Showbiz Sandbox 570: The Realistic Future of a Mature Netflix
January 26, 2022
When Netflix was just shy of meeting its estimated new subscriber growth during the last financial quarter it faced immediate repercussions as its stock price plummeted over 20% in a single day. We explain why Netflix is not suddenly a failing company, it’s just one in a mature market of its own making. Even so, Netflix’s sudden deflation has given Hollywood’s media giants cause for concern, since most of them followed the company’s lead by launching their own streaming services.
Meanwhile the Sundance Film Festival, which usually takes place in Utah each January was forced by COVID forced to go virtual for the second year in a row. However, even remotely, the festival remains one of the premiere launching pads for independent film and, at the halfway point, we’ll tell you what titles are generating all the buzz.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Microsoft’s big video game acquisition, YouTube stops paying for original content and Adele postpones her Las Vegas residency.
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Showbiz Sandbox 536: Blockbuster Box Office Begins Pandemic Recovery
April 14, 2021
After remaining dormant for most of the past year “Godzilla vs. Kong” revived the box office with the best opening weekend since the COVID-19 pandemic bega. The monster movie has taken in over $350 million globally despite being available on HBO Max. in $38 million despite being available on HBO Max. Does this mean big blockbuster movies can open day-and-date and score big even if they’re available online via a streamer? Uh, no.
Meanwhile, politics is stressing out Hollywood. Whether it’s human rights issues in China or voting rights issues in Georgia, Hollywood is not happy about being forced to take sides.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including producer Scott Rudin being exposed as a bully after decades of bad behavior, “Game of Thrones” may be headed to Broadway and singer Lil Nas X stirs up some controversy with his latest chart topper.
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Showbiz Sandbox 425: Ticketmaster Gets Caught Abusing Its Market Domination
September 24, 2018
When Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged eight years ago it was openly feared that the combined companies would run roughshod over the industry and consumers alike. While there has been speculation about some of the shenanigans Ticketmaster has been up to since then, we now have conclusive proof that the ticketing juggernaut is manipulating the market and working with resellers in the secondary market in order to collect additional fees. They’ve even developed a software tool for just such a purpose.
The United States Senate, meanwhile, passed the Music Modernization Act. It creates a blanket mechanical license which allows for songwriters and artists receive royalties for streaming. It also fixes the problem of receiving royalties for works created before 1972 and includes producers in the new scheme. We’ll take a look a the new bill and explain what it all means.
Speaking of music, a new report indicates that industry revenue in North America is up slightly during the first half of 2018, just as Spotify makes it even easier for independent artists to post their music directly to the streaming service. Does that make Spotify a record label?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Kelly Clarkson gets a new daytime talk show, Comcast beats Disney in an auction for Sky in the United Kingdom and singer Sam Smith loses his voice just before going on stage.
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Showbiz Sandbox 417: On-Demand Surpasses Live TV Viewing
July 23, 2018
It seems as if we’ve been talking for a decade or more about how television viewing patterns are shifting. Audiences have eschewed live broadcasts for on-demand programming and in the United Kingdom, more households now subscribe to streaming services than traditional pay TV. Maybe that’s why niche sports like arm wrestling, archery and bull riding are all conducting their own streaming experiments.
In China, parents are requesting the government set up a ratings system for movies so they know what releases are appropriate for their children. Meanwhile, a new report claims of the 271 local movies released in China this year only 12 have made a profit.
And in the United Kingdom book sales were up last year which is good news for publishers. Unfortunately, authors didn’t see much in the way of a bump in pay. In fact, as the publishing industry’s profits rise, author’s incomes have declined to record lows.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Hollywood is so stressed out lately, the “Rugrats” movie and why Disney fired the director of their “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise.
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Showbiz Sandbox 393: Disney Acquisition of Fox Underscores Hollywood’s Digital Transition
December 18, 2017
In one of the largest deals Hollywood has ever seen, the Walt Disney Company announced it had agreed to buy most of 21st Century Fox in a transaction valued at $66.1 billion. Disney will scoop up Fox assets that include 20th Century Fox film and TV studios, 300 cable channels, 22 regional sports networks, control over the Hulu streaming service and a stake in Sky. Fox will keep its news, sports and broadcast networks, as well as its publishing empire.
The move underscores how movie studios have become an intellectual property business where scale matters. Rupert Murdoch feared Fox never scaled properly to compete in the age of digital on-demand consumption of content and that his company was at the peak of its value. Selling a portion of his empire also avoids a family power struggle over who would take control of the company once he steps down.
Meanwhile, the first award nominations from a guild have arrived courtesy of the Screen Actors Guild. And the Library of Congress added 25 new works to the National Film Registry, including fiction and documentaries, features and shorts. We’ll discuss what significant works they’ve enshrined.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the FCC officially ditches net neutrality regulation, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces this year’s entries and why Norway is switching off FM radio.
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Showbiz Sandbox 390: The Government Takes Aim At Media Mega Mergers and Net Neutrality
November 27, 2017
The Justice Department filed suit to block the merger of AT&T and TimeWarner. Since President Donald Trump promised to oppose the deal and repeatedly complained about CNN news coverage many see this as political payback. Ironically, however, many impartial observers agree with the Trump administration’s stance, just not for the same reasons. They see the merger as a questionable convergence of media power and vertical integration.
At the same time the Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to kill net neutrality regulations that he claims are crippling the internet. Pai’s proposal, which is certain to pass in December, is despised by consumer groups, tech companies and just about everyone other than the handful of giant telecommunications companies it is aimed to help.
Meanwhile, the number of sexual harassment allegations against power players in Hollywood, the media and politics continues to grow, though now we’re calling it sexual misconduct. We’ll touch on the latest entrants to the list including journalist Charlie Rose and Pixar’s John Lasseter.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Netflix’s first Colombian production, Time Inc. gets a new owner, and the nominations for this year’s Spirit Awards.
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Showbiz Sandbox 389: The Ever-Growing List of Hollywood’s Sexual Harassment Accusations
November 20, 2017
Six weeks after allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against media mogul Harvey Weinstein were first reported by the New York Times, there seems no end to the number of Hollywood players being accused of misconduct. Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. may be the biggest stars to have their careers upended thus far, but they won’t be the last as everyone from actor Jeffrey Tambor to talent agents to politicians and even journalists are having similar claims made against them.
The unanswered question is how the entertainment industry will implement changes to ensure sexual harassment will come to an end. Instead, there is concern of a backlash should the public grow tired of hearing about the latest offense to come out of Hollywood’s ranks.
Meanwhile, suing someone these days as become the industry’s second favorite past-time, right after wondering whose vile behavior will finally come back to haunt them. The hit TV show “Supernatural” is apparently losing money after years on the air, while director George Miller says “Mad Max: Fury Road” did not go over budget and he’s suing Warner Bros. to prove it.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including some new FCC media ownership rules, Sony nabs Quentin Tarantino’s next movie and the NFL is still proving attractive to advertisers.
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Showbiz Sandbox 384: NBC Has A Big Megyn Kelly Problem
October 16, 2017
NBC forked over millions of dollars to steal Megyn Kelly away from Fox News and then realized they had nowhere to put her. First the network gave Kelly a primetime news show opposite the ratings powerhouse 60 Minutes. When that move prove disastrous NBC shoehorned Kelly into the third hour of their hit morning program, “Today,” only to see the shows ratings plummet.
Marc Berman, the editor-in-chief of Programming Insider, joins us to analyze what went wrong with bringing Kelly to NBC, why putting a former political news anchor into a morning show was a bad fit, and what the network can do to save the “Today” show before Kelly brings down ratings any further. Berman believes if NBC doesn’t act soon, they could get lapped by the likes of CBS.
Speaking of public implosion swof media fixtures, the Harvey Weinstein scandal has moved beyond the movie mogul himself to encompass a culture of sexual harassment that pervades Hollywood. We’ll discuss a plausible idea that Hollywood could take toward ending such behavior.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Spanish language network Telemundo is gaining ground on its rival Univision, why the ratings of a CW show were significantly boosted by binge viewing on Netflix and YouTube views may soon be included in determining Billboard’s weekly music charts.
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Showbiz Sandbox 376: Cord Cutters Are Using An Old Hack To Watch Television – It’s Called An Antenna
August 7, 2017
As the Federal Communications Commission seeks to further deregulate cable television companies and do away with net neutrality, consolidation within the industry has caused rates to increase dramatically. We’ll explain how more and more people are growing fed up with high cable bills and what they’re doing about it. Some millennials have even discovered an amazing hack to get the broadcast networks for free! And it’s totally legal!
We’ll also tell you about how some big name players are getting fed up with Hollywood’s opaque accounting system. Sylvester Stallone is suing Warner Bros. over profit participation for his 1990s hit movie Demolition Man while filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is taking the distribution of his latest movie into his own hands.
In China, “Wolf Warrior 2” has earned nearly half a billion dollars at the global box office and looks set to become the country’s highest grossing movie ever. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is still playing strong in theatres around the world and may surpass “Spider-Man” to claim the crown as the biggest comic book movie debut in history.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why legendary TV producer Norman Lear is boycotting the Kennedy Center Honors reception, when Bette Midler is leaving “Hello Dolly” and why Netflix acquired a comic book company.
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Showbiz Sandbox 356: The Future of 4K Ultra HD Streaming Is Upon Us
February 20, 2017
FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly has a history of voting against raising the standard level of what constitutes high-speed broadband service. Now he’s publicly dismissed 4K video streaming as a figment of the future, so far off it won’t be adopted for many years. Could O’Rielly be correct in his dim forecast about the foreseeable future of Ultra HD? Short answer: no.
The arguments against media technology adoption revolve around the availability of content and devices. However, neither seems to be presently lacking. More and more consumer electronics manufacturers are phasing out HD televisions in lieu of new 4K models, while the likes of Netflix and Amazon offer 4K streaming of movies and television shows.
Meanwhile, we review the latest accolades handed out by the Writers Guild and the Berlin Film Festival as we gear up for next week’s Oscar ceremony by making a few haphazard predictions of our own.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including why Disney is dumping a YouTube star, the New York Times is ditching one of its longtime theatre critics and the reason Playboy magazine is going all in on nudity.
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