The Media Play News Podcast

MPN Podcasts
  • 4.8 (5)
  • Entertainment News
  • Updated Monthly

Media Play News is the voice of the home entertainment industry. We cover all aspects of personal entertainment from the moment it leaves the movie or TV screen and is ready for viewing in the home, in the car, on a tablet or on a smartphone. We give you exclusive, insightful industry information and act as your personal content aggregator. From the latest industry trends to product news and market intelligence, we tell you what's important and what it means to your business.

  1. Stream TV Denver Preview: Independent TV in the Streaming Age With Raw Travel's Robert Rose | Next TMT

    5d ago

    Stream TV Denver Preview: Independent TV in the Streaming Age With Raw Travel's Robert Rose | Next TMT

    David Bloom and Daniel Frankel welcome back Robert Rose, independent producer and creator of Raw Travel — syndicated in 97% of the country and heading into its 14th season — for a wide-ranging conversation ahead of the Stream TV Denver conference, where Next TMT will be publishing show dailies and daily wrap-ups all week. 📺 The Independent Producer's Dilemma — Rob has 200 episodes of mostly evergreen travel content that has run through two full syndication cycles. The new distribution landscape offers more ways than ever to monetize that library — FAST channels, vertical video, digital-first formats — but it's an expensive and confusing maze to navigate without a studio behind you. 🌍 The Travel FAST Channel Problem — Rob looked hard at launching his own FAST channel and found the travel category is a wasteland of generic content. Does it have a tangential relationship to travel? Put it on. The same lack of curation that plagued broadcast TV has followed content into streaming. 🎬 Celebrities Who Travel vs. Travelers Who Make TV — Stanley Tucci, Zac Efron, Conan O'Brien. These are celebrities doing travel shows, not travel show creators. Rob makes the distinction — and explains why it matters for audiences who actually want to learn something about the world. ⚖️ Ken Paxton Goes After Netflix — The Texas AG turned Senate candidate is now targeting Netflix, complete with AI-generated campaign ads putting his opponent in a dress. The intersection of streaming, politics, and Gen AI advertising is getting very weird very fast. 📰 CBS Is a Dumpster Fire on Purpose — Scott Pelley's exit, Bari Weiss, and the systematic dismantling of a 57-year-old institution. Rob doesn't mince words: this is destruction by design, not an attempt to build something better. 🗺️ What Travel Teaches You — From Finland's disinformation resilience model to Morocco's plastic bag ban, Rob makes the case that independent travel journalism still has something to say that celebrity travel shows never will. 🎙️ Hosted by David Bloom & Daniel Frankel | Guest: Robert Rose, Raw Travel Next TMT × Media Play News — Live coverage all week from Stream TV Denver 🔔 Subscribe → nexttmt.com 🎧 Spotify & Apple Podcasts

    54 min
  2. SpaceX $1.75T Valuation, Disney Bundle Dominance & CBS News Civil War

    May 21

    SpaceX $1.75T Valuation, Disney Bundle Dominance & CBS News Civil War

    David Bloom and Daniel Frankel break down the week's biggest stories in media, tech, and telecom. 🚀 SpaceX's $1.75 Trillion Valuation — What's actually driving it: Starlink's satellite-to-device dominance, NASA contracts, and government policy tailwinds from the FCC. Plus, what it means for Elon Musk becoming the world's first trillionaire — and why Daniel has complicated feelings about it. 🌊 Undersea Cables & the Internet's Hidden Fragility — 95% of global data runs through fiber optic cables clustered in geopolitical chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz and the Baltic Sea. How vulnerable is the infrastructure that powers everything? 🎯 Authentic Brands Group Goes Public — The $38B brand machine behind Shaq, Kevin Hart, and David Beckham is heading to market. Their pitch: "content drives commerce." What that means for celebrity IP and the future of brand licensing. 📺 The Disney Bundle Actually Works — Hub Research confirms 59% of Disney+/Hulu/ESPN subscribers have zero plans to cancel. David and Daniel dig into how ESPN Plus transformed from obscure college softball to must-have sports streaming. 📰 CBS News Civil War: Is Bari Weiss Getting Edged Out? — Anderson Cooper's exit from 60 Minutes, Paramount's crushing debt load, the Skydance merger hanging on 13 state attorneys general, and why the real issue isn't who runs CBS News. 🎬 The Mandalorian & Grogu: Can a TV Show Survive as a Movie? — The biggest test yet of whether streaming-native IP can convert audiences to the theater. 🎰 Banning Gambling Ads for Under-18s — A bipartisan bill takes aim at digital gambling advertising targeting minors. The leagues made a Faustian deal. Now the cleanup begins. 🏀 NBA Playoffs & Victor Wembanyama — Is Wemby already the most dominant player anyone has ever seen? Plus: the $76B TV rights deal is looking very smart right now. 🎙️ Hosted by David Bloom & Daniel Frankel | Next TMT × Media Play News 🔔 Subscribe → https://nexttmt.com 🎧 Spotify & Apple Podcasts

    38 min
  3. Vancouver ate Hollywood — and TV's upfront revolution

    May 14

    Vancouver ate Hollywood — and TV's upfront revolution

    Vancouver ate Hollywood — and TV's upfront revolution AI is upending how television sells ads, EchoStar is breathing its last, and Vancouver just quietly became the world's animation capital. David Bloom reports live from Web Summit. 00:00 TV upfronts 2025: impressions are out, ROI is in NBC Universal, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery all pitched agentic AI ad systems this week — promising advertisers a direct line from ad exposure to actual purchase. But can legacy TV really close that attribution loop the way Amazon can? 07:00 Nielsen's measurement crisis and the TCL lawsuit As Nielsen struggles to transition from analog panels to smart TV data collection, a new class action against TCL highlights just how murky — and legally fraught — TV audience measurement has become. 08:00 Vancouver ate Hollywood: the animation cluster LA forgot to build Sony Imageworks, Blue Ant Studios (Spider-Verse), and Disney Animation (Frozen 3) are all thriving in Vancouver — with government seed funding, workforce pipelines, and over 100 VFX companies. Meanwhile LA doubled its tax incentive and still can't keep productions home. 15:00 AI branding, copyright, and the EU's 15% fine cliff Companies racing to market with AI-generated brands may find they can't copyright what they built — and in the EU, failure to label AI-created content can trigger fines of up to 15% of annual revenue. 18:00 K-pop Demon Hunters and the Netflix global hit formula Sony Imageworks didn't know what they had. Netflix didn't know what they had. Then superfans found it — and it became Netflix's most watched title. What the surprise runaway hit reveals about how global streaming actually works. 26:00 EchoStar's endgame: spectrum seized, $40B in deals, a SpaceX stake Dish lost another 366,000 pay TV subscribers. AT&T and Amazon bought $40B of its spectrum. The FCC — under Brendan Carr — effectively forced the sale. EchoStar walks away asset-light with a $10B SpaceX stake and Boost Mobile. Is this the next Yahoo? 33:00 Charlie Ergen, force majeure, and a very convenient escrow Ergen tried to invoke force majeure to avoid paying $2.4B to tower vendors. The FCC required an escrow account. The whole saga — and what it says about doing business in the current regulatory environment.

    40 min
  4. Big Media Earnings, Vertical Drama Market, OpenAI Trial & the Future of Hollywood | Next TMT Talks

    May 7

    Big Media Earnings, Vertical Drama Market, OpenAI Trial & the Future of Hollywood | Next TMT Talks

    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

    42 min
  5. Is Disney About to Ditch Broadcast TV? Kimmel, Carr, Riccitiello & Roku | Next TMT Talks

    Apr 30

    Is Disney About to Ditch Broadcast TV? Kimmel, Carr, Riccitiello & Roku | Next TMT Talks

    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

    24 min
  6. Can Streaming Handle the World Cup? NetSkrt CEO on Live Sports CDN Challenges

    Apr 16

    Can Streaming Handle the World Cup? NetSkrt CEO on Live Sports CDN Challenges

    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

    31 min
  7. Apple's Quiet Power Play, F1's Media Boom & Hollywood's Christmas Showdown | Next TMT Talks

    Apr 9

    Apple's Quiet Power Play, F1's Media Boom & Hollywood's Christmas Showdown | Next TMT Talks

    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.

    31 min
  8. RSNs Are Dead, Disney's New Era & Fortnite's Fade | Next TMT Midweek Check-In

    Mar 27

    RSNs Are Dead, Disney's New Era & Fortnite's Fade | Next TMT Midweek Check-In

    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.

    25 min
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4.8
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About

Media Play News is the voice of the home entertainment industry. We cover all aspects of personal entertainment from the moment it leaves the movie or TV screen and is ready for viewing in the home, in the car, on a tablet or on a smartphone. We give you exclusive, insightful industry information and act as your personal content aggregator. From the latest industry trends to product news and market intelligence, we tell you what's important and what it means to your business.

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