Ted Turner, the man who transformed television, is gone — and the industry he shaped is still evolving at warp speed. David Bloom and Daniel Frankel break down the week's biggest stories in technology, media, and telecom on this episode of Next TMT Talks.

In this episode:

🎙️ Ted Turner's Legacy — Remembering the giant who revolutionized broadcast and cable television.

📺 Disney's Super App Strategy — Disney wants one app to rule them all — theme parks, cruise ships, streaming, sports. Can it work? Plus, a breakdown of Disney's strong Q1 earnings: revenue up 7% to $25 billion, shares jumping 8%.

🎬 Paramount's 30-Film-a-Year Bet — David Ellison doubled down on releasing 30 films annually post-merger. Is that even possible while cutting debt from 7x to 2x?

📱 The Vertical Drama Market — Hollywood's next frontier? The LA Vertical Drama Market launches this week, with original short-form content built natively for mobile. SAG-AFTRA has a contract. Serious money is paying attention.

📊 IAB Ad Trends — Social video just overtook CTV as advertisers' must-buy. What that means for the future of streaming revenue.

🏀 NBA Streaming Fragmentation — Journalists and fans are frustrated navigating Peacock, Amazon, and ESPN. Is the new NBA deal creating confusion?

🤖 Elon Musk vs. OpenAI in Court — The Oakland trial is heating up. Musk's odds of winning have dropped from 60% to below 35%, bombshell texts with Greg Brockman were revealed, and Mira Murati testified about chaos inside OpenAI.

🚗 Tesla's Brand Problem — Chinese EV competitors are eating Tesla's lunch while Elon's public persona continues to alienate his core audience.

🎥 Hollywood, AI & the Creator Economy — From the SAG-AFTRA AI deal to California's film tax incentives, how is AI reshaping production economics?

📬 Subscribe to the newsletter & podcast: NextTMT.com 🎟️ Catch us live at Stream TV Denver — daily episodes coming soon!

00:02 Introduction to Media Trends and Earnings 02:59 The Rise of Digital Video Advertising 05:28 Exploring Vertical Dramas and New Formats 08:29 The Creator Economy and Investment Opportunities 11:28 Disney's Earnings and Future Strategies 14:28 NBA Streaming and Viewer Experience 17:21 Paramount's Ambitious Film Production Plans 21:14 Financing Film Production and Tax Incentives 22:28 SAG-AFTRA Guild Rules and Actor Likeness 24:29 AI's Impact on Hollywood and Production Costs 26:15 Competition in Streaming: Netflix vs. Disney 29:36 The Future of AI in Entertainment 31:06 Elon Musk vs. OpenAI: The Legal Battle 35:47 Elon Musk's Reputation and Business Strategy

Is Disney about to walk away from broadcast television? What does Jimmy Kimmel's FCC trouble actually mean for free speech and media? And what does the former head of EA and Unity think about the future of gaming? David Bloom and Daniel Frankel break it all down on this episode of Next TMT Talks — your go-to podcast for technology, media, and telecom analysis. In this episode:

• 🎙️ Jimmy Kimmel & the FCC — Is the case against Kimmel a political distraction, or a real threat to broadcast free speech? We look at Brendan Carr's role and what it means for Disney's ABC stations.
• 📺 Disney's Broadcast Dilemma — With pressure mounting from the FCC and the rise of streaming, should Disney pull ABC off free over-the-air TV entirely and go all-in on Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN? Analyst Laura Martin's bold suggestion is more relevant than ever.
• 🎮 John Riccitiello on the Gaming Industry — The former CEO of Electronic Arts and Unity (now running Pilates equipment maker Gratz) shares why gaming needs a real innovation breakthrough — and why NFTs, crypto, and VR haven't delivered it.
• 📡 Roku hits 100 million users — What their Instacart ad partnership means for streaming monetization.
• 🛰️ Google's Starlink challenger — A new broadband technology taking aim at LEO satellite internet.
• 🇮🇹 Tectalia SF event — Inside the Italian tech conference connecting Renaissance innovation to modern tech.

Chapters:

00:00 Jimmy Kimmel and Media Distractions 05:23 The Future of Broadcasting and Streaming 10:15 Challenges in the Gaming Industry 15:12 Insights from John Riccitiello on Innovation 20:24 The Evolution of Entertainment Delivery

As live sports rapidly shift to streaming, one of the biggest questions facing the industry is simple:

Can the networks actually handle it?

In this Next TMT Talks x Media Play News episode, David Bloom and Daniel Frankel sit down with Sig Luft, CEO of NetSkrt, to discuss the biggest technical and business challenges facing live sports streaming today.

From CDN bottlenecks and edge delivery to latency, World Cup scale, Netflix's growing pains, and the future of IP-based broadcast infrastructure, this is a must-watch conversation for media and technology executives heading into NAB 2026.

Topics include:

• Why live sports creates massive CDN challenges
• The edge delivery problem
• Why latency matters for sports and betting
• What Netflix learned from massive live events
• World Cup and global distribution challenges
• Why OTT may eventually become 100% of distribution
• The shift from broadcast infrastructure to IP

#Streaming #LiveSports #CDN #NAB2026 #SportsMedia #MediaTech #NextTMT #WorldCup

This week on Next TMT Talks, David Bloom and Daniel Frankel break down why Apple Inc. continues to tighten its grip on the U.S. smartphone ecosystem — despite all the noise around AI, Siri, and hardware innovation.

The conversation then shifts to the business of media and entertainment, including:

• Why Apple's ecosystem keeps winning
• The rise of Formula 1 as a billion-dollar media property
• Apple Inc.'s major Formula 1 rights play
• What Plex's surprising corporate retreat story says about tech culture
• Why Dune 3 vs Avengers could become Hollywood's biggest holiday box-office battle
• The future of major studio franchises and streaming economics

A fast-moving conversation at the intersection of technology, media, telecom, and Wall Street strategy.

Next TMT's David Bloom and Daniel Frankel are back for their midweek check-in on the biggest stories in technology, media, and telecom. On MLB Opening Day, they dig into the final collapse of the regional sports network business — from Sinclair's costly 2019 acquisition through Diamond Sports Group's prolonged bankruptcy — and what it means for local baseball fans going forward.

They also cover Disney's leadership transition, the company's $1 billion OpenAI deal, Epic Games laying off staff as Fortnite engagement declines, and growing antitrust concerns around the Skydance-Paramount merger.

David Bloom and Daniel Frankel of Next TMT sit down for their weekly check-in with Media Play News, covering a packed week in media, entertainment, and sports. They break down what's next for Disney under new CEO James Marshmello — from a potential Roblox acquisition to the future of ESPN and ABC — and whether the company should finally spin off its legacy TV assets.

Then it's a look back at the Oscars: declining ratings, Conan O'Brien's high-wire act as host, the Timothée Chalamet backlash, and what the Warner Bros. leadership shakeup says about Hollywood right now.

Plus: the tech transforming how we watch sports — from NASCAR's "burn bar" to Peacock's NBA Performance View — and a timely, cautionary deep-dive into March Madness gambling. With sports betting now a $160 billion industry, David and Daniel walk through what not to do with your bracket money (and why the house almost always wins).

A Next TMT Midweek Issue conversation with Media Play News.

The NFL wants more money — again. Just five years into its record $111 billion TV and streaming deal, the league has reopened broadcast rights talks after seeing what the NBA scored in its new $75 billion package. In this week's Next TMT Talks, David Bloom and Daniel Frankel break down the NFL's early renegotiation, what Looper Insights' new "Who Will Control Sports Streaming in 2026?" report reveals, and how global reach, marketing, and discovery are reshaping sports media. They also dig into the NFL's international push, college football's struggles, and even a sideline detour on Bill Maher's Warner–Paramount merger moment.

Hollywood may be witnessing one of the largest and riskiest media mergers ever attempted.

In this episode of Next TMT Talks, hosts David Bloom and Daniel Frankel break down the massive $110+ billion Warner Bros.–Paramount merger effort backed by David Ellison and Skydance — and why the deal could reshape the future of streaming, sports rights, and Hollywood studios.

The discussion explores the regulatory battles ahead, the massive debt burden the combined company could carry, and why Netflix ultimately walked away from the bidding war.

• Why the Ellison-backed Paramount–Warner deal ballooned to $110B+

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• Why Netflix declined to counterbid despite early interest

• The enormous sports rights portfolio the combined company would control

• Why the NFL may reopen its TV deals early

• How streaming consolidation is reshaping Hollywood

• The political fight over sports on broadcast TV

• Why local journalism may depend on NFL broadcast rights

• The future of Paramount+, HBO Max, and a potential merged streaming service

Next TMT Talks covers the intersection of media, technology, telecom, and streaming economics.

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📰 Newsletter: https://nexttmt.com

From AI search to micro-dramas and ultra-efficient movie marketing, the media business is changing faster than anyone expected.

In this Next TMT Talks midweek check-in, David Bloom and Daniel Frankel report from DEG InTech Fest in Los Angeles, where studio executives, technologists, and creators explored how AI is reshaping entertainment production, marketing, and distribution.

One big takeaway: AI doesn't just improve one part of the business — it improves everything at once, forcing Hollywood to rethink how content gets made and discovered

• Why AI is accelerating faster than past tech shifts like search or social

• How studios must optimize marketing for AI discovery

• The risk of AI hallucinations sending audiences to the wrong content

• Cineverse's ultra-lean model and the Terrifier success story

• Micro-dramas as an $8B global opportunity

• Why Chinese mobile-game economics are influencing streaming

• AI leverage vs traditional labor economics in Hollywood

• What DEG InTech Fest revealed about the industry's next phase

Next TMT Talks covers the intersection of media, technology, telecom, and streaming economics — built for executives, creators, and industry insiders.

👉 Subscribe for weekly industry analysis 📰 Newsletter: nexttmt.com

This week David Bloom and Daniel Frankel break down the rapidly evolving battle surrounding Paramount, Netflix, and Skydance — and why the outcome could reshape the future of media consolidation.

With billions in debt, competing offers, shareholder pressure, and global regulatory hurdles, the panel explains what's really happening behind the headlines and why timing, leverage, and scale matter more than ever in today's streaming economy.

Topics include: • The latest Paramount–Skydance negotiations • Netflix's strategic positioning • Debt, valuation, and deal math • Regulatory risks in the U.S. and abroad • What this means for Hollywood and streaming going forward