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Max Knoblauch

Station owner Sinclair ticks up following news it won’t air Tuesday’s return of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

Disney on Monday said that Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show will return to ABC on Tuesday evening, ending the show’s nearly weeklong suspension. But not every television station will be airing it.

On Tuesday night, TV station owner Sinclair Inc., which says it’s the “largest ABC affiliate group,” announced that it will continue to keep “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off of its ABC stations. The stations will instead show “news programming.” Sinclair shares rose nearly 4% on Tuesday morning.

The move highlights the power that companies like Sinclair and rival Nexstar have over deciding what content makes it across US airwaves. Together, the two companies control 20% of ABC affiliates — not accounting for Nexstar’s potential megamerger with Tegna.

Nexstar, which also ticked up Tuesday morning, has not announced its decision on airing Kimmel’s show Tuesday and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Max Knoblauch

Netflix is staffing up an apparent AI animation studio called INKubator

According to several public job listings, streaming giant Netflix appears to be building a GenAI animation studio called INKubator.

First reported by journalist Janko Roettgers in the Lowpass newsletter, INKubator seems to have launched in March and aims to “develop feature-quality content in a creator-led environment.”

As Lowpass reports, INKubator appears focused on AI-generated short-form animation, but listings imply ambitions toward longer-form content. Netflix didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

INKubator wouldn’t be Netflix’s first foray into AI. Back in March, it acquired Ben Affleck’s AI filmmaking startup InterPositive — which trains on individual films’ already-shot footage — for as much as $600 million depending on certain targets.

Netflix’s potential future AI-generated animations could be served to an increasingly ad-packed streaming service. At Netflix’s Upfront presentation on Wednesday, the company said its ad-supported tier has now reached 250 million subscribers globally, up 31% from November.

Netflix is building an AI animation studio

Netflix is building an AI animation studio

As Lowpass reports, INKubator appears focused on AI-generated short-form animation, but listings imply ambitions toward longer-form content. Netflix didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

INKubator wouldn’t be Netflix’s first foray into AI. Back in March, it acquired Ben Affleck’s AI filmmaking startup InterPositive — which trains on individual films’ already-shot footage — for as much as $600 million depending on certain targets.

Netflix’s potential future AI-generated animations could be served to an increasingly ad-packed streaming service. At Netflix’s Upfront presentation on Wednesday, the company said its ad-supported tier has now reached 250 million subscribers globally, up 31% from November.

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