Canal+, the LSE-listed French pay-TV group, signed an agreement to acquire 34% of cinema group UGC, which operates 48 theaters in France and 7 in Belgium. (link)

Warner Bros. Discovery and CJ ENM, a Korean studio known for financing & distributing Oscar-winner Parasite and operating its own Tving Korean content streaming service, formed a multi-year pact to co-produce and distribute Korean drama and unscripted series. Tving will be distributed through HBO Max in 17 APAC markets beginning 2026. The companies will co-invest in original Korean dramas for global release. (link)

Paramount Pictures renewed its exclusivity deal with Walter Hamada's 18Hz Productions to produce low-to-mid budget horror films. (link)

Cineplex, the Canadian cinema chain, is selling its digital signage division Cineplex Digital Media to Louisville-based Creative Reality Inc. for CAD $70M in cash in order to reduce its debt. Cineplex will continue managing the Canadian assets under the terms of the deal. (link)

NBCUniversal and Aptos Labs, a Layer 1 blockchain developer, launched Backlot Club, a Web3 fan engagement platform on the Aptos network. It targets on-chain rewards, collectibles, and loyalty programs across properties. Testing is running at Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Orlando and Hollywood via an on-chain scavenger hunt. (link)

Apple and NBCUniversal agreed to offer bundled subscriptions to Apple TV and Peacock starting Monday to expand reach and reduce churn. Apple TV with Peacock Premium will cost $14.99/mo while Apple TV with Peacock Premium Plus will cost $19.99/mo. (link)

Red Bull Media House, the media arm of Red Bull, is consolidating a number of assets under the Servus Media sub-brand. The company plans up to 10% workforce reduction, or 40–60 roles. Consolidated brands include ServusTV, Servus in Stadt & Land, Bergwelten, Speedweek, and Terra Mater Studios. (link)

Associated Press (AP) said ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN signed on to use its election data in 2026 and 2028 election cycles, joining Fox News and newspapers nationwide. This represents a shift away from Edison Research’s National Election Pool. (link)

CNN set pricing for its upcoming standalone streaming service at $6.99/month for All Access. Launching Oct 28, the service will offer select live domestic and international CNN programming, plus a library of originals and films. (link)

Zattoo, the Zurich-based European live TV streaming platform, added 3 FAST channels across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, expanding its free ad-supported lineup. (link)

Canal+ reported 9-month revenue of €4.61B, up 1.2% organically excluding MultiChoice (€78M for 11 days), with all segments growing organically despite reported declines from terminated deals. (link)

Josh Goldstine joined Paramount Pictures as President of Global Marketing and Distribution.. He reports to Motion Pictures co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein. Goldstine previously led Warner Bros. marketing. (link)

Tim Rhoenisch will exit German broadcast giant ProSiebenSat.1, ending his roles as CEO and CFO of the Commerce & Ventures segment. Florian Hirschberger, also Managing Director of the company's SevenVentures investment arm, became segment CEO. (link)

United Group, a Southeast European telecom and media operator owned by British PE firm BC Partners, faced a police search at its Belgrade headquarters. Press-freedom groups criticized the move as political. (link)

General Intuition, the newly formed parent company of gamer clips video platform Medal (10M MAUs) that is building AI models focused on spatial and temporal reasoning for major game publishers, raised $133.7M in "Seed" funding led by Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst with participation from Raine Group. (link)

ego AI, a character AI platform, launched the character.world engine and raised $6.7M in Seed funding from Patron, Y Combinator, Accel, Boost VC, and angel investors. Its engine combines small language models and reinforcement learning for game character behavior. (link)

Global Gaming League, an esports league built around celebrity-owned teams, announced that Gillie and Wallo, hosts of the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, became team owners and will face Howie Mandel’s Howie Do It team in Las Vegas as part of GGL’s SZN ZERO event. (link)

Crunchyroll, an anime streamer and games publisher recently acquired by Disney, partnered with A Plus Japan to launch the English release of action RPG mobile game Bleach: Soul Resonance outside Asia later this year. The game is based on Bleach IP. Crunchyroll has Bleach manga content on its platform but the Bleach anime series is on Hulu. (link)

Rivrs, a Rennes, France-based developer of games for UGC gaming platforms (like Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite), is investing $1M to fund Southeast Asian development teams, opening an AI-driven studio in Da Nang, Vietnam, and opening a regional publishing HQ in Hong Kong. (link)

Ben Brinkman was appointed head of 31st Union, a San Mateo studio of 2K Games. Brinkman spent 15 years on franchises including Call of Duty and Apex Legends. (link)

Activision Blizzard had 400+ Platform and Technology employees vote to unionize with the Communications Workers of America. Microsoft reportedly recognized the union. The action increases organized labor presence across Microsoft game studios, which now includes nearly 3,000 CWA-represented workers. (link)

Spotify appears to be developing a feature called SongDNA that enables users to discover music grouped not only by recording artist but by all sorts of credited professionals (writers, vocalists, engineers, producers, composers, etc. who worked on a given track or album). The functionality was discovered in test code. Spotify removed it after press inquiries and declined to comment. (link)

SoundPatrol, an AI IP-protection lab co-founded by Michael Ovitz and Walter De Brouwer, launched a neural fingerprinting service that monitors music for unlicensed use in real time. Universal Music Group and Sony Music will deploy the system; Warner Music has not signed. (link)

Spotify announced agreements with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Merlin to develop “responsible AI” products that respect copyright and enable artist and songwriter opt-in. It is building a generative AI research lab and product team, with initial products in development. (link)

Beatport, an online music tracks marketplace for DJs and producers, launched "Beatport Tickets" with Weeztix (formerly Eventix) as a ticketing marketplace for dance music live events accessible through Beatport's Beatportal electronic music news and event discovery site. Labels, promoters, and venues in the UK and EU can sell through the platform. Expanded event listings with integrated ticket purchasing are coming. (link)

beatBread, a music financing platform, launched the Global Independence Fund to deploy $100M to independent labels and distributors. The program offers borrowing against catalog revenue, advances for signings, and working capital while maintaining operational control. This follows beatBread's $124M credit and equity raise two months ago. (link)

Kazunari Imai joined Believe as Chairman & Strategic Business Relations Senior Executive Director of Believe Japan. He will report to Erika Ogawa and Sylvain Delange. (link)

Avex Music Group, the US arm of Tokyo-based Avex Inc., announced a leadership expansion to scale publishing, A&R, and operations across NYC and LA. Zeke Silvera was named SVP, Head of East Coast Operations and Head of A&R. Spencer LeBoff was named SVP, Head of West Coast Operations and Publishing & Acquisitions. Megan Tinko was appointed Head of Operations for Avex Music Group and S10. (link)

Netflix will distribute selected video podcasts from Spotify on its platform starting in 2026, initially in the US. Titles include The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Ringer’s NFL, NBA, Fantasy Football, and F1 shows, and The Rewatchables. (link)

Rock Entertainment Group (parent of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Monsters, and Charge) announced a distribution deal with iHeartMedia Cleveland to launch SportsRadio 99.1 FM for Cleveland sports. (link)

Podimo, the Copenhagen-based podcast streaming platform, hired Patrick Fina as Director of Podimo Studios in Germany (overseeing original content and content partnerships) and hired Sean Wheatley as Head of Business Affairs for the German market. (link)

The Wall Street Journal laid off about 12 reporters and editors, and restructured its health, science, and education coverage. Health returns to the business team within the Corporate group, merging personal health into a new Health bureau. Science merges into Education under National Affairs. The company will recruit a new health bureau chief. (link)

Radial Entertainment, a newly formed global entertainment company managing FilmRise and Shout! Studios, secured exclusive streaming / digital rights in the US to TBS’s Conan. The deal covers episodes across 11 seasons from 2010 to 2021. (link)

Vice Studios, part of Vice Media, is partnering with V10 Entertainment to develop and coproduce Clip Bait, a competition format blending the creator economy with judging-based reality, where viral videos face off, with a live interactive final decided by viewers. (link)

Beast Industries, the company of YouTube creator MrBeast, is exploring launching consumer financial services. A USPTO filing on October 13 for “MrBeast Financial” and a 2025 investor deck describe a mobile app for banking, advisory, crypto exchange, and other offerings, delivered via a partner fintech to mitigate regulatory, credit, and capital requirements. (link)