Fox Nation Enlists Clint Eastwood to Help Fight Streaming Wars

envisioned a version that would cast people of color and use hip-hop music. And in fact, Clint Eastwood at one time eyed Beyoncé for the lead opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, while back in 2002, Will Smith reportedly courted Jennifer Lopez to star with him in another remake.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDr. Scott Gottlieb once spent Sunday mornings surfing through TV’s spate of venerable public affairs programs.

Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette had a happy ending as she got engaged to Blake Moynes … but some viewers were stuck on her emotional reunion with Greg Grippo.

Clint Eastwood is just as talented as always.

Ethan Shanfeld Clint Eastwood redefines machismo in the trailer for his upcoming movie “Cry Macho,” out in theaters and streaming on HBO Max on Sept. 17.The 91-year-old Eastwood directed the film and stars as Mike Milo, an ex-rodeo star and washed-up horse breeder who agrees to bring his former boss’ young son, Rafo (Eduardo Minett), home from Mexico.

Whether it’s the Man With No Name, the Outlaw Josie Wales, or the spectral hero from “High Plains Drifter,” Clint Eastwood has played countless iconic roles in the Western genre. The revisionist take on the genre fell out of favor with studios and audiences in the ’80s after Dirty Harry Callahan proved a steadier source of revenue.

Clint Eastwood‘s next movie is coming out very soon and we have the trailer for you to watch!

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorSmall independent TV companies are an endangered species at a time when media’s largest conglomerates are focused on the streaming wars and global expansion.The latest episode of the Variety podcast “Strictly Business” features separate conversations with two such business leaders: Paula Madison, CEO of The African Channel, and Bill Rouhana, chairman-CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which owns Crackle and other AVOD channels.Both CEOs spoke with

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorViacomCBS said second quarter profit rose as advertisers spent more robustly on its media assets and the company saw new revenue from a host of streaming initiatives.The New York owner of the CBS broadcast network, Showtime, Nickelodeon and the Paramount movie studio, said revenue  rose 8% to $6.6 billion, fueled by gains in ad sales, fees from affiliates and streaming activity.

launch its streaming service, CNN+, in the first quarter of 2022. The move into streaming is highly anticipated given CNN has lagged behind competitors Fox News — which has three different streamers — and MSNBC in this space.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFinance and politics aren’t the only things on the schedule at Fox Business Network.The Fox Corp.-owned outlet, which in recent years has generated its biggest ratings for a show led by Lou Dobbs that burnished a distinctly right-leaning brand of politics, will in September stock the bulk of its primetime grid with documentary-style programming featuring hosts like Mike Rowe, country music star John Rich, Stuart Varney and Cheryl Casone.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage, and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDiscovery said second-quarter profit increased as advertising rebounded from a pullback last year during the coronavirus pandemic and as the company attracted new customers — 18 million to date — to its new streaming operations.Net income came to $672 million, or $1.01 per share, compared with $271 million, or 40 cents a share.The New York owner of the HGTV, Food Network and Discovery Channel cable outlets said overall revenue in the second quarter rose 21% to

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorOne of Fox News’ staunchest sponsors, MyPillow, has asked for its all of commercials to taken off the news channel after Fox balked at the claims that the company hoped to make in a potential new ad campaign.In a statement late Thursday, Fox News confirmed a report by The Wall Street Journal that Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, had asked for his company’s ads to be taken out of their schedule after the network decided not to run a proposed ad promoting baseless

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorRanger Rick is getting ready to explore a decidedly untraditional path.The nature-focused raccoon, who has for a half century taught children about animals and conservation in magazine pages, is in the midst of learning about what it might take for him to land his adventures on a streaming outlet or kid-focused media channel.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorHGTV fans usually get to see some of the nation’s most beautiful homes, but a new series from the Discovery-owned cable outlet will instead feature domiciles their owners believe are some of the ugliest.Comedian and actor Retta will host “Ugliest House in America,” a new series slated to debut in early 2022.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSportscaster Maria Taylor has moved into a new role at NBC Sports, where she made her first appearance Friday during the network’s Olympics coverage.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorBaseball’s longstanding Cleveland Indians franchise announced Friday it would drop the name by which it has been known for decades and adopt the new moniker, Guardians, making it the latest big-league sports team to change its a title that is seen as denigrating to a certain part of the population.The team announced its decision in a short video narrated by actor Tom Hanks that was distributed via social media.Together, we are all… pic.twitter.com/R5FnT4kv1I—