Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Tuesday, May 12, 2026.
Where the thing about having only a week to pay a $5M loan to a lender (with juice turned on to an additional $500k) — after already missing a payment deadline — is that it makes you a bit more motivated to find, uh, “creative solutions” about your finances. Er, so I’m told.
Thus, yes, BUZZFEED will soon be a Byron Allen company, as his ALLEN FAMILY DIGITAL is paying $120M for 52% of BUZZFEED here in 2026.
Sure beats NBCU putting $400M into the company in the mid 2010s at a $1.7B valuation. Byron is your new CEO and Chairman, and current leader Jonah Peretti is now Prez of AI.
Although typical of the digital publishing world in 2026 — this $120M . . . isn’t exactly $120M:
- Only $20M is up front, and the remaining $100M is paid over 5 years at 5% interest.
Then again, the company is only worth $27M plus debt based on yesterday’s market cap, so yeah — $20M up front sounds good.
YAH: Texas is suing NETFLIX under claims that it’s addictive — I mean bingeing, amirite? Although it seems that Texas AG Ken Paxton has problems with the uh, NETFLIX autoplay function, which is totally just like endless swiping on TIKTOK for hours. Seems legit to me. Did you know that linear TV networks also put shows on right after other shows, too? 🤯
- Texas is also accusing the company of tracking and selling user data despite claims to consumers that it didn’t.
- Paxton is currently running for the U.S. Senate in Texas when he’s not mesmerized by the NETFLIX autoplay function.
WELL: Not a shock per se, but Trump’s Iran war put April inflation up to its highest rate in 3 years, to +3.8% YoY. March was +3.3%, February +2.4%. The Fed’s goal is to have this under 2%.
THUS: The U.S. homebuyer market is about as stagnant as developments in the Middle East this spring: April closings were hoping for 3% growth over March . . . but got 0.2% instead.
YUP: META’s latest lawsuit (gonna guess the lawyers aren’t part of the 8k layoffs this month) is coming from inside the house, so to speak, as Santa Clara County is the latest group to sue META.
- The home of Silicon Valley is suing META over alleged profiteering from knowingly running fraudulent ads, to the tune of $7B in annual revenue, according to an earlier Reuters report.
NICE: Jimmy Kimmel will take the night off next Thursday for Colbert’s final show on CBS. Plus — this happened!
PLUS: The SAG-AFTRA board approved the 4-year AMPTP deal (the official summary of the agreement is here, but full details to come). It’ll soon go to members for a vote.
ALSO: The NY GIANTS are back in primetime, baby! Someone get Jaxson Dart a new gold chain to wear. NBC is putting them in the SNF kickoff game against the COWBOYS on Sept. 13.
- The full NFL schedule comes out Thursday, and I’m sure DISNEY will make its MNF first game announcement today.
- AMAZON TNF is leading off with LIONS vs. BILLS in the first game from their new stadium.
- FOX’s late afternoon Thanksgiving game this year will be EAGLES vs. COWBOYS.
SPEAKING OF: Lo and behold, the NFL has given FOX 2 more games next season: a November morning game in Munich and a Saturday game in December. No word on whether or what additional 💰 is exchanging hands.
- NBC is also getting an extra Saturday game in week 17, and CBS gets an extra Saturday game in week 15.
- So yeah — the NFL is paying attention to the extra scrutiny from the Trump admin by giving its remaining extra late-season game inventory picked up from the DISNEY deal to its broadcast partners.
BTW: The WNBA TV deals now hit $3.1B over the 11-year term as it added or reupped USA, CBS/PAR and ION/SCRIPPS, putting another $900M on top of the initial deals last year with AMAZON, NBC, and DISNEY, which totaled $2.2B.
- So yes, enjoy trying to find the WNBA game you’re looking for on TV. Or streaming.
- BUT HEY: It’s working out so great for the NBA — as an industry reporter and I were discussing yesterday, if one wanted to watch the 4 KNICKS playoff games against the SIXERS as a #cordcutter, one had to have:
- A subscription to AMAZON PRIME, ESPN D2C and PEACOCK ($47)
- OR: Pay for a cable TV bundle for ESPN and NBC (or get that via antenna), and add on AMAZON PV.
- That’s just to literally watch 4 games of your local basketball team as they make a playoff run.
- Under previous NBA deals, I could have watched all of those games just on one outlet (TNT/HBO MAX or ESPN).
- But yeah — the NFL is the problem, where all games for your local team are available on free local TV.
AND: TKO set a deal with Arizona’s Sports & Events Alliance whereby the state will pay TKO fees to hold 7 events across WWE, UFC, PBR and ZUFFA Boxing in the state over the next 3 years. The amount was not disclosed.
GOOD NEWS: GOOGLE said it has now detected a hacking attack by AI-powered attackers trying to find code weaknesses . . . but hey, at least it wasn’t GEMINI. They think.
THANKS: To the folks at CNBC for having me on The Exchange yesterday to discuss what’s ahead at Upfronts and the burgeoning competition in the ad exchange business, also coming for these dollars out there.
FINALLY: A shout out to my colleague Lesley Goldberg, who A) did a great overview of just how much the broadcast TV networks are ordering vs. pre-Covid times — and from which studios — and B) was nominated for a LA Press Club SoCal Journalism Award yesterday, along with Crowd Pleaser’s Matthew Frank. 🥳
UPFRONTS 2026
Ok, day 1 action is complete!
So, here are reviews & recaps of what happened on the stage and what seemed to play well (and what fell flat) at NBCU and AMAZON.
FOX also presented yesterday, but a man only has so much time. Also gotta love the placement of the Q1 earnings call on the Monday of Upfronts. 👀
- FOX renewed the, uh, 17 unscripted series it has, and is “taking a step back” from live-action comedy production due to financial considerations for the format, which certainly says a lot.
- AND: Here’s the FOX fall sched for the inclined.
ALAS: I am also not invited to the swanky breakfast MRBEAST is holding for advertisers this week, where I’m sure Jimmy will be asking for recos on the CMO and VP of Agency Partnerships roles the company is looking to fill.
BUT: Back to NBCU and AMAZON — 2 very different presentations yesterday.
NBCU felt kinda like the 100-year-old company it is (centennial celebration coming in December), and AMAZON kinda felt like the younger, tech-driven company it is.
A simple embodiment of this came in the big musical act choices.
- NBCU went with Maren Morris singing a 2018 hit.
- AMAZON went with Kacey Musgraves singing a hit from . . . right now (even if she really didn’t seem too psyched to be at an Upfront, more below).
HOWEVER: There’s another indicator to consider regarding when the respective presentations got around to scripted TV, which also says a lot about the importance placed on it by each empire — and we’ll start with NBC’s approach.
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