ESPN launched a guide, "Where to Watch," for its app and website that lets sports fans find where they can watch any sport, whether on ESPN platforms, broadcast, cable, regional sports networks or other streaming services, it said this week.

Apple making podcasts accessible via browser might be the start of a strategy to regain market share lost to YouTube, Midia Research blogged Wednesday. Apple lost ground to YouTube as a podcast platform in large part due to Apple not embracing podcasting video options, it said. But Apple faces an uphill slog as YouTube's global monthly user penetration as a source of podcast consumption is more than twice Apple's. Making up that deficit would require that Apple pivot completely to video, algorithmic discovery and being format-agnostic, Midia said. That isn't likely to happen in the foreseeable future, it added.

The consortium led by media executive Edgar Bronfman bidding on a takeover of Paramount Global (see 2408220055) has withdrawn its bid, the media company said Monday night. That ends the "go shop" period laid out in the terms of Skydance Media's bid for the company, Paramount said. During the go shop period, Paramount was free to solicit other bids. Charles Phillips, chair of the Paramount board M&A special committee, said the Skydance bid "delivers immediate value and the potential for continued participation in value creation in a rapidly evolving industry landscape." Paramount said the Skydance transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. A Skydance/Paramount deal is not expected to face significant FCC or antitrust headwinds (see 2407080025).

Media executive Edgar Bronfman entered a bid for Paramount Global, Paramount said Thursday. Acting on behalf of an investor group, Bronfman has extended the "go shop" period under the transaction agreement Paramount already has with studio Skydance Media (see 2407080025), letting Paramount continue soliciting competing offers. The company said the go shop period now runs to Sept. 5. It said that the board's special committee contacted more than 50 third parties to gauge their interest in making a proposal to buy Paramount. Formerly CEO and chairman of Warner Music, Bronfman is chairman of FuboTV.

ESPN, Fox Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery are appealing the preliminary injunction awarded FuboTV blocking launch of the trio's Venu sports streaming joint venture (see 2408160040, said an appeal notice Tuesday filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (docket 1:24-cv-01363). The JV partners are appealing to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A reasonable viewer would understand that talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel showed videos of former U.S. Rep. George Santos to comment on the New York Republican's willingness to say absurd things for money, a federal judge said Monday, dismissing Santos' copyright infringement suit against Kimmel, ABC and parent Disney. Santos sued after Kimmel solicited Cameo videos from Santos under a false name and then aired them on his late-night show. Dismissing the suit, U.S. District Court for Southern New York Judge Denise Cote ruled Kimmel's airing of the videos was fair use. In her docket 1:24-cv-01210 order, Cote waved off Santos' argument that Kimmel's use devalued the market for Cameo videos including Santos', saying the complaint doesn't identify any harm to the potential or existing market for the videos the plaintiff created.

The tone of the federal court's temporary injunction against the streaming sports joint venture of ESPN/Fox Sports/Warner Bros. Discovery (see 2408160040) might indicate channel bundling could come under attack as FuboTV's suit against the JV heads to trial, LightShed Partners' Rich Greenfield blogged Monday. He wrote the legality of bundling wasn't addressed in the injunction, but the U.S. District Court for Southern New York's decision said bundling practices "are bad for consumers." Greenfield added that while the partners know the Venu JV could cannibalize subscribers from existing multichannel video programming distributors and virtual MVPDs, the programming trio believes that if even one in four subscribers is new, Venu will be meaningfully additive financially to them.

The New York County Supreme Court was right to side with DirecTV on its breach of contract claim against Nexstar regarding WHAG Hagerstown, Maryland, and its lost NBC affiliation. A state Supreme Court Appellate Division panel ruled Thursday that the New York County court's grant of summary judgment in favor of DirecTV on the breach of contract claim, and denial of Nexstar's branch of contact counterclaim, came from a straightforward interpretation of the parties' agreement. The appellate court also found that the county Supreme Court was correct when it decided that DirecTV's fraudulent inducement cause of action gave it a basis for recovering unlaunched station fees. DirecTV sued after Nexstar refused to refund $10.5 million in license fees the satellite TV operator paid for WHAG. DirecTV paid the fees without knowing the station had gone independent and no longer was affiliated with NBC. Nexstar didn't comment Friday. WHAG was rebranded WDVM.

A weak first half of 2024 in linear TV points to Warner Bros. Discovery likely finishing the year with revenue down, S&P said Friday. Linear faces a challenging advertising environment and ongoing subscriber losses, it said. WBD's potential loss of NBA broadcast TV rights after the 2024-2025 season could add to linear challenges, it said. Netflix and Amazon are positioned as streaming market leaders, it said, with legacy media companies competing to be the third, fourth or fifth service consumers subscribe to. "This presents a significant challenge for WBD and its peers as they all need to scale their [streaming] businesses to meaningfully offset declines in linear."

NAB and the Motion Picture Association want the FCC to allow more time for comments in the AI political ad disclosure proceeding (see 2407250046), according to a motion posted Friday in docket 24-211. Comments are currently due Sept. 4, replies Sept. 19. NAB and MPA want a 30-day extension for comments, to Oct. 4, and 14 more days for replies, which would then be due Nov. 4. The presidential election is Nov. 5. The trade groups want more time “to provide meaningful comment on the Notice because it raises significant, novel factual and legal issues that will entail extensive factfinding and research,” the motion said. Moreover, other FCC processes on AI haven’t been as rushed, the motion said. The time crunch has been exacerbated because the FCC “pushed the Notice through the Federal Register process in near-record time,” didn’t release a public draft version, and delayed the final version’s release for two weeks after it was voted, NAB and MPA said. “There is simply no need to rush through the process under a notion that a decision could somehow be relevant for the 2024 election,” the motion said. “The 2024 election cycle is in fact already well underway. There is no chance an adopted item could have any impact.” Without an extension, the current timeline gives groups fewer than six weeks from the release of the NPRM to the deadline for initial comments. “This is an extremely short turnaround for a proceeding of this significance and complexity,” NAB and MPA said.