CEO Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Wall Street Journal, with the suit set to allege that the company’s concert promotion and ticketing operations have undermined competition in the live music industry.The report claims that since the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the enterprise has gone on to control more than 80 per cent of the market for ticket sales in the US. The Journal reports that issues covered by the suit will include unfair market leverage, high transaction fees and flawed customer service.In response to the report, Live Nation’s head of corporate affairs, Dan Wall, argued that the company in fact has more competition than ever.

Two top Congressman want Bob Iger, David Zaslav and Lachlan Murdoch to provide some solid answers about Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Fox’s proposed sports streaming service.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The Disney/ESPN, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery sports-streaming joint venture has drawn congressional scrutiny.

Fremantle and Fabula have renewed their first-look partnership with an agreement they say will result in them working even more closely to develop a fresh slate of original dramas and films.

NPR has put on temporary suspension the editor who penned an essay that criticized the network for losing the trust of listeners as it has covered the rise of Donald Trump and coverage of Covid, race and other issues.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor David Porter, an ad industry veteran and former Turner exec, is joining Warner Bros. Discovery as head of ad sales research, data and insights. Porter reports to Jon Steinlauf, Warner Bros.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The upcoming video game “Spine” is already being eyed for film and TV adaptations. Variety learned exclusively that “Spine” developer Nekki has teamed with Story Kitchen to develop potential adaptations of the game. “We’re pleased to begin our journey with Story Kitchen,” said Nekki CEO Dmitry Terekhin.

Twitch may become required to disclose their earnings with their record labels, says Twitch CEO Dan Clancy.The CEO made the comments in a new interview with TweakMusicTips, where he revealed the streaming platform was soon to make an agreement where both DJs and Twitch would “have to share money with the labels”.“It doesn’t come for free,” he continued, and went on to stipulate that Twitch would pay a sum of money for what labels were owed: “We’re going to split whatever the cost is.”The news comes amidst Twitch’s ongoing debates with the use of copyrighted music on its platform. According to Endgadget, Clancy hopes this new deal with labels will prevent DJ streamers from being hit with DCMA takedown requests.He also claimed that currently, Twitch has a “pretty good thing” with labels where Twitch pays them money to use copyrighted music on the platform.

Wonya Lucas, a veteran media exec who held the post of CEO for Hallmark Media Networks and TV One, has been appointed to Comcast‘s board of directors.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Marvel laid off 15 staffers on Monday, including lower-level production and development employees in Marvel Studios in Burbank as well as employees in the Marvel Entertainment division in New York. The layoffs were predicated by the overall reduction in Marvel’s slate of film and TV titles after the challenges of the 2023 releases led the company to reassess the rapid increase in productions to feed the launch of Disney+.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Wonya Lucas, former president and CEO of Hallmark Media Networks, has joined Comcast‘s board as an independent director. Comcast announced Lucas’s addition to the board, effective as of April 15, in an SEC filing Monday. She has not yet been appointed to serve as a member of any board committee, according to the filing.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor HarbourView Equity Partners has made an investment in Mucho Mas Media, the Los Angeles-based content company behind the new golf-themed movie “The Long Game.” The deal calls for HarbourView Equity to executive produce films with Mucho Mas co-CEOs Javier Chapa and Vincent Cordero. With HarbourView’s investment, Mucho Mas intends to expand the scope of its activity in film and TV.

IAC, the Barry Diller-owned company that controls The Daily Beast, has landed a strategic partnership with former Disney executive Ben Sherwood and Hearst veteran Joanna Coles to define the digital publication’s next chapter in a struggling media climate.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Demi Moore not only has her movie “The Substance” playing in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but she’s also signed on to host amfAR’s annual gala. The evening will mark Moore’s first return to the HIV/AIDS fundraiser in 27 years. “We are excited and grateful to have Demi Moore back with amfAR in Cannes,” the organization’s CEO Kevin Robert Frost said in a statement Monday.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ben Sherwood and Joanna Coles inked a deal to lead IAC’s The Daily Beast, under which the media veterans have been granted a minority stake in the news and opinion site. Effective immediately, Sherwood — one-time president of the Disney ABC Television Group — will serve as The Daily Beast’s publisher and CEO. Coles, previously Hearst Magazines’ chief content officer, is the site’s chief creative and content officer.

The Formula 1 schedule for the 2025 season has already been revealed!

Everybody should be aware that replacing your bedding and sheets frequently is vital, in order to keep your bed fresh and clean.

They’re baaack. We retired Strike Talk, the Deadline podcast by Billy Ray and Todd Garner Deadline hatched to lend perspective and serve as a beacon of hope to the industry during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. We’ve put the band back together because a potential standoff between the signatories and the negotiators for the Teamster and IATSE guilds looms just up the road when their contracts expire July 31. Are the signatories going to repeat last year’s failed strategy of keeping the CEOs out of the room until too late to stop another disastrous Hollywood shut down? Ray and Garner pose that question to Lindsay Dougherty, who’s leading the negotiation for the Teamsters, and who here reveals she has not had even a passing chat with any of the CEOs that finally solved the last round of labor strife. Dougherty figured into the last strike when she pledged the commitment of Teamsters to stand in solidarity with the striking guilds, which put pressure on the AMPTP to get serious. Here, she discusses the production downturn that followed the return to production, the resolve that these guilds have to get a proper deal and her hope that the signatories don’t once again “trip over dollars to save pennies.” Buckle up.

What do you do when your conglom might be a target for a takeover. Don’t sweat it and laugh.

LAS VEGAS – Things are rocky for Paramount Pictures at the moment. While studio CEO and Chairman Brian Robbins and his team presented highlights of their upcoming 2024 slate, reports were breaking of corporate shareholders coming out publicly against a proposed merger with Skydance Media.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “South Park” co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are teaming with Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free on a new live-action comedy that will hit theaters just in time for our nation’s birthday. The film is slated to open on July 4, 2025 and will be distributed by Paramount Pictures. It faces some stiff competition.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins got cheeky about the sales talks surrounding his corporate parent Paramount Global. In a presentation to worldwide theater owners at the annual Las Vegas convention CinemaCon, Robbins got right to the point in his opening remarks about what’s next for his team.

Jack Dunn CAA appointed Thursday nine managing directors and new membership for its agency board. The managing directors will work on a wide range of strategic and operation matters while the agency board will focus on organization, dealmaking, sustained innovation and development and training.

Creative Artists Agency has reintroduced managing directors, naming nine today, and announced a big expansion of its agency board as its leadership structure evolves.

At their CinemaCon presentation this AM, Paramount Pictures today announced a three-year extension of its first-look deal with producer Neal H. Moritz and his Original Film banner.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy saluted the company’s progress in video advertising in his annual letter to shareholders.

Jack Dunn Tribeca Enterprises, SIC, the Portuguese broadcast company, its streaming service OPTO and the City of Lisbon have unveiled the first-ever European-edition of the Tribeca Festival, which will take place in Lisbon, Portugal from Oct. 17-19. The festival will kick off with an opening night celebration followed by a two-day event on Lisbon’s waterfront.

UPDATED with latest: At its Max streaming event in April 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed a new era is coming for Harry Potter fans. The company announced a TV series based on all seven books about the boy wizard written by J.K. Rowling. See below for the most current answers to the most important questions about the project.

AMC CEO Adam Aron continued to pour cold water on any notion that his No. 1 circuit is headed for Chapter 11.

Jack Dunn Jane Wiseman, who was previously VP of original series at Netflix, has joined Sister Entertainment Group as the head of U.S. television, according to Cindy Holland, global CEO of Sister Entertainment Group. Wiseman is based in Los Angeles and will lead the U.S.