The ongoing quest to remake HBO for the streaming age has resulted in a network that is both cheaper and smaller than Netflix. That & much more in this week's newsletter: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Snoop Dogg has been railing against streaming services like Spotify and YouTube for two years, claiming they don't pay artists enough. But the Doggfather has declared peace with Spotify -- and he explains why. @SnoopDogg www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

HBO Max is back. The name of the Max streaming service is changing back to HBO Max. You can't make this stuff up.

Donald Trump floated a 100% tariff on imported movies after spending the weekend with Jon Voight and his manager at Mar-a-Lago. The tariffs are unlikely to bring production back to the US and risk retaliation, which would be devastating for Hollywood. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Donald Trump plans a 100% tariff on movies produced overseas. Will have more on this in the newsletter, which is publishing... shortly. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

For this week's Screentime: a rare interview with Taylor Sheridan, the most successful TV writer of this decade. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Shari Redstone has been upset w/CBS News for months. Her frustration started with Gaza and grew as 60 Minutes’ Trump coverage delayed her $8 billion deal. An inside look at the growing divide between a billionaire media mogul and her newsroom. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

People spending more time watching YouTube than Netflix and Amazon Prime Video combined. I spoke with the folks @BBCNews about why Hollywood is very scared of YouTube. www.bbc.com/worklife/art...

Always a good sign when you change CEOs right before an IPO. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Sinners ends up at $46 million in the US and Canada. A great result for an original movie. International is only $15 million. Not so great.

A Minecraft Movie was projected to open to $65 million in North America the Monday before it opened. It made $163 million. I talked to the people responsible for forecasts to understand why -- and what it says about the modern film business. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Shares in almost every major media and technology comapny have crashed over the last few days. I spoke to top analysts and executives to better understand how Trump's tariffs will affect their businesses. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Minecraft is the first big hit of the year at the box office. It's on track to double the initial estimates for its opening weekend. deadline.com/2025/04/box-...

Two immediate impacts from tariffs: StubHub paused plans for an IPO. Nintendo delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A boston guy from a journalism family has one of the biggest true crime podcasts in the world. @ashleycarman.bsky.social with the definitive @mrballen.bsky.social profile www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

People watched more Suits on Netflix in 6 months than Suits on TV in 9 years. And that's not even the largest bump a show has gotten from Netflix. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

A streaming service in India has 100 million paying subscribers for the first time. It's controlled by Asia's richest man. Is this an inflection point for the local media industry in the world's largest country? www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

The New York Times was never a national destination for cooking recipes. So how did it become one over the last few years? We spoke to the team behind the Cooking app. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

For this week's Screentime, I wrote an update the race to be the next CEO of Disney. Find out who is in, who is out and who is lurking. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

New: @billsimmons.bsky.social is sticking around at Spotify. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The biggest YouTube star in the world (@MrBeast) makes more money from chocolate than his entertainment business, according to two different investor decks. We took a dive into one of the most interesting creator businesses around. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

It would appear Skydance is officially fed up with Project Rise, the group trying to scuttle its deal for Paramount. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Four months ago, media executives hailed Trump as a more business-friendly president who would likely usher in a wave of dealmaking. Now? Not so much. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

I will do a reader mailbag for the newsletter in the near future. What questions do people have about media/entertainment meets tech?

A few takeaways from Netflix's latest data dump:

Screentime: On Oscar Sunday, I wrote about the show's future on TV. Disney has had the deal for 50+ years, but its exclusive window is up and the Academy is looking to see if anyone else will offer a major increase. Yes, that includes Netflix. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

YouTube is the biggest podcasting platform in the world. It's the biggest music service in the world. It's the biggest video service in the world. It's the biggest entertainment platform ever. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Disney has made a lot of moves in streaming over the last 3 years, and yet its services share of total TV time hasn't budged. YouTube, Netflix and Amazon have all grown quite a bit. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

For this week's newsletter, I wrote about an independent podcasting company based in Indianapolis that makes $45 million in profit a year. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Dr. Phil is trying to invent himself as a newsman. It's not going very well. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Why is a Chinese gaming company with a big hit game cutting staff and closing studios? @cecianasta.bsky.social and Ping investigate. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Wow. Amazon has gained creative control of the James Bond franchise. www.aboutamazon.com/news/company...

Streaming has grown its share of TV time by almost 7% in just one year. (Cable and broadcast both continue to decline.) YouTube's share alone is up about 2%. Netflix growing a lot as well.

Netflix is the cheapest major streaming service by a pretty major metric. How much we pay for how often we watch it. That's according to MoffettNathanson. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

The hottest phrase in the music business is "super fans." Streaming services are building more expensive tiers for them. Record labels are hawking apps & merchandise. I examined these plans -- and whether they will work -- for this week's newsletter. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Captain America: Brave New World did... fine. $88 million opening weekend, $192 global opening over the holiday. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Back when the NFL was struggling with falling ratings & many scandals, the head of ESPN suggested that Disney not renew its deal with the league and spend that $$ on March Madness, the World Series and soccer. Good thing for Disney that Bob Iger said no. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

This week's newsletter is about the most dominant cultural force in US history: the NFL. Hannah Miller and I spoke with some smarty pants to understand how football has overcome cord-cutting, falling ratings and a few scandals to grow its audience. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Ne Zha 2 has grossed more than $1 billion in just 10 days. I believe it is the first movie to gross $1 billion in just 1 country (China). All-time US leader is The Force Awakens at $936 million. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Mini dramas -- web series that run 60 to 90 seconds -- are now a bigger business than movies in China. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Over the past year, OpenAI met with Hollywood studios to show off its new video tool Sora. They talked about Sora's creative and commercial potential for filmmaking. And then... nothing. We looked at why studios have yet to embrace AI in a big way. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

China just posted $1.3 billion in ticket sales during 1 week. That's more than the entire Korean box office in 2024. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Spotify added 73 million customers while posting its first annual profit ($1.2 billion). Investors are happy. The company is worth $120 billion. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Amazon Hollywood boss Mike Hopkins have both joined forces with @RickCarusoLA for a new non-profit to rebuild LA. There are now several different initiatives with the same mission. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Warner Records -- home of Madonna & Fleetwood Mac -- was in decline. To turn things around, its owner hired two executives. One young and unproven. The other a wily veteran. I spoke with the two of them about their turnaround story for this week's newsletter. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Rich Paul knew about the AD-Luka trade 48 hours in advance but didn't tell LeBron? If you believe that, I have a used car to sell you.

Kids are the most dependable moviegoers. deadline.com/2025/02/box-...

Scoop: Carlyle is investing in Entertainment 360, the Hollywood management firm that represents Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig and Blake Lively. It also produced Game of Thrones. Link TK

“I expect that this is going to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scooplet: 3Arts, one of Hollywood's largest management companies, is seeking to raise up to $250 million to expand its business. The company produces hit TV shows such as Sex Lives of College Girls and Welcome to Wrexham. @tgbuckley www.bloomberg.com/news/article...