Thomson Reuters

UK signals veto risk for Warner–Paramount takeover

The UK’s culture minister Lisa Nandy indicated her government could veto the roughly $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. by rival Paramount/Skydance on competition grounds. Paramount said it is confident media plurality is not at risk; Warner was not immediately available for comment. Paramount operates the free-to-air Channel 5 in the UK, while Warner owns CNN; both groups also run streaming services (Paramount+ and HBO Max) that hold relatively small UK market shares. Several countries including the US, China, Germany and France have already approved the deal; the EU is still reviewing and insiders say Paramount may offer to divest business units to address competition concerns.

Digital Realty Buys $3.5B Stake in Blackstone Data Centers

Digital Realty announced on June 30, 2026 that it is acquiring a $3.5 billion stake in three Northern Virginia data centers from asset manager Blackstone. The deal will be funded with $1.2 billion in cash and $2.3 billion in shares and values the facilities at $7.8 billion. Digital Realty is buying Blackstone’s 80% interest in two 96-megawatt data centers in Manassas and a 50% interest in a 96-megawatt facility in Sterling. The company’s shares fell in premarket trading following the announcement. The transaction was expected to be completed on the same day of the announcement.

WPP Tops Global Billings; AI Usage and Ad Tolerance Rise

VideoWeek’s Week in Charts highlights industry trends including WPP Media leading COMvergence’s 2025 global billings with $63.9 billion, narrowly ahead of Publicis Media. Omnicom-owned OMD led individual agency rankings with $26.9 billion. The piece reports rising AI use in Cannes Lions entries, growing ad tolerance among US consumers (those who prefer watching ads to save money rose from 58% to 69% over five years), and that theatrical releases dominated streaming top‑ten lists per Nielsen/VAB analysis. Market moves noted include Stagwell integrating Microsoft’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) into live media campaigns, Viant completing its acquisition of TVision, Comcast announcing plans to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky, and stock movements for Thomson Reuters and Nvidia. The article was published by VideoWeek on 2026-06-30.