SPORTS & MEDIA
John Ourand
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September 12, 2024
Caitlin Expectations
A candid conversation with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert on the league’s renaissance season and once-unthinkable $200 million per year media rights deal.
Eriq Gardner
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September 10, 2024
Netflix on Trial & CNN’s Financial Colonoscopy
Republican-appointed judges are greenlighting a surge of defamation cases against the likes of CNN, Netflix, ABC News, and Media Matters, revealing everything from private communications to the most sensitive internal documents.
John Ourand
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September 9, 2024
Full Nielsen
After enraging the sports media community last year by attempting to integrate Amazon’s numbers into its data, Nielsen will use some first-party data in its calculations for the NFL this season. But the devil is in the details.
Dylan Byers
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September 6, 2024
Mark Thompson Prepares to Show His Hand
A year after Mark Thompson took over, he’s finally on the verge of revealing the first signs, such as they are, of his master plan.
John Ourand
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September 5, 2024
Will NFL Media & ESPN Ever Tie the Knot?
The league’s three-year attempt to unload the entity, which controls the NFL Network and RedZone, is the latest casualty of the declining cable business.
Dylan Byers
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September 4, 2024
Brian’s Song
The backstory on Brian Stelter’s return, and the real drama inside CNN: the potential arrival of former wunderkind Josh Tyrangiel.
John Ourand
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September 3, 2024
The DirecTV Revenge Fantasy
News and notes on the existential fears—both real and imagined—of distribution executives as the future of the Venu sports streamer appears increasingly tenuous.
Eriq Gardner
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September 3, 2024
The Murdoch Succession Trial Will (or Won’t!) Be Televised
Barricaded doors and records kept secret? Inside the Nevada battle for control of the Fox News empire—and whether the whole drama should be sealed off from public view.
Dylan Byers
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August 30, 2024
The Burbank Campaign
News and notes on the intensifying shadow campaign to succeed Bob Iger at Disney as the fall closes in.
John Ourand
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August 29, 2024
MLB’s Brewing Bidding War
I’m told that several of the world’s biggest media and technology companies—Amazon, Apple, Google/YouTube, and NBCUniversal—are checking in with MLB on a regular basis about the possibility of getting local rights as they come available.
Dylan Byers
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August 28, 2024
CNN’s Debate Whisperers
Dana Bash’s interview with Harris and Walz is CNN’s latest “get” this cycle—from the Trump town hall to the Iowa G.O.P. debate and obviously debategate. It’s largely the handiwork of a relatively anonymous odd couple: Mark Preston and Christie Johnson.
John Ourand
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August 26, 2024
Bend It Like Berman
National Women’s Soccer League commissioner Jessica Berman opens up about the league’s new partnerships, the soaring value of Angel City FC, expansion, and her long-term labor peace.
Dylan Byers
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August 23, 2024
On Walden’s Shores
News, notes, and the latest inside conversation among the Toscana crowd about Dana Walden’s odds of succeeding Bob Iger.
John Ourand
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August 22, 2024
Bronfman’s Closing Pitch
A close reading of Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s leaked pitch deck for investors in his long-shot bid for Paramount Global.
Dylan Byers
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August 21, 2024
The ABCs of Almin
Almin Karamehmedovic, the newly crowned president of ABC News, is inheriting a circumscribed remit, akin to a glorified executive producer, as his boss, Deb OConnell, keeps control of the business. In that regard, Almin may have been the perfect choice all along.
John Ourand
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August 19, 2024
He’s Just Not That Into Venu
Unscrambling the legal quagmire over the service formerly known as Spulu.
John Ourand
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August 15, 2024
More Signs of the Cable-pocalypse
Amid the backdrop of historic cable asset write-downs, the flipside of NBC’s staggering Olympics ratings success is that people watched less of the Games on cable. Sound like a familiar story?