Hollywood Buzz: August 2025

By Natalie Lifson, Agent Trainee and Executive Assistant at Buchwald and your co-Editor-in-Chief at THA

Everything you may have missed in the trades this month...  

Paramount x Skydance Deal

On August 7th 2025, Skydance Media and Paramount Global announced that they completed their merger, officially becoming “Paramount, a Skydance Corporation.” The $8.4 Billion merger was first announced over a year ago in July 2024. 

Read “So what’s going on with the Paramount x Skydance merger?” by THA co-Editor-in-Chief Natalie Lifson to learn more about:

• What the new Paramount Skydance Corporation will look like

• Upcoming layoffs

• Accusations of bribery and side deals

• DEI controversy & 1st Amendment concerns

Shutting Down

• PBS announced they will officially shut down in January after Congress defunded the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (which helps fund both PBS and NPR) last month. -PBS, 8/1

• Hulu App to Be Phased Out as Disney Is ‘Fully Integrating’ Service Into Disney+ -Variety, 8/6

• CBS cancelled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the top-rated late night show currently on TV, in July. The Hollywood Reporter predicts the end of late night. -THR, 8/7

Mergers & Acquisitions

• “In January, Disney agreed to combine its Hulu + Live TV with Fubo and become majority owner of the combined company.” They are “now anticipating the transaction will close in the fourth quarter of this year or the first three months of 2026.” -Deadline, 7/28

• NFL to Acquire Stake in ESPN as Part of Blockbuster Deal With Disney -THR, 8/5

  • The deal will see NFL Network join ESPN's streaming platform, with expanded games and RedZone also becoming available to ESPN.

• Byron Allen Sells 10 TV Stations to Gray Media for $171 Million -Variety, 8/8

• Nexstar to Acquire Tegna in $6.2 Billion Deal, Marking Big Move to Consolidate Local TV Biz -Variety, 8/19

  • The new company will operate 265 stations, reaching 80% of U.S. TV households – well beyond the longstanding 39% cap. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has expressed support for eliminating the limit. -Cynopsis, 8/20

Splits

• “Warner Bros. Discovery has officially announced the names and senior leadership teams for after it splits itself in two, with David Zaslav’s streaming and studios business to be called Warner Bros., and Gunnar Weidenfels’ global networks business to be called Discovery Global.” -THR, 7/28

  • “Warner Bros. will include the Warners film and TV studios, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max, and the TCM cable channel; Discovery will include the former Discovery and Turner linear channels, including TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, Discovery, Food Network, and HGTV. It will also include the company’s international TV channels, and the Discovery+ streaming service.”

• Amazon Breaks Up Wondery Podcast Studio -THR, 8/4

• MSNBC Will Change Name to MS NOW After NBCUniversal Split -Variety, 8/18

Partnerships

• ESPN And Fox Will Bundle Their Soon-To-Launch Streaming Services -Deadline, 8/11

• Legendary Entertainment is in early talks to partner with Paramount on the theatrical distribution of its film slate. -Variety, 8/18

New Initiatives

• Samsung TV Plus is partnering with creators for dedicated channels available only on Samsung TV Plus. Among those creators is Dhar Mann, whose Dhar Mann Studios will produce 13 original episodes to premiere on the Dhar Mann TV channel. -Cynopsis, 7/29

• Amazon’s Alexa Fund Invests in ‘Netflix of AI’ Start-Up Fable, Which Launches Showrunner: A Tool for User-Directed TV Shows -Variety, 7/30

• BAFTA North America Launches Awards for Film, TV and Video Games -Variety, 8/11

• Ron Perlman Launches Watrfall, A Creator-Led Financing & Content Development Platform For Film & TV -Deadline, 8/19

• After years of skepticism about streaming, Fox Corp. is finally taking the leap and packaging its linear TV networks into a new direct-to-consumer service, Fox One. -Deadline, 8/20

• Netflix invests $200 million in local production in Thailand. -Variety, 8/21

• ESPN launched a new streaming service on 8/21. -ESPN, 8/22

Industry Trends

• TV news profitability fell below 50% for the first time since 2010 -Cynopsis, 8/4

• Streaming Hits Another Record High in July, Nielsen Says -THR, 8/19

  • YouTube and Netflix alone have more use than broadcast networks and tie cable for the month

The Rise of Digital Content

• YouTube Shows Are Increasingly Going To Netflix. Now The Streamer Wants To Make Them Bigger -Deadline, 7/22

• As TV Collapses, Digital Firebrands Are Suddenly In Demand -THR, 7/30

• Fox Corp. Races to Collect Creators Before Rivals Can Do the Same -Variety, 8/4

• Writers Guild Aims to Organize Where Work Is: YouTube, Verticals and the Creator Economy -THR, 8/14

Unions

WGA

• WGA’s Contract Priorities Begin to Take Shape as 2026 Negotiations Loom -Variety, 8/4

  • The guild, which struck for five months in 2023, aims to focus on shoring up its health plan and organizing YouTube creators

• WGA Toss Out Park Chan-wook & Don McKellar For Writing On HBO’s ‘The Sympathizer’ During 2023 Strike -Deadline, 8/8

• Writers Guild Aims to Organize Where Work Is: YouTube, Verticals and the Creator Economy -THR, 8/14

SAG-AFTRA

• SAG-AFTRA Renews Streaming Insights Deal With Nielsen To Aid In Contract Enforcement & Negotiation Forecasting -Deadline, 7/30

• SAG-AFTRA members have approved the 2025 broadcast television code, which covers recorded and live programming. -Cynopsis, 8/22

  • Among the highlights of the new contract are a wage increase; improvements to the benefits plan; a commitment to adopt future AI terms in 2026 negotiations; and heightened protections for young performers. The code was ratified by 96.48% of members who voted.

Layoffs: Paramount (Past & Upcoming), Warner Bros Motion Picture Group, Amazon’s Wondery podcast studio, Crunchyroll, Lion TV, Lifetime

Festival Lineups Announced: Venice Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival