Peacock President Kelly Campbell on the Deals, Acquisitions and Originals That Have Finally Made the Streamer Fly With Its Competition

SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan led a market keynote at Cannes this afternoon, during which he shared the streamer’s forthcoming slate, including a series of original European-produced shows set to hit the streamer this year and into 2024.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer For its first-ever upfronts presentation, Netflix took a page out of broadcast networks’ traditional playbook and boasted about not just what series it has launching in the coming months, or even through the end of the year, but specifically calling out its fall 2023 slate. A staple of upfronts week — though not as much lately, first because of the COVID-19 pandemic and now because of the writers strike — has been the unveiling of ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox’s fall lineups. This was done so advertisers knew what they were buying ads against and therefore what demos and audience size it would be most likely to reach by promoting products during those programs.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Additive Creative Partners, the digital-focused talent management arm of Brent Montgomery and Jimmy Kimmel’s Wheelhouse DNA, has signed nine top digital content creators as clients, including Lauren Kettering, Legit Tim, YouTube collective TKOR, James Wright and Carrie Berk. Wheelhouse DNA launched last year out of Kimmel and Montgomery’s media company Wheelhouse, as the division focused on digital-first and influencer content. The new talent signed by the company will be repped by Additive Creative managers Michael Senzer and Adden Laughlin. Senzer will continue to run Additive Creative’s day-to-day operations, with Wheelhouse DNA managing director Fanny Baudry will oversee the talent management division.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery kicked off its 2023 upfront presentation in a no-frills way, with an overall brand sizzle and ad chief Jon Steinlauf giving a few remarks on stage at the Theater at Madison Square Garden Wednesday. While the presentation covering HBO, Max, CNN, Food Network, HGTV, Discovery and more Warner Bros. Discovery brands was shorter than last year’s show (which was the company’s first since the merger that created it last April) the tight 90-minute presentation still covered each of its key divisions. Albeit, with much less sizzle, with no stars in attendance amid the writers strike. “Let me just start by saying I am hopeful that a fair resolution is found soon with the writers,” HBO and Max chief Casey Bloys said, adding that he hopes for a return of talent to the stage, “making this a far more entertaining show” compared to “me and my clips.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This interview reveals major plot points from the “9-1-1: Lone Star” Season 4 finale, “In Sickness and In Health,” which aired Tuesday on Fox. They finally did: After seasons of will-they-won’t-they drama, surprise wives, multiple tripes to the ICU, and a last-minute murder, T.K. Strand (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) made it down the aisle, said their vows, and were pronounced husband and husband on the Season 4 finale of Fox’s “9-1-1: Lone Star.” Here, the on-screen newlyweds discuss with Variety the beauty and tragedy of the two-hour Tarlos wedding episode, and what it sets up for the married first responders in Season 5 (the first season that “Lone Star” will air on a different network from its parent series, “9-1-1,” which is moving to ABC).

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This interview reveals major plot points from the “9-1-1” Season 6 finale, which aired Monday on Fox. Buck (Oliver Stark) helped bring a very special baby boy into the world on the sixth season finale of “9-1-1.” The little guy, whom Buck donated sperm to help his friends conceive, was born on Buck’s new couch (if you know, you know) — with Buck delivering the infant during one of the most large-scale disasters “9-1-1” fans have ever seen. “9-1-1” is moving to ABC for its seventh season, meaning, unfortunately, that any future crossovers in the franchise are “extremely unlikely,” according to Fox boss Michael Thorn. For the final episode of “9-1-1” that will ever air on Fox, Stark spoke with Variety about his experience filming it, and what he hopes for Buck’s future.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The last-ever episode of “9-1-1” on Fox airs Monday, and it’s a bittersweet occasion for Oliver Stark, who has starred as Evan “Buck” Buckley on the Ryan Murphy-produced first-responder drama since its debut six seasons ago. While the show is ending its run on one network, it will be alive and well next season on ABC — the broadcaster that is owned by Disney, the parent company of “9-1-1” studio 20th Television, which not too long ago was owned by Fox — so Stark isn’t saying goodbye to his character, so much as a family he and his co-stars have established behind-the-scenes. Here, Stark discusses with Variety his reaction to the move to ABC for Season 7, and if he thinks spinoff “9-1-1: Lone Star” (which also hails from 20th Television) remaining at Fox for its fifth season means the chance at another crossover episode between the two series is slim.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “I don’t know but I’ve been told, NBC has a heart that’s cold,” Writers Guild of America pickets shouted outside Radio City Music Hall Monday, making some noise about the writers strike in front of NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation to advertisers. Approximately 200 pickets, some members of SAG-AFTRA joining the WGA in solidarity, used other chants personalized for the occasion, including, “NBC, you’re no good, pay your writers like you should,” to try to get the attention of those in attendance at the event, which is used to launch NBC’s fall schedule and woo advertisers into spending their dollars on spots with NBCU brands. The WGA is on Day 14 of a strike after failing to ink a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) before the clock ran out May 1.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Layoffs will be hitting 25% of employees across the Showtime, MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks groups in the U.S. Tuesday, following months of internal deliberations about integration amid Showtime’s rebranding into Paramount+ With Showtime. Additionally, MTV News — which was significantly affected by layoffs more than five years ago — will be shutting down. Other units, most of which are operations, will be shuttered as well. In a memo to staff, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks president Chris McCarthy said that, despite Paramount’s “success in streaming, we continue to feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers,” and that “senior leaders in coordination with HR have been working together over the past few months to determine the optimal organization for the current and future needs of our business.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nexstar reported its first-quarter 2023 earnings Tuesday, revealing its overall ad sales were down 6% year-over-year but its digital revenue increased by a record 16.5%, in part due to the inclusion of the CW Network in its offering. Wall Street forecast earnings per share (EPS) of $2.67 on $1.24 billion in revenue, according to analyst consensus data provided by Refinitiv. Nexstar reported diluted EPS of $2.97 on $1.26 billion in revenue. “Nexstar’s first quarter financial results once again outperformed consensus expectations across all key financial metrics including net revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and attributable free cash flow. All-time high quarterly distribution revenue and the benefit of The CW acquisition more than offset the cyclical year-over-year decline in political and Olympic advertising, resulting in record first quarter net revenues for the Company. We returned nearly 60% of first quarter attributable free cash flow to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav responded to the writers strike following the release of the company’s Q1 earnings report Friday, shooting down claims that some companies are “glad” that the the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is picketing instead of writing. “We’re not glad,” Zaslav said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Day 4 of the writers strike. “In order to create great storytelling, we need great writers, and we need the whole industry to work together,” the WBD chief said. “And everybody deserves to be paid fairly. So our number one focus is, let’s try and get this resolved. Let’s do it in a way that that the writers feel that they’re valued, which they are, and they’re compensated fairly. And then off we go. Let’s tell great stories together.”

Adult Swim has shared the trailer for season six of The Eric André Show, the cult favorite late-night talk show/prank program/endurance challenge. André returns as host for "sexy season six," and the trailer promises a roster of guests that includes Rico Nasty, Lil Yachty, Tinashe, Jon Hamm, Diplo, Natasha Lyonne, and more.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish addressed the writers strike during Paramount’s Q1 earnings call Thursday, stating that writers are “an essential part of creating content” and “we hope we can come to a resolution that works for everyone fairly quickly.” However, the Paramount chief added, “it’s also fair to say there’s a really big gap.” “Obviously, we’ve been planning for this, we do have many levers to pull and that’ll allow us to manage through the strike, even if it’s for an extended duration,” Bakish said. “In terms of those levers, we have a lot in the can, so to speak, content in the can. So with the exception of things like late-night, consumers really won’t notice anything for a while. Add to that a broad range of reality, unscripted, where we’re definitely a leader, as well as sports, and that’s not effected, so we can do more in those areas, if necessary.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer With major cost-saving initiatives in effect at Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, Amazon, Paramount and more mega media companies and economic uncertainty on Wall Street, the content spend free-for-all is definitely over. Today, the focus is turning to scalable franchises that work for in a multiplatform media world where Hollywood will get the biggest bang for more limited bucks. According to Perkins Miller, CEO of media company Fandom, the financial focus for the next 18 months should be on mining IP and franchises for all their worth. “My view is that, you don’t want to stifle innovation, I think creativity is incredibly important and you want to see that breakout show that is interesting or that movie that was greenlit because the story was so remarkable that it breaks the mold,” Miller said on the latest episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast. “And I wouldn’t suggest that anybody should stop those kinds of activities. I think that are important, obviously, from a creative standpoint. But from an economic one, which is the question you’re asking, what is the most economically smart thing to do, I think the most economically smart thing to do is to focus on franchises and figure out your scaled production against them.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer NBCUniversal executives did not comment on the writers strike at its New York-based NewFront presentation to advertisers Tuesday, even as hundreds of Writers Guild of America members and their supporters rallied in a picket line outside the 5th Avenue event. The scripts for the occasion, led by Peacock president Kelly Campbell, were prepped ahead of Monday’s late-night call for a strike once contract negotiations broke down between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). They were not modified Tuesday to include remarks about the strike, despite the fact TV and film writers had gathered in mass outside at the WGA East’s only planned protest for Day 1 of the work stoppage.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer With half a day to go until the clock strikes midnight on WGA talks, Hollywood is trying to operate as if it were any other day in town, despite the fact TV and film writers could be on strike Tuesday if the negotiations don’t go their way. While high and low-budget shows alike shoot in Los Angeles, New York City, Georgia and across the pond Monday, everyone from writers on sets to executives in office buildings knows Tuesday might bring a situation they haven’t dealt with since 2007. “As expected, it is eerily quiet — it is overcast in LA and that matches the mood of the town,” one comms exec said. “Lots of discussion about what news to announce and how news will play with both sides of the table, so to speak. Definitely feels like the calm before the storm.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Amazon is bringing more than 100 of its Prime Video originals to Freevee, the company’s ad-supported platform that’s home to new hit “Jury Duty,” this year. The deal marks the first time these titles will be available to view for free and with commercial breaks. Among the slate of hit Prime Video shows and movies that will begin streaming on Freevee (while still remaining available for ad-free viewing on Prime Video) are “Reacher,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “The Wheel of Time,” “A League of Their Own” and “LuLaRich.” As of Monday, more than 50 of these originals are now available for streaming on Freevee, including “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” “The Grand Tour,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “Bosch,” “Modern Love,” “Savage X Fenty,” “Sylvie’s Love,” “Troop Zero” and “Late Night.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Aidy Bryant is set to star in “Lonely Hearts Club,” a dramedy series based on an episode of the Crime Junkies podcast, currently in the works at Peacock. “Beau Is Afraid” filmmaker Ari Aster is executive producing the project. Set in the late 1940s, “Lonely Hearts Club” is described as a darkly comedic true crime thriller about a lonely woman who falls in love with a dim but handsome con man. Together they form an unlikely “Loser-Bonnie-and-Clyde”-style partnership that ends in lies, murder and the electric chair. The show is based on an episode of Ashley Flowers’ Crime Junkie podcast entitled “Infamous: The ‘Lonely Hearts’ Killers.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney Entertainment has reshuffled roles and oversight among some comms and PR execs amid the second round of layoffs companywide. In addition to this week’s changes, Variety has confirmed that since February, Shari Rosenblum has led publicity, talent relations and events across 20th Television, 20th Animation and ABC Signature as SVP of publicity for Disney Television Studios. Rosenblum, who has spent 18 years at the studio leading campaign efforts for series including “Modern Family,” “The Dropout” and “Homeland,” reports to Candice Ashton. New reorg moves include:

EXCLUSIVE: Up-and-coming actress Megan Suri (Never Have I Ever) has signed with WME for representation in all areas.