PLAY IT, SAM: WB'S BIG-PICTURE CATALOG SALE

Word has it that Warner Bros. Discovery is in negotiations to sell half of its film and TV music-publishing assets, with a valuation reportedly north of $1 billion. The catalog is believed to include such gems as Purple Rain, The Last Waltz, various Batman soundtracks, Sesame Street, Evita, Rent, Dick Tracy, Sweeney Todd and more, not to mention songs like “As Time Goes By” from Casablanca.

Insiders say it’s a good Wall Street look for the David Zaslav-led media giant to sell half of this vast trove of film and TV music rights now—while the market is still on fire—to help pay down its debt. (UMPG has the current, multiyear admin deal for the catalog.) Allen Grubman is said to be running point for CEO Zaslav (pictured), whose estimated salary, including stock and bonuses, won him “top earner” status in the entertainment world per the business press ($40m per year, according to one report, with about half a billion earned overall in the last five years).

Zaslav has been taking his lumps for hiring and firing Chris Licht as CNN head; Licht’s disastrous one-year tenure saw the news net’s ratings tumble and reached its nadir with a Donald Trump town hall that was condemned throughout the mediasphere.