Tootfinder

A look at MicroCo, a Hollywood startup aiming to tap into the micro drama craze, as Chinese apps gain US traction with millions of downloads, per Sensor Tower (Brooks Barnes/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/1…

A Hollywood Start-Up Targets the Micro Drama Craze
A new app will focus on super-short TV shows shot for phones, a bit like Quibi, an earlier app aimed at quick content.

»Israelische Spyware-Firma angeblich an Hollywood-Produzenten verkauft:
Das bekannteste Produkt der NSO Group ist die Spähsoftware Pegasus, mit der Aktivistinnen und Aktivisten überwacht wurden.«
Was wohl Hollywood nun an Propaganda mittels Spyware verbreitet?!?? Verwunderlich ist dies mMn nicht aber um so mehr sollte die Welt das Auge auf Spyware-Services, egal welche von wo, offen haben.
🤨

Israelische Spyware-Firma angeblich an Hollywood-Produzenten verkauft
Das bekannteste Produkt der NSO Group ist die Spähsoftware Pegasus, mit der Aktivistinnen und Aktivisten überwacht wurden.

A look at the networks, studios, executives, and libraries of Paramount and WBD amid merger talk, and similarities with Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox (Deadline)
https://deadline.com/2025/09/paramount-warner-bros-discovery-merger-hollyw…

Sizing Up A Possible Paramount-WBD Merger, Hollywood Wonders If This Episode Is A Repeat
Paramount's interest in acquiring all of Warner Bros. Discovery gave Hollywood flashbacks to the 2019 Disney-Fox deal.

Indonesia's film industry is embracing AI tools to produce Hollywood-style movies at a significantly lower cost; the average local film budget is about $602,500 (Linda Yulisman/Rest of World)
https://restofworld.org/2025/indonesia-ai-movies/

Indonesia’s film industry embraces AI to make Hollywood-style movies for cheap
Generative AI video and text tools are transforming some of the labor-intensive parts of filmmaking, and are largely welcomed in Indonesia’s homegrown industry.

As a Comedy Store degenerate in Hollywood in my 20s, this was fascinating. I'd met every single one of the people they mention.
▶️ Ari Shaffir and Bobby Lee Break Down the "Natasha Leggero Incident"
https://youtube.com/watch?v=5BlwSgC52Iw&si=zCH3_JTgPey…

US-Investoren übernehmen Spyware-Hersteller NSO-Group
Spionage-Software Pegasus: Die umstrittene NSO-Group soll unter die Kontrolle einer US-Investorengruppe kommen. Auch Hollywood spielt angeblich eine Rolle.
https:…

John Oliver Warns Viewers to Keep a Close Eye on CBS News in Wake of "Alarming" Bari Weiss Hire (Kimberly Nordyke/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/last-week-tonight-john-oliver-bari-weiss-cbs-news-1236399131/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251013/p50#a251013p50

I wonder if this is a Tesla OEM/factory option or an aftermarket thing?
"Rotting corpse found in Tesla trunk at Hollywood tow yard"
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-09-09/human-remains-found-inside-tesla

Rotting corpse found in Tesla trunk at Hollywood tow yard
Human remains were found in the trunk of a Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard Monday afternoon, according to authorities.

Jane Fonda is joining forces with more than 500 celebrities and Hollywood heavyweights to defend free speech.
The membership roll already includes scores of famous actors like Jamie Lee Curtis, Viola Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Pedro Pascal, Natalie Portman and Michael Keaton.
Successful directors like Spike Lee and Ben Stiller have signed on, along with singer and actress Barbra Streisand and pop star and songwriter Billie Eilish.
Fonda, a star who has championed progressive cau…

Jane Fonda, other stars, revive the Committee for the First Amendment – a group that emerged when the anti-communist panic came for Hollywood
Even after the original group fizzled, many of its members were able to keep making films with progressive messages.

Trauer in Hollywood - Oscar-Preisträgerin Diane Keaton (79) ist tot #News #Nachrichten

NFL fantasy football waiver wire, Week 2: Hollywood Brown, Trevor Lawrence among top targets https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-fantasy-football-waiver-wire-week-2-hollywood-brown-trevor-lawrence-among-top-targets

Wanna download a 28pg #StarWars #Andor magazine? (.PDF)
(Physical copies were made available at a popup store in Hollywood.)
✅ Download of "Rebelión: An Andor Zine" - StarWars. com

Trouble in #Amazon MGM Studios Hollywood Paradise?
Studio announces change in title of new Hugh Jackman flick where he plays a shepherd that reads to sheep and pushes release date back from Thanksgiving 2025 to Mothers Day 2026

A look at David Ellison's spending spree, representing the biggest funding change in Hollywood since 2013 when Netflix began showering creators with money (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/business/ellison-paramount-warner-bros.html…

David Ellison’s Spending at Paramount Has Changed Hollywood’s Mood
David Ellison has gotten off to a fast start as the owner of Paramount, at least when it comes to buying things.

A group of American investors led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds has agreed to acquire NSO Group in a deal valued at "several tens of millions of dollars" (Omer Kabir/CTech)
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1jgvmitgx

NSO to be acquired by U.S. investors, ending Israeli control of Pegasus maker
Hollywood producer Robert Simonds leads the deal, subject to Israeli and U.S. regulatory review.

"KI-generierte Schauspielerin": Hollywood-Gewerkschaft gegen "Tilly Norwood"
Eine KI-generierte Figur steht angeblich kurz davor, als Schauspielerin von einer Künstleragentur vertreten zu werden. Die Kritik aus der Branche ist scharf.

The NBA takes full control of NBA TV and the NBA App for the first time since 2008, after ending its partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/new-nba-tv-nba-app-2025-…

NBA Sets Reimagined NBA TV and NBA App
The league is taking full control over its cable channel and streaming platform, 17 years after Turner Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery first began running the operation.

Bob Iger says upcoming changes to Disney include "game-like features" and "mostly short-form" user-generated content made with generative AI (Tony Maglio/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Disney+ to Allow User-Generated Content Via AI
Disney CEO Bob Iger hinted at "productive conversations" with unnamed AI companies that would protect IP but add new features to the studio's flagship streaming service.

Dokumentarfilm zum 70. Geburtstag des Regisseurs #RolandEmmerich
https://www.prisma.de/news/tv/Meister-der-Apokalypse-Roland-Em…

Roland Emmerichs Reise: Vom Schwabenland nach Hollywood
Roland Emmerich wird 70. Jo Müllers Doku zeigt den Filmemacher von einer unerwartet intimen Seite.

Unsere stärkste Kämpferin für digitale Freiheitsrechte im deutschen Bundestag!
:nd_aktuell: https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1193412.gamescom-spiele-sind-traeger-von-ideologie-genau-wie-hollywood.html

»Spiele sind Träger von Ideologie, genau wie Hollywood«
Die Sprecherin für Games der Linken im Bundestag erklärt, dass es zwischen Gamescom, Videospielen und Twitch-Streams in der Gaming-Blase nicht nur um Unterhaltung – sondern auch um politische Hegemoniefragen geht.

Hollywood Burbank Airport’s air traffic control tower is temporarily unmanned due to staffing shortages during the government shutdown.
Air traffic controllers are working without pay during the shutdown,
leading to an uptick in workers calling out sick.
Outgoing flights have been delayed an average of two hours and 31 minutes,
with several flights canceled.

Burbank Airport air traffic control tower unmanned amid government shutdown
The Hollywood Burbank Airport's air traffic control tower is temporarily unmanned and flights are delayed Monday afternoon due to staffing shortages amid the ongoing government shutdown, according to the FAA

Tubi expands its partnerships with MrBeast and other creators, and hires former TikTok executive Kudzi Chikumbu as VP of creator partnerships (Caitlin Huston/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/tubi-expands-m…

Tubi Expands Partnerships With MrBeast, Other Creators
The company has also hired TikTok executive Kudzi Chikumbu to manage partnerships with creators on the platform.

Etwas mehr der heute besonders häufig geteilten #News:
US-Investoren übernehmen Spyware-Hersteller NSO-Group
https://www.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
Laufey:
🎵 Castle In Hollywood
#Laufey
https://open.spotify.com/track/3zTnSPti5JjNsowJH4SS3u

How the NFL changed its streaming strategy as the TV landscape shifted; in a first, every NFL game will be available on streaming by the end of August (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

The NFL’s Next Big Play: Owning the Media
The league isn’t content to be a ratings juggernaut for partners. As it takes equity in ESPN and Paramount Skydance, it's muscling into Hollywood’s end zone.

Burbank Airport air traffic control tower unmanned on Monday evening amid government shutdown (Jory Rand/ABC7)
https://abc7.com/post/hollywood-burbank-airport-will-have-no-air-traffic-controllers-evening-faa-warns/17952670/?linkId=866736985
http://www.memeorandum.com/251006/p162#a251006p162

🔥 This isn’t HOLLYWOOD– it’s Russian OIL going up in flames!: https://benborges.xyz/2025/10/15/this-isnt-hollywood-its-russian.html

Disney says it plans to "invest approximately $24B in content across Entertainment and Sports in fiscal 2026, an increase of $1B compared to the prior year" (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Disney to Increase Content Spending by $1 Billion Next Year
The company says it expects to spend $24 billion in content in fiscal 2026, an increase from $23 billion in 2025.

Ein Aspekt, der soweit ich sehe, kaum thematisiert wird, ist dass viele Hollywood-Blockbuster, die Werte favorisiert haben, die das Gegenteil dessen sind, was Trump, Vance, rfk und MAGA heute tun und vetbreiten, von der Weinstein Company (= Harvey Weinstein) produziert und erfolgreich vermarktet wurden. Hauptwahlkampfspender der erfolgreichen demokratischen präsidentschaftskandidaten war Weinstein. Zu Fall gebracht wurde Weinstein durch ein projekt von Ronan Farrow (Sohn des Mafia-Freundes Sina…

Mark Rober, who has nearly 72M followers on his main YouTube channel, launches a free streaming channel on Samsung TV Plus, as the platform focuses on creators (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Mark Rober, a Top YouTube Creator, Sets FAST Channel on Samsung TV Plus (Exclusive)
Rober joins Dhar Mann, Michelle Khare and Mythical Entertainment as creators on the free streaming platform.

SAG-AFTRA announces a new agreement tailored for serialized microdramas, or "verticals", with budgets under $300K that it plans to circulate later this month (Katie Kilkenny/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

SAG-AFTRA Gets In the Verticals Game
The union will be circulating a new agreement for microdramas with budgets under $300,000 later this month.

WBD files a copyright suit against Midjourney, accusing the startup of using its content to train AI and letting users generate images of characters like Batman (Winston Cho/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Warner Bros. Discovery Sues Major AI Company for Copyright Infringement
The lawsuit against Midjourney was filed as a growing contingent of Hollywood steps into the fight over generative artificial intelligence.

Batman gegen die KI: Auch Warner zerrt Midjourney vor Gericht
Der Konflikt zwischen Hollywood und KI-Firmen geht in die nächste Runde. Ein weiterer Mediengigant fordert Schadensersatz vom Bildgenerator Midjourney.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #VarietyMix
Frankie Goes to Hollywood:
🎵 Relax
#FrankieGoestoHollywood
https://lassodamore.bandcamp.com/track/frankie-goes-to-hollywood-relax-lassos-cocktail-mix
https://open.spotify.com/track/5WJ92b9eMC0xZ7BaukU1E4

The cheeto-klan is trying to create pressure so that the D's cave and approve the continuing resolution to fund the government.
This is an example of that pressure...
But it is not sufficient, not even close, to consider opening up the treasury for a raid by the trumpies.
Keep the government closed!!

Burbank Airport air traffic control tower unmanned amid government shutdown
The Hollywood Burbank Airport's air traffic control tower is temporarily unmanned and flights are delayed Monday afternoon due to staffing shortages amid the ongoing government shutdown, according to the FAA

A profile of Stability AI, which under CEO Prem Akkaraju and Chair Sean Parker has shifted from building frontier AI models to a Hollywood-focused SaaS company (Zoë Schiffer/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-hollywood-stability/

AI Isn’t Coming for Hollywood. It's Already Arrived
An early winner in the generative AI wars was near collapse—then bet everything on a star-studded comeback. Can Stability AI beat the competition?

CBS News Hires Ombudsman From Conservative-Leaning Hudson Institute (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/cbs-news-ombudsman-conservative-think-tank-ken-weinstein-1236365064/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250908/p93#a250908p93

Crypto.com strikes a deal with Hollywood.com to let users make predictions related to movies, actors, shows, and awards (Rob Golum/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-03/crypto-com-teams-up-for-bets-on-holl…

Indonesia's film industry is embracing AI tools to produce Hollywood-style movies at a significantly lower cost; the average local film budget is about $602,500 (Linda Yulisman/Rest of World)
https://restofworld.org/2025/indonesia-ai-movies/

Indonesia’s film industry embraces AI to make Hollywood-style movies for cheap
Generative AI video and text tools are transforming some of the labor-intensive parts of filmmaking, and are largely welcomed in Indonesia’s homegrown industry.

#PabloTorre is the epitome of dark side content.
He's essentially a lowlife Hollywood gossip posing as a reporter. He's not looking for objective truth. He simply pursues confirmation of his biases towards whatever's gonna make him famous.
This is really a gross perversion of journalism.

Tubi announces its first slate of creator-led shows, including with YouTuber Joey Graceffa, as it seeks to expand emerging talent's access to Hollywood (Todd Spangler/Variety)
https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/tubi-slate-series-joey-…

Tubi Creator Series Slate Includes Joey Graceffa's Escape the Night
Fox Corp.'s Tubi announced its first slate of exclusive creator series from Joey Graceffa, KevOnStage, Rock Squad, TheOneShu, Bigg Jah and Dan & Riya.

Sources: Disney has opted out of having its IP appear in OpenAI's Sora app; CAA says OpenAI is exposing artists to "significant risk" with Sora (Mrinmay Dey/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-tel

BBC Studios appoints Alice Taylor, who previously led Disney's StudioLAB, as the head of its new AI Creative Lab to ensure "ethical, editorially sound" output (Lily Ford/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gen

BBC Studios Names Alice Taylor Chief of New AI Creative Lab
At a time when fear is heightened around AI's impact on the industry, Taylor will ensure the BBC AI Creative Lab's output is "innovative, ethical, editorially sound and technically robust."

AI startup Kartel names longtime TV exec Kevin Reilly as CEO; earlier in 2025, Kartel released a sizzle reel with an AI-generated Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and others (Steven Zeitchik/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/d…

Kevin Reilly Set to Lead AI Startup Kartel
The longtime TV exec, with successful turns at NBC, Fox and Turner, is becoming CEO of the Beverly Hills-based company.

Fox Entertainment takes an equity stake in Holywater, which primarily uses AI to create vertical microdramas on platforms such as My Drama and My Muse (Tony Maglio/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Fox Entertainment Takes Equity Stake in AI-Microdramas Company Holywater
"Development deals with top Hollywood talent will be unveiled soon,” the companies say.

Meanwhile, at the Los Angeles "AJR" concert at the Hollywood Bowl...
#burnthehousedown #ajr #LosAngeles

How Israel's war in Gaza engulfed the entertainment industry, including popular TV shows produced in Israel going dark on US streaming platforms like Netflix (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/arts-cul…

Paramount releases its first earnings report since the Skydance takeover, posting Q3 revenue of $6.7B and a net loss of $257M; PSKY jumps 5% after hours (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

David Ellison Goes Public: Paramount Releases First Earnings Report Since Skydance Takeover
The company is targeting $30 billion in revenue in 2026, Ellison told Wall Street in an investor letter, and is launching a "comprehensive strategic review" of assets that might not be core to his plan.

Instagram launches Rings, an awards program recognizing 25 top creators; the judging panel includes Spike Lee, designer Marc Jacobs, and Adam Mosseri (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital…

Instagram Is Launching Its Own Oscars for Creators: “Rings” (Exclusive)
Spike Lee, Marc Jacobs and Instagram head Adam Mosseri will be among the judges of the Rings program, which will honor the platform's top creators with rings, both physical and digital.

Paramount hires Meta's Dane Glasgow as chief product officer, reporting directly to CEO David Ellison; Glasgow is Facebook's former VP of product management (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Paramount Hires Meta Exec as Chief Product Officer Amid Tech Reinvention
Dane Glasgow was most recently a vp at Facebook, overseeing the feed, Reels, Stories, Marketplace and other features. He will report to David Ellison.

Fox News cancels MediaBuzz with Howard Kurtz, the last media criticism show on TV after CNN's Reliable Sources was canceled; Kurtz will remain with the network (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-ne

Fox News’ Weekend Shuffle: Kayleigh McEnany, Peter Doocy and Jacqui Heinrich In; ‘MediaBuzz’ Canceled
MediaBuzz' anchor Howard Kurtz will become a political media analyst, while Griff Jenkins joins 'Fox & Friends' weekend and Johnny Joey Jones and Tomi Lahren named permanent hosts of 'The Big Weekend Show.

Netflix rolls out a new ad metric called monthly active viewers, or MAV, and says it has 190M such viewers in the 12 countries where it offers an ad tier (Rick Porter/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Netflix Claims 190 Million Ad-Tier Viewers Worldwide Under New Metric
The streamer is rolling out a stat it calls monthly active viewers.

Parrot Analytics: movies made up ~50% of streaming revenue across Netflix, Prime Video, Disney , and WBD in 2024, up from ~27% in 2022, based on engagement data (Alejandro Rojas/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/b…

How Movies Increasingly Drive Streaming Revenue
A Parrot Analytics analysis of thousands of titles across Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, and Max finds that movies deliver disproportionately high engagement relative to the volume of content hours they represent.

Lionsgate reports Q2 revenue down 21% YoY to $475.1M, net loss of $113.5M, vs. $163.3M a year earlier, $276.4M in motion picture revenue, $198.7M in TV revenue (Etan Vlessing/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/…

Lionsgate Shrinks Quarterly Loss After Starz Spin Off
The Hollywood major released its latest financial results as a standalone film and TV studios company after splitting from its Starz streaming platform.

Sources: Netflix has sent out dozens of requests to agents at WME, UTA, and CAA for video podcast creators, and plans to launch video podcasts in early 2026 (Caitlin Huston/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/netfli…

Netflix Starts Bigger Push Into Video Podcasts
The streamer has sent out dozens of requests to agents at WME, UTA and CAA for video podcast creators.

WBD sues Sling TV over its short-term offerings that let viewers access its bundle for as little as a day; Disney filed an identical suit in August (Winston Cho/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Warner Bros. Discovery Sues Sling TV Over Short-Term Bundles
The filing comes after Disney sued Dish over the offering of day passes, which allow viewers to bypass monthly subscriptions.

Paramount chief communications officer Justin Dini steps down following the Skydance merger; Dini started in 2017 and will be replaced by Melissa Zukerman (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Justin Dini to Exit Paramount
Dini, who had been chief communications officer, will exit in the wake of Skydance's acquisition of the company.

Newsroom union members at the Los Angeles Times vote to authorize a strike as they raise the pressure for a new contract after three years of negotiations (Katie Kilkenny/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Los Angeles Times Journalists Authorize a Strike
Eight-five percent of participating members voted to empower the newsroom union to call a potential work stoppage.

A US Treasury Department document says "digital content creators", including podcasters, social media influencers, and streamers, are eligible for tax-free tips (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

“No Tax On Tips” Includes Digital Creators, Too
A U.S. Treasury Department document includes podcasters, social media influencers and streamers among occupations eligible for tax-free tips.

WBD files a copyright suit against Midjourney, accusing the startup of using its content to train AI and letting users generate images of characters like Batman (Winston Cho/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Warner Bros. Discovery Sues Major AI Company for Copyright Infringement
The lawsuit against Midjourney was filed as a growing contingent of Hollywood steps into the fight over generative artificial intelligence.

California Sen. Adam Schiff and U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman call on Trump to consider a federal film and TV tax credit, instead of 100% tariffs on foreign films (Katie Kilkenny/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Legislators to Trump: Consider a Federal Film and TV Tax Credit Instead
Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Laura Friedman, who are both attempting to pull together bipartisan bills proposing such an incentive, were quick to respond to the president on Monday.

A profile of Stability AI, which under CEO Prem Akkaraju and Chair Sean Parker has shifted from building frontier AI models to a Hollywood-focused SaaS company (Zoë Schiffer/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-hollywood-stability/

AI Isn’t Coming for Hollywood. It's Already Arrived
An early winner in the generative AI wars was near collapse—then bet everything on a star-studded comeback. Can Stability AI beat the competition?

Crypto.com strikes a deal with Hollywood.com to let users make predictions related to movies, actors, shows, and awards (Rob Golum/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-03/crypto-com-teams-up-for-bets-on-holl…

CBS aired MTV's VMAs for the first time, prompting a 42% YoY increase in audience to 5.5M viewers, a six-year high (The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/vmas-2025-tv-ratings-cbs-1236365220/

VMAs Ratings Surge With Move to CBS
Welcome to broadcast, MTV.

A New York appeals court rules that Chris Cuomo can't revive his bid to disqualify the arbitrator overseeing his $125M claim against CNN over his 2021 firing (Winston Cho/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Chris Cuomo Loses Appeal Bid to Disqualify Arbitrator in CNN Proceedings
The former CNN anchor initiated the proceedings after he was fired by the network for giving advice to his brother, who was accused of sexual harassment.

Fremantle names James Duffen as CEO of its "AI native" Imaginae Studios, launched in April; Duffen is managing director of investment group Aurelius Advisers (Scott Roxborough/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Fremantle Names Boss of New AI Label Imaginae Studios
James Duffen, who joins Fremantle from investment group Aurelius Advisers, will take over as CEO of the new "AI native studio", which will operate as a stand-alone group within the indie production giant.

Sources: Disney has opted out of having its IP appear in OpenAI's Sora app; CAA says OpenAI is exposing artists to "significant risk" with Sora (Mrinmay Dey/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-tel

Sources: Paramount Skydance is in talks with private equity firms including Apollo Global Management to join its potential $60B bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (Charles Gasparino/New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2025/10/08/media/pa

Exclusive | Paramount Skydance talking to Apollo, buyout firms to join possible $60B Warner Bros. Discovery bid: sources
“These companies bring a lot to the table since they own stakes in Hollywood properties and have a lot of money,” said one source.

Fox Sports gets US TV and streaming rights for the 2026 World Baseball Classic; in August, Netflix picked up the WBC rights in Japan (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/fox-sports-deal-2…

Fox Sports Inks Deal for 2026 World Baseball Classic
Fox will once again be the home for the international tournament, with select games also set to stream on Fox One and Tubi.

Spotify enters into a direct music publishing agreement with BMG, following deals in 2025 with UMG, Sony Music, Warner Chappell, and Kobalt (Ethan Millman/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-industry-news/s…

Spotify Signs Licensing Publishing Deal with BMG
"Working directly with Spotify helps us reinforce our mission to ensure songwriters are fairly represented and rewarded for their work," BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld said.

Sony Pictures Television and CBS settle their legal battle over the distribution of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune; Sony will gradually take over distribution (Rick Porter/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

CBS and Sony Settle Legal Fight Over ‘Jeopardy!,’ ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Distribution
The agreement ends a year-long battle involving the two long-running syndicated game shows.

In an interview with Screen International, Eddy Cue says Apple currently has no plans for an ad tier on Apple TV and no plans for a bid for WBD, A24, or Disney (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/d…

An Ad Tier for Apple TV? The Tech Giant Buying Warner Bros.? Don’t Bet on It, Eddy Cue Says
The tech executive appeared to dismiss the long-rumored moves in an interview with Screen International.

Disney memo to staff: the YouTube TV blackout remains for now, and "unfortunately, we are headed into another sports-packed weekend without a deal in place" (Caitlin Huston/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Disney-YouTube Blackout Set to Continue Through Weekend
“When will ESPN and ABC be back on the service? We wish we could give you that answer today, but unfortunately, we are headed into another sports-packed weekend without a deal in place,” the memo from Disney executives reads.

Howard Stern returns to SiriusXM, after trolling viewers with a joke that Andy Cohen had taken over his channel slot; rumors suggested his deal was canceled (Caitlin Huston/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busine…

Howard Stern Denies SiriusXM Firing Rumors, Says “I Can’t Leave Now”
“What pisses me off is now I can’t leave,” Stern said Monday. “I've been thinking about retiring, now I can't.”

KPop Demon Hunters' rise to become the most-watched Netflix original movie followed a slow burn and reaffirms the old Hollywood rule that nobody knows anything (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters

Microdrama platforms borrow aggressive, user-hostile monetization and retention tactics from free-to-play mobile gaming to fuel in-app purchases and ad revenue (Janko Roettgers/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/column/805250/hollywood-…

Hollywood is in love with microdramas, for all the wrong reasons
Apps like ReelShort and DramaBox have seen strong growth and huge revenue numbers by embracing user-hostile design choices.

The Motion Picture Association calls on OpenAI to take "immediate and decisive action" to prevent copyright infringement on its Sora 2 service (Erik Hayden/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/mpa-ch…

MPA Chief: Open AI “Needs to Take Immediate and Decisive Action” to Prevent IP Infringement On Sora
The lobbying group, which counts all the major studios, called on the tech giant to at least acknowledge that it needs to follow established copyright law.

Nexstar reports Q3 revenue down 12.3% YoY to $1.19B and net income down 64% to $65M as ad revenue fell 23.5% to $476M due to lower political ad revenue (Etan Vlessing/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Nexstar Quarterly Revenue, Income Falls on Lower Political Ad Sales
The latest financial results follow Nexstar unveiling a deal with smaller rival Tegna to merge its local TV stations amid the continuing consolidation of the U.S. broadcast sector.

AMC Networks reports revenue down 6.3% YoY to $561.7M, operating income down 40.7% to $55.5M, streaming revenue up 14% to $174M, and 10.4M streaming subscribers (Georg Szalai/The Hollywood Reporter)
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AMC Networks Posts U.S. Ad Revenue Drop of 17 Percent, 10.4M Streaming Subs
The company, led by CEO Kristin Dolan, posted its third-quarter results.

Interactive TV group FastStream unveils AI-generated presenters for ROXi, the TV music channel it acquired in May; ROXi airs on Nextgen TV in 31 US markets (Scott Roxborough/The Hollywood Reporter)
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Tech Company Unveils AI-Generated Music Video Hosts
FastStream, an interactive TV group backed by the likes of Simon Cowell, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and U2 bassist Adam Clayton, plans to use AI images to mimic VJ presenters on its music TV channel ROXi.

How Israel's war in Gaza engulfed the entertainment industry, including popular TV shows produced in Israel going dark on US streaming platforms like Netflix (Wall Street Journal)
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Sources: studios see YouTube's influence but are wary of backing YouTubers after past flops, as top creators no longer view Hollywood validation as the end goal (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)
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Cable company Altice changes its name to Optimum Communications and will change its NYSE ticker symbol to OPTU on November 19 (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
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Altice Changes Corporate Name to Optimum Communications
The cable company (which was once called Cablevision) will begin trading under the ticket OPTU later this month.

ESPN announces DraftKings as the new sports betting partner for ESPN Bet, effective December 1 with a "full rollout expected in 2026" (Tony Maglio/The Hollywood Reporter)
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ESPN Gets Right Back in the Betting Business With New Partner DraftKings
That was a short-lived exit.

Instagram launches Rings, an awards program recognizing 25 top creators; the judging panel includes Spike Lee, designer Marc Jacobs, and Adam Mosseri (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
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Instagram Is Launching Its Own Oscars for Creators: “Rings” (Exclusive)
Spike Lee, Marc Jacobs and Instagram head Adam Mosseri will be among the judges of the Rings program, which will honor the platform's top creators with rings, both physical and digital.

Netflix rolls out a new ad metric called monthly active viewers, or MAV, and says it has 190M such viewers in the 12 countries where it offers an ad tier (Rick Porter/The Hollywood Reporter)
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Netflix Claims 190 Million Ad-Tier Viewers Worldwide Under New Metric
The streamer is rolling out a stat it calls monthly active viewers.

WBD reports Q3 revenue down 6% YoY to $9B, a $148M net loss, $1.2B in debt repayment, streaming subscribers up 16% YoY to 128M, and $2.63B in streaming revenue (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
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‘Superman’ Supercharges Warner Bros. Earnings, But Linear TV Struggles Push Company to Loss
The company's streaming business was essentially flat year over year as subs stand at 128 million.

Sources detail how Paramount's Taylor Sheridan partnership fell apart, even as NBCU's Donna Langley courted him; Paramount never made an offer to retain him (The Hollywood Reporter)
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Paramount Never Made Taylor Sheridan an Offer to Stay: How TV’s Biggest Partnership Fell Apart
David Ellison has the deepest pockets in Hollywood. Sheridan has the best track record in streaming. Why the most obvious deal in TV didn't happen.

Sources: Hello Sunshine is closing its unscripted programming unit; Hello Sunshine is focusing more on D2C businesses, like its lifestyle brand The Home Edit (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)
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A revamped Inside the NFL, produced by NFL Films, will debut September 8 on Elon Musk's X, with at least 10 short episodes airing weekly on the platform (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
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‘Inside the NFL’ Gets Reboot as an X Original Series
Ryan Clark will host the show, which will be reimagined for the Elon Musk-owned platform as a short-form series with new episodes throughout each week of the NFL season.

Sources: Netflix has sent out dozens of requests to agents at WME, UTA, and CAA for video podcast creators, and plans to launch video podcasts in early 2026 (Caitlin Huston/The Hollywood Reporter)
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Netflix Starts Bigger Push Into Video Podcasts
The streamer has sent out dozens of requests to agents at WME, UTA and CAA for video podcast creators.

Hello Sunshine CEO Sarah Harden is stepping down, and Maureen Polo will succeed her; CFO Corey Shepardson has been named COO and will run business operations (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
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Maureen Polo Named CEO of Hello Sunshine, Sarah Harden Moves Into Advisory Role
Polo joined the Reese Witherspoon-founded company in 2022 as head of direct-to-consumer.