Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are breaking ground in streaming with a bundled offering featuring Disney+, Hulu and Max in a single package. The companies are aiming to launch the bundle this summer. The exact launch date and the price point have not yet been announced, but plans call for both ad-free and ad-supported versions to be available. The move is the first cross-company partnership for any of the top-tier services to come to market as the race to catch up with Netflix began in earnest about fiv ...

Core Points - The Anaheim City Council approved DisneylandForward, a $1.9 billion expansion plan for Disneyland, with zoning changes effective in 30 days [1] - The plan includes mixed-use development on 57 acres of parking and unused land, allowing for new attractions, hotels, shopping, and dining [1][3] - Disney CEO Bob Iger indicated potential new attractions, including an Avatar-themed area, but specifics remain uncommitted [4] - Disneyland's Parks and Experiences unit has seen revenue growth primarily from overseas properties, while Disneyland itself has faced year-on-year declines due to rising costs [4] - The DisneylandForward plan is part of a larger $60 billion investment cycle in Parks and Experiences over the next ten years [4] - Disney is required to invest a minimum of $1.9 billion in various developments within ten years, along with additional funds for affordable housing and local infrastructure improvements [4] Financial Implications - Disneyland's attendance and per capita spending have increased, but the CFO noted flat growth in the current fiscal third quarter due to post-COVID demand normalization [4] - Anaheim could see an estimated additional yearly revenue of $15 million to $244 million upon full buildout of the DisneylandForward plan [4]

Fireworks at Disney’s first-quarter earnings amid a bitter proxy fight quieted down in the second and the company’s commentary on a call today, especially around the parks business, generated some investor angst and knocked the stock lower. Disney shares are down nearly 10% late morning at about $105. Parks, as has been the pattern, was outstanding for the three months ended in March with revenue up 10% and operating income up 12%. But the future may not be as clear. The uptick was driven by international ...

Disney topped Wall Street forecasts for its fiscal second quarter and inched closer to the long-awaited milestone of streaming profitability. Revenue for the quarter ended March 30 increased to $22.1 billion from $21.8 billion in the year-earlier period. Excluding items, diluted earnings per share for the quarter increased to $1.21 from 93 cents. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $20.53 billion and earnings per share of $1.02. The entertainment direct-to-consumer operation finished the quarter in the ...

Partners Sony and Apollo have formally reached out to Paramount‘s special board committee asking to discuss a potential $26 billion offer, Deadline has learned. It comes as Par’s exclusive negotiating window with David Ellison‘s Skydance is set to expire. Paramount share jumped 12% on the news. Investors would vastly prefer a Sony/Apollo acquisition to a Skydance deal as it currently configured, even after Skydance made a revised offer, that was said to be its best and last, last week. Sony and Apollo’s o ...

Amazon beat Wall Street forecasts for profit and revenue in the first quarter as advertising continued to grow at a healthy clip. Net income increased to 98 cents per share on a diluted basis, up from 31 cents in the year-ago quarter. Total revenue reached $143.3 billion, up 13%. Both metrics were about 15% ahead of analysts’ consensus outlook. Advertising services, a category that includes Prime Video, increased 24% to $11.8 billion. As part of a broader push, the tech giant began running ads on Prime Vid ...

The NBA‘s new round of rights negotiations has reportedly lured NBCUniversal back to the league after an absence of more than two decades. NBCU is planning to bid $2.5 a year for rights to the games, according to the Wall Street Journal. If the offer is successful, the company would supplant media rival Warner Bros. Discovery, whose TBS and TNT cable networks began carrying NBA games in 1988. TNT has been the flagship Turner network associated with pro basketball, with its Inside the NBA the gold standard ...

NBCUniversal is hiking the price of Peacock for the second time in two years, tacking $2 onto the cost of the streaming service this summer, around the time of the Paris Olympics. Beginning in July, the monthly price for Peacock Premium will increase to $7.99. Premium Plus, which offers limited advertising, download capability and live local programming, will now be $13.99. Annual plans will go up to $79.99 for Premium and $139.99 for Premium Plus. The change will take effect starting July 18 for new custo ...

Skydance and Paramount are deep into hashing out a complicated deal that would see the David Ellison’s studio and its backers take control of the storied film and television company owned by Shari Redstone. The exclusive month-long negotiating period through May 3 is likely to be extended perhaps by a few weeks, Deadline hears, given the complexity of the transaction. The rough contours of a Skydance deal would see a circa $2 billion payout to Redstone for a majority stake in family holding NAI (which cont ...

Google and YouTube parent Alphabet blew away Wall Street estimates with revenue up 15% to $80.5 billion driven by strong ad growth. The company also announced a major milestone, its first ever dividend of 20 cents a share in June. The stock is up more than 12% after market close. Total advertising of $61.7 billion for the three months ended in March was up from $54.5 billion in the first quarter of 2023. YouTube ads topped $8 billion, up from $6.7 billion. Google Search is the bulk of ads, at $46 billion, ...