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See first photos of Jacob Tremblay's teen 'Unabomber' in Netflix movie
Jacob Tremblay might not be the first guy you think of to play the Unabomber, a disheveled, middle-aged killer who baffled authorities for years before being caught.
What to stream in August 2026: ‘Ted Lasso,’ ‘Lanterns,’ ‘Michael’
Here's what's coming to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+ and other streaming services in August.
What's new to streaming this week? (July 31, 2026)
What’s new on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and more? We've got you covered.
Netflix and AMC Global Media Announce Global Streaming Licensing Agreement for All Series in AMC’s The Walking Dead Universe
Netflix and AMC Global Media announced a multi-year global licensing agreement for The Walking Dead series and all six spin-off series that make up The Walking Dead Universe.
Netflix’s 'A Toxic Love Story' Is So Wild, You’ll Think It’s Scripted
Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary unpacks a shocking California case filled with deception, betrayal, and twists that sound almost too wild to be true. Find out more here.
The Internet Can't Decide if Netflix's #1 Movie Is Hilarious or a Total Miss
The internet can’t seem to agree on Netflix’s newest chart-topping comedy. Find out what viewers are saying about the film everyone is watching here.
Duchess Meghan makes TV return after divisive Netflix show
Duchess Meghan has made her return to TV nearly a year after the second season of her divisive Netflix lifestyle show was released.
Move over, Tom Hanks: Netflix’s Dan Brown series finds its new Robert Langdon
‘Gilded Age’ star Morgan Spector is set to lead the latest screen adaptation of Dan Brown’s best-selling Robert Langdon books.
Impression Entertainment Signs ‘Desire’ Star Óscar Casas
EXCLUSIVE: Óscar Casas, one of the stars of Netflix’s international chart-topper Desire (Deseo), has signed with Impression Entertainment for management. Directed by Teresa Simone, Desire is a Mexican...
Oscar Casas Signs With Impression Entertainment (EXCLUSIVE)
Oscar Casas, the Spanish actor who stars in Netflix chart-topper 'Desire,' has inked with Impression Entertainment for management.
NBCU-YouTube deal includes sports production, broader Peacock distribution
The production deal builds off a production relationship last year for YouTube’s NFL game from Brazil, which NBC Sports handled. YouTube does not have a standalone live NFL game this season. CBS Sports has been handling production for Netflix NFL games.
"Stranger Things" Meets the Wrestling Ring in Utica
Fans of the Netflix series "Stranger Things" and professional wrestling will get a unique experience when actor Randy Havens makes an appearance at the Utica University Nexus Center.
Kalshi demands Netflix take down trailer for ‘misleading’ prediction market documentary
The prediction market Kalshi threatened legal action against Netflix on Friday, claiming a trailer for its upcoming documentary about the industry contains defamatory and “fabricated” content, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
#paramount #streaming #entertainment
Paramount Skydance isn't waiting around for its planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery to bolster its flagship streaming service. Paramount's streaming leaders have told employees that they're planning major upgrades to Paramount+ in the coming weeks. An internal presentation, which was unveiled during a streaming town hall this week and viewed by Business Insider, shows "Product Priority Highlights" for Paramount's streaming business this quarter. These initiatives are part of Paramount CEO David Ellison's plan to improve the tech of a 114-year-old media company that trails Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney in streaming subscribers. Buying WBD would help Paramount catch up quickly and give it over 200 million streaming customers, the company has said. Read more about Paramount’s streaming projects on Business Insider: https://lnkd.in/eKfn9wyH (Credit: Getty Images) #paramount #streaming #entertainment
Carlton Cuse On Why Sports Rights Are Hurting Scripted & Residuals
'Lost's Carlton Cuse has explained how sports rights fights are hitting scripted TV production and updated on Netflix series 'The Secret of Secrets'.
Amazon is bringing games to Prime Video
Amazon is hoping the addition of games can turn Prime Video into a one-stop entertainment destination, borrowing a strategy from Netflix, which has increasingly embraced party games over the past several years.
What's new to streaming this week? (July 24, 2026)
What’s new on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and more? We've got you covered.
Mayfield Makes Feelings Known on Missing Playoffs on Netflix
Go behind the scenes as the Buccaneers star laments a squandered 6-2 start, reflecting on a missed postseason opportunity despite leading the most talented roster of his career.
'A Toxic Love Story' is the wildest true crime doc Netflix has released in years
An Anaheim love triangle is way more twisted that you could predict.
AI and the rise of the universal entertainment app
Over the past decade, streaming platforms competed by dominating individual formats like music, video, podcasts, or audiobooks. Now, as AI makes it easier to create, organize, and recommend content, those distinctions are fading, pushing companies like Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, and TikTok to become all-purpose entertainment destinations instead.
AI and the rise of the universal entertainment app
Over the past decade, streaming platforms competed by dominating individual formats like music, video, podcasts, or audiobooks. Now, as AI makes it easier to create, organize, and recommend content, those distinctions are fading, pushing companies like Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, and TikTok to become all-purpose entertainment destinations instead.
Noah Eagle Expected to Call Netflix NFL Australia Game
The Sept. 10 matchup will feature the Rams and 49ers.
UFC Freedom 250 Fails to Knock Out The Ratings
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) If UFC fans wanted one image to say, “Hey, Paramount+ is crushing it with their UFC rights deal,” I could provide that image. Here it is: (Reminder: this is my creation of the Nielsen Top 30, since Nielsen doesn’t combine the lists or include sports. I take all three lists and combine them. Some streaming TV shows probably have higher ratings than many of the films on this list.) Look at that! UFC Freedom 250 is number one! It topped the Nielsen “Top 30” list for shows and films that made the top ten the week of 15-June. So if you’re a UFC fan or supporter of Paramount+, that’s the good news for you this week. This program topped the ratings charts for one week. Everything else is bad news, or at least a huge caveat to that story, which I’ll explain today in the first part of this week’s Streaming Ratings Report—for the weeks of 8-June and 15-June—which is a double issue since I’ve been writing on a bunch of topics recently. UFC Freedom 250 is one of the biggest streaming events of the year, and super relevant to Paramount+’s strategy, so it merited its own article. Let’s dive in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of June 8th to June 21st 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Check Out My Interview on UFC 250 at MMA Draw After you read this article, if you want even more thoughts on UFC and Paramount-Skydance/Paramount+, I did a written interview with MMA Draw. They asked me to answer some questions about UFC Freedom 250, and I was happy to chat with them. Find it here: [ The MMA Draw Newsletter Did Paramount really overpay for the UFC? What the data tells us so far If you know the history of American television, you also know that combat sports is often a leading indicator of the future… Read more a day ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Nate Wilcox and Zach Arnold ](https://www.themmadraw.com/p/did-paramount-really-overpay-for?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) I never thought I’d need a combat sports newsletter in my life, but the good folks at MMA Draw publish an excellent one on UFC, MMA, pro wrestling, boxing and more, analyzing both the sports themselves and the politics, economics and antitrust issues that impact them. Check the article and their newsletter out! Paramount+ Has Its Best Sporting Event of All Time…But Was It Worth It? Before we look at the UFC Freedom 250 data in particular, let’s talk about what we can’t say. Namely, let’s start with the lack of comparisons. First off, I’d love to put a chart out comparing this fight to past UFC fights on Paramount+…but we don’t have the data. This is the first time we’ve gotten Nielsen data about a Paramount+ UFC fight. As far as I can tell, Paramount provided data for the first fight, but it was a proprietary datecdote (saying it had “an average minute audience” of 5 million “views”) and then, for two fights, we got the linear viewership numbers when they aired on CBS, but no streaming data. Everything else was crickets. We also can’t compare this fight to other fights/combat sports on streaming, in particular the MMA and boxing, because Netflix also didn’t use Nielsen to track those events, opting for TVision and VideoAmp, respectively. (This isn’t Paramount’s fault, but does still suck.) We also can’t compare to UFC’s fights that used to be on ESPN+, since we don’t have any data for that, plus Disney+ didn’t have marquee fights. The comparisons would not be apples-to-apples. Can we compare to past Pay-Per-View fights? Absolutely not. The comparisons would absolutely NOT be apples-to-apples. That didn’t stop Paramount+, though, who bragged that their UFC events have reached drastically more people than past PPV fights. Duh. Sorry, but I gotta make this point again. A basic tenet of economics is that the cheaper something becomes, the more people consume or buy it. That’s Econ 101. (Sometimes pundits call things “Econ 101” that are actually like Econ 210 or even PhD-level economics, but no, this is really like first or second class basic economics.) Yet I still see one analytics firm consistently say that more people watch films on streaming than PVOD proves streaming which means that the streaming window is more valuable than the PVOD window. No, it’s not! Same thing here. Pay-Per-View events back in the day could be really, really, really expensive! So whole groups of people pitched in to buy them. That increased the perceived value of, say, the Mike Tyson fight. Or a UFC numbered event. So yes, the fact that Paramount+ makes numbered UFC fights essentially “free” if you’re already a Paramount+ member means consumption will go up. Obviously. Same for Netflix and their boxing matches. They’re talking about fights that used to cost consumers, in some cases, $50 in 1996…which is over $100 in today’s dollars. Over 1.6 million people paid that to watch the Tyson-Holyfield fight! Again, streaming is essentially “free”. Or $10 to $20, depending on what streamer we’re talking about and what tier you’re on. No wonder more people are “watching”. (Plus, Nielsen’s out-of-home viewing also helps these numbers.) UFC Freedom 250 Did Well…But I Have A Lot of Worries So what can we compare the fights to? Well, the good news is Nielsen put out that the fight averaged 7.0 million viewers for UFC Freedom 250, which is a solid number for a fight. We also know the length, at roughly 4 and a half hours. (I saw different run times, but this seems to be the consensus considering it started at 8 pm, had a delay and then finished after midnight on the East Coast. If you assume a shorter run time, then yes, the total hours viewed would go down.) That means I have the two numbers needed to add this to my Nielsen database. And then…I can compare this viewership to the NFL: And, uh, not great. But also within striking distance, mainly because the runtime for this event was so long. I’d also add that this event had viewership equal to a regular season NFL game on streaming, but if anything, it was more comparable to an NFL playoff or Super Bowl-esque event. And you can compare viewership to the top football games on broadcast, cable and streaming, and it’s not impressive at all: We can also compare it to other sports that week, including the NBA Finals and start of the World Cup: Again, not great. The NBA generated roughly four times as many average viewers each game for its NBA Finals. The World Cup has similarly big numbers. Also, that’s just a tiny fraction of the 25 most watched sporting events each week. The NBA, NHL and FIFA World Cup had many, many more games racking up hours. We could also compare this to other streaming programs to get an idea of “is this a good investment?” and here is how it ranks compared to other top Paramount+ programs: The worry here? Well, unlike scripted programming, which has rewatchability, older fights/sporting events have very little library value. Very, very few people are rewatching these fights, especially years from now. Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers. Then, in their quarterly earnings report, they only ended up with 700K subs. Not great! They claimed they dropped lower-value international subscribers, but that’s why I tend to discount subscriber additions when they’re leaked to the press.1 I expect we may see a bump again for UFC Freedom 250, but I’d caution using subscriber growth so soon after these events to judge the success, since new subs with high churn (see Peacock) aren’t great either. Also, analysts often want to attribute all subscriber growth to their favorite/pet show, and that just doesn’t make sense. The biggest caveat for UFC Freedom 250 and Paramount’s very first UFC marquee event is that these could be high watermarks for the sport. UFC Freedom 250 had an incredible amount of earned media coverage compared to most UFC fights. I mean, it had wall-to-wall national news coverage in the lead up to the event. (The first fight also had a lot of promotion from Paramount since it was first.) Other fights could reach this bar—say the Conor McGregor return to the Octagon—but they’ll be fewer and far between. Was This Deal Worth It? All to ask: is this Paramount deal worth it? In this case, I think the UFC Freedom 250 numbers are more distracting than helpful. This fight did well and compares well to other top sporting events. But we know that the first marquee event was at least a third smaller, if Paramount’s own data is to be believed. And it’s likely the other fights are much, much, much smaller. And then you get to the paycheck that Paramount-Skydance paid. FIFA’s World Cup cost about the same for Fox, but clearly generated multiples more total viewership. (Though it’s only every four years.) The NBA is much more expensive, but until the playoffs, they likely didn’t pay for itself. Even still, Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video likely overpaid. So, in that context, the NBA may be an overpay that makes the UFC look not so bad. But two overpays don’t make an underpay, to paraphrase the old cliché about wrongs and rights. And looking at UFC Freedom 250 as the likely ceiling of MMA on Paramount+, Paramount-Skydance likely paid too much. Share 1 I would love regular reports on subscriber additions by programs, but as is, it’s mostly leaked or rumored in haphazard ways.
Jeff Arcuri On Katie Thurston Cancer, Netflix Special
Jeff Arcuri talks his wife Katie Thurston's cancer battle and telling that story in his debut Netflix special on the 'Comedy Means Business' podcast.
Netflix actress, model plead guilty to $3.4M Medicaid fraud scheme
The unusual defendants were swept up as part of a larger investigation into healthcare fraud in the Minnesota housing services program. An alleged third co-conspirator has pleaded not guilty and will take her chances at a jury trial.
When does 'My Life With the Walter Boys' season 3 come out? All about the Netflix hit's next chapter
Netflix's messy teen drama 'My Life With the Walter Boys' ended its second season with not one, but two major cliffhangers. Watch the season 3 trailer now.
The great Netflix turn-off
Music fans will be familiar with the curse of the difficult second album, when an act they like follows up a wonderful debut record with a disappointing one (think Second Coming by the Stones Roses or...
Marco Bassetti on why global entertainment still depends on local culture
In an age when viewers can drift from TikTok to Netflix to YouTube within minutes, the World Cup remains a rare thing: a live event that can capture the attention of a huge, simultaneous worldwide audience. Banijay Live, part of Banijay Entertainment that is behind hit TV franchises including "MasterChef," "Big Brother," and "The Traitors," is producing the tournament's closing ceremony on July 19 at the New York New Jersey Stadium. Marco Bassetti, its chief executive, says earning that kind of global attention is harder than ever — and keeping it depends on understanding local culture.
‘The Odyssey,’ ‘Heartstopper Forever,’ and ‘The Vampire Lestat’ finale top this week’s Must List
See EW’s top pop culture picks for the week, including Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey,’ ‘Heartstopper Forever’ on Netflix, and ‘The Vampire Lestat’ finale on AMC.
After ‘Heated Rivalry’ mania, a very adult ‘Heartstopper’ is here
(CNN) — It takes less than 10 minutes of watching the new “Heartstopper Forever” movie on Netflix to realize this is not the same tenderhearted romance to which audiences were
"Lacks excitement": Netflix tumbles 9% as weak earnings forecast deepens doubts over growth
Netflix's shares tumbled 9.2% before the bell on Friday following another weaker-than-expected earnings forecast from the streaming major, deepening doubts about its ability to sustain growth momentum.
Jayden Daniels Makes His Feelings on Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes Clear
After a memorable rookie season that helped lead the Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship Game, Jayden Daniels’ sophomore campaign didn’t go as planned.Washington finished 5-12, and injuries limited Daniels to just seven games.Despite missing most of the season, Daniels became one of the four quarterbacks featured on Season 3 of Netflix’s Quarterback, which followed […] The post Jayden Daniels Makes His Feelings on Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes Clear appeared first on HEAVY.
What's new to streaming this week? (July 17, 2026)
What’s new on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and more? We've got you covered.
Jessica Alba signs on for 13 Going On 30 reboot
Jessica Alba has joined the cast of Netflix's 13 Going On 30 reboot.
The States Try to Topple WarnerMount…Thus Begins the Local Antitrust Era
(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.) Well, it looks like it’s time for another strategy column. Can I finally avoid writing about M&A? No, it seems I cannot. Admittedly, I’m a week early with this column, since I usually put it out every other week. But this news couldn’t wait. This will make three “Most Important Stories” in a row with a merger or acquisition as its centerpiece. First, Roku-Fox (an acquisition), then Comcast-NBCUniversal (a divestment!), and now the State AGs and the WGA’s lawsuits against Paramount’s pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery (antitrust). M&A is usually the “most important” topic any given week, simply because a giant company merging or breaking up (or preventing those outcomes) can have the biggest impact on the streaming board. If you think about these companies as players in a game, changing the number of players is one of the biggest changes you can make. I shouldn’t really complain, either, since this lawsuit is very good news for customers and suppliers (econ speak for talent, workers and indie studios in Hollywood). So let me answer some questions about this potential trial, along with (shudder) making some heavily caveated predictions. I’ll also look at whether Hollywood must consolidate, whether or not the states can win, trouble at X-Box, Netflix’s YouTube binge, and more. Plus, I have five images that visualize this merger and the harm, including three brand new data looks you’ve never seen before. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Can The States and the WGA Stop Hollywood’s Consolidation (Crisis)? If every other newsletter and news outlet is writing about the same story, I try to avoid writing about it as well, but I can’t ignore a story this consequential. The story of the last year was the fate of Warner Bros. Discovery, and this development potentially extends that saga into 2027. As I tried to figure out my angle, I realized, like my last column, I’m again faced with a series of questions. These questions, though, are much more forward-looking. Will the states win? Will the WGA win? If so, what happens to Warner Bros. Discovery? Either way, will this chill the market for future mergers? So you know what that means: predictions. About the future, no less, the hardest thing to predict.1 Just remember: nothing here comes with a guarantee. And the more confident someone is in their predictions, the less you should trust them. This situation is incredibly fluid, nuanced, uncertain and tenuous. So let’s try to explain what may happen. Question: Why File this Lawsuit? I’ll admit, a few months back, I was fairly pessimistic about the fate of this lawsuit. Rumors had started bubbling up that the state Attorneys General (in particular California) wanted to settle with either some minor divestments (usually CNN) or behavioral remedies. And that tracked for me: the states usually settle lawsuits, like the recent John Deere right-to-repair suit. Yet, they plan to fight this. (As they did the LiveNation-Ticketmaster monopolization trial and the Nexstar-Tegna merger.) Honestly, that also makes a ton of sense. Frankly, this move is just good politics for these State AGs. Most are still running for higher and higher office in blue states—some folks have emphasized that only Democratic AGs joined this suit, but given the Ellison/Trump ties, and fears of retribution, that tracks—and a high profile case like this will help them move up the electoral ladder, especially since Paramount and its leadership (the Ellisons, father and heir) have sided with the other side of the political aisle. That makes them unsympathetic to Democratic voters and Hollywood workers in particular. Why did this lawsuit happen? In addition to the very real concerns about industry consolidation, this is why. That said, I don’t think we would have seen this lawsuit for Netflix and Warner Bros., simply because they’re more sympathetic and aligned with Democrats. But those consolidation concerns are real. The “town”—meaning Hollywood and such—really is seeing the damage of mergers on this industry. That’s why the WGA also filed its own lawsuit in defense of workers as well. (Wildcard: What about Europe? Will they try to stop the deal, too? There have been some rumors out of the UK they may try to fight the deal, and UK enforcers just stopped a Getty Images-Shutterstock tie up, so there is precedence. This argument could go either way, though. On one hand, the EU doesn’t need to step in, cause they states are handling it. On the other hand, this could make the EU’s case easier. Just imagine if both sides coordinated. I’ll simply say, “We’ll see!”) Question: Will The State AGs or the WGA Win? Can the state AGs play David to Paramount-Skydance’s Goliath here? That’s really the whole thing, isn’t it? If you know this result, you could make a lot of money. When things are uncertain, it’s tempting to shrug and say, “Eh” meaning it’s a 50/50 proposition. I wouldn’t, though. When in doubt, you should expect that the merging parties succeed. AT&T did successfully buy Warner Bros., after all, and Disney bought Fox without any challenges. Many judges are extremely sympathetic to mergers, and I’d bet the state AGs get a judge who will allow the merger. (Even Obama-appointed judges often allow mergers.) As I understand it, we’ll see two main attacks. First, theatrical films. The AGs are arguing that, when it comes to share of box office and the number of both “wide releases” and blockbuster (or “tentpole”) films, the merging parties will have over 27% market share. Now, the Supreme Court once ruled from on high that any merger that exceeds 30% is presumptively illegal, but that’s guidance, not an ironclad bar. Still, the states will have to argue that this is close to having too much power, and with that power, this will likely further worsen the theater/studio splits in particular. Indeed, as Matthew Stoller pointed out, “just five studios are responsible for 95% of all blockbusters; if this merger goes through, then Paramount and Disney will control 60% of that.” So yes, movie studios will be very concentrated after this merger. Want me to visualize some of that? Well, here’s the share of films that grossed over $200 million at the domestic box office since 2022. (Note: this isn’t all films released in over 3,000 screens, but it is a good look at market power.) First, here are the 43 films by studio: Notice all the blue (Disney), orange (Universal), and purple (Warner Bros)? Yeah, those studios are powerful, and this combines Paramount with one of them. Here’s the look by studio and share of the films that grossed over $200 million: Now, if you look at that and also think, “Huh, should we break up Disney?” I’m with you. I’ve seen some folks poo-poo this idea that this is a real category, but it is! For an upcoming article, I’ve been pulling data on the share of top 100 films at the box office as a share of total box office, and it’s massive. Here’s the chart: (This analysis looks at The-Number’s top 100 films and total domestic box office each year.) To be clear, tentpoles make up 80.7% of the box office each year, so I do think it’s a genuine market. (To be clear, films grossing over $50 million make up 80% of the domestic box office, and films grossing over $100 million make up 64.1%.) I mean, the top 100 films at the box office make up 95% of each year’s grosses. Worse, the combined studios will likely cut output to flex that market power. Everyone can just look at what happened to Disney and Fox to see the precedent. (With fewer films, the remaining theaters have to give more for those few films that remain.) Here’s an image I’ve used a lot, the share of wide-release films from Disney and Fox over time: The AGs will also argue that this consolidation will also impact the cable industry. In this case, the consolidation is actually worse, but that environment is…complicated. Paramount will argue that the cable industry is shrinking. That said, predictions that cable will “go to zero” also don’t look very well supported by the data, as the declines are shrinking, meaning “cable” or “vMVPDs” will likely stabilize at some point. Can the state Attorneys General win on those two main arguments? I honestly don’t know. Again, I’d bet no, since history in general supports that, but it depends on the judge/jury and how they interpret the arguments. Notably, Paramount won’t face accusations about monopoly power in other areas, like streaming, news, sports rights, or vertical integration. I tend to disagree with leaving out sports rights, but I also see the appeal for a simpler case. The states also aren’t really pushing novel theories about labor harm either, which should help. (By the way, Sean McNulty at The Ankler wrote a great run through of potential options, and Capitol Forum also wrote a great paper on theatrical consolidation. Both these pieces predated the lawsuit. Matthew Stoller is also out with his analysis of the pros and cons of the case too.) In some ways, the WGA’s case is even stronger. Quoting Sean McNulty’s summary: “The WGA is citing WARNAMOUNT as crossing a 30% market share in multiple sectors, a number that the Supreme Court has precedent for deeming “presumptively anticompetitive” in a market. According to the WGA numbers, WARNAMOUNT would have represented: - 35% of film writing jobs between 2021 and 2024 - 36% of TV writing projects between 2022 and 2025 - 38% of overall deals between 2021 and 2024” Notably, antitrust enforcers did win recently in the Penguin-Simon & Schuster merger by focusing on labor impact, so don’t count this thinking out. (Wildcard: Will the states try to get a jury trial? Most likely no, they’ll let a judge handle it. If I’m them, though, I’d try to put this in front of a jury. Juries tend to understand monopoly power in a more realistic way than judges faced with legions of economists.) Question: What if They Win? What if They Lose?
Netflix tries to recapture Stranger Things magic with nostalgic re-release
It’s even more ‘80s now.
Baker Mayfield addresses epic trash talking on Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’
Baker Mayfield addresses epic trash talking on Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’: ‘None of that is for the camera’
Best international shows to stream in 2026
For six weeks, soccer made the U.S. the center of worldwide celebration. Keep the post-World Cup blues at bay by watching these 15 international series.
Cleveland Browns: Veteran QB schooled rookies on substance over style
Netflix series reveals Joe Flacco having some fun with Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel about life in the NFL.
Netflix wants you to apply to its new game show with $2M prize
Netflix opens casting for a 'Monopoly' competition series, inviting applicants to join a life‑size version of the classic board game.
Netflix's #6 Movie May Emotionally Wreck You (But It's Absolutely Worth the Watch)
A new Netflix release is quickly becoming a must-watch, but there’s one thing you should know before pressing play: it may leave you reaching for a box of tissues. Find out more here.
Netflix Bounces Back With Home Run Derby Debut
After its panned coverage of Opening Night, Netflix focused on the field.
‘Good Mythical Morning’ Coming to Netflix In Streamer’s Latest Creator Deal (Exclusive)
The deal with Mythical Entertainment will also include 'Mythical Kitchen' and 'Last Meals,' all of which will debut on Netflix the same day they are uploaded on YouTube.
Shedeur Sanders catches shade from Joe Flacco for visor choice
The third season of Netflix's 'Quarterback' series showed off the funny way Joe Flacco teased then-rookie Shedeur Sanders.
Netflix's 'The Whisper Man' trailer is every parent's worst nightmare
Adam Scott and Robert DeNiro team up to search for a missing child.
Netflix Docuseries Reveals Extent of Bucs’ Mayfield's Injuries Last Season
From sprained ligaments to an injured shoulder, behind-the-scenes footage uncovers the grueling physical toll Baker Mayfield endured while starting every game during Tampa Bay’s turbulent 2025 campaign.
Reviews of Netflix’s Home Run Derby telecast are one-sided
Netflix’s maiden Home Run Derby telecast came with plenty of hype. The field of participants included stars both familiar (Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber) and new (Junior Caminero, Munetaka Murakami), from the east (Ben Rice, Willson Contreras ) and midwest (Jac…
Netflix Facing Backlash for Camera Angles During Home Run Derby
Netflix is facing backlash during the 2026 Home Run Derby.
How to Watch the 2026 Home Run Derby: Time, Streaming, Participants and Format
The 2026 Home Run Derby is Monday at Citizens Bank Park, streaming exclusively on Netflix. Here's the time, the field and the new swing-based format.
What to Stream: 'Heartstopper Forever,' 'Lucky' and Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy's new album and the conclusion of the “Heartstopper” series are among the streaming highlights in entertainment this week. The film “Heartstopper Forever” streams on Netflix on July 17.
What to Stream: 'Heartstopper Forever,' 'Lucky' and Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy's new album and the conclusion of the “Heartstopper” series are among the streaming highlights in entertainment this week. The film “Heartstopper Forever” streams on Netflix on July 17.
Netflix Just Added Christopher Nolan’s Best Movie Ever Ahead Of ‘The Odyssey’
Just before the release of The Odyssey, Netflix has managed to snag Christopher Nolan's best movie ever, depending on who you ask.
Netflix in Talks to Buy Letterboxd: Report
Could Letterboxd, the popular film-review social network, end up in the clutches of Netflix or another big entertainment corporation? Letterboxd, founded in 2011, has been shopping itself to intereste...
Melissa Gilbert names the most progressive episode of original ‘Little House on the Prairie’
Melissa Gilbert is looking back on the original ‘Little House on the Prairie’ ahead of the new Netflix series, and singing the praises of this progressive 1977 episode: ‘I don’t think we get more woke than that.’
Exclusive | Netflix Is Exploring Live TV and Bundles as It Struggles to Keep Viewers Hooked
Netflix's 'Little House' reboot is comfort TV with rose-colored views
The skies are spacious, the fields are amber waves of grass and grain.
What's new to streaming this week? (July 10, 2026)
What’s new on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and more? We've got you covered.
John Stamos says he told ‘DWTS’ producers to stop asking him to join show: ‘I’m never gonna do that’
John Stamos says ‘Dancing With the Stars’ producers try to get him on the show ‘every single season,’ but he insists he never will: ‘Don’t ever ask me again.’
Why Netflix’s ‘Maternal Instinct’ left out Taylor Parker’s mental health diagnosis
Director Jessica Dimmock explained her reasoning to Netflix's Tudum.
Netflix Games Suggest a Flat Future for Entertainment
Xbox layoffs, PlayStation's digital-only future, and Netflix video game forecast an increasingly flattened entertainment economy. Unhinged, review.
Of course viewers are giving up on Netflix shows
Pivoting to short form video isn’t going to fix things.
Netflix bets on short videos to compete with YouTube
Netflix is adding short clips from publishers like Condé Nast in a deal that's "straight out of the YouTube handbook," as one analyst put it.
Netflix Partners With Variety, THR, Vanity Fair and More in Video Deal to ‘Deepen Fandom’
Netflix is licensing video programming from Penske Media brands, Condé Nast, Hearst, and other publishers as it bolsters its content lineup.
First look at Harry Jowsey’s new Netflix reality dating show “Let’s Marry Harry” (exclusive)
Harry Jowsey of “Too Hot to Handle” and “Perfect Match” fame is looking for true love.
Jude Law to Star in Getaway Driver Movie, Written by Zach Baylin
Jude Law will star in a new movie about a getaway driver written by Zach Baylin, the co-creator of Netflix miniseries "Black Rabbit."
Crowd work comedian Jeff Arcuri is ready to meet you
Stand-up comic Jeff Arcuri has become the guy from your Instagram reels you can’t quite place, now turning viral crowd work clips into his first Netflix special, “Nice to Meet You.”
Most Unnecessary Rematch Ever?
Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry was not a particularly competitive fight. The duo dueled a couple months ago at the inaugural MVP MMA event, which aired on Netflix and featured the return of Ronda Rousey among several other high-profile matchups. For many longtime fight fans, the most anticipated clash was the Diaz vs. Perry, two […]
I Wasn't Expecting Much from Netflix's #1 Movie But It Turned Out to Be Exactly What I Needed
A new Netflix comedy is climbing the charts, and it is a chaotic, laugh-out-loud ride that might be more fun than the trailer lets on. Find out more here.
Millie Bobby Brown believes she was a closeted gay soldier killed with a sword in past life
Millie Bobby Brown thinks that she was a closeted gay soldier who was slain with a sword to the spine in a past life.
Long Reads for the Long Weekend
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Happy Fourth of July weekend! As has been a tradition of mine going back to the beginning of the EntStrategyGuy website, I’m sharing my favorite long reads of the last year, like I did in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024, and 2025. Let’s dive right in! Subscribe “Different Prices for the Same Ride: How Uber and Lyft Use AI to Get More Money Out of You“ by Derek Kravitz in Consumer Reports I don’t think surveillance pricing, like the kind described in this brilliant Consumer Reports article, is long for the world—it’s toxically unpopular—but we’ll see if either party takes on this issue. If I ran a political party focused on affordability, I would focus on a few pro-consumer and pro-market policies: Banning non-compete agreements. Ending surveillance pricing Eliminating junk fees (read more here...) Ensuring “right to repair” for consumer (and military!) products Capping excessive app store fees Stopping digital/algorithmic price-fixing tools. Preventing automatic subscription price increases. And more. If you want to fight inflation, there are a lot of great ways to do it quickly. Speaking of higher prices... “Secret Documents Show Pepsi and Walmart Colluded to Raise Food Prices Across the Economy“ by Matt Stoller in BIG Again, I think a political party should focus on lowering prices for consumers. And deals like this—Walmart making a deal/forcing Pepsi to offer the lowest prices at its stores and nowhere else—hypothetically lower prices at Walmart...but raise them everywhere else. “15 DUIs, still driving: California’s failure to take repeat drunk drivers off the road“ by Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler in CalMatters CalMatters does terrific reporting in California, something the Golden State desperately needs more of, and this article is a great example of that. “PugLips: The next insanely popular thing you’ve never heard of…” by Simon Carless in Game Discover Co I thought that this parody article (and yes, it’s a parody, but I was definitely unsure at first) was hilarious and totally nailed how much tech/business journalism feels these days. Actually, three of my favorite articles this year were on hype in the video game industry, including Georg Zoller’s “The Video Game Industries Very Dark Night”—which I linked to recently and wrote a follow-up here—and Owen Mahoney’s “Derek Zoolander, Videogame Exec”. In particular, I like Mahoney’s focus on user experience as a guide to what trends will actually grab hold of customers. “The Matrix Lies“ by Evan Shapiro in Media War & Peace Evan Shapiro’s first person account of his experience with AI was hilarious. I think LLMs capabilities have significantly grown from last summer, and yet...my editor/researcher just had an abysmal experience using an LLM to do a quite basic task (which our LLM normally does each week) and the LLM made a mistake on every single data entry...along with seven different mistakes affecting twelve of the twenty or so entries, including mistakes that are explicitly spelled out in the prompt. That’s a brutal failure rate. Again, if you use AI/LLM for data collection, you need to take a lot of extra steps to verify and check the data. “Ghosts in the Balcony: A Cross-Country Trip to 58 Theaters Fighting to Survive“ by Matthew Frank in The Ankler I thought Matthew Frank’s pitch to head across America to visit theaters sounded insane aggressive at the time—at least it felt that way to someone a decade older than him; man, to be in your twenties again, am I right?—but I knew the result would be great. And it was, a terrific feature by a great young writer. Also, I loved Matthew’s recent article on who’s getting the precious few entry level jobs in Hollywood. (Hint: nepotism.) “Disney erased FiveThirtyEight“ and “Did Las Vegas get too greedy?” by Nate Silver in Silver Bulletin I love media history and analysis, and there’s no one better to get the history of FiveThirtyEight than from Nate Silver, who wrote about his personal experience in one of my favorite pieces from this year. I also loved Nate’s breakdown of what’s causing Vegas’ woes, but I’ll offer one criticism, summarized as “Might I suggest antitrust?” Many centrists/center-right/libertarian thinkers (Nate is self-described as the latter) often don’t consider consolidation or antitrust as factors in policy issues like housing, America’s military readiness, or, in this case, Las Vegas. Even if libertarians want to debunk antitrust/consolidation concerns, I’d love to read that debunking. In this case, Vegas is incredibly consolidated (though it also has been for a long time) and I’d have loved to read Nate at least contending with this factor, since he addresses almost every other potential factor for Vegas’ decline. “Why Microsoft’s Carbon Removal Pullback Is Such a Big Deal“ by Robinson Meyer in Heatmap News I’m a big supporter of carbon removal efforts, but this nascent industry faces a lot of headwinds, including this big move most recently. I think it’s clear that solar panels and batteries should be able to get the world to its carbon footprint goals, but effective carbon renewal remains necessary to prevent the worst impacts of global warming. “AI is killing the cheap smartphone“ by David Oks LLMs and AI will impact the world in ways we’re not ready for, and already, third world countries are seeing the prices of cheap cellphones skyrocket due to the cost of chips skyrocketing. This article by David Oks is a terrific breakdown. “100 Days of Madness: Netflix, Paramount, Warner and the Future of Hollywood“ by Wade Major at Hollywood Heretic Wade Major dove deep into Hollywood/streaming’s financials in this must read piece. Not that I agree with everything in this article (read my take on Warner Bros./Paramount here) but the analysis is top notch. I think many people discount how quality thinking, regardless of the argument/conclusion, will make you a better thinker. “Erased by the UFC: Frank Shamrock, The MMA GOAT of the 20th Century“ by Nate Wilcox in The MMA Draw Newsletter Growing up playing the UFC fighting game on the Dreamcast, Frank Shamrock was my favorite MMA fighter, and this history/tribute to him was great. Other Fun Reads “The Hardest Part Of History To Tell Is How It Felt“ by Craig Fehrman at Defector “Unmasking the Sea Star Killer“ by Craig Welch at bioGraphic “What Could Save the Industry? Fin-Syn“ by Richard Rushfield in The Ankler Alex Rollins Berg in Underexposed on movie bumpers, pillow shots, Disney trash cinema, cult films, and Casablanca. David H. Montgomery in YouGov’s The Surveyor on punctuation marks, condiments, dinosaurs, and comic strips and kids media. “How Medium finally pivoted its way to profitability“ and “Why the best journalists on YouTube are all former Vox employees“ by Simon Owens in Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter “It’s Not Just You, Netflix Shows Have Gotten Slightly Shorter: Here’s What the Data Says“ by Kasey Moore at What’s on Netflix “Numlock Awards: How Diane Warren became the biggest loser in Oscar history“ by Nathaniel Rakich and “Numlock Awards: The Oscar Bait era is over. The Oscar Chum era is here.” by Walt Hickey & Michael Domanico at Numlock Awards
Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen to play JonBenét Ramsey's parents in new Netflix series
"The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey" aims to examine the case from multiple viewpoints, including those of the Ramsey family and investigators, rather than presenting a single theory.
What's new to streaming this week? (July 3, 2026)
What’s new on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and more? We've got you covered.
CEO says his fund is investing in Netflix, sees ‘risky business’ in chips
Infrastructure Capital Management CEO Jay Hatfield says Netflix is showing good growth despite being ‘double hammered’ on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Netflix will release JonBenét Ramsey show starring Melissa McCarthy
The eight-episode series also stars Clive Owen, Garrett Hedlund, Alison Pill, and Shea Whigham.
Netflix director Carl Rinsch sentenced to over 2 years in prison
The judge said Carl Rinsch may have been in a "manic state" when he bought five Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari but he spent years covering it up.
Netflix and Superheroes Are Having a Rough Stretch on Streaming....
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) I have a quick prediction before we start today’s article: You might see this data in future news articles. Not my specific charts or analysis, but the core trend I’ve been monitoring—Netflix is having a lackluster Q2—will become inescapable. Often, folks want to know “What does the data say?” Well, that’s what it says. I haven’t seen this analysis hit the trades really yet, but I have a feeling some other outlets are going to start making this case soon. Remember, you read it here first. You probably have read about the problems facing superhero films at the box office this weekend. Well, this week, I explore whether superheroes are dying on TV as well! And the data says: definitely maybe! We have a lot to cover in today’s Streaming Ratings Report, which covers the two weeks of 18-May and 25-May. Today, I’m just looking at TV, like Netflix’s disappointing Q2, superhero shows underwhelming, a few TV shows dropping off the charts, The Pitt finally ending its epic run on the viewership charts (and whether “view counts” change its status as one of the biggest shows of all time), all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Tomorrow, I’ve got a great rundown of the film side of things. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, Showlabs, TV Time trend data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of May 18th to May 31st, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Netflix’s Q2 Slump Continues Having analyzed streaming ratings for going on half a decade, I have learned to trust my gut, but I’m always relieved when I can find actual data to back it up. For example, after a string of very popular shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Night Agent came out, week after week, in January and February, my gut wondered if Netflix had enough new and returning TV shows to sustain them throughout the year. Since then, Netflix’s post-March slate of shows has not impressed me. This week seemed to feature a potential new hit, but then, like a classic Duffer Bros. TV show, there was a twist. I speak of The Boroughs, Netflix’s latest (and last) Duffer Bros. produced show. The pitch is “Stranger Things with older actors”. And it topped the Nielsen charts: With just two weeks of viewership, The Boroughs would have been a top 25 debut show last year: But here’s the twist: Netflix has already cancelled The Boroughs! What happened? Likely a few things. First, the show didn’t do as well globally as it did in the US. As What’s on Netflix showed, it lagged behind several other shows that got cancelled. Second, its completion rate was likely low; after an initial burst of interest, it quickly dropped off on the Samba TV and Luminate charts. Third, the Duffer Bros. left Netflix for Paramount, and that may have factored into Netflix’s decision here. (Though I tend to believe that if a show is doing well, Netflix would have kept greenlighting seasons.) Still, just because I can explain why Netflix may have cancelled this show doesn’t mean I’m justifying it. In particular, as I’ve noted before, Netflix is losing a lot of their bigger shows as they reach their natural ends, and they need to replace those shows. This show had the hallmarks of a big new genre show, and it’s their biggest hit of the last few months (in the US at least), but now it’s done. Netflix’s other show this week—The Four Seasons, the second season of the “hit” show from last year—definitely disappointed. Its sophomore season had about half the viewership of the first, only 12.7 million hours. It also only had a two week run on Samba TV, and its numbers were all down on Luminate too. In other words, even with two successes, the Q2 slump for Netflix looks real: I could add to the list of disappointments: Both Lord of the Files and Man on Fire had short runs on the Nielsen charts. Running Point’s sophomore season also opened to about half its viewership, similar to The Four Seasons. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’s second season—see below—didn’t even make any of the three viewership charts I track, unlike the first season. Netflix is absolutely having a dismal second three months of 2026. If this Nielsen data is any indication, and I think it is, I think this will show up in Netflix’s engagement report, and maybe even their financial outcomes. And the rest of June doesn’t look much better. We have two hit shows coming back—Sweet Magnolias, one of their quietest big shows, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, a big hit for them in 2024—but the other big swings are limited series crime thrillers i.e. no future season potential. Like I said above, sometimes when I uncover a juicy nugget like this, other outlets end up writing very similar articles mimicking the data without credit. We’ll see if that happens this time! Share Television - The State of Superhero Shows on Streaming When I first heard the pitch for Spider-Noir—a Sony TV show on Prime Video that binge-released eight episodes first on MGM+ then on Prime Video two days later—I had my doubts. It’s a live-action Spider-Man show set in the 1930s, starring Nicholas Cage, based on a cameo of a character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. No, seriously, that’s the pitch. That could either go terrifically well or horribly wrong. Great because, Spider-Man. He’s the biggest superhero we have. I’ve seen tracking numbers that put the new _Spider-Man: Brand New Da_y as the blockbuster of the year and initial pre-sales back that up. And yet this Spider-Noir pitch feels very esoteric. (Also, the eight-episode binge release feels very “Amazon copying Netflix” again.) So what’s the data say? And what does this say about the future of superhero shows?
Comcast cuts NBCUniversal loose. Netflix and Apple may want a look.
Comcast spent 25 years arguing that media and broadband belonged together. Now it's breaking them apart.
Kakao Entertainment Announces Genre-Spanning Lineup
Kakao Entertainment enjoyed a highly successful first half of the year, with its Netflix series “The WONDERfools” and “Boyfriend on Demand” hitting global home runs with their distinctive narratives. Also building on the recently released suspense drama “Notes from the Last Row,” Kakao Entertainment’s genre-spanning 2026 slate features the upcoming action-comedy “A Bona Fide Killer” and the thriller “Mousetrap,” cementing - Read our full Pop Culture on The Outerhaven .
Comcast to split cable business from media through NBCUniversal, Sky spinoff
Comcast will split into two publicly traded companies through a spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky, separating its cash-generating broadband arm from a media and entertainment business under pressure from streaming rivals and industry consolidation. The latest U.S. media industry shake-up follows years of cord-cutting as legacy players chase scale to better compete with Netflix while Paramount Skydance's $110 billion deal for Warner Bros Discovery is set to boost competition. Comcast, which leans on cable for much of its cash flow, is also losing broadband customers to fixed wireless offerings from T-Mobile and Verizon and to fiber rivals building out networks.
How did EBS science show reach Netflix's top 10?
For years, South Korea’s public Educational Broadcasting System has struggled to rival the massive budgets of global streaming originals and star-driven mainstr
Bad news: Netflix now wants every single profile in your house to have its own email login
Netflix quietly updates how shared accounts work
Netflix wants everyone in your house to have their own email login now
Netflix is quietly changing how shared accounts work, one profile at a time.
Netflix now requires every user profile to be tied to unique email address
Update began June 15 and will no longer allow you to share your login info.
Chris Evert shares devastating health update
It is the news that no one wanted to hear about Chris Evert. Amid the Netflix press tour and her upcoming ESPN commentary duties at Wimbledon, we learned on Wednesday that she quietly stepped away to deal with a health…
What's new to streaming this week? (June 26, 2026)
What’s new on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and more? We've got you covered.
Here's where you can stream “Gilmore Girls” once it leaves Netflix after 12 years
Netflix previously revived the beloved drama with a miniseries.
50 Cent Diddy documentary alleges blame for Biggie, Tupac deaths
50 Cent's new documentary chronicling the rise and fall of Sean "Diddy" Combs hit Netflix Tuesday, complete with bombshell revelations, never-before-seen footage and insider interviews.
'Voicemails for Isabelle' is Netflix's latest big hit — but viewers should expect tears
Zoey Deutch's Netflix rom-com has pleased both audiences and critics alike. But what viewers weren't expecting was how many tissues they would need while watching.
Roku May Help Fox Avoid Aggregeddon
(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.) Scrolling through links over the last week, I stumbled across this fun headline: Wow. Formula 1 (the sport, not the docu-series) is the perfect “dog not barking”. As a reminder, each week in my Streaming Ratings Report, I call out the shows that miss every viewership chart. I dub them “dogs not barking”—like the Sherlock Holmes mystery—because without any data, we forget they even exist. This is in contrast to something like, say, a film flop—cough The Mandalorian and Grogu cough—where even underperforming at the box office is widely discussed here, there and everywhere. In the US, Formula 1 is now in “no public viewership data, so not discussed” territory. After moving to Apple TV from its former home of ESPN, basically no one talks about it. Apple did publish an initial, unsourced, unsubstantiated, (dare I say unserious) datecdote claiming more folks are watching Formula 1 on Apple than ESPN, but we haven’t gotten any updates since. This stands in contrast to when the sport streamed on ESPN, and ESPN PR provided weekly viewership figures. Formula 1 was, at best, a niche sport in America—averaging 1.3 million viewers in the Big Data Plus era—but now it’s basically anonymous. (And yeah, after moving to Apple, I very, very, very much doubt its ratings increased.) Unfortunately, that story isn’t quite big enough to warrant a section in today’s “Most Important Story of the Week” column, but I wanted to call it out, because otherwise, no one else will! Certainly, no one will write articles about the silence/ratings decline, unlike when they wrote breathless articles connecting the rise in viewership to Netflix’s Drive to Survive, including Reuters just last month. (This is a topic I’ve tried to provide a moderate/nuanced/non-hyped take since 2022.) Anyway, on to this week’s issue. I was a bit worried I didn’t have a juicy topic, then the Murdochs went out and did their Murdoch thing: buying Roku. So that’s the story of the week, and it happens to touch on quite a few themes of the streaming wars and the disruption therein. I’ll cover that, plus why more consolidation in Hollywood media looks likely, more good news on the Hollywood labor front, whether we’ll see an uptick in production in Los Angeles, some Broadway and theme park news, cellphone prices going up in the third world (and possibly everywhere), and more. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Another Big Media & Entertainment Merger The story of the week is clearly Fox is buying Roku for $22 billion. I read a lot of good strategy takes on why Fox bought this streaming TV device maker—and I’ll have mine below—but what fascinates me more is how this deal connects to quite a few themes of the streaming wars, linking to everything from the pace of M&A to “aggregeddon” to Netflix’s recent M&A actions/inactions to the shift to advertising from pure play streaming and more. The only topic I can’t really connect it to is my old theory, “never bet against Rupert Murdoch” because he isn’t the one who did this deal; his son Lachlan inked it. (Do I think he provided advice, even at his 95 years of age? Sure.) That plus I have one additional piece of strategy for all entertainment players, inspired by this deal. So let’s dive into all those topics, starting with why I like this deal. Roku is a Great M&A Buy
Netflix’s next TV gaming experiment will scare the hell out of you
It’s out on June 30th.
Netflix’s New #1 Show Is a Crime Thriller Everyone Can Finally Agree on
A new Netflix thriller has taken over the number 1 spot, knocking a usual chart-topper down the rankings. Viewers are calling it binge-worthy, twist-filled, and impossible to pause once you start. Find out more here.
'Voicemails for Isabelle' director was worried end cameo scene would come off 'creepy' (exclusive)
Netflix's new hit rom-com, 'Voicemails for Isabelle,' includes a poignant appearance in the film's final moments. Writer-director Leah McKendrick talks to EW about her decision to include that cameo, and her fear that it would feel 'creepy.'
Sporticast: Why Netflix, EA Have Their Own World Cup Games
On the 563rd Sporticast episode, hosts Jacob Feldman and Justin Birnbaum discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including a detailed breakdown of Netflix’s FIFA World Cup video game. Following Electronic Arts and FIFA’s split in 2022, both parties now have World Cup-related offerings on the market. Electronic Arts recently launched …
“Voicemails for Isabelle ”writer-director Leah McKendrick reveals the true story that inspired the romcom
A stand-up comedy set, a long-distance separation from her sister, and morbid thoughts of death all poured into the film currently taking off on Netflix.
'Gears of War' movie reveals first plot details: 'The origin story of Delta Squad' (exclusive)
'Gears of War' movie plot revealed: Netflix's live-action adaptation will be 'the origin story of Delta Squad.'
Netflix's “Gears of War” live-action movie reveals first plot details: 'The origin story of Delta Squad' (exclusive)
David Leitch of "Bullet Train" and "The Fall Guy" will direct the video game-to-film adaptation.
I’m an Entertainment Editor, and These Are the Summer Movies I Can’t Wait to See This Year
If you're searching for the best new summer movies in 2026, we've gathered films for you to watch on Netflix, in theaters, and on other streaming services.
What's new to streaming this week? (June 19, 2026)
What’s new on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and more? We've got you covered.