All Things Streaming (VOD, OTT)

[Disney Irish]

The bloodbath at HBO continues.

‘Westworld’ Canceled After Four Seasons

It’s sunset for HBO–Bad Robot‘s Westworld, the premium cabler announced this afternoon. The show ended its fourth season on August 14. The series created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, an adaptation of the 1973 Michael Crichton film, boasted nine Primetime Emmy wins during its run and 54 noms...

deadline.com

That’s too bad I like the show.

 

[MisterPenguin]

How the CW will be saved...

Sook praised the network’s new entertainment chief Brad Schwartz as “a very gifted programming executive,” “a creative mind” and a “very creative dealmaker” with “a sharp eye for talent.” The former head of Pop TV, “on a much smaller budget that we have given him at The CW, was able to find and develop a show called Schitt’s Creek. We told him, ‘Your job is easy. Just go find a couple more of those and we’ll be in fine shape at The CW,’” he said, referring to the Emmy juggernaut.​

So, that's all you have to do... Find a little scripted show that is dirt cheap to produce and becomes a massive viral and critical sensation.

That's all you have to do!!

The CW To Shed WBD, Paramount Content In 2023-24 Season; Former Owners “Not Precluded From Selling Us Programming” If It’s “A Deal We Like,” Says Nexstar CEO

Perry Sook talked strategy for the recently acquired network on a quarterly earnings call.

deadline.com

Nexstar Focused On The CW “Ratings, Revenue, And Profitability” As Network’s New Owner Posts Q3 Numbers

Nexstar grew revenue 9.7% for the September quarter to $1.29 billion for the three months ended in September, as the new CW owner cited growth in political advertising, distribution and digital rev…

deadline.com

If you excuse me, I'm going shopping to pick up something to wear at CW's funeral.

 

[MisterPenguin]

For Netflix, Sports Rights Isn’t a Matter of If, but When

New VIP+ Analysis: Now that advertising is baked into Netflix, live sports is simply the next logical step in the streamer’s evolution.

variety.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

David Zaslav On DC Rising, Ad Market Tanking, HBO’s Losses & WBD’s New Streaming Playbook

David Zaslav channeled his inner John Dutton today: “We have an awful lot to do, and an awful lot to undo,” he said, crediting the line to Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone patriarch in the Season 5 prem…

deadline.com

Warner Bros. Discovery Sends Mixed Signals to NBA On Next Rights Deal

Warner Bros. Discovery values its NBA programming so much that it recently struck a multi-year deal to keep its top basketball. analysts in their chairs over at TNT. Warner Bros. And yet the compan…

variety.com

Paramount Global Stock Flies As Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Boosts Stake

Famed investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway knocked Paramount Global shares higher after disclosing that it has raised his stake in the media company. In an SEC filing, the so-called “…

deadline.com

Lionsgate Resets Timeline To Split Starz And Studio

Lionsgate this week has started the formalities around spinning off its studio from Starz and anticipates filing the deal with the SEC in March, and completing the separation of the businesses by t…

deadline.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

Making Sense Of CBS’ Executive Shakeup Amid Streamlining & Cost Cutting At Paramount Global

Restructuring, streamlining and realignment. We’ve been hearing that phrasing quite a bit over the past few months as media congloms have been thinning out their top executive ranks and targe…

deadline.com

South African Public Broadcaster Launches Streamer SABC+, Targets 2 Million Subscribers by Late 2023

South Africa’s loss-making public broadcaster surprised everyone on Thursday when it launched its long-gestating streamer, naming it SABC+ with a target of 2 million users over the next year. The S…

variety.com

Roku to Lay Off 200 Employees, Cutting Headcount by 7%

Streaming platform Roku said it will eliminate 200 jobs in the U.S., citing “current economic conditions,” cutting about 7% of its overall workforce. “Due to the current economic …

variety.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

MGM Employees Offered Contract Extensions As Amazon Fold-Up Takes Shape – The Dish

EXCLUSIVE: The process of integrating MGM into the broader Amazon universe is starting to gain momentum eight months after the $8.5B sale by the tech giant was completed. Deadline understands that …

deadline.com

 

[Slpy3270]

NY Times has an article about the AT&T-Time Warner merger and how everything that could've gone wrong did go wrong (paywalled).

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/business/media/att-time-warner-deal.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

 

[MisterPenguin]

NY Times has an article about the AT&T-Time Warner merger and how everything that could've gone wrong did go wrong (paywalled).

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/business/media/att-time-warner-deal.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

No paywall:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/business/media/att-time-warner-deal.html?unlocked_article_code=5iVO63UVUPO3-E322seb0yMH9LZ_JNhOwijIs-tUSZhKcbyMf1_tV87LLS19BYkbX2mOzNtg2Q5Nl3L2qxBKt0PlXKjHfL23KzyLtateTVsVNck23zS79KuONxlDYC6eAQVlNDlt1uiNPPkcmh7YmnQES6vgAxiNRQf8u3kz0WTwkNgdAJzzHm1FXRVk4wh6UtUB6Y6agn9hMwiXiIlASFhRmLUzFnvm9slCHKlbjGranIsJ2sVqYoBPpOQWX9-ZBzCXp-X5e7hIgJLo1VcGzY4m5oFPOCPqGKMdr9ngdRc4ueS75jBCd8sJObAVOWisYKBX32TOMBbYns-huWtZQpPtItjG&smid=share-url

A rant on the problem with mergers in general with WBD being it's poser child. (NSFW language)

 

[MisterPenguin]

Peeling Back the Layers of Netflix’s ‘Glass Onion’ Strategy

New VIP+ Analysis: Giving ‘Knives Out’ sequel a proper shot at success in theaters would be a stab in the right direction for the streamer.

variety.com

DreamWorks Launches Kids & Entertainment Channel In France

DreamWorks has launched its debut channel in France. The DreamWorks 24-hour kids and family entertainment channel has kicked off on SFR linear and on-demand in the nation and is now available in 43…

deadline.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

Amazon Commitment To 8-10 Films Annually: What This Means

Exhibition stocks were up today on news from Bloomberg that Amazon is going to commit a reported $1 billion to theatrical releases annually. We hear that such a plan is truly in its early days &#82…

deadline.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

U.S. stats only...

Prime Video Replaces Netflix As No. 1 Streaming Service In U.S., According To Longtime Industry Tracker Parks Associates; Peacock Cracks Top 10

Prime Video has supplanted Netflix as the No. 1 subscription streaming outlet in the U.S. in an annual ranking compiled by research firm Parks Associates. (See full chart below.) The company didn&#…

deadline.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

NBCU Sees New Gains At Peacock, But Ad Market Worsens

NBCUniversal’s top executive said the company had seen new subscription growth at its streaming Peacock hub even as he noted that the advertising market was “worsening” and prepar…

variety.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

Amazon-HBO Max Deal Signals Power Shift in Streaming

New VIP+ Analysis: Consumer demand is growing for a unified streaming subscription platform, but the largest players continue to resist it.

variety.com

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos On Advertising Rollout, Password Sharing, And Why The Company Is Punting On Sports Rights: “We’re Not Anti-Sports, We’re Just Pro-Profit”

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos affirmed recent comments from the company that they are not — despite strong indications from insiders as recently as last month — intending to bid on sports…

deadline.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

Big Cable Networks Like HLN Are Failing, and Media Companies Can’t Stop Their Decline

Viewers have turned to the cable network HLN over the years for a quick-hit version of its sister, CNN; for coverage of court cases; for Robin Meade’s long-running morning news shows; and for a bev…

variety.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

The Blueprint for Warner Bros. Discovery’s FAST Business

New VIP+ Analysis: A look at the strategies WBD should employ to make the most of its 2023 incursion into free streaming channels.

variety.com

Feel the Churn: What Subscriber Cancellations Mean for Streamers

New VIP+ Analysis: U.S. SVOD churn reached record highs in Q3 ‘22, but those ratcheted rates may simply be a new fact of life.

variety.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

With U.S. Fee Hike, Is Disney+ Without Ads Overpriced?

The price of the ad-free version of Disney+ in the U.S. is now $10.99 per month — and that may be more than the market value of the content on the streaming service, according to a recent ana…

variety.com

New HBO Max Ads Look Like Scenes From ‘Sex Lives’

People who decide to stream HBO Max’s “Sex Lives of College Girls” on its ad-supported tier may be hard-pressed to determine when the show ends and when the commercials begin. Google has signed on …

variety.com

 

[Slpy3270]

Here come more WBD write-offs.

Warner Bros. Discovery to Take Additional $800M-$1B in Write-offs, Says ‘Westworld,’ ‘The Nevers’ Being Licensed to Third-Party Streamers

The writeoffs come after HBO Max pulled 'Westworld' from its streaming service, with other high-profile projects canceled or axed.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Here come more WBD write-offs.

Warner Bros. Discovery to Take Additional $800M-$1B in Write-offs, Says ‘Westworld,’ ‘The Nevers’ Being Licensed to Third-Party Streamers

The writeoffs come after HBO Max pulled 'Westworld' from its streaming service, with other high-profile projects canceled or axed.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

I assume the WB 100th announcement that also happened today was just an attempt to get less people pay attention to this news?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Warner Bros. Discovery Now Sees Up To $3.5 Billion In Content Write-Downs, $1 Billion More Than Previously Anticipated

Warner Bros Discovery now expects to incur total pre-tax restructuring charges of $4.1 – $5.3 billion, which includes $2.8 – $3.5 billion of content impairment and development write-off…

deadline.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

I'm surprised I'm not watching it right now...

Letterkenny | Hulu

The residents of Letterkenny belong to one of three groups: the Hicks, the Skids, and the Hockey Players, who are constantly feuding over seemingly trivial matters that often end with someone getting their kicked. In Season 11, the small town contends with the best chip flavors, lost dogs...

press.hulu.com