Warner Bros. Discovery is making changes to the way WBD programs its cable channels, said CEO David Zaslav at the Morgan Stanley media conference on Tuesday. Acknowledging that a continued decline in linear is inevitable, Zaslav said that the company’s new reporting structure, which will separate its linear business from streaming and studios divisions starting next quarter, will help the company better respond to marketplace changes. “Our food team, our home team, our [Investigation Discovery] team, they’re like studios. So instead of looking at them as cable channels, we start to say, what is the productivity of each of their shows, and how does that work in terms of how good is that content around the world? How good is that content on streaming?” Zaslav said. “Using more library, being very measured on what content we produce and how much we produce, which we can change and make variable, and producing more content that works also on our streaming service, I think, will be a real helper to us.”

As for WBD losing its NBA media rights deal to Disney Comcast and Prime Video, Zaslav said he’s just fine with what WBD did eventually get: international rights, the ability to display league content on Bleacher Report and House of Highlights, and a sublicensing deal for “Inside the NBA.” “We’re really happy that we’re back in business with the NBA, and that deal is really going to work for us,” said Zaslav. “We’re money good on virtually all of our sports, and we’re not going to pay more than we think we can afford or we can make money on. We’d rather invest – if we saved a huge amount of money by not doing the NBA, it’s more money that we can spend on the quality content that we can make global that we think can strategically help us.”

Brand building cannot be sacrificed in favor of performance KPIs if brands want long-term growth. That’s one of the insights shared in Samsung Ads report, “Ahead of the Curve: Leveraging CTV to Achieve Reach & Deliver Performance,” which shares thoughts from brand and agency experts on why media budgets have been slow to move. Other takeaways include:
· Mindset, over-targeting, and measurement fragmentation are holding back CTV investment.
· Comprehensive media measurement remains a challenge affecting both advertiser-led Marketing Mix Modeling and agency-led media planning.
· The same capabilities that make CTV a powerful lower-funnel medium – targeting, context, and measurement – make it a better upper-funnel medium to deliver efficient broad-reach brand messages.

“Video media planning is hurtling toward a CTV-first paradigm, in which traditional linear is no longer the cornerstone of reach and brand building,” concludes the report. “This new paradigm allows advertisers to achieve greater reach, less out-of-target delivery, and less excessive frequency than the legacy linear-first approach.”

Max will officially launch in Turkey on Tuesday, April 15. Turkish streaming service BluTV will evolve into Max, a global platform with enhanced features and functionality.

MSNBC has added Jackie Alemany as Washington correspondent and co-host of “The Weekend,” alongside Jonathan Capehart and Eugene Daniels. Alemany has been with The Washington Post since 2018.

There’s another wrinkle in the planned $8 billion Paramount Global/Skydance Media merger. Last month, NYC’s public pension funds sued to block the merger agreement, whose terms have prevented Paramount from considering a rival bid claiming to be worth $8.8 billion from investment consortium Project Rise Partners. On Monday, Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick asked the pension funds for more information, indicating she might be considering their request to temporarily block the deal from closing, sources told The New York Post. Paramount’s team had hoped the judge would dismiss the case.

FOMO Alert: Bob Lord, newly appointed President of Horizon Media Holdings, has joined DeLu Jackson, EVP and CMO of ADT, for what promises to be a you-do-not-want-to-miss-this discussion at CTV Connect next week. As Lord helps Horizon redefine the agency model with AI, transparency, and performance-based pricing, Jackson is focused on integrating technology with the emotional aspects of marketing. If you want to be in the room for the meeting of two tech visionaries, go here

Netflix has greenlit “Vladmir,” starring and executive produced by Rachel Weisz (“Dead Ringers”). The limited series from 20th Television, created by Julia May Jonas based on her novel of the same name, is executive produced by Kate Robin (“The Affair”), who serves as showrunner, and Sharon Horgan and Jason Winer.

NBC has handed a pilot order to an untitled comedy starring Tracy Morgan (“30 Rock”) as a disgraced former football player. “30 Rock’s” Robert Carlock, Sam Means and Morgan executive produce with Tina Fey, Eric Gurian and David Miner. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, where Fey, Carlock and Means are under overall deals, is producing with Little Stranger, Bevel Gears and 3 Arts.

Glassriver will co-produce its scripted series “Masquerade” with Nicholas Weinstock (“Severance”) and his Hollywood-based company Invention Studios, and The Art of Coproduction’s Marc Lorber. The drama follows a young American reporter investigating the unsolved abduction case of a four-year-old girl, only to realize that those responsible for the abduction are probably still living in the village.

An original film starring Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Ramy Youssef and Cory Michael Smith, written, directed, and executive produced by Jesse Armstrong (“Succession”), will debut this spring on HBO. Production on the film begins this month in Park City, Utah and will be Armstrong’s feature directorial debut. The film follows a group of billionaire friends who get together against the backdrop of a rolling international crisis.

There’s a reunion in the works on Peacock’s “Poker Face.” Series star Natasha Lyonne will be joined by her former “Orange Is the New Black” castmates Adrienne C. Moore and Taylor Schilling as guest stars. Reprising their guest roles for season two are Rhea Perlman (“Cheers”) and Simon Helberg (“The Big Bang Theory”).

Docuseries “Honestly Cavallari: The Headline Tour” (w/t), following TV personality Kristin Cavallari (“The Hills”) as she takes her podcast “Let’s Be Honest” on the road, will premiere Thursday, June 5 on E!.

Crime drama “Art Detectives,” starring and executive produced by Stephen Moyer (“True Blood”), premieres Monday, June 9 on Acorn TV.

New online series “And They’re Jewish” premieres Wednesday, April 2 on the YouTube channel of activist Hen Mazzig. Each 20-minute episode will explore the stories of prominent Jewish figures across various industries.

AI-powered technology company Clinch unveiled two creative solutions within its Flight Control platform: Dynamic Fonts and Automated and Dynamic Video Subtitles. “At Clinch, we understand the challenges multinational brands face when scaling creative content for global audiences,” said Ram Alon, VP of Product at Clinch. “These new features directly address those pain points, providing our clients with the tools they need to break down language barriers and maximize the impact of their campaigns.”

Simpli.fi has a new YouTube TV solution aimed at enhancing advertisers’ ability to deliver seamless, omnichannel campaigns by incorporating YouTube TV’s brand-safe content into their broader programmatic solutions. “Our goal is to provide advertisers with a single partner for their omnichannel and programmatic campaigns,” said Simpli.fi co-founder and CEO Frost Prioleau. “With this offering, advertisers have access to Simpli.fi’s proprietary unstructured data targeting, the ability to run Google search and paid social campaigns, and they can now serve ads across YouTube and YouTube TV, all in one place.”

Hearst Networks EMEA has partnered with Synamedia for cloud distribution of its linear channels, including The HISTORY Channel. Hearst Networks will use Synamedia SaaS-based Quortex PowerVu as a fully managed service.

FanUp, a platform for Gen Z, women, and casual sports enthusiasts to engage in fantasy sports and pop culture contests, announced a strategic financing round featuring sports tech fund TruSkey Ventures and 9.58 Ventures, supported by co-founders and managing partners Fred Toney and Omar Sillah, investor and American tennis pro Frances Tiafoe, and general partners, NFL safety Jalen Mills, NFL linebacker Deion Jones, and longtime basketball pro David Vanterpool. The seven-digit round will facilitate the platform’s continued growth.

Five National Governing Bodies — USA Fencing, US Squash, USA Cycling, US Sailing and USRowing — are collaborating commercially under the banner of the ”United Sports Collective.” All five organizations will unify their commercial rights to create a single platform for brands seeking engagement with families committed to athletic excellence and community values.

The interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on FOX News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Friday peaked with 6.4 million viewers and 855,000 in the 25-54 demo from 6-6:15p. The interview was President Zelenskyy’s first reaction to his Oval Office meeting with President Trump.

The 2025 NHL Stadium Series delivered 1.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched regular season game since ESPN re-acquired NHL rights in 2021. It was also the most-viewed Stadium Series ever on cable.

Basic Cable Ratings for the week of February 24
P2+ AA (000)
Primetime
Fox News 3091
MSNBC 1220
ESPN 1040
HGTV 656
CNN 594
History 549
Hallmark Channel 528
TNT 499
INSP 489
USA 476

Total Day
Fox News 1981
MSNBC 659
ESPN 491
CNN 465
HGTV 350
Hallmark Channel 285
Food Network 265
TBS 264
Hallmark Mystery 252
USA 250
Source: Nielsen

Today’s Trivia Question
Which series’ plotline launched with a man released from prison early to attend his wife’s funeral? (Email answers to [email protected] and include your name, company and city. Answers limited to four per time zone.)