Episode 91: Sun Valley 2026: Comcast's Second Split and the WBD Deal

The Allen & Company Sun Valley conference opens this week with a media landscape almost unrecognizable from a year ago. Comcast has announced a second structural split in under 12 months, the $110 billion Skydance-WBD deal is under active regulatory review in the UK and Europe, Disney is navigating a post-Iger leadership transition, and AI executives are in the room alongside the union contracts that just got renewed. For agents, studio heads, showrunners, and anyone trying to read where the money moves next, this week's conversations — off-camera and unrecorded — will shape the deals that surface in August and September. Key Takeaways: Comcast announced a second split last week, separating broadband, cable, and wireless from NBCUniversal and Sky — expected to complete by Sun Valley 2027. The NBCU-Sky entity will be run by dealmaker Mike Cavanagh, not founder Brian Roberts. Sky closed a $2.1 billion acquisition of UK broadcaster ITV as a coda to Comcast's restructuring, adding a significant content and distribution asset to the entity Cavanagh will run. BofA analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich told clients in a recent note: "We would not over-interpret Brian Roberts' 'absolutely not' response to M&A questions." Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of WBD is under active regulatory review in the UK and Europe this month; U.S. state attorneys general are also weighing legal options. Asset divestitures remain possible. The buzzed-about OpenAI-Disney partnership dissolved earlier in 2026. OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan are both at Sun Valley — the AI co-existence question is live in the room. All three major above-the-line unions reached 4-year contract renewals with studios and streamers in 2026, reducing near-term labor risk but not resolving the underlying AI-labor tension. Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Ravi Ahuja and Sony Corp. CEO Hiroki Totoki are both attending — Sony's positioning as a well-capitalized studio without a major streaming footprint becomes more consequential as WBD consolidation reshapes the field. Sun Valley almost never produces public announcements in real time — press is barred from the event, and deals hatched there typically surface weeks later. This year, the structural preconditions (Comcast mid-split, WBD in regulatory limbo, Disney in transition) mean the off-camera conversations carry unusually high consequence. Watch what gets announced in August and September — the signal originates this week. Subscribe to The Option for daily updates on the business behind the business.