ViacomCBS Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

still known as ViacomCBS — sold off $2 billion in debt in part to refinance it at a lower interest rate.Read the full statement below:Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA; PARAA) today announced that it has agreed to sell $1.0 billion in aggregate principal amount of 6.375% fixed-to-fixed rate junior subordinated debentures due 2062 at a price equal to 100.000% of the principal amount thereof (the “Debentures”). The sale of the Debentures is expected to close on March 29, 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.Paramount Global intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other fees and expenses related to the offering, for general corporate purposes, including the possible repayment of existing indebtedness.The joint structuring agents and book-running managers for the offering are BofA Securities, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and J.P.

Paramount International boss Raffaele Annecchino has talked up the streamer for “launching quicker than others” in key European markets, as he unveiled a tied-up with global Lupin and Narcos production house Gaumont and set titles from France, Argentina and Germany.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterSam Schles, a longtime creative executive under the ViacomCBS content umbrella, has joined Madica Productions.Schles has been named vice president of scripted development at the label — a spinoff of the prominent Hollywood PR agency Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis — whose credits include the Netflix’s “Ginny and Georgia” and the Leonardo DiCaprio-produced digital series “Stay Wild.”Schles will report to Madica’s managing director Jeff Tahler. She began her career at Comedy Central, where she would eventually serve as director of talent and development.

Warner Bros Discovery, the company created by merging Discovery Inc. and WarnerMedia, and signed a new employment agreement through the end of 2027.

Afternoon subscribers. Max Goldbart here with your weekly dose of International Insider news and analysis and it’s been as busy as ever over the past seven days. Scroll down for more.

The Girls On The Bus‘ long journey to the small screen has come to a successful conclusion with a straight-to-series order at HBO Max. The drama series adaptation of Amy Chozick’s best-selling book Chasing Hillary, from Julie Plec, Chozick, Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. TV, originally landed at Netflix with a series order three years and moved to the CW for development earlier in this broadcast cycle.

Star Trek” and “Sonic” fans excited with the news from its investor day on Tuesday, but Wall Street was not impressed as the company’s stock took a big hit on Wednesday, taking AMC Networks down with it. At opening, ViacomCBS — which is soon to rebrand itself as Paramount — saw its stock drop nearly 18% to $29.58 per share, while AMC Networks fell 15% at around $37.95 per share.

the new Beavis And Butt-Head film, scheduled for release this year.The recent ViacomCBS Investors Event (February 15) covered a variety of news – including the announcement that ViacomCBS will now go under the Paramount name – among which were some updates on some of the company’s major upcoming projects.It was confirmed that the two-season order of the Beavis And Butt-Head TV show that was originally set to air on Comedy Central has changed, with a new season set to be featured as part of the Paramount+ SVOD (subscription video on demand) service.More than 200 remastered episodes of the original Beavis And Butt-Head series will also be available through Paramount+.The synopsis of the forthcoming movie – now officially titled Beavis And Butt-Head Do The Universe – reads: “In perhaps the dumbest space movie ever made, Beavis and Butt-Head are sentenced to Space Camp by a ‘creative’ judge in 1998. Their obsession with a docking simulator (huh huh) leads to a trip on the Space Shuttle, with predictably disastrous results.“After going through a black hole, they re-emerge in our time, where they look for love, misuse iPhones, and are hunted by the Deep State.

Yellowstone TV franchise is set to continue with 1932, as well as more of its other prequel series 1883.Yellowstone stars Kevin Costner, Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes, Cole Hauser, and Gil Birmingham. The show follows the Dutton family, owners of the largest ranch in Montana, and various family dramas at the ranch and the bordering Broken Rock Indian Reservation, national park, and developers.1932 will see a new Yellowstone origin story set to follow a new generation of Duttons against the desolate backdrop of the Western expansion, Prohibition, and the Great Depression, according to Entertainment Weekly.Paramount+ has also announced more of spin-off show 1883, but did not confirm whether that would mean a renewal or more episodes.

Shares of ViacomCBS are down more than 20% in early trading as Wall Street digests the company’s streaming strategy, outlook and financials announced after the market closed Tuesday, and clearly has some issues.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorShares of Paramount, the new corporate name of ViacomCBS, took a dive after the media conglomerate told Wall Street that it was more aggressively equipping itself for battle in the streaming wars.The stock was down more than 15% in premarket trading Wednesday, coming a day after Paramount’s 2022 investor day presentation that detailed revised financial forecasts including a bigger capital outlay for its streaming strategy, led by Paramount Plus.Investors were apparently unnerved about the heavier investment Paramount plans to make in the streaming biz — it plans to boost spending on streaming content to $6 billion by 2024, versus $4 billion previously — and the resulting hit to profitability. Bank of America Securities analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich downgraded her rating on the stock, from “buy” to “neutral,” and cut her 12-month price target on the stock from $52 to $39 per share.SEE ALSO: As ViacomCBS Becomes Paramount, an Energized Company Solidifies Its Streaming Playbook“We commend management for taking a bold approach, but near-term headwinds will drive Y/Y declines in CY22 and CY23 OIBDA [operating income before depreciation and amortization] and pressure already depressed FCF [free cash flow] levels,” Reif Ehrlich wrote in a note to clients.In reporting Q4 2021 results, the company said Paramount Plus netted 7.3 million new subscribers to stand at 32.8 million at year end.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorIn their last outings as leaders of ViacomCBS, the executive team led by Shari Redstone and Bob Bakish finally started to sound like they have a solid plan to compete in streaming.On the day ViacomCBS unveiled its corporate rebrand to Paramount, starting as of Feb. 16, the company put on a nearly three-hour virtual presentation for investors that demonstrated how much its operations have been turned inside out to focus on streaming growth opportunities.

The CFO of ViacomCBS, soon to be known as Paramount, said Tuesday that the company is looking hard for “efficiencies” at its traditional businesses to divert as much cash it can to streaming, where investment will hit an estimated $6 billion in 2024.

“Teen Wolf” will howl again.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterParamount Global (formerly known as ViacomCBS) expects to direct-to-consumer content spending to increase to more than $6 billion in 2024, the company revealed Tuesday during its Q4 earnings and streaming investor day presentation.This is a jump from its previous guidance, which was that Paramount expected streaming content spend to exceed $5 billion 2024, including $4 billion of expenses associated with its DTC services. In 2021, Paramount spend $2.2 billion on direct-to-consumer content.Additionally, Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra said that the company formerly known as ViacomCBS is increasing its DTC revenue goal to over $9 billion for 2024.

Paramount+, which has been rolling out to dozens of global territories over the past year, will reach the key European market of France as part of a wide-ranging partnership with Canal+.

There is a Sexy Beast prequel series happening after all.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe business anthology series “Super Pumped” has been renewed for Season 2 at Showtime.The news was announced as part of the ViacomCBS investor day presentation. Each season of the show will focus on a different major story from the world of business.

A Quiet Place III is coming!

ViacomCBS is supersizing reality competition franchise The Challenge.

It has been an anomaly — two of the ViacomCBS’ most prized current IPs and top basic cable series, Yellowstone and South Park, are streaming outside of the company’s ecosystem, on NBCUniversal’s Peacock (Yellowstone) and HBO Max (South Park). One of the two will be rectified after the end of HBO Max’s current mega, five-year domestic deal.

ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said the company now anticipates 100 million streaming subscribers in 2024 – well above a previous forecast of 65M-75M, after record ads in the fourth quarter and amid a rebranding of the company to Paramount – (officially ‘Paramount Global’ but the company prefers to be called just ‘Paramount’.)

Just days after SEAL Team was renewed for Season 6 by Paramount+, the military drama also has received an order for a stand-alone movie from the streamer. Additionally, NCIS: Sydney, an offshoot from the venerable crime drama franchise, has been commissioned by Paramount+ Australia and the country’s ViacomCBS-owned Network 10. The projects, announced during the ViacomCBS Investor presentation, come from CBS Studios which is tapping into the studio’s IP to expand two of its current series/franchises.

John Krasinski announced during the ViacomCBS Investory Day that there’s a third, brand new Quiet Place debuting in 2025. The pic is currently in development.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterParamount Plus is mining even more Nickelodeon content to fill out its content slate.The streamer announced a slew of new projects that will be produced by Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon Animation as part of the ViacomCBS investor day presentation on Feb. 15.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Yellowstone” prequel “1883” has been renewed for Season 2 at Paramount Plus, and the ViacomCBS-owned streaming service has ordered another Taylor Sheridan-created origin-story show following the Dutton Family called “1932.” Yes, you guessed it — the show will follow a new generation of Duttons “during the time of western expansion, Prohibition and the Great Depression.”“1883″ stars Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Billy Bob Thornton, Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett, Marc Rissmann, Audie Rick, Eric Nelsen and James Landry Hébert.The show follows the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. It is a stark retelling of western expansion and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land — Montana.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterA “Sonic the Hedgehog” series about Knuckles is in the works at Paramount Plus.The announcement was made as part of the ViacomCBS (now Paramount) investor day presentation.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaParamount Plus will be the exclusive streaming home for all Paramount Pictures movies beginning in 2024.The announcement, which was made at ViacomCBS’s investor day on Tuesday, is a sign of how much the media giant is investing in its streaming service. It means that the company will forgo lucrative and profitable short-term licensing revenue in order to grow its library of content and with it, build its subscriber base.

ViacomCBS President Bob Bakish announced today during the conglom’s investor day that all new Paramount theatrical releases will head straight to Paramount+ after their run in cinemas starting in 2024.

Master Chief will stay locked and loaded for Paramount+, which has renewed Halo for a second season. The renewal was unveiled during a ViacomCBS presentation on Tuesday.

ViacomCBS is rebranding to become Paramount Global, effective Feb. 16, the latest giant pivot in a rapidly transforming media and entertainment landscape. It’s the name of the company’s storied studio and its centerpiece streaming network Paramount+, which launched in March of 2021.

In one of the boldest efforts yet by a media company looking to enlarge its streaming subscriber base, ViacomCBS is combining Paramount+ and Showtime in a single, integrated offering.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterParamount Plus will begin integrating Showtime content this summer, launching an in-app upgrade that includes access to the pay TV channel’s programming, ViacomCBS announced during its Tuesday investor event.“So let’s talk about how we’re helping subscribers access even more of our amazing streaming services, right there in the Paramount Plus app,” Tom Ryan, president and chief executive officer of streaming at ViacomCBS, said during the virtual presentation, which covered the company’s fourth-quarter 2021 results and forward-looking goals for this year. “Our existing bundle, of Paramount Plus and Showtime, has performed very well out of the gate.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorViacomCBS will change its corporate name to Paramount as of Feb. 16, calling the move an effort to adopt “an iconic global name” to reflect the conglomerate’s increasingly worldwide focus.The company’s shares will trade on the NASDAQ index under the ticker symbol PARA (for Class B common shares), PARAA (for Class A common), and PARAP (for Class A preferred).The moniker makeover was announced Tuesday by ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone and president-CEO Bob Bakish in a memo to staffers.

Yahoo Finance. ViacomCBS reported EPS of 26 cents on $8 billion in revenue.ViacomCBS ended 2021 with more than 56 million global SVOD subscribers.“Clifford the Big Red Dog” made $48.9 million domestically and $100 million worldwide, and was the most-watched original film for Paramount+ at time of release. The movie was released simultaneously in theaters and on Paramount+ in November.“In the fourth quarter you saw the power of strategy and strength of execution across the company.

nearly 47 million paid global subscribers combined. That was up from the 42 million worldwide subscribers that the company reported it had reached across Paramount+ and Showtime at the end of Q2.A year ago, ViacomCBS said it expects to reach 65-75 million global subscribers between Paramount+ and Showtime by 2024.Q4 saw Paramount+ release Taylor Sheridan’s new drama series “Mayor of Kingstown” starring Jeremy Renner and the fourth season of “Star Trek: Discovery” in November.