Paramount+, Showtime Top 62 Million Combined Subscribers

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported Monday in a securities filing that it has acquired a stake in Paramount Global after acquiring $2.6 billion in Class B shares.

Paramount Global has handed Marco Nobili and Olivier Jollet key new roles as its seeks to turbo-charge expansion of its international streaming services.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterCraig Dorfman’s New York-based talent management company Frontline Entertainment has been acquired by Three Six Zero.In acquiring Frontline Entertainment, Three Six Zero is gaining both Dorfman’s clients, including “Bel-Air” star Jabari Banks, and his management team, which will move in-house at the company. As part of the deal, Dorfman has been named a partner at Three Six Zero.Three Six Zero, founded by British businessman Mark Gillespie, has offices in Los Angeles, Miami and London, and represents a variety of talent in the music, film, television and digital content landscape, including Calvin Harris and BloodPop.

It’s Friday again, readers. Jesse Whittock here (for the first time, be gentle), taking you through the week’s top headlines.

AMC Networks hit 9.5 million streaming subs for the first quarter of 2022, up from just over 9 million sequentially and in a newly antsy streaming world recommitted to its long-term goal of 20-25 million subs by 2025.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAMC Networks ended its first quarter of 2022 with 9.5 million streaming subscribers.The new figure, revealed along with the rest of the company’s Q1 financial results on Thursday, is in line with the projection CFO Christina Spade gave in February. At that time, Spade said she expected AMC Networks add 400-500,000 streaming subscribers by the end of March, after reaching more than 9 million subs at the end of 2021.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said a new Jackass series is in the works based the recent release of the latest film in the franchise.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Jackass” is heading back to the small screen, with a new series from the original creators in the works at Paramount+ after to the immense popularity of “Jackass Forever.”“Based off the success of ‘Jackass Forever,’ we’re working with the creators to continue the partnership with a new series, bringing even more ridiculous antics straight to Paramount+,” Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said Tuesday during the company’s Q1 earnings call Tuesday.“Jackass Forever,” the fourth film in the long-running franchise, debuted at the top of domestic box office in February with a better-than-expected $23.5 million. The film included classic cast members such as Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Dave England, Wee Man, Danger Ehren and Preston Lacy, as well as several new faces, including Rachel Wolfson, Sean “Poopies” McInerney and Jasper Dolphin.

Paramount+ is to launch in the UK and South Korea next month and will be in India next year, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish has revealed in the past hour.

A new “Jackass” series is in the works for Paramount+, with the show’s original creators working to create the new series, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish announced Tuesday.No other details were immediately available about the series or whether stars Johnny Knoxville and other original stars would be appearing on screen in the series. “Based off the success of ‘Jackass Forever,’ we’re working with the creators to continue the partnership with a new series, bringing even more ridiculous antics straight to Paramount+,” Bakish said Tuesday during the company’s Q1 earnings call.“Jackass Forever” opened in theaters earlier this year and made $80 million at the global box office.

Paramount+ added 6.8 million subscribers last quarter, as Paramount ended the period with 62 million global streaming subs.

the company, led by CEO Bob Bakish, posted revenue of $7.4 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.52, in part because CBS hosted the Super Bowl in early 2021. Paramount’s stock is down 1% in pre-market trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the results.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorParamount Global said first-quarter profit fell as the company’s investments in content and declines in its traditional business offset gains it made in streaming.The owner of CBS, Showtime and Nickelodeon said revenue for the first quarter fell 1% to $7.32 billion, compared with $7.41 billion in the year-earlier period. Paramount was crimped by comparisons to the year-earlier quarter, which included the broadcast of Super Bowl LV.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterFormer AMC Networks chief Josh Sapan’s compensation for 2021, his final year as CEO of the company, rose 30% over the previous year to $15.3 million.According to a proxy statement filed with the SEC Friday, Sapan’s total pay from the company for 2021 was $15.3 million compared to the $11.8 million he received in 2020 and the $20.2 million he was paid in 2019.Click here to sign up for Variety‘s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial and investment news, and more.Sapan’s successor, AMC Networks interim CEO Matthew Blank, was paid $6.97 million for the year. Blank joined AMC Networks in his new role in August just as Sapan stepped down.Blank’s base salary for 2021 was $630,136, while Sapan’s was $2 million.

Roku exceeded Wall Street expectations for revenue, but showed slower sequential growth in new active accounts, according to its first-quarter earnings report Thursday.The company posted overall revenue of $734 million for Q1, up 28% year over year, which beat Wall Street expectations that had its growth at around $730 million. Investors seem thrilled by the report as shares surged during after-hours trading right after the quarterly results were released, rising 4.2%  above the regular session close of $91.63.That investor excitement apparently wasn’t dampened by slower sequential growth in active accounts.

Paid subscriptions were up for Peacock in Q1, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts announced on Thursday on the company’s earnings call.Peacock added 4 Million paid subscribers in Q1, for a total of 13 million. Roberts also noted the service had reached 28 million active accounts in total.Last quarter, Peacock had 9 million paid subscribers and a total of 24.5 million active users.The increase comes on the heels of Peacock airing a variety of big sporting events including the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterPeacock ended the first quarter of the year with 28 million monthly active accounts (MAAs) and 13 million paid subscribers, Comcast revealed along with its Q1 earnings results Thursday.That total is up from the 24.5 million Comcast reported for the streamer’s end of 2021 figure. During Q1, Peacock streamed Super Bowl LVI and the Beijing Winter Olympics, along with debuting splashy titles like “Bel-Air,” its dramatic take on the ’90s classic “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Jennifer Lopez’s theatrical-and-streaming release “Marry Me,” and “Tiger King” scripted series “Joe vs.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterLimited series “Anatomy of a Scandal” has ended “Bridgerton” Season 2’s reign as the No. 1 English-language TV series on Netflix, according to the streaming service’s newly release Top 10 rankings.For the week of April 18-April 24, “Anatomy of a Scandal” was viewed for 75.6 million hours in its second week of availability, while “Bridgerton” racked up 46 million and landed in the No.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterIn the wake of big spender Netflix’s Q1 shocking subscriber loss news, David Zaslav made a point to say Warner Bros. Discovery “will not overspend to drive subscriber growth” during Discovery’s first-quarter earnings call Tuesday.“As you’ve heard me say, we are not trying to win the direct-to-consumer spending war,” the WBD CEO said, instead promising that the newly combined WarnerMedia-Discovery company would “invest in scale smartly.”Warner Bros.