Matt Belloni on WarnerMount, Disney Succession, Oscars & More
3/12/20261 hr 19 min
Kara sits down with Matthew Belloni, author of the flagship Puck newsletter What I’m Hearing and host of The Town podcast, to take the entertainment industry’s temperature just a few days before the Academy Awards. They dig into the Warner Bros. Discovery/Paramount/Netflix saga and the consequences of the Ellison-backed deal for creatives and crews. Then Kara and Matt debate whether consolidation can fix Hollywood’s broken economics and why legacy companies are facing a “Titanic-esque” moment as linear TV collapses. They also unpack the streaming wars, Netflix’s next moves, Disney’s succession questions and how AI could reshape filmmaking from visual effects to writers’ rooms. Plus, they make their predictions for the Oscars. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clips
Showing 10 of 12Transcript preview
First 90 secondsKara Swisher· Host0:00
You're a snarky person, which I love. [laughs] But, and I love that part, but at your heart, you're an excellent reporter, and that's the critical part.
Speaker 20:06
It's on.
Kara Swisher· Host0:07
[upbeat music] Hi, everyone, from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher. My guest today is Matt Belloni, author of Puck's flagship newsletter, What I'm Hearing, and the host of the podcast, The Town. It covers the, quote, "real inside conversation about money and power in Hollywood," and amazingly, it actually delivers on that promise. Everyone in Hollywood reads and listens to Matt, whether they like him or not. He doesn't mince his words, which has made him both very popular and a little more than polarizing. I can relate. I'm excited to talk to him 'cause he always has such smart takes on stuff, and Matt, at his heart, is a great reporter. He also has a point of view, and it's formed by reporting, and I really enjoy talking to him. And of course, we're at a real moment for Hollywood and media in general, and so n- I couldn't think of someone smarter to talk to about the topic than Matt. Streaming has upended the traditional Hollywood revenue model, consolidation has become essential to survival, President Trump has been weighing in on editorial decisions and mergers, and AI-generated video is likely to make an already tricky business environment even more complicated. So it's great to have an insider like Matt on to unpack it all, and we of course will talk about the Oscars, not the outfits, but the business. Our