Latest in Corporate Affairs

Republican Senators have asked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in a letter why a book that “challenges the transgender movement” was pulled from sale on the website. The book, When Harry Became Sally by Ryan T. Anderson, was an Amazon bestseller. Its description says it provides “thoughtful answers to questions arising from our…

The NFL flatly denied a report of a preliminary rights deal with Disney, but the league is continuing to hold active talks with all bidders ahead of a key March date. Sports Business Journal reported the Disney pact, though it cautioned that “contracts have not been signed.” It pegged the annual rights fee at $2.6…

Despite shakiness in the overall sports economy, with declining TV ratings and event revenue due to Covid-19, DraftKings is wagering on the continued health of the sports betting business. The online gaming firm reported fourth-quarter results ahead of Wall Street forecasts, with revenue of $322 million and a loss of…

Mark Zoradi, CEO of major exhibitor Cinemark and a former longtime Disney executive, sees some familiar elements on the summer release calendar, which he sees as a potential Covid-19 recovery turning point. “The last weekend in May, in that traditional beginning of summer, you have Cruella from Disney and you have F9…

The multi-hour streaming presentation by ViacomCBS on Wednesday about its soon-to-be-rebranded streaming service Paramount+ has not proven to be a short-term tonic for the company’s stock price. Shares dropped 5% today to close at $62.50, on above-average trading volume. The stock has surged more than 70% in 2021 to…

NBCUniversal is expanding the number of households reachable with addressable advertising — a newer form of brand messages based on metrics beyond traditional demos — by 40% through a new deal with Charter Communications. The media company will now be able to serve addressable ads to 45 million households, which it…

Paramount+ will have two subscription tiers: a basic one costing $5 a month and a higher level at $10 a month. The $10 plan will be ad-free and will have some programming not available on the basic, ad-supported tier. Ingredients in the higher-end plan include the live CBS signal, which has been a key element of CBS…

ViacomCBS chief Bob Bakish touted the century-old roots of the company across film, TV and now streaming in setting the agenda for the reformulated Paramount+. “We know how to make hits,” he declared. “ViacomCBS has been and remains a consistent hitmaker, across genres, across demographics, across formats and across…

There is going to be even more Star Trek on Paramount+ than initially anticipated. The March 4-launching ViacomCBS streamer revealed today that Star Trek: Prodigy now will be making its premiere on the platform later this year. Originally, as Deadline reported exclusively last summer, the kids orientated CG-animated…

ViacomCBS topped Wall Street analysts’ expectations for its fourth-quarter results, reporting diluted earnings per share of $1.04 and total revenue of just shy of $6.9 billion. The consensus forecast by analysts was for earnings of $1.01 and revenue of $6.9 billion, up 13% and 3%, respectively, from the same quarter…

IMDb TV, Amazon’s two-year-old, free streaming service, is now available as a stand-alone app on Chromecast with Google TV and will soon be on other Android TV OS devices in the U.S. The distribution expansion follows recent launches of the IMDb TV app on Roku, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Sony Android TV devices…

Discovery Wednesday unveiled a long-term partnership with Saudi telecom’s group’s digital entertainment arm Intigral to provide broadcast and subscription-video-on-demand content to its flagship OTT service, Jawwy TV. The deal gives Jawwy TV subscribers to access to select Discovery content in a Discovery+ branded…