The Town with Matthew Belloni

Matt is joined by Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw to briefly discuss Matt’s experience at the White House Correspondents' Dinner before diving into the latest struggles for Peacock after a first-quarter loss of $432M despite increasing its subscriber base by 22 percent. They dig into why the streamer is struggling despite its association with a very successful movie studio, its strong reality TV slate, and its valuable NFL rights, and discuss the overall paradox of the streaming business in 2026 (00:00). Matt finishes the show with a prediction about Netflix's new Los Angeles headquarters (25:23).

Host: Matt Belloni

Guest: Lucas Shaw 

Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jon Jones

Theme Song: Devon Renaldo

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Matt is joined by Semafor’s business and finance editor Liz Hoffman to discuss Wall Street's view of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, this morning's WBD shareholder vote to approve the $110B deal, the non-binding rejection of David Zaslav’s exorbitant pay package, how the board will respond, and Netflix’s reputation after its push to acquire Warner Bros (00:32). Then, Matt and Craig recap the ‘Michael’ premiere, discuss the sordid backstory of making the movie, and give their opening weekend box office prediction (25:50).

Host: Matt Belloni

Guest: Liz Hoffman

Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jon Jones

Theme Song: Devon Renaldo

This episode is brought to you by AMC+. Start your free trial today at join.amcplus.com.

Half Man is now streaming on HBO Max.

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Live from CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Matt is joined by producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Emma Thomas and Cinema United CEO Michael O’Leary to discuss the petition to block Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros., the impact of PVOD and SVOD on the theatrical industry, the benefits of working with a major studio, the Ryan Coogler ‘Sinners’ deal, and what scares them the most about the state of the industry right now.

Host: Matt Belloni

Guest: Jerry Bruckheimer, Emma Thomas, Michael O’Leary

Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jon Jones

Theme Song: Devon Renaldo

This episode is brought to you by AMC+. Start your free trial today at join.amcplus.com.

Half Man premieres April 23rd on HBO Max.

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Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss the state of the various high-profile antitrust cases in Hollywood, particularly how skeptical the states are of the Tegna-Nexstar and Live Nation–Ticketmaster mergers. Is this a new twist in how big media mergers are going to be treated? If so, what does this mean for Paramount–Warner Bros. (00:00)? Matt finishes the show with a prediction about the Academy Awards and AI (28:21).

Host: Matt Belloni

Guest: Lucas Shaw 

Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Matt Pevic

Theme Song: Devon Renaldo

This episode is brought to you by AMC+. Start your free trial today at join.amcplus.com.

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Matt is joined by The Ringer’s Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins from ‘The Big Picture’ to recap their trip to CinemaCon in Las Vegas and rank the presentations from the major movie studios. They discuss the trailers and footage the wowed people the most, announcements that fell flat, who brought the most star power, David Ellison’s surprise appearance and commitment to movie theaters, and much more.

Host: Matt Belloni

Guest: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins

Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jon Jones

Theme Song: Devon Renaldo

This episode is brought to you by AMC+. Start your free trial today at join.amcplus.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices