movies
FCC Removes Key Limit On Media Ownership
The FCC removed a key constraint on broadcasters’ ability to consolidate stations, voting to repeal an ownership cap put in place to try to limit to power of any one media company.
The FCC’s 2-1 vote on Thursday was to repeal a restriction that limits companies from owning stations reaching more than 39% of TV households. But it faces a potential court challenge, amid warnings that only Congress has the authority to remove the restriction.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said that the move was long overdue given the dramatic changes to the competitive landscape, warning that inaction risked seeing local stations “going the way of newspapers.”
“It is time to restore balance to the broadcast airwaves,” Carr said. “Repealing the national cap will provide essential relief for local broadcasters by restoring a healthy counterbalance to the growing leverage of national programmers.”
He predicted that allowing broadcasters to increase scale will allow them to attract capital and boost advertising to produce news and other local programming.
Removal of the cap — which limits any company from collecting stations that reach more than 39% of the country — has long been a goal of broadcasters, who have complained that they have been unable to scale up to compete with unregulated tech giants as they have siphoned off local television advertising revenue.
Nexstar Media Group has been among the companies championing the repeal of the cap, having already obtained a waiver from the FCC’s media bureau to merge with Tegna, a transaction creating a broadcast giant with around 260 stations covering 80% of the country. The merger closed, but Nexstar has been ordered by a judge to keep the assets and operations separate amid an antitrust lawsuit brought by state attorneys general and DirecTV.
Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, said in a statement, “The large station groups positioned to grow even larger under this decision are not local broadcasters, they are national companies that own local stations and increasingly dictate what airs on them. Trading a squeeze from Big Tech for a squeeze from Big Media does nothing to protect the communities this cap was designed to serve.” She warned of shrinking newsrooms, as large station groups seek efficiencies in local operations.
Skepticism of the FCC’s action crosses party lines. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has said that he has doubts that the FCC can repeal the cap on its own, and Michael O’Rielly, a former Republican commissioner, has said that the authority lies with Congress as it was a statute. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, in a recent op ed, wrote of how he negotiated the 39% figure in a 2004 appropriations bill. “Regulatory agencies cannot defy or modify laws enacted by Congress,” DeLay wrote for The Daily Wire.
Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy told a congressional hearing earlier this year that he was “prepared to litigate” over the FCC’s action, arguing that the TV industry “is too important to be handed over to a small number of conglomerates.”
The FCC under Carr has argued that while Congress “has at times directed the Commission to change our rules, it has never withdrawn our authority under the Communications Act to regulate or change ownership limits.” In its order, the FCC claimed that Congress’ 2004 action was a directive only for the commission to “modify its rules.” The agency also cited a 2002 appellate court decision that characterized a specified percentage for the cap as a “starting point from which the Commission was to assess the need for further change.”
Major station groups were praising the FCC’s action even before the vote. Chris Ripley, the CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, said on an earnings call on Wednesday, “We fully expect people to challenge this order, and we think the FCC is on solid legal ground here in terms of their authority to change this rule and the rationale behind changing it. The FCC’s mandate is to deregulate over time. That was the mandate from Congress, as conditions change, and that’s what’s happening here.”
With the cap repealed, the FCC will shift to a case-by-case review of merger transactions that otherwise would exceed the 39% threshold. Carr has said that a rationale behind removing the cap was to bolster local TV station groups in the leverage against major broadcast networks. That raises the prospect that some companies will get the greenlight and others, like networks with a national footprint, will not.
“Congress never envisioned that local broadcast TV stations would become nothing more than undifferentiated passthroughs of national programming produced in Hollywood and New York,” Carr said on Thursday. “But if the FCC does not change course, this could become the reality in many towns and cities and counties.”
In announcing the plans, the FCC stated, “There may be transactions that would have exceeded the limits of
the 39% national cap that do not promote the public interest and those will be denied. On the other
hand, there may be transactions that would have exceeded the cap that do promote the public interest
and could gain Commission approval.”
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movies
David Zaslav Says ‘Superman: Man of Tomorrow’ Is “Fantastic”
Supergirl? What’s that?
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was asked if he’s considered any “change of strategy” at DC during the company’s earnings call with Wall Street analysts Thursday morning.
“You haven’t talked about DC for a while,” the analyst said. “I know with films, sometimes they perform, sometimes they don’t. But is there any change in strategy?”
Zaslav replied that DC co-chief James Gunn is “focused on Man of Tomorrow. I saw some pictures yesterday that looked amazing. Actually, yesterday was James’ birthday, and he’s out working. He’s working 16, 18 hours a day. It looks fantastic. We’re super excited about it.”
The executive also gave some thoughts about other DC projects.
“[The Batman Part II director] Matt Reeves, I spoke to over the weekend, and he’s working very hard on Batman, and we have Clayface coming up soon, which looks terrific,” Zaslav said. “We got Lanterns launching in the next few weeks on HBO, which Casey [Bloys] and Sarah [Aubrey] are super excited about, and so DC feels very good, and we have a robust pipeline, and Peter [Safran] and James are hard at work.”
Naturally, any top executive is going to do their best to downplay any failures and pump up whatever comes next. On Wednesday, Disney admitted to shareholders that Moana and The Mandalorian and Grogu underperformed at the box office but spun both as titles that helped boost revenue in other parts of the company.
Zaslav has a bit of a reputation for overhyping superhero titles, as the executive famously called The Flash :the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen” at CinemaCon in 2023
Supergirl only made $126 million globally at the box office, a rather weak number for a major superhero title, particularly since it was a spin-off of last year’s Superman, which made $618 million globally.
Coming up next is Clayface, which is considered a bit of a risk as it’s a blend of comic-book spectacle and body horror. But the film’s trailers have been really well received by fans. The project is directed by James Watkins and has a script by horror hitmaker Mike Flanagan along with Hossein Amini. Clayface hits theaters Oct. 23.
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movies
Sky Sued By Ex-Love Productions Boss Amid Row Over ‘Bake Off’
EXCLUSIVE: The Great British Bake Off’s cosy brand of kind-hearted competition has made it one of the most enduring success stories on UK television. But trouble is brewing in the tent.
In a highly unusual move, the former managing director of Love Productions is suing the company’s owner Sky, alleging that she was fired by the Comcast-backed broadcaster after raising concerns about its management of the Bake Off brand.
Letty Kavanagh has engaged London law firm Kingsley Napley to pursue twin legal cases against Sky and its subsidiary Love Productions. This includes a High Court lawsuit claiming breach of contract, as well as an employment tribunal for wrongful dismissal and gender discrimination.
Kieran Smith, Love Productions’ former creative director, is understood to share some of Kavanagh’s concerns and is also in dispute with Sky/Love through the UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, which can resolve differences before legal proceedings.
Sky denies wrongdoing and said it will robustly defend Kavanagh’s legal claims.
Details of the cases are not yet in the public domain, but Deadline can reveal that Kavanagh raised concerns about Sky’s attempts to poach The Great British Bake Off from Channel 4 in 2024, when the hit cooking series was up for renewal. Sky’s interest in Bake Off was not previously known, and the series ultimately remained on Channel 4.
During internal discussions at the time, Kavanagh alleged that Sky’s pursuit of Bake Off was a conflict of interest because the broadcaster was privy to contractual arrangements with Channel 4, including the funding agreement and talent deals.
Sky hotly disputed the conflict of interest allegation, arguing that there was no legal basis for the claim because it wholly owned Bake Off. A Sky source also pointed to similar deals, such as ITV poaching The Voice from the BBC soon after ITV Studios acquired Talpa in 2015.

Kavanagh further alleged that Sky planned to scale back the Bake Off empire by cancelling spin-off series, which include a celebrity version and Junior Bake Off. Kavanagh argued that this would have damaged the show’s brand and put hundreds of jobs for staff and freelancers at risk.
The former Love producer claimed that she sought meetings with and assurances from Sky’s senior management but was routinely dismissed. Kavanagh alleged that Sky retaliated by terminating her contract and marching her out of the building.
Kavanagh also claims to have suffered discrimination on account of her gender, alleging that male colleagues — including creative director Smith — were treated more favourably when they left Love Productions. Kavanagh alleges that Sky is refusing to pay money she is owed, despite male colleagues receiving payouts.
A Sky spokesperson said: “We do not recognise Ms Kavanagh’s account of events. We reject the possibility of a conflict of interest in relation to assets we control and wholly own and refute her allegations of discrimination and retaliation in the strongest possible terms. We do not intend to comment further at this stage. Regrettably, this matter is the subject of ongoing legal proceedings, in which we intend to vigorously defend our position.”
Kavanagh worked at Love Productions for 18 years and was part of a management team that succeeded Richard McKerrow as the company’s figureheads in February 2025. Nine months later, Sky installed Ralph Lee, the former BBC Studios executive, as Love’s boss and announced that Kavanagh was departing. She exited at the same time as Love’s creative director Smith and executive editor Simon Evans.
“Letty was unfairly dismissed by Sky for raising genuine concerns about its mismanagement of Love Productions – the creator of Bake Off,” said a source familiar with the case. “She was looking out for staff and freelancers at the production company, who risk losing their jobs because of bad management decisions, and was trying to protect the public service broadcasting content which Love Productions is so famed for producing. In retaliation, she was fired.”
The source added that Kavanagh’s allegations raise questions about Sky’s planned takeover of ITV, including whether Comcast’s U.S. culture “fits with the expectations of UK broadcasting.” As part of Sky’s £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) deal for ITV’s network operations, it was announced that ITV Studios would acquire Love Productions for £200M, meaning the Bake Off producer will have a new owner.
Bake Off, which streams on Netflix in the U.S. as The Great British Baking Show, will return for Season 17 next month. Nigella Lawson is replacing Prue Leith as a judge on the baking competition series. The show was originally created for the BBC in 2010.
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movies
‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ Game To Get Extended Look On Netflix This Month
Rockstar Games and Netflix have announced a first-of-its-kind partnership to premiere an extended look at what the companies are calling “the next evolution in the groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto series”: Grand Theft Auto VI.
When Auto VI premieres exclusively on Netflix on Thursday, August 27 at 3 p.m. ET, Netflix subscribers will get an extended look before the game releases for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19.
The extended look showcases what the streamer says is “one of the most anticipated releases in history, offering Netflix subscribers a chance to see more about the game that will define the next era of entertainment.”
The game’s official description: “Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida – forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.”
“Grand Theft Auto reveals have become cultural moments in their own right,” says Brandon Riegg, Netflix VP of Nonfiction Series. “The anticipation and fandom around Grand Theft Auto VI is unprecedented, and we’re honored that Rockstar Games has partnered with us to debut the next part of the Grand Theft Auto story with Netflix members first. It’s a reflection of what we hope Netflix is becoming: a place where the most ambitious storytelling, from any medium, can find the biggest possible audience.”
The new iteration in the blockbuster series comes 13 years following the debut of Grand Theft Auto V, the same year that Netflix was beginning its push into original programming. This collaboration “represents the next generation of storytelling and content on Netflix.”
Grand Theft Auto VI is set to arrive for PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S, November 19.
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