Disney CEO Bob Chapek Opens Upfront By Touting The Company As “The Most Powerful Force In The Industry”

The head of Netflix is still behind two of the company’s most popular comedians.

In a wide-ranging interview published today in the New York Times, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has doubled down on his prior defenses of artistic freedom, backing comedians Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais.

At least one star is sticking with Global’s “Saturday Night Live” for now.

Shirley Halperin Executive Editor, MusicSony Music Group (SMG) chairman Rob Stringer touted a strong fiscal year (for the period between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021) and revealed plans to expand the company’s Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program in a briefing to the company’s senior executives and investors delivered on May 25.Speaking from New York, Stringer hailed what he described as “all-time high financial results,” resulting in record numbers in revenue, profits and margins, going on five consecutive years.During that time, SMG’s global roster from its frontline labels — namely Columbia, RCA and Epic — increased by over 30% and its creative staff by more than 85%. The investment in talent, on both the artist and executive side, has yielded tangible results in the form of global successes like the Kid Laroi, Maneskin, Doja Cat and Lil Nas X, who got mentioned during the presentation.

the New York Times obit, he helped put the band together for Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour (a tour immortalized in a documentary from Martin Scorsese, where Neuwirth appears).Dylan biographers have pointed to Neuwirth as directly influencing Dylan’s persona and Dylan wrote about him in his book “Chronicles: Volume One” (via the NYT): “Like Kerouac had immortalized Neal Cassady in ‘On the Road,’ somebody should have immortalized Neuwirth. He was that kind of character.

As expected, A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical is heading to Broadway, with producers announcing today that previews will begin Wednesday, November 2, at the Broadhurst Theatre, with an official opening night on Sunday, Dec. 4.

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady will be much more than a Sunday night analyst for Fox Sports but a partner after inking a deal said to be worth $375 million over ten years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback.

Thania Garcia Wendy Ong brings an extraordinarily diverse background to her current role as president of TaP Music. Her career path has led her from Singapore to Hong Kong to New York to Los Angeles, working with Clive Davis, Diddy, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Universal Music, Roc Nation, and beginning in 2018, at TaP, where she heads up the West Coast office and has worked closely with Lana Del Rey, Ellie Goulding, Caroline Polacheck and (previously) Dua Lipa.With vast experience in marketing and management — she was even head of classical at EMI Music — she finds all of her skills coming into play at the multifaceted TaP, which also includes a label and publishing and digital marketing divisions.

a new lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to compel former hotel magnate and ex-Republican Party finance chair Steve Wynn to register as a foreign agent.The move comes in response to what DoJ says is his work on behalf of the government of China in 2017, when Wynn repeatedly lobbied Donald Trump to deport a Chinese businessman seeking asylum in the United States.The lawsuit does not identify who the businessman was, but according to The New York Times, they are likely referring to Guo Wengui, an outspoken critic of corruption in the Chinese government.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWhere do you take advertisers if you want them to make a big purchase? To a department store, of course.Paramount Global will take clients who attend its upfront Wednesday afternoon to an after-party in the structure on New York’s Madison Avenue that once housed the big Barney’s department store, one way to emphasize the shopping aspect of the event, in which big U.S. TV companies hope to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory for their next programming cycle.As part of the affair, Paramount has dressed up four windows of the former shopping plaza.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe TV upfronts are usually a dog-and-pony show where networks unveil their new content slates.At YouTube’s Brandcast presentation for brands and agencies, held for the first time during upfronts week, the focus was on the gigantic video platform’s popular creators, its scale across internet TVs — and a new solution for marketers to set limits on ad frequency, addressing one of the most irritating aspects of ad-supported streaming services.“The audiences you most care about are coming to YouTube to watch content,” CEO Susan Wojcicki told attendees at the event, held Tuesday evening at the Imperial Theatre in New York’s Times Square. She cited Nielsen’s estimate that YouTube overall reached 230 million people 18 and older in the U.S.

As YouTube took its first step onto turf long controlled by television — upfronts week in New York — the Google-owned video operation released new research affirming its connection with viewers.

Every year around this time – Saturday Night Live’s finale is May 21 – the rumor mill starts as to how the venerable comedy variety series will look next year.

Michael Che reveals that his unofficial announcement of leaving “SNL” has actually been in the works for some time.

One of the SNL Weekend Update anchors, Michael Che, went viral a few months ago when he told a comedy show audience he planned to leave the variety show this year.

A new A-List client? Pete Davidson is not being managed by Kris Jenner, Us Weekly can exclusively confirm.

Zack Sharf Michael Che frequently jokes about leaving “Saturday Night Live,” where he has served as co-anchor of “Weekend Update” for the last eight years and counting (the second-longest stint in the show’s history, after co-anchor Colin Jost). Che went viral in March when he mentioned “SNL” at a surprise comedy set in Minneapolis and said, “This is my last year.” The press took Che’s statement as a matter of fact, so he took to Instagram to clarify that he was joking, “To comedy fans; please stop telling reporters everything you hear at a comedy show.

The New York Times. Sullivan is currently the interim general manager.

EXCLUSIVE: Producer and bestselling author DeVon Franklin has found his first major film role in Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company’s Jesus Revolution. He joins an ensemble that also includes Kelsey Grammer, Joel Courtney, Anna Grace Barlow, Jonathan Roumie, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Ally Ioannides, Julia Campbell, Nic Bishop and Jolie Jenkins, as previously announced.