team’s consulting work for film and TV includes cultural research, script and casting review, facilitating product partnerships and helping with marketing and public relations” on everything from Turning Red to The Sympathizer. - Los Angeles Times
