‘Yellowstone’: Bob Bakish Calls Peacock Streaming Deal For Top Paramount Show “Unfortunate”

Living the dream! Luke Grimes flew under the radar at the start of his acting career, but that all changed when he landed the role of Kayce Dutton on Yellowstone.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorActor Kevin Costner will host and narrate a four-part documentary series for the Fox Nation streaming-video outlet commemorating the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park in 2022.“Yellowstone: One-Fifty” will launch in the fourth quarter of this year and will, over the course of four one-hour episodes, examine the history and wildlife of Yellowstone National Park. The series is developed by Costner’s Territory Films along with Warm Springs Productions.

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Writer/director/creator/showrunner Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” is all about land grabbing and holding on to precious land, so it makes sense that as his popularity starts to really crest, he begins to really expand his territory. His home range is Paramount+, and if you thought yesterday’s Paramount/ViacomCBS Investor’s flex was big, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

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.

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.

ViacomCBS unveiled a slew of new news Tuesday during an investor day presentation that followed the release of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings.

Paramount‘s big ViacomCBS Investors Event held this afternoon dropped a barrage of Paramount+ television offerings news about the Taylor Sheridan-verse, yet another “Yellowstone” spin-off, more “South Park,” “Halo” news, and more. However, that’s not all the offered in their battalion of announcements meant to dazzle investors and Wall Street.

The Dutton Family is a booming business for Paramount, writer/director Taylor Sheridan and the Kevin Costner-led “Yellowstone” franchise has already spun off with the hit prequel “1883” taking more of a direct western leaning and is looking to move forward with the next incarnation. This Montana-set series explores the last real frontier as business interests and nature collide.

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’.)

Taylor Sheridan remains a busy man.

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.

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.

Taylor Sheridan's universe is getting bigger.Paramount+ has formally greenlit , a new prequel series following the success of , it was announced Tuesday during ViacomCBS' Investor Day. Additionally, the streaming service has plans for «more» , but came short of announcing a formal season 2 pickup., according to the official synopsis, will follow «a new generation of Duttons during the time of Western expansion, Prohibition and the Great Depression.»“The incredible storytelling and stellar performances behind have fueled phenomenal new records for Paramount+,” said Tanya Giles, chief programming officer at ViacomCBS Streaming, in a statement. “Promoting the series through linear sampling on the Paramount Network during their latest record-breaking season of further enabled us to introduce Sheridan’s loyal audience to this fantastic new series.

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.