Strategy: Last News

Alison Pepper, who has been CBS News‘ senior vice president of talent strategy, said that she is leaving after the election, as she cited the “seismic shifts” facing the network.

Cindy Holland is stepping down as Global CEO of Elisabeth Murdoch and Jane Featherstone‘s Sister after 15 months. She is moving to a new role as a senior advisor to Skydance and its CEO David Ellison as he is plotting the future of Paramount upon completion of the pending $8B merger. Former Netflix TV chief Holland is expected to provide streaming expertise and insights to Ellison who has underscored his commitment to that part of Paramount’s business.

Carole Horst Elizabeth Woodward saw an opportunity in the indie film market and ran with it. The founder and CEO of production shingle and distributor Willa is poised to break into bigger endeavors with Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “La Cocina,” which it will release Oct. 25 in New York and Los Angeles.

Vice President Kamala Harris once shared that she plays Wordle every single day, and at the time, she revealed some fun facts about her game play and strategy.

Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter Sundance Institute alum Mary Sadeghy has joined Variety as senior VP of strategy and account management. A veteran sales and marketing executive, Sadeghy will work collaboratively with Variety‘s sales team to develop programs for global blue-chip brands. She will oversee all strategic alliances and business development for the venerable entertainment news brand both domestically and internationally.

Naman Ramachandran ScreenSkills, the U.K.‘s screen industry skills body, has unveiled an ambitious five-year strategy aimed at developing a robust workforce to support the nation’s £13.48 billion ($17.4 billion) screen sector. The organization’s blueprint, which follows recommendations from the Screen Sectors Skills Task Force in 2023, emphasizes data-driven decision making and strategic partnerships with industry heavyweights including the BBC and Channel 4.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor is transferring several sports assets — including the Professional Bull Riders — to TKO Group, the holding company of WWE and UFC. TKO announced it has reached a definitive agreement with Endeavor Group (which owns a majority stake in TKO) to acquire PBR, On Location, and IMG in an all-stock transaction valued at $3.25 billion.

UK training body ScreenSkills has launched a new five-year strategy which includes plans to partner with the BBC and industry body Create Central to identify and tackle “regional skills gaps” in the UK.

Fox Corp. has reorganized its ad sales, marketing and brand partnerships group, announcing several senior exec hires but also cuts of about 3% of the workforce in the unit.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Three longtime Warner Bros. research executives have joined forces to launch Maverix, a research firm that taps proprietary data on consumer purchasing activity to study entertainment consumption in the context of a person’s broader lifestyle preferences. Liz Huszarik spent 30 years with Warner Bros., serving as executive VP of media research and global insights for Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Did you know a new “Call of Duty” game is launching this week? If not, Microsoft would probably pay to find out where you’ve been hiding, because the tech giant has shelled out a marketing budget comparable to any “major motion picture blockbuster that would be launching this year,” according to Tyler Bahl, the chief marketing officer at “Call of Duty” studio Activision, to get “Black Ops 6” on every consumer’s radar, from taking over People Magazine’s iconic “Sexiest Man Alive” cover to infiltrating “Monday Night Football.” The launch of “Black Ops 6” marks the first mainline “Call of Duty” game to be released since Microsoft closed its $76 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, the largest video game acquisition ever made, in October 2023. With the choice to offer the title to Xbox’s Game Pass customers when it goes live on Friday, Microsoft is driving home the importance of its subscription service to its overall revenue strategy and putting a lot of faith in Activision’s biggest franchise’s ability to boost the product.

Disney EMEA bosses gave MIPCOM attendees a ‘window’ into their thinking over a new era of flexibility in the international TV market this morning.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Spain’s prominent public broadcaster Radio Televisión Española (RTVE) is set to launch RTVE Play+, its international video-on-demand OTT platform, in Asia and Oceania this Tuesday, Oct. 22. The announcement comes at a fortuitous time, given a recent glowing report from Spanish trade and investment body ICEX and entertainment analytics org, Parrot Analytics.

The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) has named PR vet and former Variety journalist Andrew Stewart as Chief Communications Officer.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent In one of the most anticipated keynotes held at the 40th edition of Mipcom in Cannes, All3Media CEO Jane Turton discussed what drove Jeff Zucker and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird IMI in its $1.45 billion purchase of the TV production powerhouse behind “The Traitors.” “I think it’s definitely the IP. People want to see growth,” Turton said at a fireside conversation with Variety’s co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton at Mipcom in Cannes on Oct.

K.J. Yossman Victura Media, a new company focused on managing entertainment franchises, has launched at Mopcon with a slate of IP including a television adaptation of Dawn O’Porter novel “Paper Aeroplanes.”Victura will also distribute a number of titles from “The Walking Dead” producer Skybound Entertainment, including“PSI Cops,” “Super Dinosaur” and “Skybound Presents: Spike & Mike’s Festival of Animation.” The transatlantic company, which will work across the U.K.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Since launching at the start of 2024, TF1+, the ad-supported streaming service of France’s leading commercial channel TF1, has nearly doubled its content pipeline through aggregation deals and has increased its digital advertising revenues by about 40%. The service, which is spearheaded by TF1 president and chairman Rodolphe Belmer, has recently signed partnerships with Franco-German network Arte and A&E Television Network, bringing TF1+’s pipeline of content from 15,000 hours at launch to 25,000 hours today.

The drumbeat of departures from Paramount Global is continuing, with high-level streaming exec Jeff Shultz heading for the exits.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Jeff Shultz, who has served as chief strategy officer and chief business development officer of Paramount Global‘s streaming division, is leaving the company at the end of the year. Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone have clinched a deal to merge Paramount with Skydance Media, a transaction expected to close in the first half of 2025. In the meantime, Paramount has engaged in layoffs and restructuring in its U.S.

Key congressional races and the contest for the White House have become even tighter according to polling data released this week, as Republican campaigns, including former President Donald Trump’s team, targeted their opponents with $65 million in anti-LGBTQ and especially anti-trans attack ads.

Variety, the U.S. streamers are starting to move away from aggressive rights grabs, in part because, as Blum pointed out, it is a “fundamentally unsustainable” strategy. “Back in 2020, 60% of the top 10 shows on Netflix were originals, and now, 60% of the top 10 shows are acquisitions, licensed in from AMC and others,” says Guy Bisson, executive director and co-founder of Ampere Analysis.