In his new role as Americas senior vice president, Hanna will lead licensing and distribution strategy and be responsible for the company’s content monetization strategy across the Americas.

He will be focused on maximizing the value of original and acquired IP across linear, digital, transactional, ancillary, and emerging platform models.

Hanna, who has 20 years of experience in content licensing, distribution, and digital strategy, most recently served as Sony Pictures Entertainment’s senior vice president of global distribution, where he led multi-territory and global film and television licensing deals.

Prior to that, he held multiple senior leadership positions at Sony across U.S. television distribution, home entertainment, and legal affairs.  He began his career as an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP.  

“Matt’s proven track record in driving sales and forging partnerships will be instrumental as we expand our programming reach across the Americas,” Fox Entertainment Global President Prentiss Frasier said in a statement. “His strategic insights, strong relationships, and passion for the industry make him an invaluable addition to our executive team.”

The latest hire comes after Fox Entertainment Global appointed FX’s JJ Klein to the role of SVP, current for scripted entertainment and CBS Studios’ Brie Neimand as SVP, scripted development.

Bento Box Entertainment’s Dana Tafoya-Cameron was also promoted to executive vice president and head of the animation studio, while Netflix’s Michelle Huynh was appointed EVP of studio content operations.

Additionally, Allison Wallach and Hannah Pillemer lead unscripted entertainment and scripted entertainment, respectively, for Fox Entertainment Studios, serving alongside its president Fernando Szew.

The post Fox Entertainment Global Taps Sony’s Matt Hanna to Lead US, Canada, Latin America Sales appeared first on TheWrap.

The firm, which used weekly survey data from Morning Consult to analyze sentiment and brand awareness, found a sharp decline in Disney sentiment among both Democrats and Republicans in the last two weeks, with Democrats showing a larger drop than Republicans. For Democrats, the latest week marked the lowest sentiment for Disney in the last two years. For Republicans, it’s the lowest level since March.

“This is clearly a PR hit for Disney,” Jeffries analyst James Heaney wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. “But the data implies a smaller impact on Disney+ than the brand as a whole, which may limit the amount of streaming churn.”

The saga began on Sept. 17 when Disney pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from ABC’s airwaves after Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcasting preempted the late night show indefinitely on their local affiliate stations over comments Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin.

The move drew a wave of criticism and the Jefferies data highlights the continued fallout from Disney’s handling of the Kimmel situation. Democrats viewed the move as Disney capitulating to the Trump administration and an attack on free speech. Republicans slammed Kimmel’s comments as insensitive in the wake of Kirk’s murder.

Though Disney has not publicly confirmed how many streaming subscribers it lost from the Kimmel situation, independent journalist Marisa Kabas has reported that the total cancelations could be more than 1.7 million across Disney+, Hulu and ESPN between Sept. 17 and 23.

A Disney spokesperson did not return TheWrap’s repeated requests for comment on Kabas’ post.

Looking at a longer term stretch of two years, both Democrats and Republicans previously held an overall favorable view of Disney, with the former having a more consistently positive sentiment and the latter starting lower two years ago and only recently moving up in the last few months. That makes the drop last month much more dramatic.

As for Disney+, the last two weeks were similarly the lowest sentiment for Democrats, but there was a wider divergence between Democrats and Republicans in the latest week, with the former moving more sharply down, while the latter were closer to flat week over week.

Meanwhile, when looking at brand awareness, the last two weeks marked the highest awareness for Disney as a whole in the last two years, evenly split among both political parties. For Disney+, the spike in awareness was much smaller than usual and the lift came more from Republicans than Democrats.

The move would trigger protests from writers and union members, calls to cancel Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ subscriptions and an open letter from the American Civil Liberties Union signed by over 400 artists condemning the suspension.

Disney shareholders Reporters Without Borders Inc. and the American Federation of Teachers have also requested all available documents and communications surrounding Kimmel’s suspension, alleging the abrupt decision led to “significant declines” in the company’s stock. They argue there’s a “credible basis” to suspect Disney “may have breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care and good faith by placing improper political or affiliate considerations above the best interests” of the company and its stockholders.

Disney later explained it pulled Kimmel to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” adding that some of his comments were “ill-timed and thus insensitive.” Disney reversed its decision after the immense backlash and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returned on Sept. 23.

The same day as Kimmel’s return, Disney said that it would be hiking prices on Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ subscriptions starting Oct. 21, which Heaney said could be another contributing factor to declining sentiment.

In its third quarter of 2025, Disney reported a total of 183.3 million subscribers across Disney+ and Hulu. When including ESPN+, the total subscriber count across the three services was 207.4 million. The company will report earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter on Nov. 10.

Prior to the Kimmel situation, Disney said it expected to add over 10 million subscribers this quarter, with the majority coming from Hulu as a result of its expanded deal with Charter Communications. Disney+ subscribers were expected to see a modest increase from the third quarter.

Heaney previously estimated that Disney will add 3.25 million Disney+ subscribers and 6.5 million Hulu subscribers in its fourth quarter, but acknowledged there “may be slight downside to those numbers from these recent events.” Similarly, Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich expects “little impact” in the quarter related to churn from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” but said there may be a “modest impact” in the first quarter of 2026.

Shares of Disney are down nearly 4% in the past month, but are up 27% in the past six months, 2% year to date and 20.9% in the past year.

The post Kimmel Fallout: Disney Sentiment Plunges Among Democrats and Republicans Alike | Charts appeared first on TheWrap.

The multi-year deal will include the launch of NBC Sports Network later this fall, which will offer YouTube TV’s roughly 10 million subscribers a broad range of sports programming that complements properties available year-round on the NBC broadcast network.

A long-term agreement has also been reached for YouTube to stream short-form clips, highlights and shows from NBCUniversal’s premium programming.

Peacock also reached a multi-year extension for availability across Google’s Android platforms, including Google Play and Google TV, and will be available in the coming months as a subscription through YouTube Primetime Channels.

Additionally, films and TV shows from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will continue to be available to buy or rent on Google TV, YouTube TV and YouTube. Library films from NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution will also be available to stream on YouTube Premium and AVOD through YouTube Free Primetime Content.

“Our new agreement with Google is a clear win for both our business and our viewers – underscoring the enduring value of our must-see shows, films, sports, and live events while expanding our reach to even more audiences,” NBCUniversal platform distribution and partnerships president Matt Schnaars said in a statement. “This agreement positions us for continued growth and reflects our commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment to fans across platforms.”

“This deal builds on our long-standing partnership with NBCU while addressing the evolving media landscape and recognizing the importance of making content available where and how viewers want to watch it,” YouTube’s global head of media & sports Justin Connolly added. “We are pleased to have reached this agreement and look forward to continuing our partnership to serve billions of viewers around the world.”

The latest agreement comes after the two parties reached a short-term extension earlier this week to avoid a programming blackout as carriage negotiations continued.

Upcoming programming that would’ve been impacted by the blackout starting Wednesday included Sunday Night Football and new seasons of “The Voice” and “Saturday Night Live,” which is set to return on Saturday, Oct. 4.

In addition to NBCUniversal, YouTube recently renewed its carriage of Fox’s programming in August. But it also failed to reach an agreement with TelevisaUnivision this week, whose programming remains dark on YouTube TV since Tuesday evening.

The post NBCUniversal, Google Strike New Carriage Deal for Content on YouTube TV appeared first on TheWrap.

The move, which is designed to increase awareness outside of the U.S. of Disney+’s large catalogue of content aimed at adults, comes in preparation for the launch of a unified Disney+-Hulu app in 2026. It also means that Hulu’s marketing and social efforts will be applied globally.

In addition to Hulu replacing Star, Disney+ will continue to integrate the two services through a series of design and navigation updates rolling out over the coming weeks and months.

Updates will include a new navigation bar at the top of Disney+’s homepage, with a “For You” tab for recommended viewing powered by an updated algorithm for better personalization. There’s also tabs for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN, depending on the user’s subscription, making it easier to explore each catalog individually.

A Live hub in the main navigation will also take users to the latest live news, sports and events, as well as Disney+’s Streams offering. Disney+ is also adding new tags, such as “Season Finale,” “New Series” and “New Movie” to the titles in its library.

Disney+ will also be refreshing its homepage design with a new video display and more dynamic brand row, complete with more cinematic poster-style artwork.

Though several of the product updates will apply across living room screens, Disney+ is also launching new widgets on iOS that will take users directly into its programming with one click.

It will also introduce “mobile-first and mobile-exclusive experiences” to expand its reach and engage with new audiences.

“These enhancements are just the beginning, with additional updates planned in the lead-up to the launch of a unified app experience next year,” the company said. 

The post Hulu to Replace Disney+’s Star in October appeared first on TheWrap.

In his new role, the executive will oversee a portfolio that includes consumer products, live experiences, publishing, partnerships and e-commerce for physical products. He will partner with leaders at brands including Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon to bring stories to life in new ways.

Silverman will report directly to Paramount president Jeff Shell.

“Josh brings a combination of strategic vision, deep industry experience and a proven track record of driving global growth across beloved brands and franchises,” Shell said. “We are excited to see him harness Paramount’s world-class library and creative engines to reach our audiences in new and exciting ways and fuel the expansion of our consumer products and experiences businesses.”

Silverman joins Paramount from Mattel, where he served as executive vice president and chief franchise officer.

During his tenure, Silverman significantly expanded its global consumer products business and live and location-based entertainment offerings. Notable achievements included spearheading over 165 consumer product partnerships and retail tie-ins for the Barbie movie, as well as leading initiatives including the World of Barbie traveling exhibit, Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live and the upcoming Mattel Adventure Parks.

At Disney, Silverman helped grow the consumer products business from $37.5 billion to $54 billion in retail sales over a decade. He also oversaw the Disney Stores and commercialization for Disney Interactive and Disney Publishing. Additionally, he led global business development at Marvel, structuring strategic partnerships and managing brand strategy across divisions post-acquisition by Disney.

“I’m incredibly energized by the entrepreneurial spirit across Paramount. As we build global ecosystems for fans, there’s an extraordinary opportunity to unlock new value by leveraging renowned IP and mining the portfolio for fresh stories and experiences,” Silverman said. “I’m excited to collaborate across teams to deepen the emotional connection between audiences and the brands, franchises and characters they love.”

The post Mattel’s Josh Silverman to Lead Paramount Global Products and Experiences Business appeared first on TheWrap.

During a panel at TheWrap’s 2025 TheGrill conference, the entertainment mogul said that while the first two pillars — sports and music — have become annual multi-billion dollar businesses, their venues aren’t used year-round.

“They’re empty 300 days out of 365. So the venues actually are there. We don’t have to build theaters,” Katzenberg explained. “The beauty of this is you pack these things up into two 18-wheelers and it takes four people to fly a show … The big opportunity here is to create what can be the third pillar of live outdoor entertainment.”

Katzenberg and Musk (Elon’s brother) are making this bet as drone shows have become an increasingly common sight, playing as a safer alternative to fireworks or after sporting events. Social feeds are filled with sophisticated images and even limited videos assembled thousands of flying devices. But they’ve largely been side acts, while Nova Sky Stories intends to be the main event.

In addition to producing original content, Nova Sky Stories is in talks with major studios including Disney, Universal, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount about adapting IP like “Shrek” and “How To Train Your Dragon” for storytelling in the sky.

“If you think about the movie of Lion King, it was adapted to the stage. It is the same story, but it’s told in a completely unique way that takes advantage of a theater,” Katzenberg said. “So now, move that to the next place, which is take advantage of this giant cube and the sky and this new technology. How do you adapt that storytelling? So some of the best movies and best IP in Hollywood will be part of what Nova does.”

“We really want this to be a storytelling medium,” Musk added. “Just like you’d go to a musical on Broadway, you’re having an experience and you’re sharing with your family and friends and you’re being moved emotionally. That’s our goal.”

A ‘religious experience’

In 2022, Musk acquired the drone technology from Intel, which was planning to shutter the project after working on it for 10 years (the chip company had notably deployed 250 drones for a show at the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas during CES in 2018). He got turned on to the drone technology after working with the artists behind Nova on a 3,000-drone show for the Burning Man festival.

“The artists came to me that I was helping, mostly Burning Man artists, and they said, ‘Intel’s gonna shut this division down. Please help see if you can just talk them into not shutting it down,'” he said. “I went to speak to them and they said, ‘We either shut it down or you got to buy it from us.’ And I was like, ‘I never thought I’d be buying a division from Intel … And it’s been just an amazing journey.”

Katzenberg, who is an investor in the company through his firm WndrCo, recalled his “religious experience” of seeing Nova Sky Stories in person at Burning Man. He would reach out to Musk about five or six months later to collaborate.

“In either 1989 or 1990 I saw this Pixar short film called Luxor the Lamp, it was the original piece that John Lasseter made. First, I tried to hire John Lasseter, that didn’t work, then I tried to buy the company and that didn’t work. And then we made the three-picture deal. And that moment of seeing that short film, which to me, was like, ‘Oh my God, here is our future’ – I had that same feeling when I saw this 10 minutes that Kimball did for us this last May,” Katzenberg said. “That just started a conversation with us and I realized that what he is onto is actually a whole new platform, a new medium, a new stage for storytelling and the stage is the sky.”

Creating a viable business

Today, Nova Sky Stories is doing drone shows in 40 countries and on track to manufacture 12,000 drones by the end of 2025 and closer to 30,000 by the end of 2026.

The company has received interest from Abu Dhabi for a 10,000-drone fleet, while Europe and the U.S. each have fleets of around 4,000 drones. At the same time, Nova sold 6,000 tickets for its drone shows in 2024 and hit 200,000 as of last weekend.

Looking ahead, Musk and Katzenberg said they expect to sell around 500,000 tickets in Nova’s first year. They’ll also look at sponsorship opportunities to help make the business economically viable moving forward.

“I think we really can fill those stadiums. And because it’s digital art, you can really put so much human talent and resources into the content and at scale. So you can put tens of millions of dollars into a show. An adaptation of Shrek in the sky would take us a year or two,” Musk said. “Another thing that’s different about our stories is the technology keeps changing and the actual story changes as well. Once it’s out there, it doesn’t stop. It’s not in the can, it constantly evolves.”

Katzenberg predicted that, in the next 18 to 24 months, Nova Sky Stories would look similar to hand drawing as the technology advances.

“People think about what is the most basic version of a drone with a little flashing light on it. And that’s the first generation. We’re already onto the second or third generation, and the fourth and fifth, which are in the works right now, and we’ll start turning them out mid next year, allowing you to do all kinds of things that people have not really imagined yet,” Katzenberg said. “It’s just going to keep getting better. We’re at the very beginning of a technology revolution in entertainment.”

Watch the full Stories in the Sky: A New Era of Live Entertainment panel below.

The post Kimbal Musk and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Nova Sky Stories Sees Drone Shows as ‘Third Pillar’ of Live Outdoor Entertainment appeared first on TheWrap.

This report is a partnership between WrapPRO and PitchBook, the go-to financial data and software platform that provides detailed information on private and public capital markets.

September sure felt a lot of like the 1980s in media and entertainment, with a spate of leverage buyouts, including the largest of all time, defining mergers and acquisitions activity.

LBOs valued at nearly $60 billion, including game giant Electronic Arts being taken private for a whopping $55 billion, were announced last month, according to data from PitchBook.

Here are the LBOs worth noting.

Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts is going private in a $55 billion all-cash deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. Under the terms of the agreement, TheWrap reported on September 29, the investor group will acquire 100% of the company, with PIF rolling over its 9.9% stake. EA stockholders will receive $210 per share in cash — a 25% premium to its unaffected share price of $168.32 at market close on Sept. 25. It’s also a premium to its all-time high of $179.01 at market close on Aug. 14. The transaction will be funded by a combination of cash from PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, as well as the rollover of PIF’s stake — constituting an equity investment of approximately $36 billion.

Vimeo

Video hosting platform Vimeo, founded in 2004 and today boasts more than 300 million users, is being sold to Italy’s Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion, the company announced on September 10.  The per-share purchase price represents a 91% premium over Vimeo’s 60-day volume-weighted average share price as of market close on Sept. 9, the company noted. Vimeo, which has once been part of Barry Diller’s IAC before being spun out in 2021, previously traded on Nasdaq. The company will now be private under the Milan-based tech conglomerate.

Integral Ad Science

Ad verification firm Integral Ad Science was sold to private equity firm Novacap on Sept. 24 for $1.9 billion. IAS, as it is known, offer services to ensure ads are seen by real people, appear in brand-safe and suitable environments, and prevent ad fraud. The offer represents a premium of approximately 22% to IAS’s closing share price on Nasdaq on Sept. 23. 

“Today’s announcement is an exciting milestone for IAS. As a private company with the support of Novacap, we will have access to new resources to achieve our strategic goals and further build upon the differentiated value we bring our customers as we advance our mission to be the global benchmark for trust and transparency in digital media quality,” IAS CEO Lisa Utzschneider said at the time of the deal’s announcement.

And Other M&A Deals …

Prize Picks

Daily fantasy sports platform Prize Picks said on September 22 it was selling a majority stake to Swiss lottery gaming giant firm Allwyn for $1.6 billion, a deal that values it at $2.5 billion. The 10-year-old Prize Picks will operate as a separate brand under Allywn.

The deal, representing the latest wave of opportunities being seized in the growing sports betting space, is expected to close in the first half of 2026, and Allwyn will finance it with cash and debt.

And One Significant Raise for a Non-Startup …

Lion Forge Entertainment

Lion Forge Entertainment, the 14-year-old comic book publisher-turned-live action studio controlled by the Steward family, received a $30 million investment from HarbourView Equity Partners, it was reported on September 9. Lion Forge is the Black-owned studio behind Oscar-winning “Hair Love” and the popular “Iyanu” series on the Cartoon Network and HBO Max.

The $30 million, which includes support from the Steward Family and Polarity who remain the majority owners of the company, will help Lion Forge grow its portfolio of intellectual property and expand its slate of premium franchises, especially in the kids, family, and young adult entertainment space, Pulse 2.o reported.

September in Startup Funding

September saw venture capital raises in media and entertainment startups and young companies hit more than $152 million through 51 deals, showing a slowing pace from previous months, according to new PitchBook data. August counted $236 million in raises through 57 deals, according to PitchBook’s revised data.

September’s investor activity, as it has been most of the year, was focused on AI and gaming.

For the year so far, raises exceed $7 billion but that figure may be misleading since it was skewed by a single raise in January of $3 billion by Infinite Reality, which bought the brand name of the former Napster file sharing company to use immersive technologies that offer a suite of services to brands and creators to increase audience engagement.

Here is a highlighted company for September — with a full chart of the top 15 financings below (Note: When an investor is not listed, it indicates they were not disclosed by the companies, PitchBook says.).

The News Movement

The News Movement, a Gen Z-focused social media group co-founded by Washington Post CEO Will Lewis, received a $10 million investment in mid-September, according to PitchBook. The investor was Forta, a UK-based fund backed by Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim al-Thani of Qatar, joined by a number of other Qatari investors, the Financial Times disclosed.

Lewis, who co-founded The News Movement in 2021 with former BBC journalist Kamal Ahmed before before joining The Post, remains a shareholder. The company will be folded into a larger company called Caliber that will include The News Movement, The Recount, a political news start-up acquired by The News Movement in 2023, and other smaller brands. The money will be used, in part, to launch a news app called SaySo, a platform for online creators to post and make money from news, the FT reported.

How the year is looking for VC deal activity

And in media …

The post EA, Vimeo Led the Leverage Buyouts That Drove September M&A in Entertainment appeared first on TheWrap.

What you’re missing: The Reset is a newsletter we send out every Sunday to the corporate enterprise subscribers to WrapPRO. If you think your company or organization would be interested in signing up for an enterprise plan, please reach out to our head of enterprise sales, Kimberly Donnan, at kimberly.donnan@thewrap.com.

Welcome Back WrapPRO Enterprisers,

In all the hype this past week about the White House-assisted conclusion to a TikTok deal with China, which prevented a shutdown in the U.S. for the wildly popular social platform, I took note of one of the investors among those controlling a 45% stake that may have been overshadowed by Larry Ellison’s Oracle.

That was Silver Lake, a largely tech-focused private equity firm with more than $100 billion in assets under management. Silver Lake has been around for more than two decades but it feels like its Hollywood and Hollywood-adjacent investments recently make it worth keeping a closer eye on, especially as the industry feels more tightly aligned than ever with technology overlords. Like the Ellisons’ entree through Paramount.

Consider where Silver Lake is placing its bets, like taking Endeavor fully private back in the spring in a $25 billion acquisition that shifted agent tour de force Ari Emanuel to executive chairman of WME. Silver Lake owns stakes in Oak View Group, co-founded by music giant Irving Azoff, the Madison Square Garden Sports group, APAC ticketing giant TEG, minor league baseball owner Diamond Baseball Holdings, to name a few in the “content and entertainment” space as Silver Lake’s website notes.

And just on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Silver Lake was among the investors aiming to take gaming giant Electronic Arts private for $50 billion in what would be the largest leveraged buyout of all time. 

Silver Lake is run by co-CEOs Egon Durban and Greg Mondre, both of whom cut their teeth as i-bankers at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, respectively. Georgetown and Wharton undergrad degrees, respectively as well, if you like the executive set without MBAs.

Now TikTok. We are less than a week out from the deal being announced with lots of fanfare, so much more to come on this. But it will be worth keeping a close focus on where Silver Lake, with TikTok in its portfolio now, is training its eye for its next move in the Hollywoodsphere.

Have a great week.

Tom Lowry
SVP/Editorial Strategy
tom.lowry@thewrap.com

1. Sneak Peak at Exclusive Research on Live Entertainment in 2025 from WrapPRO and Pollstar As part of our effort to continually provide our PRO subscribers with premium offerings, this week we will be unveiling an exclusive research report in partnership with Pollstar, the premier trade publication dedicated to covering the worldwide concert industry. Pollstar data is the leading resource for the touring industry.

As part of this data-rich report, WrapPRO conducted its own survey to get a read on our readers’ live entertainment preferences and spending. Below is one of the questions from that survey. Look for the full report coming this week as TheWrap hosts its annual business conference TheGrill where Irving Azoff, the co-founder of Pollstar parent Oak View Group, will be a keynote speaker.

2. AI Slop We’ve read so much about the benefits of AI-assisted work efficiencies, how the technology will improve not only the quality of work but the time spent working. That is why a study cited by The Harvard Business Review last week was striking to us. “In collaboration with Stanford Social Media Lab, our research team at BetterUp Labs has identified one possible reason: Employees are using AI tools to create low-effort, passable looking work that ends up creating more work for their coworkers. On social media, which is increasingly clogged with low-quality AI-generated posts, this content is often referred to as ‘AI slop’.” At work, it’s been referred to as workslop and it’s even being turned into a verb as in “you were workslopped.”

Of 1,150 U.S.-based full-time employees surveyed by BetterUp Labs across industries, 40% report having received workslop in the last month.  The phenomenon occurs mostly between peers (40%), but workslop is also sent to managers by direct reports (18%). Sixteen percent of the time workslop flows down the ladder, from managers to their teams, or even from higher up than that.

One more reality check for us all on the AI hype machine. 

Warren Buffett once famously said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.“

For many of his critics these past two weeks, those words might feel relevant for Bob Iger, the 74-year-old CEO of the Walt Disney Co. It’s way too early to judge how history will look at Iger’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel off the air under pressure from the FCC and the White House and then return him to the airwaves days later this past Tuesday. The blowback, from product boycotts to union protests to vocal star power outrage, was extraordinary, even for a corporate leader who has faced his fair share of scrutiny and crises.

Iger will be handing over the reins of Disney later next year to a still unnamed successor and his legacy is front of mind. Consider his track record during two stints as CEO: 

First stint as CEO (2005-2020) – Stock up 579%
Second stint (2022-current) – Stock up 20%ish

Bought Pixar Animation Studios
Bought Marvel Entertainment
Bought Lucasfilm
Added 20th Century Studios
Opened Shanghai Disneyland w/ plans for Middle East park
Launched Disney+

Market cap in 2005 – $48 billion
Current market cap – $204 billion 

That record obviously generates a lot of CEO envy among his counterparts. When he took over in 2005 for Michael Eisner, who was seen as a much stronger creative than Iger, there was no shortage of doubters about the executive who started out as weatherman in Ithaca, New York. Iger has proven them all wrong. This final stretch for Iger may not define his career, even with his change of heart on Kimmel. Iger and his decision to return the late night host to TV was guided “by the right thing to do,” insiders told TheWrap. There’s still plenty of fight on this issue ahead as Sinclair and Nexstar dug in their heels at first by not putting Kimmel back on the air. They’ve now backed down. For Iger, doing the right thing, or doing things differently, as Buffett described it, will be more important than ever for his final Disney chapter.

Lessons for newsrooms about creator journalism from the Online News Association, Charles M. Sennott’s groundtruth

Two CEOs? It Can Work, CEO Brief, WSJ

Robert Redford remembered: ‘He gave Park City a cachet,’ The Park Record

The post The Reset: The Silver Lake Lining in the TikTok Deal appeared first on TheWrap.

“We’ve reached a short-term extension to avoid disruption to our service while we work toward a new agreement with NBCUniversal. We appreciate our subscribers’ patience while we negotiate on their behalf,” a YouTube spokesperson told TheWrap. A spokesperson for NBCU shared a similar statement. Neither party would comment on the duration of the extension.

Upcoming programming that would’ve been impacted by the blackout starting Wednesday include Sunday Night Football and new seasons of “The Voice” and “Saturday Night Live,” which is set to return on Saturday, Oct. 4.

The update comes after YouTube avoided a programming blackout of Fox’s content by hours after striking a new deal in August. The same cannot be said for TelevisaUnivision programming, which went dark on the service earlier on Tuesday after both parties failed to come to terms on a new agreement.

The extension comes less than a week after NBCUniversal first warned of a possible blackout of its programming on YouTube TV.

“Google, with its $3 trillion market cap, already controls what Americans see online through search and ads — now it wants to control what we watch. YouTube TV has refused the best rates and terms in the market, demanding preferential treatment and seeking an unfair advantage over competitors to dominate the video marketplace,” an NBCU spokesperson told TheWrap, “all under the false pretense of fighting for the consumer.”

A YouTube spokesperson said at the time that the Comcast-owned entertainment company was “asking us to pay more than what they charge consumers for the same content on Peacock, which would mean less flexibility and higher prices for our subscribers.”

Telemundo Enterprises chairman Luis Fernández also shared an open letter amid the dispute, signaling how a shutdown would leave Spanish-speaking YouTube TV users without access to both of the major networks for Spanish speakers in the U.S.

When asked about Fernandez’s letter, a YouTube TV spokesperson told TheWrap that its carriage renewal decisions are “based on viewer consumption and pricing, and any suggestion to the contrary is false.”

The post NBCUniversal, YouTube TV Agree to Short Extension of Carriage Agreement as Negotiations Continue appeared first on TheWrap.

“TelevisaUnivision has over 160 million subscribers and billions of views across YouTube, where they generate ad revenue from their content. On our paid live TV subscription service, YouTube TV, however, TelevisaUnivision only represents a tiny fraction of overall consumption,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. “Since we have not reached a new agreement with them, their content is no longer available on YouTube TV.”

In addition to TelevisaUnivision’s ViX streaming service, the network’s content is available on YouTube’s main platform, where they have more than 10 million subscribers. On average, there were over 9 billion views of Spanish language content daily on the main YouTube app globally in June. YouTube TV also offers news content through its recent renewal with Fox and new agreements with C-SPAN and OANN.

TelevisaUnivision began warning viewers of a potential programming blackout earlier this month.

At the time, it said the Google-owned platform was attempting to remove Univision from its core line-up and move it to a Spanish-only add-on package. It argued the move would force millions of Hispanic households to pay 18% more for its local news, live sports and entertainment content, calling it “discriminatory” and an “abuse of its market power.”

YouTube TV has argued that its carriage decisions are based on viewer consumption and pricing and that it offered a renewal that was “in line with the performance of their channel and the value of this content to YouTube TV subscribers today.”

In a statement on Tuesday, a TelevisaUnivision spokesperson blasted the Google-owned platform’s decision, arguing it is “stripping millions of Hispanic viewers of the Spanish-language news, sports, and entertainment they rely on every day.”

“Google’s actions are especially tone-deaf and egregious on the eve of a potential government shutdown, disregarding the appeals of government officials and Hispanic organizations who urged them to keep Univision on the main bundle,” the company added. “To add insult to injury, YouTube TV chose to take this step during Hispanic Heritage Month — an act that is deeply insensitive and offensive.”

It added that the “unfortunate mistake” is “easily reversible” and that its “always open to finding constructive ways for Hispanics to regain access to their trusted and critical content.”

The company added: “We remain steadfast in advocating for our audience and ensuring that YouTube TV subscribers know they have many options to continue watching Univision’s programming through other providers.”

The latest dispute for YouTube TV comes as its carriage talks with NBCUniversal remain ongoing, with their contract also set to expire Tuesday evening.

The post TelevisaUnivision Programming Goes Dark on YouTube TV appeared first on TheWrap.