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Paramount agreed to halt its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery until June 2027 at the latest following separate lawsuits filed by state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America.
- The attorneys general sued July 13, arguing the $110 billion deal would hurt competition in the film industry; the WGA filed separately the next day, alleging antitrust violations and harm to writers’ pay and opportunities.
- The deal can close five days after a federal court rules on the merits — potentially sooner than June 2027 if the case moves quickly.
- Paramount called the path to trial “the fastest and clearest way to prove that this transaction is good for competition, good for consumers, and good for creators.”
- Attorneys general from New York and California hailed the pause as a victory, vowing to press their case to block what they called an “illegal merger.”
- The delay carries a steep price tag: Paramount has agreed to pay WBD shareholders $650 million per quarter if the deal doesn’t close by Sept. 30.
- The Takeaway: The Paramount-WBD megadeal is in a legal deep freeze with a nine-figure-per-quarter penalty clock ticking — and both sides are signaling they’re ready to fight it out in court.
QVC hosts voted overwhelmingly to unionize, with 37 in favor and just nine opposed in an National Labor Relations Board election that wrapped Thursday. They will join SAG-AFTRA, giving the labor union for actors a fresh batch of members. And for the first time, the home shopping network’s on-air talent will get a seat at the bargaining table.
- The roughly 80% “yes” vote covers all full-time and part-time hosts at QVC and HSN working out of West Chester, PA, spanning linear TV, livestream, and shortform content.
- SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin framed the win around the union’s current preoccupations, citing fair pay and AI protections as top priorities heading into first contract talks.
Patreon is cutting 20% of its workforce — 93 employees — as the creator monetization platform restructures its internal operations.
- In a note posted online, CEO Jack Conte characterized the company’s core business as healthy, but said Patreon needed to adapt to significant shifts in the creator economy landscape.
- He put some of the blame on social media algorithms that made it harder to reach followers and build communities, as well as platforms’ race to lock up creators “into their systems instead of giving them independence.”
Phynd is launching free game streaming in beta on LG Smart TVs. The service gives users access to a catalog of games without a console or subscription.
- The LG rollout marks a significant expansion of Phynd‘s footprint in the CTV space as the company works to establish the living room TV as a mainstream gaming destination.
- Many streamers, including Netflix, are shoring up their gaming offerings as they seek on-screen attention in all its forms.
CC0 Studios and The Hive Studio tapped AI audience simulation platform Chronicle Media to fuel organic growth for their YouTube teen comedy “The Normal MFer” — and the numbers tell the story.
- Across the show’s 10-episode first season, the series posted a 619% increase in organic reach (944,000), a 1,804% surge in watch time (31,000 hours), and a 330% jump in new viewers (890,000).
- What’s the secret? Chronicle zeroed in on previously untapped segments, specifically males 13-34 and fans of animation and dark-fantasy properties like Adult Swim, “Rick & Morty,” and “Solar Opposites,” to sustain momentum from premiere through finale.
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