As ViacomCBS Becomes Paramount, an Energized Company Solidifies Its Streaming Playbook

At Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees event, Dune‘s Oscar-nominated producer Mary Parent said that “it will be the fall” when the sequel to the feature take of the Frank Herbert novel rolls cameras, “not the summer” as previously expected.

CODA‘s Troy Kotsur made history at Sunday’s SAG Awards, becoming the first deaf actor in the history of the award show to claim an individual prize. He prevailed in the category of Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, besting the likes of Ben Affleck (Amazon Studios’ The Tender Bar), Bradley Cooper (MGM/UAR’s Licorice Pizza), Jared Leto (MGM/UAR’s House of Gucci) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Netflix’s The Power of the Dog).

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Lily Moayeri Johnny Marr materializes on the Zoom screen a little bit like an apparition until he’s settled, his camera following his movements as he swings around the captain’s chair in his studio, Crazy Face Factory, in his hometown of Manchester, UK.Marr can be regarded as practically a mythical figure to those who have long regarded him as one of the greatest guitar players of all time, and the co-songwriter in one of the greatest bands of all time, the Smiths — status that’s a little bit at odds with the thoughtful and grounded gentleman who is dressed kind of like a cleric.There is a lot going on with Marr at the moment. “No Time to Die,” the Billie Eilish song on which he played guitar, won a Golden Globe last month to go along with its 2021 Grammy and current Oscar nomination.

Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts are making history. The 52-year-old actress and her 39-year-old bride cover the March/April 2022 «Black Women in Hollywood» issue of , becoming the first same-sex couple to cover the mag.On the cover, Nash and Betts both pose topless, with the former looking at the camera as the latter lovingly cradles her face. In the accompanying interview, the women open up about their unexpected love story.«Not only was it challenging for me to realize I’m having feelings for a woman that I’ve normally had for a man... but it was compounded by the fact that this is my friend,» Nash explains.

Victoria’s Secret is continuing to reform the brand.

Star Trek” and “Sonic” fans excited with the news from its investor day on Tuesday, but Wall Street was not impressed as the company’s stock took a big hit on Wednesday, taking AMC Networks down with it. At opening, ViacomCBS — which is soon to rebrand itself as Paramount — saw its stock drop nearly 18% to $29.58 per share, while AMC Networks fell 15% at around $37.95 per share.

William Earl Streaming industry leaders Mark Niemiec, senior vice president of sales at Salesforce, and Michael Bishara, group senior vice president and general manager of direct-to-consumer at Discovery, Inc., will join Variety TV writer Mónica Zorrilla for a conversation in the Variety Streaming Room on March 2.  Discovery+ is one of the newest entries in an ultra-competitive streaming marketplace. During their conversation, Bishara will touch upon the streamer’s strategy to gain the attention of new audiences.

Shares of ViacomCBS are down more than 20% in early trading as Wall Street digests the company’s streaming strategy, outlook and financials announced after the market closed Tuesday, and clearly has some issues.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorShares of Paramount, the new corporate name of ViacomCBS, took a dive after the media conglomerate told Wall Street that it was more aggressively equipping itself for battle in the streaming wars.The stock was down more than 15% in premarket trading Wednesday, coming a day after Paramount’s 2022 investor day presentation that detailed revised financial forecasts including a bigger capital outlay for its streaming strategy, led by Paramount Plus.Investors were apparently unnerved about the heavier investment Paramount plans to make in the streaming biz — it plans to boost spending on streaming content to $6 billion by 2024, versus $4 billion previously — and the resulting hit to profitability. Bank of America Securities analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich downgraded her rating on the stock, from “buy” to “neutral,” and cut her 12-month price target on the stock from $52 to $39 per share.SEE ALSO: As ViacomCBS Becomes Paramount, an Energized Company Solidifies Its Streaming Playbook“We commend management for taking a bold approach, but near-term headwinds will drive Y/Y declines in CY22 and CY23 OIBDA [operating income before depreciation and amortization] and pressure already depressed FCF [free cash flow] levels,” Reif Ehrlich wrote in a note to clients.In reporting Q4 2021 results, the company said Paramount Plus netted 7.3 million new subscribers to stand at 32.8 million at year end.

The CFO of ViacomCBS, soon to be known as Paramount, said Tuesday that the company is looking hard for “efficiencies” at its traditional businesses to divert as much cash it can to streaming, where investment will hit an estimated $6 billion in 2024.

ViacomCBS unveiled a slew of new news Tuesday during an investor day presentation that followed the release of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings.

It has been an anomaly — two of the ViacomCBS’ most prized current IPs and top basic cable series, Yellowstone and South Park, are streaming outside of the company’s ecosystem, on NBCUniversal’s Peacock (Yellowstone) and HBO Max (South Park). One of the two will be rectified after the end of HBO Max’s current mega, five-year domestic deal.

ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said the company now anticipates 100 million streaming subscribers in 2024 – well above a previous forecast of 65M-75M, after record ads in the fourth quarter and amid a rebranding of the company to Paramount – (officially ‘Paramount Global’ but the company prefers to be called just ‘Paramount’.)

ViacomCBS is rebranding to become Paramount Global, effective Feb. 16, the latest giant pivot in a rapidly transforming media and entertainment landscape. It’s the name of the company’s storied studio and its centerpiece streaming network Paramount+, which launched in March of 2021.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorViacomCBS will change its corporate name to Paramount as of Feb. 16, calling the move an effort to adopt “an iconic global name” to reflect the conglomerate’s increasingly worldwide focus.The company’s shares will trade on the NASDAQ index under the ticker symbol PARA (for Class B common shares), PARAA (for Class A common), and PARAP (for Class A preferred).The moniker makeover was announced Tuesday by ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone and president-CEO Bob Bakish in a memo to staffers.

Yahoo Finance. ViacomCBS reported EPS of 26 cents on $8 billion in revenue.ViacomCBS ended 2021 with more than 56 million global SVOD subscribers.“Clifford the Big Red Dog” made $48.9 million domestically and $100 million worldwide, and was the most-watched original film for Paramount+ at time of release. The movie was released simultaneously in theaters and on Paramount+ in November.“In the fourth quarter you saw the power of strategy and strength of execution across the company.

ViacomCBS badly missed Wall Street forecasts for earnings per share in the fourth quarter, but added a record 9.4 million streaming subscribers and smashes revenue projections.

Current and former employees of Phil McGraw’s talk show Dr. Phil made allegations of having experienced toxic work conditions—including verbal abuse, intimidation, and racism—and inappropriate interactions with guests, in a Buzzfeed expose released on Thursday.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterBrightcove Inc. has named former ViacomCBS exec Marc DeBevoise chief executive officer and board director of the software company and video platform.Previously chief digital officer of ViacomCBS and CEO and president of CBS Interactive, DeBevoise will begin his tenure as Brightcove CEO on March 28.