Paramount Skydance Corporation

Good afternoon. My name is Krista and I'll be your conference operator today. I would like to welcome everyone to Paramount's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all lines have been muted to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. And if you'd like to withdraw your question, please press star one again. I would now like to turn the call over to Kevin Creighton, Paramount's EVP of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations. You may now begin your conference call.

Good afternoon, and thank you for taking the time to join us for the Paramount Q1 2026 earnings call. I'm Kevin Creighton, EVP of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations. Joining me today is our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, David Ellison, our Chief Financial Officer, Dennis Gianelli, and our Chief Strategy and Operating Officer, Andy Gordon. As a reminder, we will be making forward-looking statements today that involve risks and uncertainties. Our remarks will also include non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures can be found in our earnings letter or in our trending schedules, which contain supplemental information. These can be found on our Investor Relations website. I'll now turn it over to David for a few brief remarks before we take analyst questions.

Thanks, Kevin, and good afternoon, everyone. As you've seen in our first quarter results and most recent shareholder letter, we're off to a strong start in our first full year at P-SCI. The progress we've made in just nine months is a testament to the amazing team we've assembled that has worked tirelessly and with great conviction to deliver on all areas of our business. We are executing deliberately against our priorities and seeing tangible results, attracting top creative talent, nearly doubling our film slate, delivering shows audiences love, and greenlighting dozens of new and returning series while achieving our financial goals. At the same time, we are transforming how we operate, unifying platforms, data, and workflows, and embedding advanced technology to drive efficiency, better serve our partners, and elevate the overall consumer experience. Across the business, we are getting things done, and it's translating into real momentum. As a storytelling company, our top priority is, and always will be, delivering great films and television series from the world's leading creators that resonate with broad global audiences. Recent highlights include Scream 7, which became the highest-grossing installment in the franchise's 30-year history, Landman, now the most-watched series in Paramount Plus history, and the continued strength of CBS, which has 13 of the top 20 primetime series, including all four of the top news series, an achievement no broadcast network has matched since the early 1990s. On streaming and sports, engagement remains strong, with more than 10 million households watching over 100 million hours of USC programming on Paramount+, and CBS Sports delivering the most-watched final round of the Masters in over a decade. These are just a few examples of the progress and growth taking place company-wide. As I mentioned, we are also making meaningful strides improving our products to deliver more dynamic, personalized experiences and superior monetization. New features such as enhanced mobile experiences, short-form video, and more advanced recommendations are helping us to better serve consumers. We're also leveraging AI-powered capabilities across the businesses, including our agentic data warehouse and Precision Plus, our targeted and optimization platform to move faster and operate with greater effectiveness and support of our advertising partners. While there is still significant work ahead, we remain confident in our strategy and the trajectory we are on. Finally, we continue to make steady progress towards completing the Warner Brothers Discovery Transactions. which we believe will accelerate our transformation, strengthen our competitive position, and enhance our ability to help shape the next era of entertainment. To date, we have satisfied our U.S. HSR obligations, and there are no statutory impediments remaining, and we continue to advance through European and other international regulatory approvals, several of which have already been secured. Earlier in April, we announced a broad syndication of the PIPE equity commitment to strategic investors. underscoring continued investor confidence, secured $10 billion in permanent financing, and syndicated the remaining $49 billion of our bridge to a group of leading banks and institutional lenders. Additionally, on April 23rd, WVD shareholders voted to approve the transaction. We're pleased with the momentum and will continue to take the necessary steps to bring this deal to completion. At every stage, we remain guided by our strong conviction that the combination of these two iconic companies and their extraordinary teams will create a leading global media and entertainment company, powered by storytelling and accelerated by technology, that strengthens competition, better serves the creative community, and delivers even more compelling stories to audiences worldwide. We're excited for all that's ahead and look forward to the opportunities it will create. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Kevin for your questions.