Raphael Stevens

Disney is partnering with Apple to bring its streaming service Disney+ to the tech giant’s new Vision Pro augmented reality headset.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said the new tech will enhance the Disney+ viewing experience, noting that users will be able to access the streaming service when the product launches early next year.
The Vision Pro will allow users to interact with digital content in mixed reality and will retail for $3,499.

Bob Iger, CEO, Disney at Apple program
Source: Apple

The Walt Disney Company has always been at the forefront of new storytelling technology. On Monday, it announced a new partnership with Apple to bring its streaming service Disney+ to the tech giant’s new augmented reality headset.
Dubbed Vision Pro, the headset will allow users to interact with digital content in mixed reality. It will retail for $3,499.

related investing news

4 hours ago

Disney CEO Bob Iger said the new tech will enhance the Disney+ viewing experience, noting that when the headset launches early next year, users will be able to access the streaming service.

“We’re constantly in search of new ways to entertain, inform and inspire our fans by combining extraordinary creativity with groundbreaking technology to create truly remarkable experiences,” Iger said during Apple’s WWDC 2023 keynote on Monday. “And we believe Apple Vision Pro is a revolutionary platform that can make our vision a reality.”
The demo reel for the collaboration between Disney and Apple included 3D visuals of a basketball court, showing how users could be immersed in sports contests from home, as well as immersive National Geographic content that placed the viewer in the middle of the ocean.
“It will allow us to create deeply personal experiences that bring our fans closer to the characters they love,” Iger said. “This platform will allow us to bring Disney to our fans in ways that were previously impossible.”
The sizzle reel also showcased Mickey Mouse springing to life in a living room, a fireworks show from Disney’s theme parks erupting in a kitchen and fans watching Star Wars content from a planet’s surface.
“We’re so proud to yet again be partnering the greatest storytelling company in the world with the most innovative technology company in the world to bring you real life magic,” Iger said. More

The Directors Guild of America struck a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The Writers Guild of America said the proposed DGA contract will not end the writers strike.
The Screen Actors Guild is wrapping up a vote to authorize a strike should its upcoming negotiations with the producers sour.

Writers picket in front of Netflix on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, as the Writers Guild of America goes on strike, May 2, 2023.
Frederic J. Brown | Afp | Getty Images

Hollywood producers have struck a tentative deal with film and TV directors, but that doesn’t mean we should expect sudden resolutions to the writers strike or talks with the actors union.
On Sunday, the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers provisionally agreed on a three-year contract that would provide the 19,000-member union with pay and benefit gains, increases to global streaming residuals and protections against the use of artificial intelligence.

The DGA contract is set to expire June 30. The guild will submit the proposal to its members Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America is entering the second month of its strike. Likewise, the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is on the precipice of authorizing a potential strike should negotiations go sour. Those talks start Wednesday.
The WGA has been on strike since May 2, shutting down dozens of TV and film productions as talks stalled with the producers.
Already Netflix has postponed the production start of the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things,” Warner Bros.’ Discovery’s “Game of Thrones” prequel “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Night” shuttered its writers room, and Disney and Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” and “Blade” have paused production.
During the last writers strike in 2007 and 2008, which lasted 100 days, a studio deal with the DGA prompted writers to head back to the bargaining table. That might not be the case this time around, though.

“We congratulate the DGA Negotiating Committee for getting a deal they are recommending to their National Board for approval and presumably will then send to their membership for ratification,” the WGA negotiating committee wrote in a memo to members Sunday.
The committee said it would not comment on the deal points of the DGA’s new contract and noted that its bargaining positions remain the same.
“Last week we sent an email about how the AMPTP divide and conquer strategy won’t work this time,” the memo read. “The AMPTP will not be able to negotiate a deal for writers with anyone but us.”
The committee also said it was standing in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA as they complete their strike authorization vote Monday.
Representatives for SAG-AFTRA did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The WGA’s memo echoes comments made by WGA negotiator Chris Keyser on Friday, when he provided a public update one month into the strike via YouTube.
“Any deal that puts this town back to work runs straight through the WGA, and there is no way around that,” he said.
Keyser also expressed that the WGA strike has already “been highly effective in inflicting pain on the companies,” noting that the withholding of work, coupled with public picketing, has demonstrated the guild’s resolve in obtaining “the contract we deserve.”

The A.I. fight

In the DGA’s agreement, directors secured wage increases starting at 5% the first year, an increase in residuals from streaming and a guarantee that artificial intelligence could not replace the duties performed by members.
AI has been a major concern for the guilds of both the writers and actors, who see their jobs as especially vulnerable to this new technology.
Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are seeking protections against AI use in their negotiations, in addition to increases in compensation for streamed content. The WGA is also seeking a minimum staff level for TV writers rooms and more competitive minimum payments for work.
The WGA is less worried about being replaced by AI systems and more concerned that production companies will exploit these technological tools to reduce writers’ salaries.
SAG-AFTRA has acknowledged that AI technology can have its benefits in the industry, but it wants to ensure that any use of AI to replicate an actor or create a new performance is done with the actor’s consent and payment. The guild has similar guardrails when it comes to computer generated image capture.
Already, some performers, such as James Earl Jones, have already agreed to have their voices cloned for use after their deaths. Jones, 91, famously voiced Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise and sought to wind down from the role. Jones was compensated and the technology was used to bring Vader’s iconic voice to Disney+’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
The actors guild has also been outspoken about its negotiations being for the benefit of all its members, not just the big stars. Health coverage, compensation and residuals are top of mind for tens of thousands of working actors.
SAG-AFTRA’s vote for strike authorization wraps up Monday at 8 p.m. ET.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. More

General Motors plans to invest more than $1 billion in two Michigan plants for production of next-generation heavy-duty trucks, the company said Monday.
Despite GM’s commitment to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles by 2035, the company continues to invest in traditional vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickups.
The notably profitable trucks are in high demand.

Line workers work on the chassis of full-size General Motors pickup trucks at the Flint Assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, June 12, 2019.
JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP / Getty Images

DETROIT – General Motors plans to invest more than $1 billion in two Michigan plants for production of next-generation heavy-duty trucks, the company said Monday.
The investment includes $788 million to prepare its Flint Assembly plant to build the heavy-duty gas and diesel trucks. Another $233 million will be invested in the automaker’s Flint Metal Center to support production of the vehicles. Both plants are located in mid-Michigan.

Despite GM’s commitment to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles by 2035, the company continues to invest in traditional vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickups.
The notably profitable trucks are in high demand, and sales are needed to assist in funding the automaker’s investments in EVs.
A GM spokesman said construction related to the investments is scheduled to begin during the fourth quarter. He declined to disclose details and timing of the next-generation pickups.
In 2022, GM reported sales of its heavy-duty pickups increased 38% compared to the prior year, amounting to nearly 288,000 trucks sold.
The investment announcement comes ahead of contract negotiations between the Detroit automakers, including GM, and the United Auto Workers union this summer.

For investors, UAW negotiations are typically a short-term headwind every four years that result in higher costs. But this year’s negotiations are expected to be among the most contentious and important in recent memory, fueled by a years-long organized labor movement across the country, a pro-union president and an industry in transition to all-electric vehicles.
“When business is booming as it has been for the past decade — due to the hard work of UAW members — the company should continue to invest in its workforce,” UAW Vice President Mike Booth, who oversees the union’s GM unit, said in a release.
UAW leaders publicly laid out their top bargaining issues last week, including reinstatement of a cost-of-living adjustment that was eliminated during the Great Recession; stronger job security; and the end of a grow-in, or tiered, pay system that has members earning different wages and benefits. More

CNN CEO Chris Licht spoke on CNN’s weekly Monday morning call.
He apologized to CNN staffers for drawing attention away from the network’s mission and vowed to earn back trust.
The Atlantic published a 15,000-word profile story about Licht on Friday.

Chris Licht, Chairman and CEO, CNN Worldwide speaks onstage during the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront 2022 show at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 18, 2022 in New York City.
Kevin Mazur | Getty Images

Embattled CNN Chief Executive Chris Licht apologized to the news organization’s staff Monday morning during the cable news network’s 9 a.m. ET call, according to people familiar with the matter.
Licht told staffers he didn’t recognize himself in a 15,000-word profile story in The Atlantic that published Friday. The story documented his views on CNN’s coverage and his attempts at winning over staffers during his first year on the job.

Some CNN staffers saw the Licht magazine profile as showing poor judgment at a time when ratings are falling and employees are openly rebelling against his decision last month to air a Donald Trump town hall with hundreds of his cheering fans. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav wasn’t pleased with the profile, titled “Inside the Meltdown at CNN,” and agreed it was mishandled, according to people familiar with his thinking.
Licht said during the call he understands staffers’ frustration and is intent on earning his employees’ trust, said the people. He didn’t specifically speak to why he participated in The Atlantic profile, in which reporter Tim Alberta spent months with Licht, including joining him at the gym during a personal training session and attending backstage CNN programming rehearsals. Licht’s remarks were short, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
A CNN spokesperson declined to comment.
Licht announced the hiring of David Leavy on Thursday as the network’s new chief operating officer. Leavy will be tasked with taking over marketing, public relations, advertising sales, facilities and other logistics.
The move will allow Licht to focus more on programming, which is his background. Licht helped launched MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” as its executive producer in 2007 and later became executive producer and showrunner of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS.
WATCH: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav discusses company’s performance on ‘Squawk Box’ More

Moderna’s cancer vaccine, used in combination with Merck’s Keytruda, reduced the risk of melanoma spreading to other parts of the body or death by 65% compared to Keytruda alone.
Melanoma is responsible for the large majority of skin cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society.
The FDA has given Moderna and Merck a breakthrough therapy designation for their combination melanoma treatment.

Asbe | Istock | Getty Images

Moderna’s experimental cancer vaccine, used in combination with Merck’s Keytruda, reduced the risk of the most deadly form of skin cancer spreading to other parts of the body in a clinical trial, according to the midstage trial results published on Monday.
Moderna’s cancer vaccine reduced the risk of melanoma spreading to other parts of the body or death by 65% in patients with stage three or four of the disease compared to patients who received Merck’s immunotherapy treatment alone, the trial has found.

Moderna and Merck will present the data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual conference in Chicago at 5 p.m. ET.
The clinical trial has enrolled 157 patients who have had their cancer surgically removed.
Patients in the treatment group receive 1 mg injections of Moderna’s vaccine every three weeks for nine total doses and 200 mg intravenous infusions of Keytruda every three weeks for about a year.

CNBC Health & Science

Read CNBC’s latest global health coverage:

Melanoma is responsible for the large majority of skin cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. The rate of melanoma has increased rapidly over the past few decades, according to the society.
About 100,000 people will be diagnosed with melanoma in the U.S. this year and nearly 8,000 people are expected to die from the disease, according to the society.

The data published Monday are the latest promising results from Moderna and Merck.
The companies published data in April that showed Moderna’s cancer vaccine in combination with Keytruda reduced the risk of melanoma recurring by 44% compared to patients who received Merck’s immunotherapy treatment alone.
The Food and Drug Administration gave Moderna and Merck a breakthrough therapy designation in February, which is intended to speed up the development and review of treatments for serious and life-threatening diseases. More