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Looking at the Ugly Side of the Paramount-Skydance Merger...And How I’d Fix It
A Message from Our Sponsor Certified Fresh with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, FX’s Adults is an ensemble comedy series about a group of twenty-somethings in New York leaning on each other to navigate love, work, friendship and family. Don’t sleep on “The Sitcom of the Moment” - Awards Buzz All Episodes now streaming on Hulu on Disney+. Watch The Teaser Trailer... (Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industr(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Before we dive in, I wanted to congratulate Broadcast Now for being the first to report that Netflix’s How to Get to Heaven from Belfast has been cancelled. (I saw this in a write-up by Kasey Moore of Whats-On-Netflix.) More importantly, I wanted to note that, as of yesterday, none of the other trades had reported the news yet. I have half a guess that eventually one of them will report this. Anyways, it’s time to take a break from my deluge of streaming ratings reports to continue my analysis of the Paramount Skydance Warner Bros. Discovery (PSWbD) saga. As I noted last week, a lot of times when folks use the (sometimes cliched) “the good, the bad and the ugly” framing for an article, “the ugly” section is just more bad. Or very, very bad. In this case, yeah, I do think it’s ugly. In more than one way. Unfortunately, we’re only going to have time to tackle one of those ways today: the ugly pile of debt to finance this deal. (In a future article, I may cover the entire process for how it went down, which was very, very ugly.) Last issue, I explained why I liked this deal in a vacuum. Unfortunately, “vacuums” don’t exist outside of space. Let’s dive in. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - The Ugliness of the Paramount/Warner Bros. Merger More than one person sent me a note speculating that the big problem with Paramount Skydance buying Warner Bros. Discovery is the “Warner Bros.” portion of the deal. In fact, that’s a take I read a lot about Warner Bros., ever since they caught Netflix’s, and then Paramount-Skydance’s, eye. In short, multiple companies (Time, AOL, AT&T, Discovery) have bought and then regretted buying Warner Bros. Since it’s nearing Halloween, you could almost say it’s like the folks think WB is cursed! It’s a haunted studio—like the town of Derry in movie studio form—and whoever takes possession of it will fall into misery! Yet...I just don’t like that story, because it doesn’t explain the “why” behind why those deals fell through. Especially when Warner Bros. has continued to succeed as a TV and film studio in the intervening two decades. Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter? Game of Thrones? Everything HBO? Considering it never fully owned a broadcast TV channel, this media company has done pretty well. So what went wrong? Well, in recent years, companies bought Warner Bros. instead of the other, smarter option. Explaining POCD (And Applying It to Mergers & Acquisitions) As I explained last issue, one of my favorite frameworks is the POCD tool for evaluating venture capital investments: People Opportunity Context Deal The bar to invest as a VC is high. (Or I might say “was” since cheap interest rates made life easier last decade.) You review a thousand prospectuses, get pitched by a hundred, and invest in the ten best, with the hopes that one of those ten would pay for the rest. That means every element of a deal needed to pay off: you needed the right people running the companies, who could capitalize on the right opportunity, in the context of an industry that was ripe for disruption. If you could then not overpay, you could make some money in a smart deal. The analogy isn’t perfect here, but close enough. For a merger or acquisition to work, you need the combined company (which is the opportunity) to make more than the price you need to pay (which is the deal). Note: the people and context still matter, but with M&A, it’s a little more straightforward: does the opportunity exceed the cost? And usually with Warner Bros., it hasn’t. If you want to find out the single biggest mistake made by the Warner Bros. suitors over the last few years (and my simple fix) become a paid subscriber. I’ll also touch on who I think Paramount-Skydance could (shockingly) consider buying next, TBD, and more. Sign up here.
'Game of Thrones' movie 'Aegon's Conquest' will hit theaters summer 2029
LOS ANGELES — The Targaryens are looking to conquer the summer box office. "Game of Thrones: Aegon's Conquest" will hit theaters June 1, 2029, according to Deadline. The movie, written
‘Game of Thrones’ movie officially set for 2029
‘Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest,’ the first movie spinoff, gets an official release date.
Scientists discover real “dragon” lizard
In the mountainous evergreen forests of the Tak-Kamphaeng Phet Province, Thailand, scientists discovered a new species of lizard. Researchers named the species Acanthosaura syrax, commonly called the Syrax mountain horned dragon, in reference to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen’s dragon Syrax in the “Game of Thrones” prequel series, “House of the Dragon.” A research team led by...
Rybakina dethrones Sabalenka with her first US Open crown
Elena Rybakina proved herself to be the undisputed world number one after claiming her first US Open title. The 27-year-old from Kazakhstan knew she would be top of the rankings from Monday, overtaking her opponent Aryna Sabalenka, whatever the outcome of Saturday's final.
Kit Harington Joins ‘Harry Potter’ Season 2 As Gilderoy Lockhart In Recasting, Reprising Voice Role
EXCLUSIVE: Game of Thrones star Kit Harington is joining another tentpole fantasy series for HBO. He will play Gilderoy Lockhart in Season 2 of Harry Potter. Harington replaces Nicholas Hoult who was ...
Bipartisan Energy Politics | Reading and Podcast Picks
Reading and Podcast Picks is a collection of what we’ve been reading and listening to over the last week or so about energy topics. In addition to these R&P Picks, paid subscribers receive access to the full archives, Grid Roundups, and select episodes of the Energy Capital Podcast. Please subscribe today. Texans, legislators debate transmission lines at hearing | Texas Tribune “Republican legislators, Democratic statewide candidates, landowners from rural Texas and environmentalists” alike joined together Wednesday to protest the buildout of 765-kV lines across the state. At the protest and nine-hour hearing that followed, lawmakers heard a variety of recommendations, including from local officials arguing for more local control of data center proposals and more time to reform the process behind approving transmission lines across Texas. Though discussed in separate hearings, landowners and protesters said the issues are connected… Regulators have already been working through a new way to decide how much of the cost of building new transmission lines needs to be paid for by individuals and how much needs to be paid for by companies such as data centers. Experts said they believe the new system will lower the burden on residential consumers relative to the industrial groups. Data-Center Backlash Leads to New Land Rush in Texas Oil Patch | The Wall Street Journal While the data center protests rage, investors converge on the Permian Basin to build data centers powered by cheap natural gas. “A lot of places you see all over the country they’re worried about water, they’re worried about power, they’re worried about transmission, and the Permian has all of those things in spades,” said EagleRock Chief Executive Greg Pipkin Jr. Dallas-Fort Worth Dethrones Virginia as the World’s Top Data Center Market | Dallas Innovates Two reports show growth in North Texas data centers despite political concerns about the industry. Boasting five highly ranked data center markets, Texas is experiencing an explosion of data center activity. Long anchored by the DFW market, “the state is growing at a pace that could soon bring total installed capacity in line with — and potentially beyond — that of Virginia,” the Cushman & Wakefield report said. A new report from commercial real estate services provider JLL takes a slightly different view, anointing Texas the top data center market in North America. Texas eclipsed longtime frontrunner Virginia based on the level of existing and under-construction data center inventory in the state as measured by gigawatt capacity. A gigawatt equals 1 billion watts.
‘Game of Thrones’ star Rory McCann steps in for the late Ray Stevenson in ‘Ahsoka’ season 2 first look
Three years after ‘Ahsoka’ star Ray Stevenson’s death, Disney has unveiled the first look at Rory McCann taking over the role of Baylan Skoll.
'Game of Thrones' fans gush over 'Mad King' at Royal Shakespeare Theatre
"Game of Thrones: The Mad King," the first stage adaptation of writer George R. R. Martin's bestselling fantasy saga, opened Saturday at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre with Martin — and rapturous fans — in attendance.
'House of the Dragon' showrunner on the season 3 ending, series finale plans
"House of the Dragon" showrunner Ryan Condal broke down Ormund and Helaena's fates in the season 3 finale, the "Game of Thrones" parallels, and teased season 4.
SEC Hot Seat Watch 2026
The SEC enters 2026 with six new head coaches after last year’s carousel turned into a Game of Thrones episode, sending Auburn, Florida, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Kentucky, and LSU to the Indeed portal to make new hires. That churn means most of the pressure this season falls on a smaller group of holdovers who’ve already […]
Apple dethrones Nvidia as world's most valuable company after stock moves
Nvidia has been hit by volatility as investors rethink parts of the AI thesis, while Apple is the top stock in the Magnificent Seven this year.
Dear 'House of the Dragon': Enough with the threats of sexual violence
"House of the Dragon" Season 3 veers too close to the worst impulses of "Game of Thrones."
What to remember before 'House of the Dragon' Season 3
Get your dragons and your blonde wigs ready, because HBO's "House of the Dragon" is back. The glitzy "Game of Thrones" spinoff and prequel premieres its third season Sunday, June
The 50 most-watched TV series finales of all time
Stacker ranked the top 50 most-watched TV series finales, according to Nielsen Ratings. See how "Game of Thrones" compares to "Seinfeld" and "M*A*S*H."
'Game of Thrones' actress says she joined a wellness cult that led to a psychotic break
Hannah Murray reveals how a wellness cult caused a "catastrophic" psychotic break, detailing her experience in a new memoir about magic and madness.
'Game of Thrones' star Hannah Murray had psychotic episode during time in wellness cult, was rushed to hospital
'Game of Thrones' star Hannah Murray has detailed her time spent in a wellness cult, when she had a psychotic episode that felt like 'giving birth through my skull' and was rushed to the hospital.
🗞️ White game of thrones, Barça market... today's back pages
This Friday’s front pages are mainly split between two major focuses: the build-up to the Women’s Champions League final in Oslo, the transfer market and institutional moves in football, and Spani...
Taking a look at four of the most overrated episodes of television in entertainment history
"Pine Barrens" celebrates its 25th anniversary, inspiring a ranking of four overrated TV episodes from The Sopranos, Seinfeld, and Game of Thrones.
Burke dethrones King in 4-0 Sox victory
The South Siders extend their winning streak to five
The ancient mountain kingdom where fantasy comes to life
They’re Westeros in “Game of Thrones.” They’re “Krypton” in the Superman prequel. The dense forests, twisting rivers and granite peaks of Northern Ireland’s Mourne Mountains have lived many lives and
The ancient mountain kingdom where fantasy comes to life
They’re Westeros in “Game of Thrones.” They’re “Krypton” in the Superman prequel. The dense forests, twisting rivers and granite peaks of Northern Ireland’s Mourne Mountains have lived many lives and
A24 sets 2028 release for ‘Elden Ring’ film. See cast, more
Released in 2022, "Elden Ring" was based on the worldbuilding of George R. R. Martin, author of the book series that inspired "Game of Thrones."
Michael Patrick of 'Game of Thrones' Dies at 35. Motor Neuron Disease, Explained
The actor passed away on April 7 following a three-year-long health battle.
Amazon dethrones Walmart as world’s biggest company by sales
Amazon and Walmart compete head-to-head for shoppers’ dollars.
Sophie Turner and Kit Harington Gagged After Kissing Each Other on Screen While Making Their New Horror Movie
Sophie Turner and Kit Harington can be seen, in a behind-the-scenes clip from their new movie, jokingly retching after sharing an onscreen kiss. 'The Dreadful' stars the two British actors, who formerly played siblings on 'Game of Thrones,' as lovers.
Australian Open: Novak Djokovic dethrones Jannik Sinner in five-set classic to set up final with Carlos Alcaraz
Novak Djokovic rolls back the years to reach his first Grand Slam final since Wimbledon in 2024, dethroning Jannik Sinner to set up a meeting with Carlos Alcaraz; watch the ATP and WTA Tours live on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, streaming service NOW and the app
Famous 'Game Of Thrones' Siblings Are Reuniting On Screen As... Lovers
The two actors admitted their make-believe family bond led to some awkwardness while filming their upcoming movie.
Sophie Turner and Kit Harington have 'Game of Thrones' reunion in first look at 'The Dreadful' (exclusive)
See 'Game of Thrones' costars Sophie Turner and Kit Harington reunite in the first look of 'The Dreadful.'