Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery officially merge into Skydance; ESPN reportedly “intends to hire” Jason Kidd as a studio analyst; and Braiden Bell is asking the Portland Trail Blazers for a second chance. Plus news on Fox Sports, Bomani Jones, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Netflix.
Paramount-WBD officially merge into Skydance
Paramount officially closed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Tuesday morning, with the combined company moving forward under the name “Skydance.” WBD shareholders received $31.02/share for the all-cash transaction, which reached its conclusion after months of bidding and subsequent challenges.
Skydance Corporation chairman/CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz sent an internal memo on Tuesday morning — obtained by Todd Spangler of Variety — celebrating the transaction but acknowledging that merger will result in “difficult decisions that affect our workforce.”
Skydance is aiming for “at least $6 billion in synergies” from the merger within three years as it seeks to pay down its net debt load of approximately $79 billion. That is on top of the more than $3 billion in synergies derived from the original Skydance merger with Paramount last summer. RedBird Capital Partners founder and Skydance board director Gerry Cardinale said at the Bloomberg Screentime last week that costs not related to labor would encompass the majority of the synergies.
CBS Sports and TNT Sports, which have been working together televising the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament since 2011, are now under common ownership. Earlier on Monday, it was reported that TNT Sports president Luis Silberwasser would be departing the company and that CBS Sports president/CEO David Berson would run the combined division. Other executives exited their roles amid the merger as well, some of whom reportedly include David Zaslav, Gunnar Wiedenfels and Cindy Holland. The direct-to-consumer brands now under Skydance ownership, some of which include Paramount+ and HBO Max, will also “unify into a single service over time.”
ESPN reportedly in talks with Jason Kidd
ESPN is planning to hire former Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd as an NBA studio analyst, as first reported by Marc Stein of The Stein Line and later by Andrew Marchand and Dan Shanoff of The Athletic. Kidd, who played 19 seasons in the NBA for a variety of teams, would reportedly join the network’s “NBA Countdown,” filling a vacancy left by Michael Malone.
Kidd, who has little if any previous TV experience, would join a “Countdown” cast that has been in flux the past two seasons. Stephen A. Smith left his regular role at the end of the 2024-25 season, Bob Myers exited shortly before last season began, and the aforementioned Malone departed for the North Carolina men’s coaching job at the end of last season.
In addition to the departed-Malone, regulars on the show last season included host Malika Andrews and analysts Chiney Ogwumike and Kendrick Perkins, and senior NBA writer Brian Windhorst.
“NBA Countdown” currently airs on ESPN and ABC in weeks when the company’s primary studio show — the TNT Sports-produced “NBA-Tip Off” and “Inside the NBA” — is not on the air. This season will be the second since ESPN/ABC acquired NBA rights in 2002 that the company’s in-house NBA studio show will not air adjacent to the NBA Finals.
Bell asks for second chance after losing Trail Blazers job
Braiden Bell is asking the Portland Trail Blazers for a second chance after he was fired as the team’s play-by-play announcer upon a reporter discovering inappropriate social media posts he wrote at the age of 15. Bell, who has retained counsel on the matter, is looking to be reinstated to the lead play-by-play role, for which he was hired last week and was set to work alongside analyst Lamar Hurd and reporter Brooke Olzendam on the Rip City Television Network.
“Braiden is not asking anyone to excuse what he wrote,” said Bell’s counsel Arnie Herz. “He has owned it, without excuses. What he is asking is whether a boy’s words from fourteen years ago should outweigh everything the man has done since. If that is the standard, there is hardly a person in any organization in America who could meet it. Accountability means owning what you did and showing who you have become. Braiden has done both.”
KGW reporter Devon Haskins noticed the tweets that Bell wrote in 2012 and 2013 that contained offensive language. In a statement released through his counsel, Bell asked for the backlash towards Haskins and KGW news director John Tierney — whose own years-old inappropriate comments surfaced on social media — to end. Station owner TEGNA started an internal review following the matter “to confirm that the station and its journalists followed editorial policies,” according to Matthew Keys of The Desk.
The Trail Blazers said in a statement last week that the organization has “zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments” and that it would “not be moving forward with this broadcaster.” The team apologized to its fanbase and the city of Portland for not meeting the bar in the search process for a new play-by-play announcer. In a statement issued to Jason Quick of The Athletic on Monday, the Trail Blazers organization stood by its decision to terminate Bell’s employment. “We stand by our statement issued last week and have no further comment at this time. We wish Mr. Bell the best.”
Plus: Fox Sports, Arizona Diamondbacks, Netflix, Bomani Jones
- Joe Davis will miss Game 3 of the Dodgers-Braves NLDS for Fox Sports, as he is under the weather and has lost his voice. Kenny Albert will fill in. The news was first reported by report by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, who described Davis as currently “day-to-day.” Outside of his multi-sport role with Fox Sports, Albert is a national NHL announcer for TNT Sports and handles play-by-play for New York Rangers games on MSG Networks.
- Bomani Jones is moving his podcast, “The Right Time,” to the Better Collective-owned Playmaker, as first reported by Dade Hayes of Deadline. Jones began the program in 2018 while he was working for ESPN and subsequently hosted the program with Wave Sports and Entertainment. The move bolsters a growing podcast portfolio for Playmaker, which includes other programs such as “The Big Podcast” with Shaquille O’Neal and Adam Lefkoe and the “Roommates Show” with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.
- The Arizona Diamondbacks are parting ways with longtime television play-by-play announcer Steve Berthiaume, according to a report by Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall told Piecoro that Berthiaume’s contract was up and that the organization “felt it was a good time to take a step back and re-evaluate our broadcasts.” Berthiaume, who is best known for his years as an ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor, called Diamondbacks games for 14 years, most recently working with analyst Bob Brenly and reporter Jody Jackson on Dbacks TV.
- Netflix named IMG as its production partner for the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament taking place next summer, tabbing the company to assist in distributing its coverage of the global event. The company is also going to support Netflix coverage of the Final Draw taking place in mid-December. Netflix has yet to announce its full commentary team for the tournament, but it has thus far hired host Rebecca Lowe and play-by-play announcer Andrés Cantor, both of whom have previous experience covering FIFA World Cup tournaments.
