The Town with Matthew Belloni

Matt is joined by author Mark Harris to discuss the Academy’s decision to cut eight categories from the live Oscars broadcast, and to debate whether or not the ceremony needs to be changed—and if so, how much? Later, Vulture’s Joe Adalian comes on to talk about Amazon hosting the Academy of Country Music Awards and whether awards shows can survive on streaming services. Host: Matt Belloni Guests:...

Matt is joined by co-head and partner at WME Sports Josh Pyatt to discuss why broadcasters are seeing huge paydays, which streaming service needs NFL Sunday Ticket the most, what effect the Manning-cast will have on future broadcasts, why some athletes succeed in building an entertainment business while others fail, and more. Matt finishes the show with a take on NFL announcers. Host: Matt Belloni...

Are the middlemen who have dominated Hollywood for decades in trouble? Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss the future for Hollywood intermediaries, the ongoing turmoil at Disney, and Rachel Zegler of 'West Side Story’ not receiving an invitation to the Oscars. Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Lucas Shaw Producer: Craig Horlbeck Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. V...

Matt is joined by chief media analyst of Variety Intelligence Platform Andy Wallenstein to discuss Amazon’s $6.5 billion purchase of MGM Studios and what this means for Amazon's future in the movie and television industry, how this will affect Amazon prime members, and how this will play out in Hollywood. Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Andy Wallenstein Producer: Craig Horlbeck Theme Song: Devon Renaldo...

Matt leads off with the bizarre news of movie theater chain AMC buying stock in a gold mine, as well as Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s 2021 pay package totaling over $240 million. Then, senior strategy analyst Julia Alexander joins the show to discuss Netflix beginning to curtail the ability to share a password with multiple users, and whether or not a streaming service like Netflix can produce a la...

In our first episode, Matt Belloni is joined by Puck colleague Ben Landy to run through the latest industry news from the weekend, including HBO Max and Discovery+ merging into one app and the ongoing fallout after Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s handling of the new Florida “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. Then, media analyst Jeff Bock joins the show to discuss the increase in ticket price for ‘The Batman’ as...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices