Paramount CEO Says Disney Plus Launching Ad-Supported Option Is ‘Validation of the Strategy’

Team,As we continue to identify synergies and optimize the strengths of our business across theatrical, streaming, and linear, leaning into the goal of future proofing our financials that I outlined for 2022, I want to let you know about a key leadership update. Effective immediately, Andrew Gumpert, Paramount Pictures Chief Operating Officer, will be expanding his role to encompass Nickelodeon Studios, serving now as Chief Operating Officer, Paramount Pictures & Nickelodeon Studios, reporting into me.Andrew first joined Paramount Pictures as COO in 2017.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterApple TV Plus drama “Severance” takes place in a world where people are able to undergo a medical procedure that gives them a literal work-life balance by implanting a chip in their brain that essentially splits them into two different conscious versions of themselves: an “Innie” who is awake only at work, and an “Outtie” who is not aware of what they do from 9 to 5.In order to make the sci-fi thriller’s central plot point believable enough that viewers could accept it as a reality of the life of Mark Scout (Adam Scott) and his severed colleagues at Lumon Industries and move on to the larger ethical implications of severance, director Ben Stiller and series creator Dan Erickson brought in a real-life neurosurgeon to make all of this look possible. And, according to the M.D., it’s not actually impossible at all, given enough time.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThey’ll come for the high-wattage HBO and Warner Bros. content. They’ll stick around for Discovery’s lifestyle comfort food.That’s the formula that Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAT&T CEO John Stankey’s pay for 2021 rose 18% over the previous year to $24.8 million, per the company’s SEC filing Tuesday.His base salary for the year was $2.4 million, with a non-equity incentive plan compensation of $6.88 million.

As studios have strip-mined comic books and the superhero genre to death, different types of content like video game IP and more traditional toy brands are becoming more and more critical to their longevity. Classic toy adaptations have always been on the table: the “Transformers” franchise continuing to churn, a live-action “Barbie” movie at Warners is on the way, and a new “Masters of The Universe” film at Netflix is about to shoot later this year.

Jon M Chu is producing an original animated film based on “Play-Doh,” the wildly popular children’s play compound with an eye to direct, according to an individual with knowledge of the project. Emily V.

EXCLUSIVE: Glynn Turman (Women of the Movement), Bob Balaban (The French Dispatch), Ron Funches (Undateable) and Jimmy O. Yang (Space Force) are the latest additions to the cast of the upcoming film 80 for Brady, from Paramount Pictures and Endeavor Content. They join an ensemble that includes 7-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady, as well as Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and Sara Gilbert, as previously announced.

I’d say it’s almost like you were — Chessy! It’s been more than two decades since Lisa Ann Walter starred in 1998’s The Parent Trap, but she’s still recognizable as the beloved character — just ask her young Abbott Elementary costars.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery — which is about to become Warner Bros. Discovery within the next month, when its merger with AT&T’s WarnerMedia closes — has confirmed its plans to combine its current streaming service Discovery Plus and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max into one service, rather than offer the two platforms as a bundle.Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who will also serve as CFO of the newly combined Warner Bros.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek is in full damage control mode today as the blast radius from the company’s bungled response to Florida’s “discriminatory ‘Don’t Say Gay’ legislation threatens his newly minted reign at the House of Mouse.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorOn the cusp of spinning off WarnerMedia — ending AT&T’s ill-fated foray into the entertainment biz — telco chief CEO John Stankey touted the company as getting into fighting shape to succeed in its core wireless and broadband sectors.AT&T released updated financial guidance on Friday ahead of its investor day presentation, fleshing out its post-WarnerMedia strategic priorities. Separately, Discovery shareholders also Friday are set to vote on whether to approve the WarnerMedia deal.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDisney CEO Bob Chapek said Wednesday the company is pledging $5 million to the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations protecting LGBTQ rights following backlash to the company’s initial quiet response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, as well as a report that the company has given money to all of the bill’s sponsors. Chapek, who is taking his first public stance against the bill, says he will also be meeting with Republican Gov.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix execs have regularly insisted that there’s no way the company would introduce an ad-supported service.Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann, speaking Tuesday at an investor conference, took a slightly more open tone: He noted that the subscription streamer doesn’t currently have any plans right now to introduce an ad-supported VOD plan, but he didn’t rule it out at some point in the future.“It’s not like we have religion against advertising, to be clear,” said Neumann, speaking Tuesday at Morgan Stanley’s 2022 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. “But that’s not something that’s in our plans right now… We have a really nice scalable subscription model, and again, never say never, but it’s not in our plan.” During the session, Neumann was asked about Netflix’s thinking about a cheaper, ad-based tier after Disney announced plans to rollout an AVOD plan for Disney Plus starting late in 2022 in the U.S.

Bob Bakish, CEO of Paramount Global, took the floor for the first time publicly since the renamed company’s recent and not well-received Investor Day, touting streaming prospects but acknowledging, “We are going to have to prove that to you over time” – referring to Wall Street.

Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann addressed the decision to pull out of Russia and pushed back ever-so-slightly less firmly than the notion of advertising being introduced to the service.

Apple has unveiled new details with regard to its upcoming slate, including premiere dates for its titles Cha Cha Real Smooth and Luck, along with a series of first-look photos from titles including Argylle, Raymond and Ray and The Greatest Beer Run Ever.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDan Abrams’ true-crime channel Law & Crime has struck a carriage deal with Dish Network, Variety has learned exclusively.Live trial and 24/7 true-crime network Law & Crime, which recently aired national coverage of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial and the trial of Brett Hankison, a former police officer charged in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, has now launched on Dish and is available to customers on Channel 252. The new distribution pact between Law & Crime and Dish increases the channel’s reach to more than 27 million households across the U.S., the Bahamas and Virgin Islands.“We’ve had a deal with Sling for a number of years now and have always been aspiring to also be included in Dish,” Law & Crime founder, ABC News chief legal affairs anchor and NewsNation host Abrams told Variety. “And so this has been a number-of-years effort to add Dish to our roster of partners.

Walt Disney CFO Christine McCarthy said the entertainment giant’s total exposure to Russia and Ukraine combined is about 2% of its total operating income — with Ukraine about 10% of that 2%.