Merger Meeting?: WBD’s David Zaslav & Paramount Global’s Bob Bakish Sit Down To Talk Possible Deal, “Preliminary” Says Source

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery corporate communications chief Nathaniel Brown is exiting the company. CEO David Zaslav announced the news in a memo to staff Friday.

Editor’s note: Underplayed in the media intrigue over the prospect of Warner Bros swallowing Shari Redstone’s empire that includes Paramount and CBS is the gloomy reality that another storied Hollywood studio could go the way of Fox. That went from a vibrant multi-faceted creative content-generating enterprise to a headstone, when Rupert Murdoch decided to cash out for Disney stock. David Zaslav spent 2023 kicking employees and finished films to the curb to pay down debt just to get this far; chances are more blood will spill down Melrose if Redstone sells some or all the pieces of Paramount to be mashed into an existing studio. When Bill Mechanic was perched atop Paramount, Disney and Fox, he built Disney’s home video from a $30 million to $3 billion business, and found ways to take risks and squeeze max returns from blockbusters from Braveheart to Titanic, Independence Day and many others. Who better to remind Hollywood that once a major studio dies, it never comes back, and that there might be better ways to squeeze better performance out of an established creative business with global pipelines?

Kelly Clarkson is opening up about her current relationship status, how she feels about dating, and whether or not she’d get married again.

Brad Falchuk co-created the beloved show Glee with Ryan Murphy and now he’s opening up about the biggest lessons he’s learned from the show.

Top U.S. cable operator Comcast has reached a carriage renewal with Paramount Global, averting a potential blackout of service around the New Year’s holiday.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Paramount Global has clinched a deal that is crucial to its future — but it’s not the transaction that Wall Street has been buzzing about for a few weeks. Paramount Global and Comcast have set a new carriage agreement covering Paramount’s cable channels and CBS-owned stations. The pact averts the prospect of a blackout for CBS stations and Paramount channels across Comcast’s cable systems, which reach about video 14.5 million subscribers and 29 million broadband subscribers.

Jeremy Renner and the cast of Mayor of Kingstown are gearing up for their return to production on Season 3 of the Paramount+ drama.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has acquired Turkish streamer BluTV.

Disney has taken another big step toward realigning its India strategy. The company has signed a non-binding term sheet with Reliance Industries that would see the two merge their Indian operations, the completion of which would create one of India’s biggest entertainment empires. The news was first reported by The Economic Times.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here leading you into the Christmas break with your final dash of news and analysis of the year. It’s been a blast. Thank you to regular readers for taking time out your busy schedules to give this a good ol’ glance every week. As our counterparts across the pond like to say, we appreciate you. We’ll be back in 2024 with plenty more.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Mega media merger mania is once again afoot in Hollywood with very, very early talks between Warner Bros. Discovery‘s David Zaslav and Paramount Global’s Bob Bakish about a potential merger of the two companies. Analysts and industry sources have already raised a number of questions about what a WBD-Paramount combo would look like and the effect it could have on the larger TV and film landscape.

Old habits die hard. So Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav just sat down with Paramount Global chief executive Bob Bakish to talk about merging, and the media business yet again confronted the possibility of a spasm of mega-deals reshaping the landscape.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Would the combination of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global — two companies heavily tied to the declining legacy TV biz — make financial sense? Investors reacted to news of early talks between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount about a potential merger, which broke just prior to market close Wednesday.

Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have held talks for a potential merger that would see two of the world’s biggest media companies join together, according to reports.The talks are in a “very early stage” and the merger may still not go ahead, sources close to the talks claim.Warner Bros.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Here we go again? Warner Bros. Discovery is flirting with the idea of acquiring Paramount Global. If a deal involving the Redstone empire comes to fruition, it would mark another transformative mega-merger for Hollywood legacy brands, following on the heels of Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, AT&T’s difficult marriage with Time Warner in 2018 and the subsequent Discovery-WarnerMedia tie-up that closed in April 2022.

Deadline has confirmed that Byron Allen is taking another run at BET Media Group in a $3.5 billion bid sent to Paramount Global for BET and VH1. The offer followed a report that Paramount is in talks to sell BET to a management-led investor group.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Media mogul Byron Allen has renewed his attempt to acquire BET Media Group from Paramount Global — extending a $3.5 billion offer. On Tuesday, Allen, who is founder and CEO of Allen Media Group, emailed Paramount Global senior executives and board, offering $3.5 billion for BET Media Group, which includes the BET cable channel, VH1, BET Studios and streaming service BET+, sources familiar with the situation confirmed to Variety.

Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have held talks about a potential merger of the two media companies, Variety has confirmed.

Jon Cryer is opening up about the possibility of a Two and a Half Men reunion!

George Clooney is hinting at a possible Ocean’s Eleven reunion movie!