Canadian unscripted producer Sean Connolly has set up his own production business and tied up a multi-year strategic deal with compatriot firm Great Pacific Media.
20.04.2022 - 21:49 / variety.com
Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorMedia companies both old and new had pinned their hopes on riding a wave of interest in streaming well into the future. Now they are finding that there may be only so far the new technology can go.Netflix’ disclosure on Tuesday that it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter and expects to lose 2 million more in months to come, has set the industry on edge — not because Netflix is a barometer of entertainment-sector health, but because it is furthest along the path that rivals ranging from Apple to Warner Bros.
Discovery are all treading. In an era when more consumers want to watch their favorite programs at times of their own choosing, every media conglomerate and new-tech Hollywood hopeful has reworked itself into an organization focused increasingly on streaming, rather than the linear TV that is still the core of the overall business.
And on Tuesday, all that work came under new scrutiny.To be sure, Netflix’ subscriber shortfall comes during a unique period, one in which many U.S. companies are cutting ties with consumers in Russia and when pandemic patterns may have taken an outsize hold on how media companies operate.
But there are other signs that when it comes to signing up for new streaming subscriptions, consumers have started to buffer.CNN+, the new streaming service from the popular news outlet, is likely to be scaled back dramatically, according to people familiar with the matter, as the company’s new corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, looks to focus more intently on a single streaming portal that combines Discovery+ and HBO Max.
Warner Bros. Discovery has already cut the marketing budget for CNN+, one of these people said, though its shows remain in
.Canadian unscripted producer Sean Connolly has set up his own production business and tied up a multi-year strategic deal with compatriot firm Great Pacific Media.
comedy festival, the streamer confirmed which performances will be available to view in the coming weeks, including tributes to late comedians such as Bob Saget and Robin Williams and the yet-to-be-announced date for Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias’s groundbreaking set at Dodger Stadium.Featuring a wide range of events and stars, the festival also made headlines for some of its comedians’ jokes, such as Pete Davidson’s digs at Kanye West. But the biggest news of the fest was when Dave Chappelle was tackled on stage during his set at the Hollywood Bowl, with the attacker being charged with four misdemeanor counts.
Netflix has announced a June 10 premiere date for A Tribute To Bob Saget, a celebration of the comedian and actor’s life in comedy with his friends and family. The date was unveiled as part of the Netflix Is A Joke festival.
Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentA nationwide referendum is to be held in Switzerland on May 15 on a proposed law that would force streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to re-invest 4% of their local revenues in Swiss film and TV productions.Dubbed “Lex Netflix,” the Swiss law –– which is modeled on European regulations that don’t apply in the country as it’s not part of the E.U. –– is sparking plenty of controversy.“Lex Netflix” is being opposed by Swiss groups of different political stripes who say it goes against the principles of the country’s fiercely free-market economy.
Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNetflix has ordered a docuseries from Shawn Levy, Vox Media Studios and The Verge about how technology will affect the basic aspects of our lives in the future, Variety has learned exclusively.Titled “The Future Of…,” the show asks: “What if we could look into the future to see how every aspect of our daily lives — from raising pets and house plants to what we eat and how we date — will be impacted by technology?” Per Netflix, “We can, and should, expect more from the future than the dystopia promised in current science fiction. ‘The Future Of…’ will reveal surprising and personal predictions about the rest of our lives — and the lives of generations to come.”The series will be released globally in two batches, with the first six episodes premiering Tuesday, June 21, and the remaining six episodes on Tuesday, June 28.
Dave Chappelle has been attacked by a man during a Netflix stand-up show at the Hollywood Bowl.Footage has surfaced online from last night’s show (May 3) which appears to show a man charging and tackling the comedian.The man was then said to have been dragged away by security, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Following the incident at the Netflix Is A Joke festival, Chappelle regained his composure and joked that “it was a trans man” in reference to the backlash last year over his stand-up special The Closer, where he described himself as “team TERF” as he spoke on the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling.Dave Chappelle just got attacked on stage pic.twitter.com/E4gAfmkPgQ— Hoodville (@Hoodville_) May 4, 2022Here is a video of the aftermath.
Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticPretend it was one year ago, when the streaming revolution, stoked by the pandemic (when is a pandemic good for business? When your business depends on people staying home), was feeling the first flush of being the New Paradigm That Ate The World. And pretend, in that spring of 2021, that you’d been asked to imagine how a film industry headline from the future might read.
It was announced last year that Netflix is working on a That ’70s Show sequel series and now the cast has been confirmed!
After witnessing the carnage on Wall Street after Netflix reported stalling subscriber levels, raising stark questions about the business of streaming, Comcast kept talk of NBCUniversal’s Peacock somewhat limited during its first-quarter earnings call.
Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAfter years of companies spending like drunken sailors on streaming video, some are now suffering hangovers.Netflix, in the first quarter of 2022, lost customers for the first time in more than a decade. It could shed 2 million more in Q2. The streaming giant is scrambling to find new sources of revenue growth, with execs hoping to monetize password-sharing freeloaders and — previously unthinkable at the Big Red N — planning to introduce advertising-supported plans.CNN+, hailed as a bridge to the news cabler’s future, is DOA: It’s getting axed 32 days after launch under new management at Warner Bros.
Netflix subscribers in the UK share passwords between friends and family, according to research.As reported by research firm Digital i (via the Guardian), it’s estimated at least 27 per cent of Netflix’s 14.9million subscribers in the UK, over four million accounts, share their accounts with other households. It’s believed the real figure, however, could be higher.Ali Vahdati, Digital i chief executive, said: “Our estimates came from analysing account activity, and we corroborated this with various other sources.
The first photos of Netflix‘s The Gray Man just debuted online and we could not be more excited to see this movie!
As Netflix continues its push into potential franchise fare, we’re getting our first look at the Russo Brothers’ big-budget espionage thriller The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. The film based on Mark Greaney’s 10-book series will hit theaters on July 15 and start streaming on Netflix a week later. Check out the first-look photos above and below.
the Q1 earnings were released. “As you’ve heard me say, we are not trying to win the direct-to-consumer spending war,” the WBD chief said, instead promising that the newly combined WarnerMedia-Discovery company would “invest in scale smartly.”He already made the first difficult choice within the first week after Discovery closed its $43 billion acquisitor of the larger WarnerMedia: Zaslav, notorious in the industry for being a no-nonsense cost-cutter, decided to close down the much-hyped CNN+.
Several films and TV shows have been cancelled by Netflix as the streaming giant loses thousands of subscribers, it has been reported. Despite some huge hits like Squid Game and Bridgerton, Netflix revealed a shock fall in subscribers of 200,000 users in the first quarter of the year and its stock price soon dropped by more than 35 per cent.
Persuasion is in the works for Netflix. And we see much lingering eye contact and hand grazing in our future.WATCH: Bridgerton Cast On Edwina And Kate's RelationshipDakota Johnson (50 Shades of Grey) is leading the upcoming period drama as Anne Elliot, the heroine of Jane Austen's final novel.She's joined by Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) in the role of Mr.
Cynthia Littleton Business EditorAfter a topsy-turvy week, the thought occurred to me during AT&T’s investor call on Thursday: What if John Stankey wound up on the winning side of the streaming wars?Netflix took a nosedive on Tuesday with an earnings report that proved that it could not suspend the law of gravity forever. The steady upward climb of Netflix subscriber gains had to stop sometime, and that sometime was Q1 2022.The jolt that the news of six-figure losses in Q1 and a projected seven-figure loss for Q2 packed a wallop on Netflix stock price.
Naomi Scott makes a stylish appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday (April 21) to hype up her new series, Anatomy of a Scandal.
Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe Netflix spy series led by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Monica Barbaro has set its main cast, Variety has learned.Appearing in series regular roles in the series are: Jay Baruchel, Aparna Brielle, Andy Buckley, Milan Carter, Fortune Feimster, Barbara Eve Harris, Gabriel Luna, Fabiana Udenio, and Travis Van Winkle. Additionally, the following actors will appear in recurring roles: Devon Bostick, David Chinchilla, Rachel Lynch, Stephanie Sy, and Scott Thompson.Full character descriptions for all the new cast members can be found below.The untitled spy drama was ordered at Netflix in May 2021, with the streamer giving the one-hour show an eight episode order.