BBC
The British public broadcaster will cut 500 jobs as it desperately tries to shore up finances after losing a third of its licensing revenues, or roughly 1 billion pounds a year, since 2010 amid rate cuts and outright freezes by the just-ousted Conservative government.
C8
French regulator Arcom will not renew a license for C8, the entertainment channel owned by billionaire conservative Vincent Bolloré that had racked up 7.6 million euros in fines for promoting conspiracy theories and fake news. While C8 is not a news network, the move involves politics since the channel airs documentaries and debate coverage in addition to movies and series. Bolloré also owns CNews, which has been called the French Fox News.
Georgia Meloni
Rai
Vera Jourovà of the European Commission expressed concern in Brussels over press freedoms in Italy after Meloni’s right-wing government was shown to have intimidated journalists from the state broadcaster Rai and threatened to withhold some of its funding.
Disney
Universal
Warner Brothers
After one of the worst starts in years to the all-important summer blockbuster season, Hollywood is breathing easier following a trio of smashes.
Marvel-Disney’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” is set to gross $180 million this weekend, a record opening for an R-rated flick and on par with pre-pandemic Marvel tentpoles including “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” The weekend’s runner up will be Universal-Warners Brothers’ “Twisters,” which topped the box office last week when it blew past expectations and notched $80 million in its first frame. And Pixar-Disney’s “Inside Out 2” last week became the all-time highest grossing animated film worldwide with a staggering total of $1.5 billion so far.
It’s much-needed good news for showbiz, if less encouraging for industry players and fans who’ve been longing for a return to believing and investing in non-sequels like last summer’s “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”
Universal Music
Warner Music
Back-to-back earnings calls from the two global music giants showed year-to-year declines of 20% at Universal and 8% at Warner, raising fears that the yearslong streaming gravy train may be slowing down for good.
MSNBC
“Morning Joe”
MSNBC’s streak of bad press continued when it abruptly canceled “Morning Joe” the Monday after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. The network cited the tumultuous events in its move to switch to hard news coverage by NBC News, which has been trying to distance itself from its outspokenly liberal cousin. But stunned critics wondered if MSNBC was more interested in avoiding criticism of perceived insensitivity by its anchors.
Fox
News Corp
Murdoch family dysfunction, and with it the future of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, will be on trial in Reno this September as the 93-year-old patriarch tries to amend the terms of an inviolable family trust that gives his four eldest children equal voting power after his death.
Rupert Murdoch has made clear for several years that his son Lachlan, whose conservatism closely aligns with his father’s, was his chosen heir apparent. But the trust nevertheless remained designed to limit family squabbles amid succession planning and Fox and News Corp’s post-Rupert future.
So much for that idea. James, Elisabeth and their half-sister Prudence, the eldest and most private child, were caught completely unaware when news got out about moves to amend the trust. Expletive-laden phone calls ensued, as did all but Lachlan skipping Rupert’s fifth wedding. What’s clear to everyone now is that those three heirs have formed a united front against Lachlan. Their superstar lawyers will attempt to prove in Reno that the changes being sought are in bad faith and not meant to equally benefit the four children.
The trial coinciding with the final stretch of the presidential election is apt, as its outcome could shape what’s to come for one of the most politically influential media powerhouses in the anglophone world. It was Trump’s first term that proved one of the bigger sources of estrangement in a family that’s seen plenty of it over the years.
