DISCOVERY & WARNERMEDIA MERGER IS ON: Discovery CEO David Zaslov and AT&T CEO John Stankey are sharing their plans for a merger worth $43 billion. “We’re going to be one company,” Zaslav said. “One company, one culture, one mission.” AT&T will own 71% of the combined entity, with Discovery owning 29%. Entertainment and media brands like HBO, HGTV, Warner Bros and Food Network will be grouped together, with Zaslav running the new company. Its name will be revealed in the coming days.
FIRST TRAILER FOR THE ME YOU CAN’T SEE DROPS: Apple TV+ unveiled the first official trailer for The Me You Can’t See, from Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry. The full series will premiere Friday, May 21, on Apple TV+.
JONATHAN VAN NESS TO VOICE VICE TV DOC: Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness has signed on to voice a documentary for Vice TV that will mark the 40th anniversary of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. Vice Versa: The Neglected Pandemic, 40 Years of HIV & AIDS, will consider what being HIV-positive means today, and will showcase “the frontlines of scientific advancements in the field and the reality of the experience.” “It made so much sense to partner with Vice TV on this project, as they are built around a mission to tell courageous true stories you won’t see anywhere else told by authentic, first person voices” said Van Ness, who revealed their own HIV-positive status in the 2019 memoir Over The Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love in the hope it would break the stigma surrounding the disease.
CBS TO TWEAK COMMERCIALS: In a bid to compete with streamers, CBS will make it possible for advertisers to buy commercials that are sent to a certain subset of the network’s audience. Called “addressable” ads, they allow companies to micro-target to customers who appear more likely to want a truck, business software, diapers, etc.
