The US military is raising the stakes – and expanding the field – in the high-profile competition for Space Force mission contracts.

The Space Force plans to purchase more rocket launches from companies in the coming years than previously expected, giving more companies a chance to secure billions in potential contracts.

“This is a huge deal,” Doug Pentecost, deputy program executive officer at the US Space Force’s Space Systems Command, told reporters during a briefing this week.

Earlier this year, the Space Force began the process of purchasing five years’ worth of launches, under a lucrative program known as National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase III.

The United States sees increasing momentum to improve its military capabilities in space, spurring the need to nearly triple the number of third-stage launches it has purchased in second-stage in 2020.

“It just amazes me,” said Pentecost. “We only estimated 36 missions for Phase 2. For Phase 3, we estimate 90 missions.”

In February, the Space Force outlined a “mutual fund” strategy to purchase launches from the companies. NSSL divided Stage 3 into two groups. Track 1 is the new approach, with lower requirements and a more flexible bidding process that allows companies to compete as rockets debut over the coming years. Path 2 represents the current approach, in which the Space Force plans to select a select number of companies for missions that meet the most demanding requirements.

Pentecost said the Space Force hosted an industry day in February to review details of the program and 22 companies attended. Since then, Space Force has made a number of tweaks to Phase 3. It has added more missions, introduced a price cap, expanded Path 2, and established an annual schedule of missions.

The government weighs bids according to a company’s “gross estimated price” to launch. This is broken down into “launch service,” which means the cost of building and launching a missile, and “launch service support,” which covers special requirements the military might have for a launch. The maximum launch service subsidy amount is $100 million per year, per company.

“We’ve implemented some cost constraints so we don’t get inflated. We don’t want to [a situation where] Everyone gets a mission—you get a mission, you get a mission, you get a mission—because there’s no real competition after that,” Pentecostals said.

“We believe all of our partners in the industry want to be the first man, so we think that will provide competitive pricing to keep our costs down,” he added.

While track 1 is expected to attract the most bids and award 30 missions, track 2 is the big show.

With Lane 2, the Space Force awards the most valuable contracts to launch national security satellites at the highest stakes.

“These are billion dollars [satellite] “The payload going into unique orbits,” said Pentecost.

Not only has Lynn 2 seen an increase in the number of missions available for grabs — it’s currently estimated at 58 launches, up from 39 in February — but Space Force also made the decision to expand the slots available for final prizes to three companies, rather than limiting them to two.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of Boeing And Lockheed MartinThey were supposed to be the main contenders for Lane 2, but now there’s an open door for another company like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

Space Force will allocate 60% and 40% of the 51 missions to the two largest bidders, respectively, and the remaining seven launches will go to the third-place bidder.

Regardless of where a company ranks, it must demonstrate that it can meet all of Track 2’s requirements, which include having launch sites on both the East Coast and West Coast, and the ability to reach nine high-accuracy “reference” orbits, many of which are much farther from Earth than the LEO requirements of Track 1.

Asked by CNBC how many companies are developing missiles that can meet these requirements by the launch deadline, a Space Force spokesperson declined to specify, saying the Army is “tracking several” that are “expanding their launch capabilities into most of these orbits.”

“Hopefully, not only will ULA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin compete for that, there are others who have interest in the past.” Chad Mellon, chief of procurement and integration at Space Systems Command, said during the briefing.

Space Force presents an annual festival for the month of October. 1 Deadline for assignment of tasks to companies that have won a contract.

Pentecost clarified that the first missions will end in October 2025, but the aforementioned contracts do not guarantee assignments, which protects the Space Force from delays that companies may experience in developing and flying missiles.

“You could have won the contract already, and you had this great plan about how you were going to fly [fiscal year] 2027. But since you haven’t flown yet, and I have a satellite that needs to fly in a couple of years, we’re not going to give you that task—we’re going to pass it on to the other person,” Pentecostal said.

Space Force aims to finish its solicitation for bidders by September and then submit all proposals by December, with contracts awarded in October 2024.

The main driver for this push, Space Force officials said, is “capacity assurance,” since there are “a lot of other companies” trying to buy satellite launches and the Space Force needs to close their orders.

“We wanted to make sure that we basically hedged against the scarcity of launches that could happen because if there is absolutely too much demand and everyone is [buying]”The prices can be very high,” Mellon said.

But despite that fear, Pentecost said that 2026 “looks like the sweet spot” when a number of the companies’ rockets will be developed and ready to fly. And the companies that stay on the right track will have the upper hand in the third phase of the NSSL.

“If you fly before then, or if your schedule shows you will fly before then, you will have significant strengths, which will put you in a better position to win the best provider or second best in this competition,” said Pentecost.

Artificial intelligence is having a huge impact on the automotive industry.

Revenue from sales of self-driving cars is expected to reach $70 billion by 2033, according to Future Market Insights. But AI self-driving cars aren’t the only change – AI technology has already been integrated into car production.

As part of this industry-wide trend, the BMW Group is now shifting gears to rely more on artificial intelligence to create a leaner and more efficient manufacturing process.

Over the past few years, BMW has She upgrades her Spartanburg, South Carolina factory to include new AI capabilities. The plant spans over 8 million square feet and produces approximately 60% of all BMW vehicles sold in the United States which amounts to more than 1,500 vehicles produced daily.

At The Body Shop, robots weld between 300 and 400 metal studs into the frame of each SUV. That’s about half a million studs a day that are applied by machines and now run by AI.

On top of that, AI technology checks to make sure each bolt is precisely positioned, according to BMW Group Principal Curtis Tingle. If a stud is out of place, the system tells the robots to correct it. No human intervention needed.

“It’s a complete closed loop,” Tingle told CNBC. “[AI] It removes human thinking, human manual intervention, right out of the equation.”

Tingle said the new technology has greatly improved efficiency. “We are achieving five times more than we thought possible even before, with what AI is achieving now.”

According to Tingle, the AI ​​nail correction laser has already saved the company more than $1 million annually. He said the new technology allowed BMW to remove six workers from the line and redeploy them to other jobs at the plant.

BMW told CNBC that the AI ​​technology is patent pending and developed within the Spartanburg plant.

On the factory floor, Camille Roberts, Project Head of IT at BMW Group, explains that the new artificial intelligence software is helping speed up the carmaker’s existing inspection process.

Even SUVs are moving down the line, 26 different cameras around the grounds are taking pictures. That’s when, according to Roberts, “the AI ​​kicks in, identifies problems and reports them for a human to fix,” thus preventing the imperfect car from being shipped.

Roberts told CNBC that prior to the new AI upgrade, human workers could not inspect every vehicle as often as they can now, adding, “It’s not really possible to inspect every vehicle. … Production numbers are not going to meet global demand.”

There is still room to run for BMW’s AI technology, said Oliver Bilstein, BMW Group Vice President for Logistics and Production Control.

Workers at the plant wear what Bilstein calls factory scanners that take high-resolution measurements and images of every centimeter of the plant.

These images are used to build a 3D “digital twin” of the plant, Bilstein said, allowing BMW to instantly make adjustments and understand how they affect production before it implements a change in the real world. BMW plant planners around the world can access these detailed plans online.

With the help of the new AI software, Bilstein said, the scanning process now takes days instead of months.

Ultimately, this kind of AI technology will be able to learn, on its own, how to discover and recommend new ways to make the BMW Group’s automated assembly line more efficient, he said.

AMC Entertainment It dropped plans to charge customers variable prices for cinema seats.

The company announced its “Sightline” pricing strategy in February and tested it at select locations in three US markets. The program costs moviegoers more to get the best theater seats, or “preferred line of sight” seats.

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The program also lowered prices for seats deemed less attractive to patrons, such as those in the front row of theaters.

The change comes as the movie theater industry struggles during its slow summer blockbuster season. And theaters are counting on this week’s releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer to bring much-needed foot traffic to theaters.

Shares of AMC Entertainment fell less than 1% on Thursday. The stock is up more than 5% this year, lagging behind the broader market.

Preferred Sightline seats included select locations in the middle of the auditorium that were preferred by some moviegoers, while Value Sightline seats were those usually located in the front row.

The chain said the program will end at participating locations in the coming weeks.

The decision comes after the pilot program showed moviegoers had little or no interest in sitting in the front row, despite lower prices. The company said it also found that most moviegoers continued to choose the seats they preferred, even at higher prices.

The company added that the focus is ensuring that AMC’s ticket prices remain competitive. Other theater chains like the Regal don’t charge higher prices for better seats.

The movie theater chain said it will now focus on testing front-row seats with more comfortable seats at select locations in the US later this year.

CNBC has reached out to AMC for additional comment.

The main takeaway from NetflixSecond quarter earnings are business… good.

correct. The core business of a large media and entertainment company is fine.

Netflix added 5.9 million subscribers in the quarter, a sign that its primary initiative for 2023 — cracking down on password sharing and launching a cheaper $6.99 per month ad category — is bringing in new subscribers. Netflix added 1.2 million subscribers in the US and Canada in the quarter — its biggest regional quarterly gain since 2021.

This is not the story for the rest of the media industry. Disney And Warner Bros. Discovery The year was spent cutting content from streaming services to avoid paying waste and saving on licensing fees. Both companies have laid off thousands of employees over the past 12 months to boost free cash flow. Paramount Global And ComcastBoth NBCUniversal affiliates said that 2023 would be the largest annual loss ever for their broadcast businesses.

Meanwhile, Netflix boosted its free cash flow estimate to $5 billion for the year. Previously, the company had estimated it would have $3.5 billion in revenue, but strikes by actors and writers would reduce spending on content. This means that Netflix will actually get more money than you previously thought.

In the next quarter, Netflix expects subscriber gains to be around 6 million again. The company said revenue will accelerate in the second half of the year as it sees the “full benefits” of its password-sharing campaign and steady growth in its ad-supported plan.

In the past year, Netflix’s rating has dropped 60% as subscriber counts have stalled. The company spent a significant amount of time on earnings conference calls focusing on and explaining its new video game business, which was introduced in mid-2021, to help kick-start a new growth narrative.

This quarter’s shareholder letter barely addresses video games.

Why? Because unlike the rest of the media industry, Netflix doesn’t need a new narrative. The old one still works. The flow is increasing. Stacks of liquidity are on the rise. The announcement excites investors. Netflix has a steady pipeline of international content and a deep library to outpace the extended writers and actors strike.

“The lack of references to video games in the shareholder letter suggests advertising is the shiny thing that dominates most of the company’s focus,” said Ross Bennis, an analyst with research firm Insider Intelligence.

Shares of Netflix fell 5% after hours. That’s more of a symptom of profit-taking after Netflix’s big gains this year (up more than 62% as of Wednesday’s close) than anything to chafe in its preliminary quarterly numbers.

After a sharp fall last year, the company is back on track. And you didn’t even need to switch trains.

Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo contributed to this article.

Medicare plans to expand its coverage of PET scans that are used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, a major policy shift that could make it easier for patients to access new treatments entering the US market.

The proposal would abolish the current Medicare policy nationwide. Currently, the Seniors Program will cover one PET scan per age for patients participating in clinical trials.

Medicare’s proposal would allow regional organizations, called Medicare Administrative Contractors, to decide whether to cover the diagnostic tool. These regional contractors make coverage decisions based on whether the service is “reasonable and necessary” for a diagnosis.

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, president of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a statement Monday that the proposed policy “fulfills CMS’s commitment to allow broader coverage of this diagnostic test.” A CMS spokesperson said a final decision could come within 90 days.

Positron emission tomography scans are an important diagnostic tool that detects the presence of a protein amyloid in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Screenings are the most common way to help diagnose patients.

People on Medicare generally pay 20% of the cost of a PET scan after the deductible is met. The cost of a one-time scan would be about $313 per patient, according to one estimate in a study published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

doctor. It’s possible for regional contractors to come to different coverage decisions for PET scans, said Sean Tunis, CMS’ former chief medical officer. But these organizations generally work together on key issues and there’s no reason to think their policies on PET scans will differ widely across the United States, said Tunis, now a consultant at Rubix Health.

Medicare’s coverage of PET scans should make it easier for patients to access new treatments like Leqembi, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month.

Medicare agreed to cover Leqembi’s treatment for Eisai and Biogen’s Alzheimer’s, but requires patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s disease with documented evidence of amyloid on the brain.

Most patients choose positron emission tomography to confirm the presence of amyloid because imaging is less invasive than alternative diagnostic tools such as spinal taps. Blood tests are also in development, and some are already in use, but not yet widely deployed.

Medicare said it would also cover other antibody therapies for Alzheimer’s with the same terms if they receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Eli Lilly The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expects to make a decision on its treatment, donanimab, by the end of the year.

The Alzheimer’s Association, a pressure group that advocates for people living with the disease, said the new policy proposed by Medicare would remove unnecessary barriers for patients. Maria Carrillo, the consortium’s chief scientific officer, called the decision “a huge step forward”.

The first over-the-counter birth control pill in the United States can remain out of reach for some women and girls because health insurance plans are not required to cover the drug in its over-the-counter form.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Opill oral contraceptives for sale without a prescription, a landmark decision that would make the pill easier to obtain by eliminating the need to visit a doctor’s office and refill prescriptions.

A third of adult women who have tried to obtain prescription contraceptives encountered barriers to accessing them, according to a survey published in the Journal of Women’s Health in 2016.

Opel manufacturer perego It expects the pill to be available in major stores and online in early 2024. Perrigo will announce the price of Opill in two months before the pill hits stores, Perrigo CEO Fredrik Welgren said during a call with reporters Thursday.

Welgren said the company is committed to ensuring that Opel is affordable. Perrigo sets up a program to help patients, so the cost of birth control pills isn’t a barrier for women struggling to make ends meet.

But some women and girls still face obstacles in obtaining an Opel. The Affordable Care Act does not require private health insurance to cover the cost of birth control pills when used without a prescription. Most health insurance companies are required to offer birth control for free when a doctor prescribes it.

State Medicaid programs are generally not required to cover over-the-counter drugs, according to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Welgren said Perego is enlisting private insurance programs and state health care programs to offer over-the-counter Opill to women and girls for free. But she said the Affordable Care Act needs to be amended to ensure that health insurance pays for over-the-counter birth control.

It’s unclear whether insurance coverage for Opel will be in place when the pill is available in stores early next year, Welgren said. “We have some work to do to make that happen. It will take some time,” she said.

Congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden are pushing to expand access to birth control.

senator. Patty Murray, D-WA, reintroduced legislation called Accessible Affordability in the Senate in May that would require health insurance companies to offer over-the-counter oral contraceptives for free.

Biden ordered the US Department of Health and Human Services in June to ensure that all contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration are available without out-of-pocket costs.

An agency spokesperson said Friday that CMS encourages health insurance to cover over-the-counter birth control products for free. The spokeswoman said the agency is working on ways to ensure that contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration are available for over-the-counter use without sharing costs.

Opill is 93% effective in preventing pregnancy. It is the most effective form of over-the-counter birth control in the United States, and must be taken at the same time each day to ensure its effectiveness.

Welgren said that 15 million women in the United States who are sexually active and do not want to become pregnant use a method of contraception less effective than Opal or no method of contraception at all.

Nearly half of the 6 million pregnancies in the United States each year are unintended, according to the Food and Drug Administration. According to the agency, unintended pregnancies are associated with premature birth, which can lead to poor health outcomes for newborn babies.

LOS ANGELES – It’s the billion-dollar question: Why are blockbusters in short supply this year?

universal The Super Mario Bros. movie. Movie is the only movie released in 2023 to so far pass the billion dollar mark at the global box office. It doesn’t look like there could be another, even with some big titles on the calendar.

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“If you were to give 10 people a release schedule at the beginning of the year and say, ‘We’re only going to have one billion-dollar movie out of all these movies, and can you choose which movie that’s going to be? Mike Polidoros, CEO of film marketing firm PaperAirplane Media, said, “I don’t think anyone would have taken a Super Mario Bros. movie to the next level.”

The lack of billionaires marks a sea change in the industry. In the years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic, and even last year, there were many megabytes that exceeded $1 billion of the global total.

The lack of these types of blockbusters in 2023 is especially evident Disney, which owns the Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Legacy of Fairy Tale franchises. While the studio is well on its way to being the ruler of the box office this year, it’s had a series of missteps in recent months that have raised concerns that audience preferences are changing too quickly for Hollywood to adapt.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania failed to draw audiences beyond Marvel’s die-hard fans in February, grossing just $214.5 million domestically and less than $500 million worldwide. “Elemental,” which was released just last month, currently holds the second-lowest domestic showing of any Pixar film in the studio’s history, narrowly eclipsing 2020’s “Onward,” which experienced a shortfall at the box office due to the pandemic.

At Disney’s Lucasfilm, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which hits theaters June 30, is expected to struggle to make back its roughly $300 million production budget. To date, it has grossed $122.1 million at the domestic box office and $221.4 million worldwide.

“On the whole, I see Disney in a situation that was mostly expected to be emerging from the pandemic and going through yet another leadership change,” said Sean Robbins, a senior analyst at BoxOffice.com. “These two hugely influential players have reshaped the studio’s stature in many ways, especially at the box office when considering the past decade that has seen their best franchises and their brand on all cylinders. This kind of momentum just wouldn’t have been sustainable without occasional ebbs and flows.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC’s David Faber Thursday that the company will cut Marvel and Star Wars content as it seeks to cut costs and revamp its brands.

A bright spot for Disney has come in the form of James Gunn’s final arc at Marvel Studios. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the third-highest-grossing domestic release so far this year, with $357.5 million. It follows behind Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”. Gunn is now helping helm Warner Bros. Pictures. DC Discovery Studios.

The third Guardians movie has managed to secure $834.2 million worldwide since its May release, but it likely won’t reach the coveted $1 billion threshold.

Notably, Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” generated more than $1 billion in global ticket sales in 2023, but since it was released in 2022, it’s not considered a billion-dollar movie of the year.

“The billion-dollar club seems to be getting more exclusive in 2023,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore. “Despite many high-profile titles featuring some of the biggest movie brands and franchises, this year’s crop so far lacks the global footprint or sheer market dominance to cross the billion-dollar threshold in what has been a competitive global film market.”

The Chinese market, in particular, was a major driving force in its previous multibillion-dollar box office hit, but the region has been more selective about which Hollywood films are allowed to be shown in the country. China has also developed its own lucrative film market.

For example, most Marvel films released pre-pandemic saw 15% to 22% of all ticket sales from China. In the aftermath of the pandemic, only a few of these comic book movies have been released to screens in the country and those that have have seen significantly less revenue.

The first two Ant-Man movies, which were released in 2015 and 2018, brought in about 20% of ticket sales from China. Meanwhile, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania saw just 8% of tickets sold in China.

“Globally, China’s evolution into a market that can no longer be relied upon for massive offerings by some of the films and franchises that used to do so leaves a gap that may be too big to fill in the short term,” Robbins said.

Lower Chinese ticket sales coupled with slower-than-expected returns from domestic moviegoers have hampered big blockbusters in 2023, dragging down the number of multi-billion-dollar blockbusters.

In the past decade, the number of global multi-billion dollar earners has increased exponentially, with Disney responsible for the majority of the chart-topping titles. In fact, the studio earned at least $1 billion every year from 2014 through 2019, when it had seven billion dollars worth of movies.

He didn’t make a $1 billion movie in 2020 or 2021 due to pandemic restrictions, but the 2022 movie “Avatar: The Way of Water” crossed $2 billion.

“Because 2019 was an anomaly on the upside, I think 2023 can be viewed as an anomaly in the other direction,” said Polidoros of PaperAirplane. “As they say with auditioning, get rid of the high and the low and go from there. And I think the same theory applies to the box office as a whole.”

Several box office analysts who spoke with CNBC shared the same sentiment as Polidoros. They noted that while many of Disney’s releases fell short of expectations, the studio remains a strong competitor at the domestic and global box office.

“It’s very unlikely that Disney will get a global hit of $1 billion this year,” Dergarabedian said. But, to be fair, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and “Elemental” have collectively earned more than $2 billion worldwide.

Despite tepid results from traditionally strong Disney, the studio has generated more domestic ticket sales than any other studio this year so far.

Through June, Disney releases account for 30% of all domestic ticket sales, or $1.3 billion, according to data from Comscore.

The studio also has four of the top 10 highest-grossing domestic films so far this year.

“As usual, it’s about the content,” said Polidoros.

It’s not yet clear if Disney’s upcoming releases, like “Haunted Mansion,” “The Marvels” or “Wish,” will be able to generate a record $1 billion, but a diverse slate bodes well for the company.

“2024 looks more promising on several fronts, and their original animated film, Wish, could be a big hit later this year if it lives up to its potential with the audiences that helped make the ‘Frozen’ series such a hit,” Robbins said.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

American And Jet Blue One will stop selling seats on flights next Friday, two months after a federal judge ruled that the Northeast airline partnership violated antitrust laws.

The judge ordered the airlines to end their partnership of more than two years, which allowed them to share passengers and revenue, and coordinate schedules in the northeastern United States. Delta And united In busy airports serving New York and Boston.

The Department of Justice, six states, and the District of Columbia sued to block this partnership, winning their case on May 20.

““We are disappointed to end popular benefits such as codeshare and mutual loyalty benefits,” Dave Fintzen, JetBlue’s vice president of Northeast Alliance, said in a statement. With the recent court ruling and the termination of the NEA, we have to go down I say in short order.”

JetBlue said last week it would not appeal the ruling, so it could focus instead on its $3.8 billion acquisition. Spirit Airlines, a deal also challenged by the DOJ, though JetBlue said it did not agree with the judge’s ruling on the Northeast alliance. However, America said it still plans to appeal the ruling on the Northeast Alliance.

Earlier this week, airline websites still offered flight options on each other’s airlines during the year-end holidays, but those sales will only last through July 20.

Both airlines said they will work with customers who have existing reservations so that their plans are not disrupted.

“This is only the first step in the truce process that will take place over the coming months,” American said in a statement. “We will continue to work with the JetBlue team to ensure that customers with existing codeshare reservations can travel smoothly without disrupting their travel plans.”

Thursday is also the last day customers can use their American AAdvantage frequent flyer miles to book flights on JetBlue.

Manufacturer of spacecraft engines and builder of small rockets Astra It intends to conduct a reverse stock split of 1 to 15, the company disclosed in a securities filing on Monday.

The request said Astra was also seeking to raise up to $65 million through an “on-the-market” placement of ordinary shares.

Astra shares were little changed in after-hours trading, closing at 40 cents a share. The company went public in July 2021 through a SPAC deal, at a valuation of nearly $2 billion, before the stock began to crash after launch failures and development setbacks.

The reverse stock split is expected to take place on or before October 2, Astra’s filing said, after its board of directors approved the plan on July 6. The company previously scheduled a reverse split as part of its plan to avoid delisting by the Nasdaq.

A reverse split does not affect the fundamentals of the company, as it does not dilute the value of the stock nor change the valuation of the company, but it will raise the share price through the combination of shares. A reverse split can be seen as a sign that a company is in distress and is trying to “artificially” increase its share price, or it can be seen as a way for a viable company with crumbling shares to continue its operations on a public stock exchange. Functionally, the reverse split, often done as 1 for 10, means that a stock worth, say, $3 will become $30 a share.