Netflix Adds Nearly 16 Million Subscribers Amid Virus Shutdown

Endeavor has lined up a $260 million term loan to boost its financial flexibility amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

By Cynthia Littleton

By JeffV

Entertainment companies this earnings season have spent much time discussing the novel coronavirus pandemic's impact on TV advertising revenue, film units and theme parks divisions. But audio entertainment trends have surprised Wall Street on the upside, providing a bright spot amid the virus crisis.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch will give up 100 percent of his cash bonus in the current fiscal year at News Corp., the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, News U.K. and Australian pay-TV firm Foxtel, of which he is executive chairman, while News Corp.

The U.K.'s film and TV industries have seen a record spend on production despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest figures from the British Film Institute. The Q1 figures — which cover January through March 2020 and thus the beginning of the lockdown period — reveal that film and high-end TV spend reached a record £3.6 billion ($4.4 billion) over 12 months prior to the end of March, up £200 million on the previous 12 month April-to-March period.

Dish Network on Thursday said it lost a record 413,000 net TV subscribers in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 259,000 in the year-ago period. The latest quarter's figure included the loss of 132,000 net Dish and approximately 281,000 net Sling TV subscribers.

By Cynthia Littleton

Cable operator Charter Communications, in which John Malone's Liberty Broadband owns a big stake, on Friday reported that it lost 70,000 pay TV subscribers in the first quarter, fewer than in the year-ago quarter. It also added more broadband users than in the year-ago period during what was the first quarter to be affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

European movie theater giant Vue International has made a bold plea to its landlords in a bid to survive the novel coronavirus crisis. In a letter sent earlier this month and seen by The Hollywood Reporter, the multiplex chain — which operates almost 2,000 screens across 10 countries, including the U.K., Germany, Italy, Denmark and Taiwan — asked for a "complete waiver of all rent and service charge," which would have been due for the period of closure.

Congress delivered a nearly $500 billion infusion of coronavirus spending Thursday, rushing new relief to employers and hospitals buckling under the strain of a pandemic that has claimed nearly 50,000 American lives and one in six U.S. jobs.

People watching more entertainment programming while sheltering at home propelled Netflix to a strong first three months of 2020, the company announced TuesdayThe streaming giant added 15.8 million subscribers during the first quarter of the year, a period of record growth that has rocketed its global base to nearly 183 million.Netflix had expected to add just 7 million subs during the period, but the company forecast that growth before the full effects of the pandemic had been felt globally.In

Content chief Ted Sarandos says 2020 originals have been shot, doesn't expect reshuffling of releases

Netflix has a huge new audience, largely due to the ongoing global health crisis, which has millions staying at home.

“Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” did gangbuster numbers for Netflix, according to the streaming service.

By Jill Goldsmith

By Todd Spangler

Use of Netflix, YouTube and other streaming platforms has exploded in Southeast Asia during the the lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report from Media Partners Asia (MPA). The uptick in online video consumption in the diverse Southeast Asian region is in line with growth trends identified in North America during the pandemic — only more so.

As President Donald Trump has been holding daily press briefings to provide updates on the COVID-19 pandemic, Piers Morgan is speaking out against his "friend," criticizing how he's been handling leading the nation amid the virus crisis. Speaking on Sunday morning to Brian Stelter on CNN's Reliable Sources, the British talk show host admitted that he's been watching Trump's daily briefings with "mounting horror." "I've known him a long time.

As Americans ordered to self-quarantine increasingly go online for TV fixes, MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson on Friday touted Netflix as the leader in Hollywood's streaming wars over peers Amazon Prime, YouTube, Hulu and Disney+. "The world is trapped indoors, live sports on TV is non-existent, theaters are closed, unemployment is spiking to terrible levels, and new content is impossible to produce.