He has built the company into a global media brand that owns TV stations and produces content for broadcast, cable and digital outlets. Allen had sued Comcast for refusing to carry his entertainment channels.īACKGROUND: Allen, who started his career as a teenage standup comic, founded Culver City-based Entertainment Studios is 1993. over racial discrimination was derailed when the Supreme Court ruled that his $20 billion lawsuit against the media giant needed to meet a higher threshold to continue. That same month, Allen’s five-year legal battle with Comcast Corp. THE LATEST: In March, Allen made an $8.5 billion cash bid for Tegna Inc., the broadcasting and digital business of Gannett Co.
Abrams, director of 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” the ninth film in the “Star Wars” series, reportedly walked away from a more lucrative $500 million exclusivity deal with Apple TV Plus because WarnerMedia offered a broader landscape of media franchises and feature film possibilities.īACKGROUND: Abrams co-founded Bad Robot in 2001 and went on to produce hit TV series such as “Lost,” “Alias,” “Fringe,” “Westworld” and “Person of Interest.” On the film side, he helped revive the “Star Trek” franchise with new blockbuster titles and also put his stamp on the “Star Wars” universe, directing two films - “The Rise of Skywalker” and “The Force Awakens” - that each earned more than $2 billion at the box office.Īllen, Byron - Entertainment Studios Inc. THE LATEST: In September, Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions signed an exclusive deal worth a reported $250 million to create films, TV series, video games and digital content for AT&T’s WarnerMedia, parent company of the new streaming service HBO Max.