Hollywood Week: Paramount Mystery Bid Hoax, Olympics Prove Golden for NBC, CBS Makeover, Aerosmith Retires

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 03 August 2024 11:51

Written by Janet Walker

A mystery bid caused a mild tremblor in the continuing Paramount sale saga as the 45-day "go-shop" clause remains in effect until August 21, 2024, which gives potential suitors a limited time to top the Skydance offer.

Paramount Mystery Bid Hoax

Media outlets were abuzz this week as a potential suitor, Apex Capital Trust, appeared on the horizon with an eye-popping bid for Paramount Global, owned by Shari Redstone's National Amusements. With only 18 days left in the "go-shop" clause rumors of interest have abounded.

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The all-cash offer of $43 billion, which appeared in both BusinessWire and Reuters, barely made one news cycle when the offer was deemed a "hoax."  

"The bid's legitimacy has sparked skepticism as a number of questionable developments have come to light, including the release being pulled from BusinessWire. Paramount's stock closed up 1.6% during Wednesday's trading session," TheWrap.com reported. Reuters also pulled the release, adding the story was withdrawn pending further investigation.

The hoax bid could be the rumble in the media jungle that shakes loose others still mulling over a potential bid. Although, for now, the only deal on the table is with David Ellison's Skydance. The deal's details, nuances, and finer points are well known and those with interest can certainly match Skydance's offer.

Redstone will be forced to pay $400 million should she back out of the Skydance deal. So the question becomes even if Seagrams' heir Edgar Bronfman, who has expressed interest in Paramount Global and has been speaking with potential backers, comes through with a better offer will Redstone be willing to absorb the Skydance's deal's kill fee or will the next suitor pick it up?

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Olympics Earn High Scores for NBC

The XXXIII Summer Olympics have proved golden for NBC as viewership, in all segments, from daytime to primetime, has soared over the first week of the games, with the Women's Gymnastics Team taking the Olympic Gold, securing 12.7 million viewers.

The live daytime broadcast marked "the event as one of the network's top weekday daytime events in Olympic history. This meant that more people tuned in live to watch Team USA's gold-medal-winning performance than for any single game of the 2024 NBA Finals or the first round of the 2024 NFL draft," USA Today reported. 

The strength of the Women's Gymnastics Team featuring Simon Biles, and Suni Lee, captured the world and proved the boon in Women's sports is not a shooting star or a two-week celebration, has become very apparent in the Paris Olympics with a 50:50 representation, a first-ever in any Olympic Games, to reach gender equality.

"With an expected global audience of 3 billion, this year's Games have been deliberately scheduled to make possible more balanced coverage of all events, putting all athletes in the spotlight. The Games will also feature more women's and mixed events, offering more opportunities for women to win medals," reported Unwomen.org.

USA swimmer' Katie Ledecky, who has been called a "senior" at age 27, left the world in her wake, as she sailed nearly effortlessly to the 1500m freestyle, breaking her own record. For the non-swimmer, that equals 30 laps in a 50m pool. Setting a new Olympic record, with a golden finish in 15:20.48 seconds, Ledecky became the most decorative swimmer in the world, with seven gold medals, 1 silver, and 1 bronze.

Another little-known sports star to capitulate to the top is Bronze-winning USA Women's Rugby team star, Ilona Maher, a nurse and a badass on the Rugby field, who helped supercharge her team to a nail-biting finish over Australia. She has used social media to increase her influence and love of the sport. Her TikTok following has showcased many insider views and opportunities at the Olympic Village.  

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The USA Women's Soccer team advances to the Semi-final after a 1-0 win over Japan. They will take on the winner of Canada versus Germany on August 6, 2024.

French swimming phenom Leon Marchand stepped up to the swimmer's block and exploded, like a bullet, setting Olympic and world records, and swimming into the hearts of his countrymen and the world. Trained by Michael Phelps' former coach Bob Bowman, Marchand accomplished a feat not seen in 48 years, capturing Gold in both Men's 200m Breaststroke and Men's 200m Butterfly, with a rest of only 90 minutes between each event. Marchand also won Gold in the Men's Individual Medley and Men's 400 Individual Medley.

Women's Boxing has become the first major controversy of the Olympic Games as Italian welterweight female boxer, Italian Angela Carini forfeited her match with Algerian Imane Khelif.

"The Italian boxer, Angela Carini, withdrew after her Algerian opponent, Imane Khelif, landed a powerful blow that struck Carini square in the face. Carini paused for a moment, then turned her back to Khelif and walked to her corner. Her coaches quickly signaled that she would not continue, and the referee stopped the fight," reported The New York Times.

The Olympics are the practice of sports at an elite level, individually and in teams, adopting specific rules for contact sports, especially in boxing, as the Olympics are a sportsmanship-based organization.

Excessive contact, or a no face contact rule, should be grounds for disqualification in women's boxing and other women's contact sports. And as the world watched the welterweight boxing match dreams evaporate over excessive contact, and once again gender controversy became the focus outshining the accomplishments of all female athletes.

Competition at an elite level already proves that each athlete is world-class, the top 1% of all athletes in the world, injuring, maiming, drawing blood, and intentional, and excessive force are not good sportsmanship and should be banned.

The 2024 Olympic Games will run until Sunday, August 11, 2024.

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CBS Evening News is Getting a Makeover

Norah O'Donnell, who has anchored the CBS evening news for five years, has decided to step down from the evening anchor position.

"There's so much work to be proud of!" she wrote in a memo that was obtained by The Washington Post. But noting the "rigors of a relentless news cycle" during her combined 12 years as a daily anchor — CBS's morning news show before "Evening News" — she added that "it's time to do something different," reported The Washington Post.

O'Donnell has no plans to leave the network and will remain busy with high-profile interviews, and other news specials. The sudden decision, which media has reported as "out of left field," could be the beginning of the restructuring expected as Paramount, who owns CBS, continues to trim the budget and prepares for the inevitable change in management.  

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Aerosmith Announces Band's Retirement

The Grammy-winning rock band Aerosmith announced the band's official retirement and cancellation of all rescheduled tour dates as the vocal injury suffered by lead singer Steven Tyler is irreparable.

"He has spent months tirelessly working on getting his voice to where it was before his injury. We've seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side. Sadly, it is clear, that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible," the statement said. "We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision — as a band of brothers — to retire from the touring stage," APnews.com reported.

In the band's 54-year history, the group has sold more than 150 million records worldwide and 70 million in the United States, they have achieved 25 Gold Albums awarded for sales of more than 500K, 18 platinum albums, awarded for sales of more than 1M, 12 multi-platinum awarded for sales of more than 2M, and one diamond album, for album sales of more than 10 million copies. Additionally, the band has received 17 Grammy nominations, four Grammy awards, and induction into the rock-and-roll Hall of Fame.

Along with Steven Tyler, Aerosmith band members include Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, and Brad Whitford.