In today's episode, Todd Spangler, Variety business editor, breaks down Skydance's deal pledges to the FCC as it seeks to close the Paramount Global deal. And music chief Jem Aswad explains why UnitedMasters founder Steve Stoute was the choice for Variety's Music Mogul of the Year honor.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Thursday, July twenty fourth,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm
in LA He's in New York, and Variety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,
(00:28):
we'll talk with Variety Business Editor Todd Spangler on Skydance
Media's latest alive branches to the FEDS to get the
Paramount Global merger completed. And we'll hear from Jim Oswad,
Executive editor of Music, on how the music team landed
on United Masters founder Steve Stout as Variety's Music Mogul
of the Year. Before we get to that, here are
(00:50):
a few headlines just in this morning that you need
to know. Comcast has set the board of directors for
the NBC Universal spinoff Versant. The board includes Versa San
CEO Mark Lazarus, former Disney executive Rebecca Campbell, and former
Starbucks North America CEO Michael Conway. CBS News has formally
named Tanya Simon as the new executive producer of sixty Minutes.
(01:14):
If you read Variety and listen to this podcast, you
know why that is a very tough gig ITV has
released its half year results. The numbers show a thirty
one percent drop in profits on what the company notes
are tough year over year comparables. The quarterly results were
brighter for IMAX. Net income for the large screen exhibitor
doubled thanks to Sinners and f one driving fans to
(01:37):
premium screenings. The South Park standoff is over. Matt Stone
and Trey Parker have reached a deal with Paramount to
deliver fifty five zero more episodes of the enduring animated comedy.
The deal also makes all twenty six previous seasons available
for streaming on Paramount Plus for the first time. Now
(01:59):
we turn to conversations with Variety journalists about news and
trends in show business. Todd Spangler catches us up on
the latest moves by Skydance Media and Paramount Global to
complete the merger agreement that was first struck twelve months ago.
Todd Spangler, thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Hello, how are you.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We are keenly watching all of the news regarding Paramount
Global and sky Dance and their long merger process that
has been drawn out with more drama than anybody could
have imagined this time last year when they first announced
that they were going to try to tie the knot.
How do you read what Skuiddance is telling the FCC.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
There are two areas that Skuydance has focused in on,
presumably through its conversations with the FCC. One is regarding
DEI diversity, equity and inclusion, and the other is concerning
viewpoint diversity. And these are both hobby horses of the
Trump administration largely and of Brendan Carr, who is the
(02:58):
handpicked chair of the EBBA.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Say it, We've both covered a lot of m and
a process, a lot of FCC reviews. Usually these reviews
revolve around hard assets. You have to sell a certain
number of stations, you have to divest a certain asset
because you have too much concentration of power. This really
feels like getting into editorial decisions, as it were, of
(03:22):
a company in terms of what kind of policies, what
kind of incentives that it wants to have.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Skuidance counsel, the general counsel, the top lawyer of Skuiddance
reaffirm that Skuidance is committed to unbiased journalism and an
embrace of diverse viewpoints. That seems innocuous, but again keep
in mind, the backdrop to this is that paramout level
had just settled that lawsuit with Donald Trump. He alleged
(03:49):
that sixty Minutes had engaged in some kind of deceptive
editing of the Kamala Harris interview. Legal experts left and right,
maybe it just left, let's put it that way, said
that the Trump lawsuit was meritless. Paramount and CBS themselves
said that this didn't have any marriage. They were going
(04:11):
to fight it on first amended grounds. Well, they settled.
They made sixteen million dollars, most of that going to
Trump's future presidential library. So that looked like Paramount caving
to pressure from the Trump administration to do things in
a certain way. So when the Sky Dance Council writes
(04:31):
to the FCC, one of the new things that they've
committed to is they will have in place an ombud's
men who will report to the president of new Paramount
that's said to be Jeff Schell, who will receive and
evaluate any complaints of bias or other concerns involving CBS.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
They have committed to reaffirm Paramount Global's decision a couple
of months ago under pressure from the Trump administration that
we won't bring back any diversity, equity and inclusion pro
And that's telling a company how to manage its business.
But certainly Paramount Global and now Skydance is not alone
in kow telling to this aggressive anti DEI campaign.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, Brendon Carr has said that he would hold up
M and A deals if companies didn't make such commitments
to eliminating DEI. And in fact, you know, the FCC
approved a Verizon deal and a T Mobile deal basically
concurrently with those companies making commitments that DEI is dead
at their organizations.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
In the big picture, for Skydance Media and Paramount Global,
the latest that we'd been hearing was early September ish
was the hoped for target of the closing date. Do
you have anything more concrete on.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
That they wanted this done yesterday. They wanted this sign
sealed and approved by the end of the second quarters.
That was last month. But yeah, the expectation is that
this will be now a matter of weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Do you think that this whole process. That fact that
it became such a political football is going to put
a chill on other m and A. Do you think
that there's companies looking out there going I don't know
that I want to go through this right now with
so much politicization of business and decisions and things like that.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
No question about it. This is not a headache anybody
wants to raise their hand for at this time.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So much to watch Todd again. You always rise early
and file. Thank you for taking the time to talk
us through this seemingly never ending Paramount Global merger.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
No, we're going to stay on it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Next up, we'll hear from Jem Oswald on why we
chose United Masters founder Steve Stout as Variety's Music Mogul
of the Year. Jem Oswald, Executive Editor of Music, Thanks
for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Always a pleasure. Boss.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
This week's issue includes our annual Music Mogul of the
Year selection. Jem, I know you and the music team
take this very seriously. You look across the landscape all
year and keep notes about who's making a real impact.
How did you land on Steve Stout, founder of United Masters.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, Steve is one of those executives who's been around
for so long and has been so consistent that you
almost forget they're there. He's been ahead of everything that happened.
He's always been the sort of person who can get
in Jay Zasier or you know, like he's always had
a very glamorous and high flying clientele and circle of
(07:32):
people that he works with. But he started off managing
producers music producers. Then he was managing artists. He managed
the rapper Noss, and he managed Mary J. Blige. At
the same time, he became a top record executive.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
What I found fascinating about him in your story was
that he really did take a ninety degree turn after
all of his success in music and decided I want
to learn the advertising business in a big way. Was
that something that influenced your decision to choose him this year?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
A key moment in his career was he oversaw the
Men in Black soundtrack, the first Men in Black for
Sony Music, And something he always says about that is, yeah,
we sold ten million CDs, but they sold fourteen million
ray bands, And I feel like that was a real
Eureka moment for him. I'm not sure whether he sensed
(08:21):
the change in the wind, unlike so many other people
in the music business, because the CD boom was about
to die, Napster was right around the corner, so Steve
pivoted into advertising. He took the Men in Black model
and made a business out of it. That business's Translation
and agency that unites artists with brands, and Budweiser, Jay
(08:46):
Z and Maid in America came out of translation, so
did McDonald's I'm Loving It. That's a huge reason why
he was ahead of both the trend toward branding in music,
because once artists could really make money on CDs anymore,
they needed something else in their brand. Sitting right there,
he was right at the forefront of that.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
He was a successful player in the music business and
probably had connections, but you don't just land on Madison
Avenue and launch a company. Did he apprentice anywhere or
he just he went straight to launching a company.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Something that was pretty key is the fact that Steve
worked for Jimmy Ivin and people always say that Jimmy
Ivan can see around corners for what's coming next, so
that probably stood him in good stead as well.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
So most recently he's launched a company called United Masters
which also seems very ahead of the curve for musical
artists in terms of two keywords ownership and control. Tell
me about United Masters.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Well, something else that he saw around the corner of
is the last ten to fifteen years, more and more
artists have been realizing the value of owning their intellectual
property back when music had to a physical product. You know,
somebody is not likely to go out and buy ACD
pressing plant so they can press up their own music.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Let me ask you, Steve seems like he lives the
high life there in Miami.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
It certainly sounds that way. You know, the top half
lives very well in Miami, and it's easy to see
how that would appeal to him, because Steve comes out
of nineties hip hop flashy. He's the kind of person
who attracts and knows how to speak to very important
and very influential people. Obviously, his relationship with Jay Z
(10:31):
certainly speaks to that. But he's even moved into the
rarefied world of Trump Landia quite honestly, because after Trump's
first campaign, Jared Kirsch Kushner and Ivanka moved down to Miami,
and as Steve puts it, he says, they were very
specific about who they wanted to hang out with, and
(10:51):
Steve and his wife were two of those people. So
now they're very good friends. And as everything goes in
Trump world, that has opened up business opportunity forum as well,
because he is now branching into the Middle East, and
he said that Jared Kushner was the one to open
his eyes to the possibilities there.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Jim, thank you for talking us through this, and thanks
for finding us a very very worthy person to give
this recognition to.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And thank you for giving us a place to do it.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
As we close out today's episode, here are a few
things we're watching for. Next week will be a busy
frame for media and entertainment earnings. Spotify and Electronic Arts
report on Tuesday, Meta and Microsoft go on Wednesday, and
Thursday brings Comcast, Universal Music Group, Apple, Amazon, and Roku.
Coming up on Monday's episode, we'll have a report on
(11:44):
the goings on this weekend at San Diego Comic Con.
We'll also look at how The Fantastic Four First Steps
performs at its opening weekend. The movie is a big
test for Marvel's reset strategy. Before we go, congrats to
Elsa Ramo leader of Ramo Law, The firm that started
twenty years ago in a shabby trailer on the Universal backlot,
(12:05):
has grown to more than fifty employees. Variety's Todd Longwell
has a great Ramo Law origin story that you can
read on Variety dot com right now. This episode was
written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from
Todd Spangler and jem Oswad. It was edited by Eron
Greenwald Stick's Nick's hick Picks. Thanks for listening, Please leave
(12:26):
us a review at the podcast platform of your choice,
and please tune in Monday for another episode of Daily
Variety
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Thursday, July twenty fourth,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm
in LA He's in New York, and Variety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,
(00:28):
we'll talk with Variety Business Editor Todd Spangler on Skydance
Media's latest alive branches to the FEDS to get the
Paramount Global merger completed. And we'll hear from Jim Oswad,
Executive editor of Music, on how the music team landed
on United Masters founder Steve Stout as Variety's Music Mogul
of the Year. Before we get to that, here are
(00:50):
a few headlines just in this morning that you need
to know. Comcast has set the board of directors for
the NBC Universal spinoff Versant. The board includes Versa San
CEO Mark Lazarus, former Disney executive Rebecca Campbell, and former
Starbucks North America CEO Michael Conway. CBS News has formally
named Tanya Simon as the new executive producer of sixty Minutes.
(01:14):
If you read Variety and listen to this podcast, you
know why that is a very tough gig ITV has
released its half year results. The numbers show a thirty
one percent drop in profits on what the company notes
are tough year over year comparables. The quarterly results were
brighter for IMAX. Net income for the large screen exhibitor
doubled thanks to Sinners and f one driving fans to
(01:37):
premium screenings. The South Park standoff is over. Matt Stone
and Trey Parker have reached a deal with Paramount to
deliver fifty five zero more episodes of the enduring animated comedy.
The deal also makes all twenty six previous seasons available
for streaming on Paramount Plus for the first time. Now
(01:59):
we turn to conversations with Variety journalists about news and
trends in show business. Todd Spangler catches us up on
the latest moves by Skydance Media and Paramount Global to
complete the merger agreement that was first struck twelve months ago.
Todd Spangler, thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Hello, how are you.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We are keenly watching all of the news regarding Paramount
Global and sky Dance and their long merger process that
has been drawn out with more drama than anybody could
have imagined this time last year when they first announced
that they were going to try to tie the knot.
How do you read what Skuiddance is telling the FCC.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
There are two areas that Skuydance has focused in on,
presumably through its conversations with the FCC. One is regarding
DEI diversity, equity and inclusion, and the other is concerning
viewpoint diversity. And these are both hobby horses of the
Trump administration largely and of Brendan Carr, who is the
(02:58):
handpicked chair of the EBBA.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Say it, We've both covered a lot of m and
a process, a lot of FCC reviews. Usually these reviews
revolve around hard assets. You have to sell a certain
number of stations, you have to divest a certain asset
because you have too much concentration of power. This really
feels like getting into editorial decisions, as it were, of
(03:22):
a company in terms of what kind of policies, what
kind of incentives that it wants to have.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Skuidance counsel, the general counsel, the top lawyer of Skuiddance
reaffirm that Skuidance is committed to unbiased journalism and an
embrace of diverse viewpoints. That seems innocuous, but again keep
in mind, the backdrop to this is that paramout level
had just settled that lawsuit with Donald Trump. He alleged
(03:49):
that sixty Minutes had engaged in some kind of deceptive
editing of the Kamala Harris interview. Legal experts left and right,
maybe it just left, let's put it that way, said
that the Trump lawsuit was meritless. Paramount and CBS themselves
said that this didn't have any marriage. They were going
(04:11):
to fight it on first amended grounds. Well, they settled.
They made sixteen million dollars, most of that going to
Trump's future presidential library. So that looked like Paramount caving
to pressure from the Trump administration to do things in
a certain way. So when the Sky Dance Council writes
(04:31):
to the FCC, one of the new things that they've
committed to is they will have in place an ombud's
men who will report to the president of new Paramount
that's said to be Jeff Schell, who will receive and
evaluate any complaints of bias or other concerns involving CBS.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
They have committed to reaffirm Paramount Global's decision a couple
of months ago under pressure from the Trump administration that
we won't bring back any diversity, equity and inclusion pro
And that's telling a company how to manage its business.
But certainly Paramount Global and now Skydance is not alone
in kow telling to this aggressive anti DEI campaign.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, Brendon Carr has said that he would hold up
M and A deals if companies didn't make such commitments
to eliminating DEI. And in fact, you know, the FCC
approved a Verizon deal and a T Mobile deal basically
concurrently with those companies making commitments that DEI is dead
at their organizations.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
In the big picture, for Skydance Media and Paramount Global,
the latest that we'd been hearing was early September ish
was the hoped for target of the closing date. Do
you have anything more concrete on.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
That they wanted this done yesterday. They wanted this sign
sealed and approved by the end of the second quarters.
That was last month. But yeah, the expectation is that
this will be now a matter of weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Do you think that this whole process. That fact that
it became such a political football is going to put
a chill on other m and A. Do you think
that there's companies looking out there going I don't know
that I want to go through this right now with
so much politicization of business and decisions and things like that.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
No question about it. This is not a headache anybody
wants to raise their hand for at this time.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So much to watch Todd again. You always rise early
and file. Thank you for taking the time to talk
us through this seemingly never ending Paramount Global merger.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
No, we're going to stay on it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Next up, we'll hear from Jem Oswald on why we
chose United Masters founder Steve Stout as Variety's Music Mogul
of the Year. Jem Oswald, Executive Editor of Music, Thanks
for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Always a pleasure. Boss.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
This week's issue includes our annual Music Mogul of the
Year selection. Jem, I know you and the music team
take this very seriously. You look across the landscape all
year and keep notes about who's making a real impact.
How did you land on Steve Stout, founder of United Masters.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, Steve is one of those executives who's been around
for so long and has been so consistent that you
almost forget they're there. He's been ahead of everything that happened.
He's always been the sort of person who can get
in Jay Zasier or you know, like he's always had
a very glamorous and high flying clientele and circle of
(07:32):
people that he works with. But he started off managing
producers music producers. Then he was managing artists. He managed
the rapper Noss, and he managed Mary J. Blige. At
the same time, he became a top record executive.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
What I found fascinating about him in your story was
that he really did take a ninety degree turn after
all of his success in music and decided I want
to learn the advertising business in a big way. Was
that something that influenced your decision to choose him this year?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
A key moment in his career was he oversaw the
Men in Black soundtrack, the first Men in Black for
Sony Music, And something he always says about that is, yeah,
we sold ten million CDs, but they sold fourteen million
ray bands, And I feel like that was a real
Eureka moment for him. I'm not sure whether he sensed
(08:21):
the change in the wind, unlike so many other people
in the music business, because the CD boom was about
to die, Napster was right around the corner, so Steve
pivoted into advertising. He took the Men in Black model
and made a business out of it. That business's Translation
and agency that unites artists with brands, and Budweiser, Jay
(08:46):
Z and Maid in America came out of translation, so
did McDonald's I'm Loving It. That's a huge reason why
he was ahead of both the trend toward branding in music,
because once artists could really make money on CDs anymore,
they needed something else in their brand. Sitting right there,
he was right at the forefront of that.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
He was a successful player in the music business and
probably had connections, but you don't just land on Madison
Avenue and launch a company. Did he apprentice anywhere or
he just he went straight to launching a company.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Something that was pretty key is the fact that Steve
worked for Jimmy Ivin and people always say that Jimmy
Ivan can see around corners for what's coming next, so
that probably stood him in good stead as well.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
So most recently he's launched a company called United Masters
which also seems very ahead of the curve for musical
artists in terms of two keywords ownership and control. Tell
me about United Masters.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Well, something else that he saw around the corner of
is the last ten to fifteen years, more and more
artists have been realizing the value of owning their intellectual
property back when music had to a physical product. You know,
somebody is not likely to go out and buy ACD
pressing plant so they can press up their own music.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Let me ask you, Steve seems like he lives the
high life there in Miami.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
It certainly sounds that way. You know, the top half
lives very well in Miami, and it's easy to see
how that would appeal to him, because Steve comes out
of nineties hip hop flashy. He's the kind of person
who attracts and knows how to speak to very important
and very influential people. Obviously, his relationship with Jay Z
(10:31):
certainly speaks to that. But he's even moved into the
rarefied world of Trump Landia quite honestly, because after Trump's
first campaign, Jared Kirsch Kushner and Ivanka moved down to Miami,
and as Steve puts it, he says, they were very
specific about who they wanted to hang out with, and
(10:51):
Steve and his wife were two of those people. So
now they're very good friends. And as everything goes in
Trump world, that has opened up business opportunity forum as well,
because he is now branching into the Middle East, and
he said that Jared Kushner was the one to open
his eyes to the possibilities there.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Jim, thank you for talking us through this, and thanks
for finding us a very very worthy person to give
this recognition to.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And thank you for giving us a place to do it.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
As we close out today's episode, here are a few
things we're watching for. Next week will be a busy
frame for media and entertainment earnings. Spotify and Electronic Arts
report on Tuesday, Meta and Microsoft go on Wednesday, and
Thursday brings Comcast, Universal Music Group, Apple, Amazon, and Roku.
Coming up on Monday's episode, we'll have a report on
(11:44):
the goings on this weekend at San Diego Comic Con.
We'll also look at how The Fantastic Four First Steps
performs at its opening weekend. The movie is a big
test for Marvel's reset strategy. Before we go, congrats to
Elsa Ramo leader of Ramo Law, The firm that started
twenty years ago in a shabby trailer on the Universal backlot,
(12:05):
has grown to more than fifty employees. Variety's Todd Longwell
has a great Ramo Law origin story that you can
read on Variety dot com right now. This episode was
written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from
Todd Spangler and jem Oswad. It was edited by Eron
Greenwald Stick's Nick's hick Picks. Thanks for listening, Please leave
(12:26):
us a review at the podcast platform of your choice,
and please tune in Monday for another episode of Daily
Variety
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