Is AT&T's Purchase of Time Warner a Spectacularly Bad Idea?

Critics are shaking their heads over AT&T's planned Time Warner acquisition. Here are the primary arguments against the deal as laid out by Fortune: 1) The price is high, valuing Time Warner (whose revenue actually fell 2% in the first half of 2016) at 22 times its operating income. 2) Years after the Comcast/NBCUniversal deal, the strategic benefits of combining content and distribution in a single entity remain unproven. 3) Time Warner's content is already licensed through existing long-term aggreements. 4) Facebook is the real competitor here, will still be bigger than the combined AT&T/Time Warner, and is positioned for continued growth. [Fortune]

Innovative Artists to WB After Ripped Screeners Leak Online: Sorry About That!

Talent agency Innovative Artists (IA) sounds a little hurt over the new Warner Bros. copyright infringement lawsuit that alleges pirated copies of Creed and other films showed up on the Internet after IA ripped them for sharing purposes. IA said Warner Bros. was "well aware" that "the sharing of award screeners is commonplace within the Hollywood community" and professed surprise that WB filed suit without attempting to resolve the matter more amicably. "Notwithstanding that fact," IA said in a statement, "Innovative is sorry for the improper sharing of the screener movies." [Deadline]

Aardman to Make Shaun the Sheep a Franchise

Aardman Animations and StudioCanal are sequelizing Shaun the Sheep Movie with a follow-up set to be directed by Richard Starzak. Production should begin once Nick Park's Early Man is completed at Aardman's Bristol, U.K., studio. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Something's Up at Shreveport, LA's Moonbot Studios

Moonbot Studios in Shreveport, Louisiana, is laying off employees — possibly as part of an acquisition by Florida VR startup Magic Leap that will have Moonbot leaving the city. Moonbot is probably best known for its Oscar-winning short film "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, which StudioDaily covered back in 2011. [Cartoon Brew]

Microsoft Expected to Debut Surface PC Tomorrow

Microsoft is widely expected to announce a new Surface PC — possibly an all-in-one model with a large touchscreen that can be folded flat to function like a tablet— at a Windows press event in New York City tomorrow morning. [The Next Web]