Licensing Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Don’t expect to see Andor or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on Netflix any time soon.

Along with programming updates, HBO and Max Content CEO Casey Bloys took on a handful of business topics during a 2024 slate event in New York, among them licensing, content spending and password sharing.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor CANNES – Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish delivered a testimonial to the power of “new age” local and regional content licensing partnerships during a wide-ranging Q&A held Tuesday after the Viacom veteran was feted as Mipcom’s Personality of the Year. During a wide-ranging Q&A that followed the award presentation, Bakish batted down industry speculation about Paramount’s financial health (“To say we were saved by the strikes is totally an overstatement”) and his hope that the SAG-AFTRA strike will soon be in Hollywood’s rear-view mirror (“We’ll get there”). Paramount Global unveiled a multi-year pact with Greek pay TV service Cosmote TV just before Bakish sat for a Q&A with Variety co-editor in chief Cynthia Littleton.

In the past few minutes, Warner Bros Discovery has set out plans for its new look international sales team following Robert Blair‘s exit.

EXCLUSIVE: The major U.S. studios heading to Mipcom are proving global streaming and third-party licensing “can co-exist and work together,” says the event’s director.

K.J. Yossman “Lord of the Rings” owner Embracer told shareholders and investors that the fantasy franchise, which they snapped up last summer for $395 million, has been a significant growth driver in Q1.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Conners” is making its way to off-net syndication, as Tom Werner’s Werner Entertainment has stuck a deal with both Lionsgate Worldwide Television Distribution Group and Debmar-Mercury to distribute the sitcom’s first five seasons (and future seasons as well). “The Conners” will be sold for a fall 2024 launch in domestic syndication.

Mattel is renewed its licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products, continuing as the studio’s toy licensee in preschool, plush, dolls, vehicles, games, and novelty toy categories.

Ellise Shafer Warner Music Group and TikTok have announced a first-of-its-kind partnership to expand the licensing agreement of Warner Recorded Music and Warner Chappell Music to TikTok, TikTok Music, CapCut and TikTok’s Commercial Music Library. The multi-year, multi-product deal will “expand the level of partnership, collaboration and innovation between the two companies,” according to a press release. “It will create new revenue, marketing and insights opportunities for WMG’s artists and songwriters, while deepening the engagement with TikTok’s huge audience of passionate music fans.” It also includes a licensing deal for TikTok Music — the app’s newly launched streaming service that is now only available in Brazil and Indonesia, but has plans for growth in other markets — and CapCut, TikTok’s video-editing sister app.

Darrell Issa Guest Columnist Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet represents California’s 48th Congressional District. Later today on the Nashville, TN campus of Belmont University, I’ll convene a field hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. The hearing won’t just take place in Music City, USA but five years after Congress achieved that rarest of things: A consensus solution that recognized the rights of musical artists and created a way they could be compensated fairly by publishers. It may be hard for some to believe, but at the time we crafted this legislation, the music industry and other content owners were being crushed by widespread piracy and an inability to monetize the value of musical creativity.

HBO’s potential deal to license a slew of library titles to rival Netflix, as revealed by Deadline, was met with derision by some, another example of Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav selling off the crown jewels to hit his savings targets.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor German film and TV distribution and licensing company Telepool, which is owned by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook, is moving into lead producing movies and series, its CEO Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann tells Variety exclusively in her first interview since joining the company in January. Munich-based Telepool is celebrating its 60th anniversary on Wednesday, and although it has a barrel-load of experience in selling, distributing, licensing, financing and co-producing movies and series, this shift into initiating and lead producing represents a significant step for the company. It also forms part of Westbrook’s broader strategy for international expansion, which – in part – lay behind its acquisition of Telepool in December 2021.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer HBO Max’s parent company has filed a lawsuit that accuses Paramount Global of reneging on parts of the $500 million licensing deal set in 2019 for the streaming rights to episodes of “South Park.” The suit, filed Friday in New York state Supreme Court, asserts that Paramount breached the contract by steering “South Park” specials and other content to its own Paramount+ platform. The suit alleges that Paramount “blatantly intended to prop up Paramount+ at the expense of Warner/HBO,” and that Paramount engaged in “multiple and flagrant duplicitous contortions of fact and breaches of contract.”

After entering the smart-TV sector years ago by licensing its interface and brand, Roku now plans to design and manufacture its own line of TV sets.

Tin Roof Media Names Rod Henwood Executive Chairman

A Stenhousemuir shop will be able to sell alcohol until 10pm, Falkirk Council' s licensing board has agreed.

Apple is instituting significant price increases starting today for streaming service Apple TV+ along with Apple Music and the Apple One bundle, citing higher licensing and content costs.

valued at $3 billion. However, this is the company’s second attempt at an IPO after a previously scheduled reverse merger with SeaChange International valued at $5 billion was terminated in June due to market volatility.

Naman Ramachandran Trioscope, the company behind “The Liberator” (Netflix) and George R.R. Martin-produced “Night of the Cooters,” has launched its patented Trioscope Platform to license its proprietary technology to third-party content creators.

Netflix plans to launch its advertising tier in early 2023 but not all of the shows that are currently streaming on the service will make the cut.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWildBrain CPLG, a leading entertainment, sport and brand-licensing agency, has been appointed by Peanuts Worldwide as the exclusive licensing agent for the Peanuts brand in parts of Asia-Pacific.   The companies already have a licensing relationship in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and, more recently, India.

The Provost of Falkirk has been elected as convener of Falkirk Council's licensing board - despite getting just three votes.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNielsen’s media data arm Gracenote is launching new tools to measure the “bingeability” and streaming availability of TV shows to offer companies guidance in licensing and acquisition during the Peak TV era.Joining Gracenote’s Content Analytics data group, which features Inclusion Analytics and Audience Predict, the Distribution Dynamics and Program Availability Archive will “provide the content marketplace insights into characteristics of programming that drives consumption and historical availability enabling data-driven decision-making,” per Nielsen.The Distribution Dynamics offering will look at the following, in order to evaluate how specific streaming and broadcast series are consumed: Per Nielsen, “Leveraging this intelligence, streaming services and networks can optimize slate management through visibility into what content is better suited for viewer acquisition versus viewer retention, or what types of programming better resonate with certain audiences. Media companies and studios can solve content distribution challenges by understanding what programming to create or license to maximize viewership.

Amazon Prime Video today has struck an exclusive, multi-film licensing deal with the Housefull franchise producer Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment. The deal will see Bollywood movies from Sajid Nadiadwala’s company made available worldwide, with Amazon becoming the home to NGE’s upcoming movies, soon after their theatrical launch.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video India has signed a worldwide exclusive multi-film licensing deal with Sajid Nadiadwala’s Bollywood production house Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment (NGE).NGE’s upcoming slate includes “Bawaal,” starring Varun Dhawan (“Coolie No. 1”) and Janhvi Kapoor (“Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl”), directed by Nitesh Tiwari (“Dangal”).

The strategy to license Yellowstone and other major properties to rival streaming services like Peacock and HBO Max, which Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish has called “unfortunate,” is out the window, according to CFO Naveen Chopra.

During lockdown, when restrictions meant sitting inside bars and eateries was banned, the al-fresco culture boomed across Manchester. It saw councils given the chance to essentially 'fast track' road closures, meaning they were able to swiftly pedestrianise roads outside so they could stay open and seat customers on the street.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video India is betting big on India. At a marquee event in Mumbai the streamer announced that it will more than double its investment in Prime Video India over the next five years and revealed a 40-strong slate, its biggest to date in the country.The titles are in the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages, across new and returning scripted and unscripted original series and co-productions, streaming over the next 24 months.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorLionsgate has reached a movie licensing output pact deal with Roku Channel.The deal calls that calls for the original content channel on the digital MVPD to share Lionsgate titles in the pay TV window with Starz, Lionsgate’s pay cabler. The deal covers such films as the “John Wick” franchise and “Expendables 4.”“This agreement affirms the great demand for first-run studio movies across a broad array of platforms,” said Jim Packer, Lionsgate’s president of worldwide television distribution.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaBroadway Licensing has acquired Stage Rights, an independent theatrical publisher and licensing company. Stage Rights joins Broadway Licensing family of imprints alongside Dramatists Play Service and Playscripts, helping the theater-maker expand its reach and range of offerings.

Skydance Animation has set a multi-year licensing deal with Spin Master, the children’s entertainment company known for creating popular properties like PAW Patrol.

Before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy entered politics and found himself in charge of his country's fight against Russia's Vladimir Putin, he led a life as an on-screen performer. A former comedian, Zelenskyy, 44, starred as a head of state in the 2017 political satire "Servant of the People," which is also the name of the real-life political party he founded.

Chris Willman Music WriterHit songwriter Ross Golan, who has crafted smashes for Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, One Direction and Demi Lovato, has started a petition on Change.org asking the music community to stop licensing songs in Russia for as long as the nation wages war on Ukraine.The petition, posted Thursday afternoon here, was put up for the purpose of allowing songwriters to make their voices heard in requesting that collection agencies sever ties with their counterpart orgs in Russia, to ensure that they won’t be profiting from the rogue-superpower nation while the bloody siege of its neighbor country continues.“Currently, a portion of our royalties are going directly to the Russian government, which in turn funds their invasion into Ukraine,” Golan says. The petition — credited to “And the Writer Is,” the podcast Golan started to spotlight writers and their issues — reads: “The global songwriting business stands with Ukraine.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video and Germany’s Leonine Studios are expanding their existing partnership with a multi-year license agreement.Under the deal, Prime Video gets exclusive second window SVOD-rights for a six-month period to upcoming theatrical feature films and home entertainment titles from Leonine’s slate and also includes non-exclusive SVOD rights to titles from Leonine’s content library.Titles include Keanu Reeves’ “John Wick 4” and its spin-off “Ballerina,” starring Ana de Armas; Channing Tatum’s directorial debut “Dog”; Roland Emmerich’s “Moonfall,” starring Halle Berry; Nicolas Cage action-comedy “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”; Guillaume Canet’s “Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” with Gilles Lellouche, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel and soccer star Zlatan Imbrahimović; Jennifer Lopez starrer “Shotgun Wedding”; and Leonine Studios co-production “The School of Magical Animals 2,” the sequel to Germany’s most successful theatrical release of 2021. Leonine Studios CEO Fred Kogel said: “It’s fantastic that we can expand our long-standing partnership with Prime Video by this agreement and achieve another important milestone for our licensing business with premium content.

Amazon Prime Video has signed an expanded multi-year licensing deal for Germany and Austria with Leonine Studios.

UPDATED with sentencing: Zachary Horwitz, the Hollywood actor who pleaded guilty last fall for operating a Ponzi scheme that bilked $650 million from investors who thought their money would be used to acquire licensing rights to films, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday.