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The Business of Hollywood & Streaming


HamsterHookah

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I don’t understand why it’s hard for people to find things.  On Apple TV, the search function works across all apps but Netflix.  So two searches and you find what you are looking for, sometimes showing multiple platforms for viewing options.  Now if you aren’t subscribed to the service, it’s a business decision.  But outside of you Torrent pirates, it’s all a business decision anyway, right?

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3 hours ago, mdmost said:

This feels like it's going to end badly for both the talent and the consumer.

https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/warner-bros-discovery-paramount-merger-talks-1235847958/

I feel like Paramount has been on a diet ever since Brad Grey passed away.  They make about four movies a year and most of their revenue is licensing their catalogue out to the streamers.  

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On 12/20/2023 at 2:26 PM, mdmost said:

This feels like it's going to end badly for both the talent and the consumer.

https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/warner-bros-discovery-paramount-merger-talks-1235847958/

sheeeeeeeeittt... WB + D ended up as as less than the sum of the 2 parts, and the same for Viacom + CBS. The idea that the combo of all of that would somehow be better able to compete with Netflix seems totally ridiculous. Two companies with massive debt, no apparent clue about how to compete in the business they say they want to be in (streaming), yet still basically completely reliant on linear tv revenue. If this merger were to happen the only mystery would be how quickly the new entity would take to implode, and how much the bankers and Zaslav were able to stuff in their own pockets along the way.

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Netflix is now in the live streaming business.

Netflix buys rights to WWE Raw, other shows in live streaming push

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/netflix-wwe-raw-partnership-live-sports-streaming/
 

Quote

Netflix on Tuesday said it will soon be home to the WWE's most-watched wrestling show, as part of a multibillion-dollar deal that will see the streaming giant enter the ring to compete in covering live sports.

The streaming giant is acquiring the rights to WWE Raw in a $5 billion deal to be paid out over 10 years, as the wrestling group's contract with Comcast nears its expiration, Bloomberg reported. The series will begin airing on Netflix in January 2025, and will be available to subscribers in North America and other international markets. WWE is part of TKO Group Holdings.

"Our partnership…dramatically expands the reach of WWE, and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix," TKO President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro said Wednesday in a statement.

 

 

Edited by Chopper
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On 12/20/2023 at 9:23 PM, atomheartbevo said:

Bunch of Star Trek content about to get Star Fucked if this happens.

It will probably be parted out to various other shitty streaming services.  Shit, Warner Brothers is already pushing top-tier DC stuff to other platforms.

Pluto TV has alotta TNG and OG.  Mighta seen some DS9 too.  All free w/commercials.  I watched Yesterday’s Enterprise like 3 times last week.  SO good.  Shoulda been a movie.  “Let’s make sure history never forgets…the name…’Enterprise.’”  Chills every time.

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Well holy shit.

image.thumb.png.c63da230f03e015c6324da3e7cb8ba1b.png

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/disney-warner-bros-discovery-fox-launch-sports-streaming-service-1235817744/

nb:  "A source says that the new venture, while a major step forward, is not expected to impact ESPN’s plans to offer a direct-to-consumer “flagship” ESPN streaming service, but is meant to complement it. In some ways, the new venture is closer to something like a “skinny bundle” of streaming networks, one that is focused exclusively on channels with live sports, rather than entertainment."

Edited by Chopper
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I wrote in the thread specifically about this disney/fox/hbod deal that the cable companies are losing their shit about the Iger sports package. I like this thread better for future discussion because it cuts across the entire industry. What disney/hbod/fox have planned is essentially a hulu lite product. I don't see the cable companies being able to stop it based on contractual issues and certainly not anti-trust but that won't stop 'em from trying, esp. Brian Roberts with Comcast. 

I'll be interested to see if Disney still plans the espn stand-alone product or figures out a way to roll it into a bundle with the new Joint Venture.

This article is from last Friday - https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/pay-tv-distributors-may-be-planning-their-attack-against-new-sports-joint-venture/ar-BB1ijUyj

Quote

 

It's been about a week since Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox announced a new joint venture to offer live sports outside the traditional cable bundle, and pay TV distributors are still trying to figure out just how disruptive the new service will be.

The key question for distributors such as Comcast, Charter and DirecTV is whether they'll be allowed to offer the same skinny bundle of linear networks that Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox announced will be available to consumers later this fall. That bundle includes ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Fox, FS1, FS2, and a handful of other cable channels that showcase sports.

If Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox allow distributors to offer the same product, in addition to the standard cable bundle, there's likely to be minimal consternation about the joint venture. But it's not clear that will be the case, given that may defeat the purpose of its existence.

In 2023, Charter began offering a package of cable networks that didn't include sports to lower the cost of cable TV for customers who only wanted news and entertainment. Offering sports to only those people who want to watch sports is good for distributors, but it's harmful to programmers, who benefit from the millions of households that pay for sports but don't watch them.

That's why, logically, the new sports joint venture only makes sense if the three media companies bar distributors from offering the same product.

So far, the largest pay TV distributors haven't spoken publicly about the forthcoming bundle because they're still gathering information on the joint venture's plans, according to people familiar with their thinking, who asked not to be named because the discussions have been private.

Privately, however, leaders at Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox have begun to hear complaints from some distributors, who are concerned the new skinny bundle will lead to increased cable TV cancellations, according to people familiar with the matter.

Pay TV distributors typically strike most-favored-nation deals with programmers that allow contracts to be replicated among like partners. It guarantees that a company such as Disney can strike a deal with DirecTV that's similar to its deal with, say, Dish.

If the sports joint venture refuses to allow distributors the same terms as it's offering retail customers, distributors could either refuse to carry their networks when carriage renewal deals are up or even sue, according to Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson.

"The distributors have been begging for the right to offer cheaper and skinnier bundles, especially bundles that would segregate expensive sports from cheaper non-sports programming, for at least two decades, and they've been met with a brick wall," Moffett said. "At the very least, this would seem to violate the most favored nation clauses that prohibit the programmers from offering better terms and conditions to another distributor, even if that distributor is a JV [joint venture] of the programmers themselves. I would be surprised if there aren't some lawsuits."

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox all rely on the pay-TV distributors for the bulk of their revenue.

And while some stand to indirectly benefit from the potential popularity of the joint venture — Charter and Comcast, for example, could see a boost to their broadband businesses, since the digital app would require high-speed internet service for best performance — others, such as DirecTV, Dish and YouTube TV stand more directly in the crosshairs and could lose video subscribers.

Still, early conversations between distributor executives and leaders at Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox haven't been particularly substantial, because limited information has been disclosed about the strategy of the joint venture, which hasn't been formally named or even legally agreed upon by the companies.

"The formation of the pay service is subject to the negotiation of definitive agreements amongst the parties," Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox said in a statement last week.

No leader for the joint venture has been named yet, although one has tentatively been selected, according to people familiar with the matter. Puck reported Tuesday the front-runner is former Apple executive Pete Distad.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

 

 

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34 minutes ago, Chopper said:

I'll be interested to see if Disney still plans the espn stand-alone product or figures out a way to roll it into a bundle with the new Joint Venture.


If they roll it in, they may have found a way to subsidize the cost of espn, or some of it anyway. 

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January stats from Nielsen

https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2024/colder-weather-and-nfl-playoffs-drive-increased-tv-usage-in-january/

doesn't include the super bowl

Most streamed show on netflix was something called "Fool Me Once." On Disney+, it was "Bluey" and on prime it was "Reacher." "Fool Me Once" was streamed for ~50% more total minutes than "Reacher" which gives a huge comparison about the value of Netflix vs Prime imo.

 

image.thumb.png.911802ecc7d005ad900bd073a2ccc71e.png

Edited by Chopper
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9 hours ago, Chopper said:

January stats from Nielsen

https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2024/colder-weather-and-nfl-playoffs-drive-increased-tv-usage-in-january/

doesn't include the super bowl

Most streamed show on netflix was something called "Fool Me Once." On Disney+, it was "Bluey" and on prime it was "Reacher." "Fool Me Once" was streamed for ~50% more total minutes than "Reacher" which gives a huge comparison about the value of Netflix vs Prime imo.

so the january stats don't include ratings from a football game played on feb 11th?

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I dunno man. I'm gonna have to say the fact that Netflix is the only streamer adding new users, that WB Discovery's market value has gone from $130B to $60B in 2 years since the merger, and their subscriber numbers haven't budged since Max debuted has more to do with it than AI. And their studio business has sucked despite a hit like Barbie, and paramount's studio is sitting on the market without a bidding frenzy surrounding it. But that's just me.

WBD's earnings were announced on Friday.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-23/warner-bros-sales-miss-as-tv-advertising-continues-to-fall

image.thumb.png.d8cb9da73225afea5013438e1590d2a2.png

image.png.99c21585be2811236c974733d946454c.png

 

Quote

Total subscriber numbers for Max were buried deep in WBD’s earnings announcement for a reason. The growth rate, whether measured sequentially or year over year, was unimpressive for a frame in which Netflix bolted on 13.1 million subscribers. Max’s worldwide subscriber base stood at 97.7 million at the end of last year, up from 96.9 million at the end of 2022. Domestic subscribers stood at 52 million, down from 54.6 million in the year-ago period.

 

Quote

WBD is in the same leaky streaming boat as Disney, Comcast and Paramount Global when it comes to squeezing out a profit from its direct-to-consumer ambitions. The solution for all of them seems to be moving away from the “direct” and “consumer” parts of the equation and back to the B-word: Bundling.

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/warner-bros-discovery-zaslav-q4-earnings-warning-1235921220/

 

 

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10 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

Read yesterday WBD bailed on their pursuit to acquire Paramount. 

I’m skeptical it was serious in the first place,  rather it was floated in the press to see how the market would react.  

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3 hours ago, BeardIP said:

You still think Netflix is dead in the water (you predicted their demise in 3 years like a year ago, right?)

go reread what i actually said and you’ll see that most of my prediction has already happened. their library is for shit and about half is foreign language.

they have done a nice job of picking the bones of the other suffering platforms though. 

oh, and their stock is down 50+ points today. but sure, go netflix. 

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7 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

At best you were dead wrong about password sharing crackdown, as subscribers and growth has risen on the back of that pivot. You are going to read the above and tell me that you aren’t pacing to be wrong, granted it hasn’t been 3 years?

is this a serious post?  i said it was bad timing to crack down on it. that’s not really something that anyone can be right or wrong about, let alone dead wrong. but sure, take your victory lap, you’ve probably earned it for all your obsession. 

as for my 3 year prediction, you know what the word “or” means, right?  the second part of that sentence has already happened and it took less than a year.  

they’re a legacy streamer, which is an advantage, and other streamers are run by morons or shouldn’t have been started in the first place, which also helps them.  

in general, people are lazy. that’s why most will keep netflix despite the drop in quality or price increases, just like most olds keep cable, because that’s what they’ve always done.

the good news for netflix is that they can afford to keep making multi-billion dollar mistakes. yay. 

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1 minute ago, BeardIP said:

Also I haven’t googled it, but count me surprised that Netflix is now 50% foreign language full of other peoples IP and very little original content. 

guessing you don’t spend much time on the platform. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

2 developments worth mentioning in the streaming biz. Netflix and the NFL are supposedly about to announce that 2 xmas day games will be shown on Netflix. Supposedly exclusive.

Also in an effort to "stop the churn," build up a bigger audience to make Hulu more appealing to advertisers, and to better compete with Netflix, Max/Hbo has given Hulu permission to sell it as a bundle together with Hulu and Disney. Price points not announced

https://press.disneyplus.com/disney-entertainment-and-warner-bros-discovery-announce-disney-plus-hulu-max-bundle

Impact on me is no big deal. Hulu mostly sucks. I have it free through Amex and rarely watch it. Dgaf about Marvel, and one or two months of subscription per year is enough to watch what I'd want to see on hbo.

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1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

I have the Disney bundle with ESPN but still can’t access ESPN college football unless I buy ESPN + 

dicks 

You can only get certain games on ESPN+ and they're probably not games you want to watch. You don't get ESPN games with ESPN+. Not yet at least. That's coming from Disney but not till 2025. 

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On 4/22/2024 at 11:23 AM, BeardIP said:

Cost cutting is profitable is what this tell us.

 

On 4/22/2024 at 1:46 PM, WBT said:

Maybe that's what it tells you.  It tells me corporate governance is all fucked up.

 

On 4/22/2024 at 1:49 PM, BeardIP said:

Agreed. Total hate the game, not the playa type thing.

Would you be up in arms if the government cracked down on corporate regulations though? 

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5 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

I have the Disney bundle with ESPN but still can’t access ESPN college football unless I buy ESPN + 

dicks 

 

3 hours ago, mdmost said:

You can only get certain games on ESPN+ and they're probably not games you want to watch. You don't get ESPN games with ESPN+. Not yet at least. That's coming from Disney but not till 2025. 

I've got Disney+ and Hulu/ESPN+ on two different subs.  Last I checked, I don't think I can graft Hulu/ESPN+ onto Disney+ without killing both subs and starting over.  It's dumb.

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