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Standup comedian Nate Bargatze is known for his relatable and clean humor that relies on deep storytelling and charming. And now, he’s taking his brand as “King of Clean Comedy” to network TV as the hosts a new game show that celebrate everyday Americans. It’s called The Greatest Average American, which is also the name of his 2021 comedy special.

Want to watch it online? Fans can catch the new game show with Sling TV.

At a glance: Watch The Greatest Average American online

Keep reading to find out when and where to stream The Greatest Average American online without cable.

How to Stream The Greatest Average American With Sling TV

The series premiere of The Greatest Average American airs on Wednesday, Feb. 25 starting at 9 p.m. PT/ET. The game show broadcasts on ABC.

Sling Blue is one of the best streaming options with the service’s low monthly price and selection of channels that includes ABC, along with more than 40 other networks.

Starting at $54.99 per month, you can watch The Greatest Average American on ABC with Sling’s Blue plan. The streamer carries more than 40 other channels, including FOX, NBC, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, FOX Sports, FOX News, FX, Bravo, SYFY, USA Network, TLC, A&E, AMC, BBC America, BET, CNN, Comedy Central, Food Network, Fuse, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Lifetime, Nick Jr., QVC, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, Vice and other entertainment, news and sports networks.

The Greatest Average American — Synopsis

The new game show showcases and celebrates average people, as rounds feature challenges and trivia catered to everyday Americans. The winner of each episode gets the prize of “The Greatest Average Americans” with the grand prize of $67,920, which is the average American salary.

With a start time of 9 p.m. PT/ET on Wednesday, Feb. 25, The Greatest Average American series premiere airs on ABC with Sling TV.

Please note: Pricing and channel availability depends on your local TV market. Learn more about Sling TV here.

Sofia Franklyn, the former co-host of the podcast Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper, has signed with Verve for representation.

Franklyn now hosts the podcast Sofia with an F, and is planning her memoir Daddy Issues, about a business and friendship break up with Cooper after parting ways in 2020, set for a release in Nov. 2026 via Simon & Schuster.

“I’m excited to join Verve at such a pivotal moment in my career. They understand the scope of what I’m building, and I’m proud to partner with a team that shares my ambition for Daddy Issues and what comes next,” Franklyn said in a statement.

Verve will represent Franklyn in all areas and will handle media rights for Daddy Issues. Simon & Schuster says Franklyn will voice the audiobook for her memoir about her exit from the Call Her Daddy podcast.

Her memoir is being pitched as Franklyn for the first time sharing past events with Cooper from her perspective.

“My story has only been told for me. And if you asked me to write this book five years ago you would have gotten a different story — fearful, vengeful, insecure, wounded with something to prove. I couldn’t live truthfully until I told it in my own words, on my own terms, and in the most radically honest way I know how,” Franklyn adds in a statement.

A synopsis from Simon & Schuster for Daddy Issues reads: “Long before the internet was watching, Sofia Franklyn learned to disappear. Dysfunction was normal and escape was instinct. New York City offered reinvention, and there she met Alex Cooper. They moved quickly: roommates, best friends, business partners.”

Launched in 2018, Call Her Daddy featured Cooper and Franklyn as joint hosts. The show was quickly acquired by Barstool Sports, where it became a virtual overnight success. Then Cooper parted ways with Franklyn and in 2021 took the podcast to Spotify.

“In hindsight, the warning signs were everywhere. Secrets, omissions, things left unsaid. Millions watched as Sofia went from one half of a beloved duo to the villain in the internet’s messiest breakup. She found herself at rock bottom again, not by the familiar hands of men, but by the unexpected betrayal of another woman. What followed was a private collapse that forced a reckoning, leading Sofia to interrogate her ambition and the cost of being understood as a headline,” Franklin’s memoir synopsis adds.

After splitting with Cooper, Franklyn launched her solo podcast Sofia with an F, which is now in its sixth year.

Zootopia 2 continues to make history at the box office.

On Tuesday, the Disney Animation Studios blockbuster passed up A Minecraft Movie ($423.9 million) to rank as the highest-grossing domestic release of 2025 with $424.2 million in ticket sales. The Oscar-nominated pic was already the top-grossing Hollywood title of the year at both the global and international box office, animated or otherwise.

That’s not all. The latest milestone caps one of the most surprising, and remarkable, runs in the history of the genre. When the sequel opened over Christmas, no one could predicted it would become the top-grossing animated film of all time, not adjusted for inflation. Through Tuesday, the film’s global haul stood at roughly $1.85 billion.

The sequel opened to a record-breaking $559.5 million globally over its five-day Christmas launch, the largest animated opening in history for the genre on its way to becoming both the fastest animated or PG film ever to reach $1 billion, a task it completed in 17 days.

Now in its 13th week, the film has remained in the top 10 domestically for 13 consecutive weeks.

And it’s the first Hollywood film in recent memory to do mega-business in China, where it has earned north of $650 billion to become the top-grossing Western film of all time, surpassing Avengers: Endgame. It has also shattered records in markets across the globe.

To boot, it ranks No. 8 on the list of the all-time, highest-grossing Hollywood films, unadjusted.

And, excluding China, Zootopia 2 has outgrossed the entire worldwide total of the original Zootopia, which topped out at $1.025 billion following its release in 2016.

When Moses Sumney decided it was time to make the leap from music into film, the indie singer-songwriter had a distinct guiding principle: “Well, who’s doing cool shit?” 

One studio seemed to set the mold. 

“Who has positioned themselves as a cultural leader,” Sumney says. “That’s a more interesting question to me than who has the most money or commercial output. It was like that when I was looking for a label too. I think it’s just so obvious that A24 is the one. This was especially important three or four years ago when I was thinking about getting into it, it’s more broadly clear now.”

Sumney — who had roles in A24’s The Idol and MaXXXine — describes a common refrain among today’s recording artists dipping their toes into broader entertainment. While he says wasn’t specifically seeking out A24, he notes he’s a longtime fan of the studio, and seeing a co-sign from the studio on projects is a firm affirmation.

“I wasn’t telling my team ‘get me all the A24 scripts,’” Sumeny, repped by UTA, says. “But I think it’s one of the deciding factors in considering if I want to pursue being in something. And I know the only vision that I have to trust is that of the director and not of the people trying to make their money back.”

With its auteur reputation as a champion of modern arthouse cinema, A24 has become the undisputed king of the musician-to-actor crossover, evidenced most recently with perpetual pop star Charli XCX’s The Moment, which had its wide release on Feb. 6, where it has grossed $3.8 million from around 600 theaters. But Charli is only the latest moment. The studio’s been a regular platform for artist appearances big and small, going back to 2013 breakout Spring Breakers, which featured both pop star actress Selena Gomez in a leading role, as well as Atlanta rap royalty Gucci Mane in his first and only feature film role to date. 

Since then, among many more, A24 has given feature length debuts to the likes of Doechii, Megan Thee Stallion, Snail Mail, The Weeknd, Sumney and most-recently Tyler, the Creator, who co-starred alongside Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme. Gracie Abrams, meanwhile, will make her film debut through an A24 project from Babygirl director Halina Reijn. Other musician-actors who’ve worked with the studio include Kid Cudi in X and MaXXXine, Brandy in The Front Room and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst in I Saw the TV Glow and Y2K.

Meanwhile, Phoebe Bridgers will make her own feature length starring debut opposite Robert Pattinson in the Lance Oppenheim-directed A24 film Primetime. 

“A24 very much recognizes that music artists are equally in the zeitgeist as actors, and they want to fully realize musicians’ desires to act,” says CAA agent Dan Kim, who helps shepherding screen roles for the agency’s music roster on the film music crossover team.

Lindsey Jordan, best known for her indie music project Snail Mail, had her film debut with I Saw The TV Glow in 2024, which along with Durst also featured a cameo from Bridgers. She’d told her music team she was looking to get into acting, and “by a weird coincidence” before they could even start laying the groundwork to get her auditions, the film team had gotten in touch with her about the project. 

“A24 wasn’t the only studio I was trying to work with,” Jordan says. “But I was already a huge fan, and that was like a big pipe dream for me, to be like ‘cool, A24 movie,’ that’s the sickest thing ever. It feels like resurrecting a tradition of something like Debbie Harry and Videodrome. It makes sense to me that that’s where it would happen.”

A24 itself declined to comment for this story. But it’s not surprising A24 would look to bring in recording artists as synonymous with art and culture as their films are. Kim tells THR that A24 “often comes to us asking for artists who want to act.”

That was the case for Brandy, who starred in 2024’s The Front Room, Kim says, adding that A24 executives told him they were a fan of Brandy, and that they’d discussed with the directors (the Eggers brothers) about getting her a role.

“A24 is taking a risk on musicians who may not have the breadth of acting experience actors have, which is appealing to musicians who want to be part of a great piece of art,” Kim says. 

A24 and artists have a bit of a symbiotic relationship. These artists want acting roles — particularly ones that get them cultural clout and not just a check — and A24 is seeking castings that co-sign their project’s zeitgeist-y relevancy. But bringing in even respected musicians may not always lead to a big box office gross, as The Front Room reflected, with that picture only grossing just over $3 million and coming and going with little fanfare. Still, so far it hasn’t seemed to stop the castings.

While the trend is helping artists expand their empires, a more cynical take would be that for A24, the quality of the castings themselves is irrelevant, and that the play is merely about marketing rather than artistic drive. Often, A24 brings in musicians in lower screen time supporting and cameo parts, a much smaller creative and commercial risk than a lead spot that still allows the company to get an A-List name in a press release and generate buzz online without relinquishing the most consequential roles.

To A24’s credit, the artist roster the studio has amassed does feel carefully curated. The A24 artist archetype leans as much cool as commercial, with a Pitchfork Best New Music distinction as crucial if not more so than a high Spotify monthly listener count. Just being popular alone isn’t enough. With no disrespect to groups like Imagine Dragons or Nickelback, it seems unlikely those sorts of acts land roles in these projects anytime soon. 

Jordan and Sumney acknowledge that line of thinking but argue A24’s track record has proven the studio’s commitment to art as well. Sumney said it was “always obvious” when he’d get inquiries where acts were more interested in him because of his artist status rather than his acting. He adds that he spent time in acting classes and pivoting to theater to hone in on his skills. He says it’s “important that I’m a good actor not just good for a musician” but also acknowledges films need to be strategic about castings to drum up interest in a project. 

“Brilliant casting directors are able to synthesize what audiences want to see with who’s the best for the role,” Sumney says. “I’m not in those rooms, and I think it really is up to the directors to cast who they want to cast, which is not always the case at studios. But realistically in this modern era, you need people who are not only going to get butts in seats, but are going to help you get your thing made.”

As Jordan adds: “I know a little bit of who else auditioned where I’m like, ‘that could have been better for y’all to bring more people out,’” she says with a chuckle. “I’m a little torn there. I’ve never been in any position to be like, ‘I hope they’re not using me for my like, indie cred.’ The whole time it was just so good to be here. It felt to me like the director and the casting people were cool.”

This story appeared in the Feb. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe. 

Elle Fanning swears she wasn’t expecting an Oscar nomination for her work in Neon’s Sentimental Value. It’s a line actors have repeated frequently on the awards circuit; however, in Fanning’s case, it appears to ring true — best evidenced by her plans the night before and during the nominations announcement Jan. 22.

“I was not watching it,” Fanning candidly tells The Hollywood Reporter, admitting that she had talked herself out of thinking she would get nominated. She and her sister, actress Dakota Fanning, were both at their mom’s house when the nominations were announced.

“Dakota and I had gone out the night before. We had quite a late night,” she explains, laughing, adding that she was “dead asleep” when the nominations came out in the early morning hours but was awakened by her phone lighting up. She assumed the slew of congratulatory texts were related to the movie in general, not a best supporting actress nod.

“I couldn’t compute. I go out bleary-eyed, and I’m like, ‘Mom! Dakota! Wake up. I think I got it. I think I got it,’ ” Fanning says, noting the confusion of her mom and sister. “I looked like a crazed zombie who was walking in circles saying, ‘Is this real?’ “

Once Fanning played back the announcement livestream and was able to comprehend it indeed was real, it became a day of celebration for her and the rest of the cast and crew of the Norwegian film. Sentimental Value scored nine nominations, including another nod in the supporting actress category for co-star Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Stellan Skarsgard in the supporting actor category and Renate Reinsve for lead actress.

The film also received nods in the best picture, director, screenplay and international feature categories. But Fanning says the most exciting nod was Olivier Bugge Coutté’s editing nomination.

“What Olivier has done with the film, and the way that it is edited and constructed — I’m so happy that he wasn’t overlooked because it’s so particular and he has such a keen eye and was so essential to the film,” Fanning explains. “Editors — I’ve come to learn now in the producing process, too — hold the key to your performance in a lot of ways.”

Fanning says the Sentimental Value team, despite how cheesy it might sound, has become a tight-knit family since the movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. “The fact that the family was held together and that no one was left out and that we get to continue the celebration with each other is really meaningful,” says the 27-year-old actress. “I’ve been quite emotional about this whole experience. I’m still a little glassy-eyed and in shock over it all.”

Fanning, who counts films like 2014’s Maleficent, 2017’s The Beguiled and 2024’s A Complete Unknown and such television shows as The Great (2020-23) and 2022’s The Girl From Plainville — for which she earned an Emmy nomination — among her acting credits, long has been considered a veteran of the film industry. “I’ve been acting since I was 2. I’ve never gotten to have this experience before. [It’s] my first time being nominated [for an Oscar],” she notes. “It does really mean something to me, to be recognized by my peers. I don’t think you realize how special that feels until it happens.”

The Oscar nomination caps a big and certainly varied year for Fanning as an actress — Sentimental Value opened in theaters the same day as another Fanning-fronted film, Predator: Badlands. “You don’t know what projects are going to come to you or what’s being written at the time, but I have been very fortunate to be able to have these varied projects,” she says.

Fanning notes that she became aware at a young age that she didn’t want to be put in a box when it came to casting. “I like to be scared. I like to be terrified a bit and step into something new because I feel like that’s how I have to keep pushing myself,” she says. “Maleficent, that was amazing and it opened up a lot of doors for me in that sense, but then there’s a box; people want to put the Disney princess on you. I’m like, ‘Wait, don’t do that to me.’ “

In Sentimental Value, Fanning plays Rachel Kemp, an American actress hired to lead Skarsgard’s director Gustav Borg’s film. It’s far from Fanning’s most out-there character, but it did offer up some reflection. “We’re at different phases, but there was a little feeling while playing her that maybe I was looking back at a younger version of myself in this world,” Fanning explains.

“[There are] definitely feelings that she has had that I am familiar with, and I’ve had before about myself because when you’ve been doing it for a long time, the relationship to it ebbs and flows,” she continues. “There was something cathartic for me to play her.”

The irony of being nominated for this role in particular isn’t lost on Fanning. “To be recognized for a character who is actually struggling in her work and then at the end does a very brave thing and walks away from something she wants, that’s even meta in and of itself,” she says.

“Rachel Kemp is nominated,” she exclaims, laughing about how shocked her character would be. “Once she walks away from the part, I feel like it’s quite hopeful for her. The next thing she’ll do, she’ll really give it her all. She’ll be really good in it.”

As for Fanning’s next role, the actress is preparing for her long-awaited adaptation of The Nightingale, which she’s producing and starring in alongside her older sister. The project, which begins filming at the end of March, was first announced in 2019 and was initially delayed because of COVID-19 and then the “puzzle” of scheduling. “I don’t know what I’m going to do on the first day. Our first scene, I think [I’ll be] crying or laughing,” she says.

“She can’t boss me around,” Fanning jokes about what the dynamic with her sister will be like on set — while The Nightingale marks the first time they’ll star in a film together, Fanning did play the younger version of Dakota’s character in 2001’s I Am Sam. “We’re fellow actors who will try to keep reminding ourselves of that.”

This story appeared in the Feb. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

The Writers Guild of America West is threatening to cancel its glitzy annual awards show as its own staff continues to strike, alleging that management has committed unfair labor practices amid first contract negotiations.

The Writers Guild Staff Union (WGSU), which has been picketing in front of the union’s headquarters for a week, alleged on Tuesday night that management for the writers’ union raised the possibility of scrapping the 2026 Writers Guild Awards in a recent call about contract negotiations.

“They told us they will not bargain with us any further, adding that if we do not take their broken last offer by this Friday, guild management will cancel the 2026 Writers Guild Awards,” the union wrote in an Instagram post. WGSU framed this move as an attempt to “drive a wedge between union staff and WGA membership.”

By contrast, the WGA West maintained that that it wanted to spare its members the choice of crossing a picket line to attend the ceremony. In labor circles, crossing a picket line, even that of another labor organization, represents a choice not to honor the position of striking workers and to potentially compromise their cause. If a picket line were erected in front of the Writers Guild Awards, that could dissuade nominees from attending the ceremony altogether.

“As a labor union, the WGAW would not ask our guests to cross a picket line to attend the awards show. While the WGAW staff have a right to strike, our exceptional nominees and honorees deserve an uncomplicated celebration of their achievements,” the union said in a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday night.

The union added that if the event was canceled, tickets and sponsorship sales would be refunded and a different ceremony would be planned for the nominees.

The annual Writers Guild Awards is considered an important bellwether for the Academy Awards, indicating the films that professional writers themselves (many of them Academy voters) believe are worthy of celebration. This year, major contenders like Marty Supreme and Sinners are battling it out in the original screenplay category while awards favorites Hamnet and One Battle After Another have been nominated in the adapted screenplay category. To cancel the ceremony would be an indication of just how dramatic the battle between union management and its own staff has become.

The contentious negotiations not only threaten to compromise awards awards season, but also the WGA’s upcoming contract negotiations with studios and streamers. The WGA is expected to begin negotiations after SAG-AFTRA, which is currently at the bargaining table with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

In its statement on Tuesday, the WGSU said that “we should be building unity ahead of MBA [Minimum Basic Agreemeent] negotiations with the AMPTP,” not internally squabbling amongst themselves.

Earlier on Tuesday, the WGSU held a “WGA Day of Solidarity” picket that encouraged WGA members to come to the union’s headquarters and support the striking workers. On social media, the union posted several pictures of members holding signs and raising fists in support of the union staffers.

MS NOW has named Ali Velshi its chief data reporter, giving the veteran anchor and correspondent an expanded role at the news brand.

The new role will see Velshi manning MS NOW’s interactive data board on election nights, providing polling updates and real-time election results.

“I’ve had the privilege of learning from Ali for the last twenty-plus years in various newsrooms. One of his many gifts is his unique ability to take complex data and make it digestible,” says MS NOW president Rebecca Kutler. “Ali will guide our audience through the real-time information that will determine the outcomes of the midterm and presidential elections. I’m thrilled Ali will bring his understanding of public opinion and voters to our election coverage in the years ahead.” 

Velshi, of course, is just about ubiquitous on MS NOW, hosting his eponymous weekend show and frequently filling in as an anchor on weekdays.

Online, he hosts the Velshi Banned Book Club podcast and the weekly YouTube Live series, It’s Happening with Velshi & Ruhle alongside Stephanie Ruhle. 

He has also manned the channel’s “big board” in the past, though in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter late last year (alongside Ruhle), he previewed how the MS NOW split would give him more of a chance to dig into the data.

“I’ve always loved this opportunity. I was always the guy in the background when Steve Kornacki was doing it, but Kornacki would just never give me my shift, because the deal was he’d work 10 hours and I’d work the next 10 hours, but he’d never leave after the first 10 hours,” Velshi said. “I was the relief pitcher.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time. I did it at CNN. I know the board, it’s the same people we’ve been using, and I would really like to evolve this into a data machine,” he added. “In other words, not just election returns or polling or whatever the case is. That device you can put data into, and I can talk about anything. I can talk about where unemployment is highest, where SNAP payments are lowest, where costs are increasing, where jobs are available, where AI energy costs are hitting people. So I’m really loving this opportunity.”

Velshi joined MS NOW in 2016 (it was, of course, called MSNBC at the time) and before that was an anchor and correspondent for CNN and Al Jazeera America.

How high will Netflix go? That used to be a question discussed all over Wall Street regarding the streaming giant’s stock price. But as of late, it has been the focus of a debate about whether the global streamer was ready to outbid David Ellison’s Paramount for Warner Bros. Discovery, should the latter’s board deem Paramount’s sweetened takeover bid as superior to Netflix’s most recent offer.

Wall Street analysts agree that the deep-pocketed Netflix could handily trump Paramount without creating financial headaches for its management team. Instead, the real question is whether it is willing to do so, and what the stock fallout beyond a recent pullback related to deal-related and other investor concerns would look like, along with the impact on Netflix management’s strategic narrative for what has so far been a pure-play streamer.

Netflix’s stock had closed at $103.22 on Dec. 4, the day before the initial WBD-Netflix deal announcement, falling 24 percent to $78.04 as of the close of Tuesday.

WBD is reviewing the latest Paramount offer, while Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos has signaled both financial discipline and optimism about getting a deal done and over the regulatory finish line. So where do Wall Street experts stand on the bidding war right now?

Bernstein analyst Laurent Yoon characterized the state of play this way: “If the [Paramount] offer is high enough to nudge a response from Netflix – and the revised terms (e.g. financing guarantees) meet expectations, or the offer is rich enough for WBD to assume some risks – the next logical question is: What is Netflix’s next move, and how high is its ceiling?” He added: “Netflix has the balance sheet capacity and free cash flow growth to push well into the $30s if it chooses to, but that doesn’t mean it should.”

The Bernstein expert cited three angles to consider: debt leverage, stock price, and the CEO factor.

The first is really a non-issue, according to Yoon: “Netflix’s balance sheet and expected future cash flow can support a (much) higher bid,” he wrote. “A price north of $30 per share would push Netflix leverage into the mid-3x range on 2027 EBITDA but would fall below 3x on 2028 EBITDA – the metric we believe matters more, given the likely timing of deal closing if it were to proceed. We do not believe the transaction would jeopardize Netflix’s investment-grade rating, but even if it did, we see limited practical impact as Netflix has no near-term need to issue new debt, and leverage would quickly normalize, supported by growing EBITDA and free cash flow.”

In case you are wondering what the mention of Netflix’s investment-grade debt rating means, the key thing to know is that this indicates a low default risk, allowing the company to borrow money at lower interest rates and with more favorable terms compared to companies with a so-called “junk” rating. 

Yoon similarly sees no real issues relating to the stock price. “Perhaps the more relevant ceiling is where the deal becomes dilutive to Netflix shares,” he highlighted. “Assuming $1.5 billion of synergies in 2028 (50 percent of the $2-3 billion operating expense savings Netflix has proposed), the company could justify a bid well into the $30s. Additional synergies would only expand that headroom, providing further equity upside in the long run.”

But what about the CEO factor? “Ultimately, decisions are made by people, not spreadsheets. Numbers matter, but they vary, driven by information asymmetry and what management chooses to believe,” Yoon emphasized. “While the ‘math’ supports Netflix going materially higher, that does not mean it should. Netflix has built a reputation for disciplined capital allocation – a point management has emphasized repeatedly.”

Concluded the Bernstein analyst: “If the price tag no longer makes sense for Netflix, and if this deal is likely to hinder Paramount-WBD to invest aggressively in growth near-term, walking away remains a perfectly rational outcome. Netflix can raise its offer beyond Paramount’s latest $31 per share if necessary and still create value for shareholders (if multiple is not penalized further from the deal). Netflix’s ability to bid higher depends on its certainty of achieving synergies.”

MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman has been discussing how much “discipline” Netflix will show in the hunt for WBD. “Analyzing the deal math for Netflix, our base case scenario sees no [financial] accretion beyond $30 per share,” he wrote in a recent report focused on that topic. In fact, “beyond $30 per share and using our current pro forma forecasts, the deal would start to be modestly dilutive to 2028 earnings per share,” he highlighted. “Any increase in the bid is likely to weigh further on Netflix’s already substantially depressed [stock market] valuation.”

However, that recently depressed stock price may help investors to some degree, Fishman concluded. His takeaway: “With Netflix’s stock at current depressed levels, investors should win either way. We see longer-term benefits of owning Warner Bros.’ assets not properly reflected at these levels. But if Netflix walked away from the deal, the company’s core fundamental drivers of subscriber and advertising growth plus pricing power should rebuild investor confidence that WBD was truly ‘nice to have’ and not a ‘must have’.”

Richard Greenfield, analyst at LightShed Partners, suggested Paramount could well still walk away with the WBD business if it practices patience. “Given our belief that Netflix would move at least 10 percent higher, the only way for Paramount to be the winning bid is to significantly increase the dollar value of its bid,” he wrote in a Feb. 17 report before Paramount submitted its sweetened offer. “In our view, $30 is already likely overpaying for WBD,” he warned in the report entitled “Maverick, Don’t Do It: Ellison’s Warner Bros. Gamble Is a Mission He Should Abandon (For Now…).”

Greenfield’s suggestion: “Paramount should simply allow Netflix to be the winning bidder and wait six months for Discovery Global to spin out from WBD. Then Paramount will be able to acquire Discovery Global for a dramatically lower price … assuming DG trades as poorly as Paramount believes it will. While you might question why Paramount would still buy the DG assets, we continue to believe it needs them to help take costs out of Paramount’s troubled cable network portfolio and leverage the combined linear cable network cash flows to delever. Remember, for all the challenges facing Discovery Global’s cable networks, they are far better positioned than Paramount’s cable networks.”

And the rest of WBD could return to the auction block if regulators indeed block Netflix’s acquisition. “Paramount appears 100 percent confident that the WBD/Netflix deal will be blocked by regulators in the U.S. and in every major territory around the world,” the LightShed analyst wrote. “Given Ellison’s repeated public statements that his current plan for Paramount following the Skydance transaction does not require a WBD acquisition, why not simply wait for the Netflix deal to fail? If Paramount walks away today, it will have a far stronger balance sheet, be able to invest aggressively in content, be able to focus on executing its existing plan for Skydance/Paramount, buy Discovery Global for far less than its implied value inside WBD today, and then be able to acquire the Warner Bros. studio and HBO assets for far less once the Netflix deal is abandoned due to regulatory problems.”

Charter Communications has tapped turnaround specialist Nick Jeffery as its next chief operating officer. He’ll start in the role on Sept. 1.

Jeffery will lead marketing and sales and field operations as the cable and internet giant looks to bolster its customer service and Spectrum product offerings across Charter’s U.S. footprint. “Nick’s leadership, growth mindset and operational expertise combined with his proven ability to improve customer service across residential, mobile, and B2B markets make him the ideal person to help accelerate Spectrum’s next phase of growth,” Chris Winfrey, Charter president and CEO, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Jeffery joins Charter from Frontier Communications, where he served as president and CEO since 2021 and led the company out of a bankruptcy proceedings, and before that held the CEO post and led another corporate turnaround at Vodafone UK.

“He successfully reinvented the consumer and business services reputation of both Frontier and Vodafone by systematically strengthening the customer experience and implementing innovative go-to-market strategies that delivered significant revenue, profitability and customer growth. His experience will be a real asset to our company, and I welcome Nick to the team as we continue to position Spectrum as America’s most reliable and affordable connectivity provider,” Winfrey added.

Charter has worked to narrow its video and internet subscriber losses while adding to its mobile line customer base as the U.S. TV market remains intensely competitive. The company added video customers in its recent fourth quarter after introducing new pricing and bundled packages in Sept. 2024 amid competition from YouTube and other streaming-era rivals.

“I am honored to join a connectivity leader at such an exciting moment in its evolution. Spectrum has winning assets with its fully deployed converged network, industry leading video strategy and meaningful investments in network and customer service operations that provide a foundation for further growth. I look forward to partnering with this talented executive team to continue to improve the customer experience, operational performance, and growth across the business,” Jeffery said in his own statement.

In May 2025, Charter unveiled a $34.5 billion deal with Cox Communications to combine their businesses and create a cable TV giant with greater scale in broadband Internet connectivity and video to take on tech giants in the video and advertising spaces. The transaction is expected to be completed in mid-2026 as Charter works to get regulatory approvals.