Activist Disney investor Blackwells Capital has filed a lawsuit against the media giant over what it sees as an inappropriately cozy relationship with another shareholder, ValueAct Capital. In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court, Blackwells lays out concerns about whether ValueAct has been paid to take a pro-Disney position in a brewing proxy fight with activists. Blackwells and Trian Fund Management have both agitated for fresh voices on Disney’s board of directors ahead of next Wednesday’s annual shareholder meeting, when ballots in board elections will officially be tallied.
Dow Adds 47, Nasdaq Drops 20, S&P Moves Up 6
Wall Street rose to more records on Thursday to close out its latest winning month. The stock market has been on a nearly unstoppable run since late October, and the S&P 500 just capped its fifth straight winning month. It’s leaped as the U.S. economy has remained remarkably solid despite high interest rates meant to get inflation under control.
Major media firms are bullish on the emerging tech as a profit driver, but a close read of the risk factors portends far less rosy scenarios.
On opening day Major League Baseball said it has taken over production and distribution of all local Colorado Rockies games this season, following the shutdown of AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain by Warner Bros. Discovery. DirecTV, Comcast’s Xfinity, Charter Communications’ Spectrum and Fubo have all set up channels where subscribers can watch Rockies games on Rockies.tv.
YouTube TV, the fast-growing virtual multichannel video programming distributor, is expected to post a profit for the first time in 2024, according to analyst Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson. Nathanson sees YouTube TV having operating income of $200 million in 2024, following a loss of $300 million in 2023. He sees net income continuing to rise, hitting $600 million in 2026.
Despite an improving economic outlook, media buyer Magna forecasts that weakness of linear networks will result in national TV ad revenues falling 4.7% to $44.2 billion in 2024. Magna sees spending on linear networks dropping 8.8% to $34.2 billion, while streaming, including ad supported video on demand, connected TV and free ad-supported streaming television is expected to jump 12.9% to hit the $10 billion mark, accounting for 22% of national TV ad market.
Owning Wrexham Is Hitting Ryan Reynolds In The Wallet. Club Owes Its Celebrity Owners More Than $11M
Owning a soccer club is hitting Ryan Reynolds in the wallet. Wrexham, the Welsh team bought by Reynolds and fellow Hollywood actor Rob McElhenney in 2021, released its accounts for […]
The Big Four affiliates want federal regulators to drop plans of keeping a record of signal blackouts that result from contract disputes between TV stations and cable and satellite TV providers. Lawyers for some 600 stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox networks delivered that message to the FCC this week along with a fresh request that online linear video providers like YouTube TV should be classified as the legal equivalent of cable and satellite TV operators and brought within the carriage distribution system known as retransmission consent.
Biden and his top aides say the road to reelection isn’t only through the national television and print outlets, where many of the viewers and readers are familiar with his record. As they begin the general election, a core part of their media strategy will be done at the local level, especially in an effort to move the ball forward with critical swing voters. Pictured: President Joe Biden visits his Wisconsin election campaign office in Milwaukee on March 13. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Walmart plans to redo and refile documents pertaining to antitrust issues regarding its proposed acquisition of Vizio. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Vizio, “following informal discussions with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, Walmart notified the antitrust agencies that Walmart will voluntarily withdraw and refile the Hart-Scott-Rodino notification report form for the merger in order to give the antitrust agencies additional time to review the proposed transaction.”
Paramount Global‘s credit rating has been lowered to junk status by S&P Global, which cited the toll of ongoing pay-TV declines as a key factor in the downgrade. The company said Wednesday it dropped Paramount’s rating to BB+ from BBB- due to the “accelerating declines in linear media and the shift toward a more competitive and less certain streaming model.”
He will continue to oversee the legal, regulatory, distribution and network affiliate functions for the entire company, as well as serve as part of the executive leadership.
Dow Jumps 478, Nasdaq Gains 84, S&P Climbs 45
The S&P 500 set a record Wednesday after Wall Street broke out of its lull. It was the first gain for the index since setting its last all-time high on Thursday.
The former RNC chair is in talks with a prominent media talent lawyer about potential legal claims.
WPP’s GroupM unit this morning announced plans to double its annual media investment in women’s sports-related media, and has created a new, dedicated marketplace to focus on it. As part of the initiative, GroupM said it is looking for “first-to-market” opportunities for its roster of clients including Adidas, Ally, Coinbase, Discover, Google, Mars, Nationwide, Unilever, Universal Pictures and others in its 2024-25 upfront media-buying negotiations.
After a major Wall Street firm sides with activist Nelson Peltz ahead of an April 3 shareholders meeting, investors are questioning how the CEO plans to plot out growth — and his own succession.
Amazon is investing $2.75 billion in the artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, part of a larger push to “accelerate” adoption of generative artificial intelligence technologies. The company announced the investment Wednesday, noting that the new $2.75 billion investment is on top of the $1.25 billion the company poured into Anthropic last year. The companies also said that Anthropic will use Amazon Web Services as its “primary cloud provider.”
In a meeting Wednesday, the DeSantis-appointed members of the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District approved the settlement agreement, ending almost two years of litigation that was sparked by DeSantis’ takeover of the district from Disney supporters following the company’s opposition to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Nielsen today announced a multi-year renewal with Circle City Broadcasting for local TV measurement. As part of the new agreement, Circle City will now have access to Nielsen’s Local Over […]
In addition, the insurance company has invested in the National Women’s Soccer League Saturday Night Soccer on Ion with primary brand positioning and in-game sponsorship.
Collecting data when retransmission consent disputes lead to signal blackouts on cable and satellite TV systems is only a half measure, according to the National Association of Broadcasters. The lead trade group for TV station owners told the FCC that it preferred a data collection system that not only included blackouts but also the number of times carriage deals were reached without controversy.
Disney’s streaming bundle combining Hulu and Disney+ in one service officially launched Wednesday morning, ending a three-month beta period described by the company as a success. The “duo” plan, Hulu on Disney+, is priced $2 higher than each individual subscriptions alone. It follows in the the estimable footsteps of the three-service Disney Bundle first introduced in 2020, which also includes ESPN+. Unlike that ongoing offering, though, the two-service one is focused on streamlining the consumer experience and pooling the content of two large, established streaming players within a single outlet.
Proxy adviser Egan-Jones on Wednesday became the second independent firm to support activist Nelson Peltz‘s effort to secure seats on the Disney board. The endorsement follows that of ISS earlier this month, which was a notable win for Peltz’s Trian Fund Management as it is the biggest advisory firm and highly influential. While ISS backed Peltz alone, Egan-Jones is supports both the billionaire activist investor and former Disney executive Jay Rasulo, Trian’s other nominee to the Disney board.
Dow Drops 31, Nasdaq Falls 68, S&P Slips 15
Wall Street edged back further from its all-time highs on Tuesday. Stock indexes were modestly higher for much of the day thanks to several Big Tech stocks.
Former President Donald Trump’s ’s social media startup whipsawed in its first session as a publicly traded company, after the most high-profile blank-check deal in years added billions to his fortune — at least on paper. Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. jumped nearly 59% on Tuesday and briefly triggered a volatility-related trading halt before paring gains. The merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. to take the unprofitable company behind Truth Social public caps an eye-popping meme stock run, and provides a potential windfall for Trump as he faces a mounting series of legal and financial woes.
TV station owners, beset by threats to ad revenue and pay-TV distribution fees, will soon “take more aggressive action” in Washington in an effort to relax station ownership caps locally and nationally, according to one Wall Street analyst. New Street Research’s Blair Levin, a former FCC chief of staff, said recent regulatory and enforcement actions taken by the FCC will likely prompt TV station owners to take on rules that stand in the away of consolidation.
Inside Media’s 12 Splintering Realities
You can’t understand November’s election — or America itself — without reckoning with how our media attention has shattered into a bunch of misshapen pieces. Think of it as the shards of glass phenomenon. Not long ago, we all saw news and information through a few common windows — TV, newspapers, cable. Now we find it in scattered chunks that match our age, habits, politics and passions.