The Hollywood Reporter reports: “Fifth Season-backed Blink49 Studios has received a strategic investment from Bell Media, the Canadian media giant. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the aim is bolstering Blink49’s scripted and unscripted content slate. The investment deal is set to close in fall 2025.”
ABC News reports: “Warner Bros. Discovery will split into two public companies by next year, calving off its cable operations from its streaming service. Warner Bros. Discovery said Monday that Streaming & Studios will include Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, and HBO Max, as well as their film and television libraries.”
Music Week reports: “Sony Music Publishing has acquired Hipgnosis Songs Group, Music Week has confirmed. Hipgnosis Songs Group is a subsidiary of Recognition Music Group. The catalogue includes 4,400 copyrights which Hipgnosis acquired from Big Deal Music in 2020. It includes songs recorded by One Direction, Shawn Mendes and Panic! At The Disco.”
CNBC reports: “Microsoft Xbox players will soon be able to take their favorite games anywhere with the launch of the new ROG Xbox Ally handhelds. This is a first for Xbox, which has never released a handheld before. The devices, developed in collaboration with ASUS, offer a full-screen Xbox experience meant for portable play. Players will be able to access Xbox games, stream content, and play on the go with built-in support for cloud gaming.”
Digital Music News reports: “Fever has now secured over $100 million in funding from L Catterton and Point72 Private Investors through the completion of an equity funding process, including existing investors, according to details shared this morning with Digital Music News. The technology platform—now operating in over 40 countries—has structured partnerships with a number of institutions across all live entertainment verticals, specifically within sports and live music.”
Pocketgamer.biz reports: “Subscription platform RevenueCat has partnered with Paddle to launch a new integration for developers. The integration will enable subscription purchases across web and mobile, giving developers unified data across platforms, with Paddle handling web payments, tax, and compliance.”
Pitchbook reports: “In its largest acquisition to date, OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s AI hardware startup Io Products for $6.5 billion. The former Apple exec will take over design duties at OpenAI, with the startup’s roughly 55 employees also joining the company. Io was founded in 2024 and blows the rest of OpenAI’s acquisitions out of the water. Last year, it acquired Rockset, a database analytics provider, for a reported $500 million, as well as Multi, which makes a developer collaboration tool, for an undisclosed price.”
TechCrunch reports: “Ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9, Apple on Thursday offered a new update on its global App Store business, sharing that developers generated $1.3 trillion in billings and sales in 2024. The company stressed that 90% of those billings and sales did not involve paying Apple a commission.”
Media Play News reports: “Disney+ continues to expand its market reach through third-party streaming bundles — this time in Canada. Canadian media giant Bell Media June 5 announced a new streaming bundle that includes Disney+, premium movie channel Crave, and sports-themed TSN, slated to launch later this year. The new bundle with give subscribers access to a selection of premium content, including HBO and Max Originals, Crave Originals and titles from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and TSN’s roster of live and on demand sports programming.”
Games Industry Biz reports: “Empty Vessel has closed its initial Series A funding. While it has not disclosed its seed round funds, the studio stated it puts the total raised at $11 million. The round was led by NCSoft and 1AM Gaming, alongside Black Phoenix Games, Anurup Joseph, and Sebastiaan Hejne, as well as initial investors Sisu Game Ventures, Raptor Group, and Compute.”
