Steven Spielberg attends the 55th Annual Cinema Audio Society Awards at InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on February 16, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Matt Winkelmeyer | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Warner Bros. Discovery is calling in a filmmaker brain trust to help steer the curation and programming of its cable-TV channel Turner Classic Movies, after a shake-up among management left fans concerned about the network’s future.
“Jaws” director Steven Spielberg, “Goodfellas” helmer Martin Scorsese and “Boogie Nights” filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson officially signed on to provide their input at TCM, the company and filmmakers said on Wednesday. The filmmakers will work closely with Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, who are overseeing curation and programming after a series of layoffs and management shake-up at TCM, according to the company.
“We have already begun working on ideas with Mike and Pam, both true film enthusiasts who share a passion and reverence for classic cinema that is the hallmark of the TCM community,” the three filmmakers said in a joint statement on Wednesday. “This unique arrangement, initiated by David Zaslav, reflects his commitment to honoring the TCM legacy while also involving us on curation and programming.”
The inclusion of the filmmakers came after Warner Bros. Discovery employees last week faced another round of layoffs, particularly across its portfolio of cable-TV networks.
Part of that was a major shake-up at TCM, recognized as a place for preservation of classic films and a carefully curated lineup augmented by guest star introductions. The changes had caused concern among movie buffs and those dedicated to film preservation, who voiced their distress on social media.
The filmmakers also applauded that longtime programming chief Charles Tabesh, who was initially set to leave as part of the shake-up, will stay with the network.
David Zaslav, CEO, Warner Bros. Discovery.
Anjali Sundaram | CNBC
Last week, the filmmakers had said in a statement Zaslav contacted and reassured them, and they were committed to working with the company for TCM’s future.
Since the 2022 merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery, the company has been undergoing a number of cost-cutting initiatives, including layoffs and cutting back on content spending.
In the months leading up to the job cuts and changes at the networks, including TCM, Zaslav and Spielberg held conversations about TCM’s future, according to a person familiar with the matter. Zaslav also initiated the conversation with Spielberg, Scorsese and Anderson last week.
Spielberg and Anderson and joined Zaslav on a panel during the TCM Classic Film Festival in April about film preservation efforts, according to media reports.
Warner Bros. Discovery and its film chiefs touted the company’s increased investment in TCM recently.
“TCM is a cultural treasure which WBD is fully committed to safeguarding, supporting, and investing in for the future. This year, TCM’s content investment has grown by 30% and we plan to build on that in future years,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “That said, TCM is not immune to the very real pressure on the entire linear ecosystem, but we have taken steps to ensure that we stay true to the mission of the network – bringing more titles to the air, driving content investment, and preserving and protecting the culture of cinema.”
The increased investment will go toward licensing new films and bringing a wider roster to the network, according to the person familiar with the matter.
Paxton sued Google in 2022 for allegedly unlawfully tracking and collecting the private data of users.
The attorney general said the settlement, which covers allegations in two separate lawsuits against the search engine and app giant, dwarfed all past settlements by other states with Google for similar data privacy violations.
Google’s settlement comes nearly 10 months after Paxton obtained a $1.4 billion settlement for Texas from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to resolve claims of unauthorized use of biometric data by users of those popular social media platforms.
“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law,” Paxton said in a statement on Friday.
“For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services. I fought back and won,” said Paxton.
“This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust.”
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the company did not admit any wrongdoing or liability in the settlement, which involves allegations related to the Chrome browser’s incognito setting, disclosures related to location history on the Google Maps app, and biometric claims related to Google Photo.
Castaneda said Google does not have to make any changes to products in connection with the settlement and that all of the policy changes that the company made in connection with the allegations were previously announced or implemented.
“This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed,” Castaneda said.
“We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services.”
Virtual care company Omada Health filed for an IPO on Friday, the latest digital health company that’s signaled its intent to hit the public markets despite a turbulent economy.
Founded in 2012, Omada offers virtual care programs to support patients with chronic conditions like prediabetes, diabetes and hypertension. The company describes its approach as a “between-visit care model” that is complementary to the broader health-care ecosystem, according to its prospectus.
Revenue increased 57% in the first quarter to $55 million, up from $35.1 million during the same period last year, the filing said. The San Francisco-based company generated $169.8 million in revenue during 2024, up 38% from $122.8 million the previous year.
Omada’s net loss narrowed to $9.4 million during its first quarter from $19 million during the same period last year. It reported a net loss of $47.1 million in 2024, compared to a $67.5 million net loss during 2023.
The IPO market has been largely dormant across the tech sector for the past three years, and within digital health, it’s been almost completely dead. After President Donald Trump announced a sweeping tariff policy that plunged U.S. markets into turmoil last month, taking a company public is an even riskier endeavor. Online lender Klarna delayed its long-anticipated IPO, as did ticket marketplace StubHub.
But Omada Health isn’t the first digital health company to file for its public market debut this year. Virtual physical therapy startup Hinge Health filed its prospectus in March, and provided an update with its first-quarter earnings on Monday, a signal to investors that it’s looking to forge ahead.
Omada contracts with employers, and the company said it works with more than 2,000 customers and supports 679,000 members as of March 31. More than 156 million Americans suffer from at least one chronic condition, so there is a significant market opportunity, according to the company’s filing.
In 2022, Omada announced a $192 million funding round that pushed its valuation above $1 billion. U.S. Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Fidelity’s FMR LLC are the largest outside shareholders in the company, each owning between 9% and 10% of the stock.
“To our prospective shareholders, thank you for learning more about Omada. I invite you join our journey,” Omada co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy said in the filing. “In front of us is a unique chance to build a promising and successful business while truly changing lives.”
Liz Reid, vice president, search, Google speaks during an event in New Delhi on December 19, 2022.
Sajjad Hussain | AFP | Getty Images
Testimony in Google‘s antitrust search remedies trial that wrapped hearings Friday shows how the company is calculating possible changes proposed by the Department of Justice.
Google head of search Liz Reid testified in court Tuesday that the company would need to divert between 1,000 and 2,000 employees, roughly 20% of Google’s search organization, to carry out some of the proposed remedies, a source with knowledge of the proceedings confirmed.
The testimony comes during the final days of the remedies trial, which will determine what penalties should be taken against Google after a judge last year ruled the company has held an illegal monopoly in its core market of internet search.
The DOJ, which filed the original antitrust suit and proposed remedies, asked the judge to force Google to share its data used for generating search results, such as click data. It also asked for the company to remove the use of “compelled syndication,” which refers to the practice of making certain deals with companies to ensure its search engine remains the default choice in browsers and smartphones.
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The DOJ also proposed the company divest its Chrome browser but that was not included in Reid’s initial calculation, the source confirmed.
Reid on Tuesday said Google’s proprietary “Knowledge Graph” database, which it uses to surface search results, contains more than 500 billion facts, according to the source, and that Google has invested more than $20 billion in engineering costs and content acquisition over more than a decade.
“People ask Google questions they wouldn’t ask anyone else,” she said, according to the source.
Reid echoed Google’s argument that sharing its data would create privacy risks, the source confirmed.
Closing arguments for the search remedies trial will take place May 29th and 30th, followed by the judge’s decision expected in August.
The company faces a separate remedies trial for its advertising tech business, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 22.