Streaming landscape shifts with $43B AT&T Discovery deal

John Logan, the Oscar nominated screenwriter whose credits include working on James Bond pics Skyfall and Spectre, has said that Amazon acquiring MGM, with its back catalogue that features the Bond films, makes him worried for the future of the franchise.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorWarnerMedia’s HBO Max was hit with scattered technical issues on Tuesday, with users reporting problems with streaming video.According to DownDetector, problems with HBO Max began to spike at 4:45 p.m.

NEW YORK -- The Nielsen company's latest rankings of popular television and streaming shows have one thing in common — “NCIS” at the top.The CBS drama starring Mark Harmon as a Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent has been on the air since 2003 and defines unhip.

Naman Ramachandran The ongoing battle between the Indian government and Twitter intensified on Monday with the Delhi Police raiding the social media outfit’s Delhi and Gurgaon offices over a tweet marked by the platform as “manipulated.”The tweet in question originated from Sambit Patra, national spokesperson of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on May 18.

AT&T will pay Discovery a $1.77 billion breakup fee if it backs out of its deal to sell off its WarnerMedia segment, according to a Plan of Merger filed on Thursday.If Discovery backs out of the deal, it will owe AT&T a breakup fee of $720 million. The terms were disclosed in a filing on Thursday.

NEW YORK -- Chrissie Hynde wouldn't make her own mark in music until a few years later, but her memories of how 1971's daily soundtrack was tied to the times remain vivid.“Music said something,” the Pretenders' leader and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member says at the start of “1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything,” an eight-part documentary series that premieres Friday on the Apple TV+ streaming service.Hynde had just dropped out of Kent State University in Ohio, where a year earlier

NEW YORK -- Nearly 20 years after self-publishing her first novels, Stacey Abrams is hitting full stride as a writer.The voting rights activist, grassroots organizer and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate has a deal for two political thrillers, Doubleday and Anchor Books announced Thursday. The new novels will bring back the gifted and intrepid law clerk Avery Keene from Abrams' current work, “While Justice Sleeps," which came out last week and is already a No.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorCW and Nexstar have set a long-term renewal of their affiliation agreement, securing the network’s broadcast distribution in 37 markets with the nation’s largest TV station owner.The deal covers Nexstar’s WPIX-TV New York and KTLA-TV Los Angeles, in addition to other top 10 markets such as KDAF-TV Dallas and KIAH-TV Houston. In all, Nexstar’s CW affiliates reach more than 38 million TV households representing about 31% of all U.S.

AT&T and Discovery rocked Hollywood with the combination that will see WarnerMedia and Discovery rolled together into a new standalone public entertainment company led by Zaslav — as AT&T exits the sector and Discovery doubles down.

EXCLUSIVE: Discovery+ has ordered Curse of the Chippendales, a new four-part true-crime series that revolves around the dark side of the 1980s all-male striptease dance troupe, from Lightbox, the production outfit run by Oscar and Emmy-winning filmmakers Simon and Jonathan Chinn.

AT&T would spin off WarnerMedia in a deal that will see it merge with Discovery. If he exits, Kilar will leave WarnerMedia after little more than a year as its CEO.

Warner Bros. Games is reportedly being split up due to the recently announced merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc.AT&T, the parent company of WarnerMedia, announced on Monday (May 17) that it would spin off the multimedia company and merge it with Discovery, Inc.

Warner Bros. Pictures has reversed its decision on Dune.

AT&T would spin off WarnerMedia in a deal that will see it merge with Discovery. If he exits, Kilar will leave WarnerMedia after less than a year as its CEO.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIf AT&T and Discovery’s shock announcement underlines any learnings in recent years, it’s that legacy media is fighting back.

NEW YORK -- AT&T will combine its massive media operations that include CNN HBO, TNT and TBS in a $43 billion deal with Discovery, the owner of lifestyle networks including the Food Network and HGTV.Faced with cord-cutting and incursions by streaming services, major broadcast media companies have retrenched and sought strength through mergers.The deal announced Monday would create a separate media company with households increasingly abandoning cable and satellite TV.

Nicki Minaj's iconic 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty has been released on streaming services, marking the first time the New York rapper's unforgettable breakout has been commercially available.