Showbiz Sandbox 378: ESPN Goes Looking For Some Fights
August 28, 2017
In the midst of a blockbuster boxing match viewed around the world between welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA champion Conor McGregor, ESPN announces they spent a small fortune to secure the worldwide rights to future bouts. The network plans on providing access to the fights on their recently announced streaming service, with ESPN even getting a potential piece of any fights that go the pay-per-view route.
The Mayweather vs. McGregor match was faulted for causing the North American box office to dip to it’s lowest level in 16 years this past weekend. In fact, box office receipts which will not surpass $4 billion for the first time since 2006 thanks to an attendance decrease of 25%. Maybe MoviePass, a subscription moviegoing service, will help fill cinemas now that they’ve lowered their price to $10 per month.
Meanwhile “Handbook for Mortals” took the young adult book genre by storm over the last week, and not in a good way. The debut novel topped the New York Times bestseller list for that genre its first week out without anyone ever having heard of the book or its unknown author. Controversy ensued.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why the issue of on-set safety has gotten a lot of attention after Tom Cruise got injured making the next Mission: Impossible movie, the big editorial changes at the Los Angeles Times and how “The Walking Dead” has inspired another lawsuit.
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Showbiz Sandbox 372: Firing Movie Directors Has Become A Complicated Business
June 26, 2017
Hollywood history is littered with tales of filmmakers being replaced on projects in the middle of production. But when LucasFilm fired directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller from the stand-alone Han Solo project with just a few weeks before principal photography was completed, it raised a host of questions that needs to be addressed by the industry at large.
For instance, who will receive directing credit now that Ron Howard has signed on to complete the movie? And how will residuals and profit participation be handled? In an age when blockbusters are being manufactured by media conglomerates with oversight committees, the frequency with which these questions need to be answered is likely to increase.
Meanwhile, in China the government may have its own questions about where Wanda is finding all the money to acquire cinema chains such as AMC, Odeon and Hoyts, not to mention production companies such as Legendary. There are rumors that the country’s banking regulators are looking into whether all that debt financing is on the up-and-up.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Time Warner’s plans to start making shows for Snapchat, “NCIS” continues to win awards for being the most watched television series in the world and three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis announces his retirement from acting.
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Showbiz Sandbox 365: As Cord-Cutting Grows, Media Company Revenue Falls
May 8, 2017
Media company stocks took a beating last week with a one-two punch from cord-cutting and a soft ad market. The first quarter of 2017 saw pay cable subscriptions fall by over 700,000 in the United States, the largest ever such loss. This has caused some concern that cord-cutting has accelerated just as major advertisers have started to spend less on marketing.
However, television networks may just be shifting where revenue comes from. Rather than huge carriage fees and ad rates tied to huge viewership, networks may now be earning money off licensing content to streaming video providers and selling ads on digital platforms. There’s just one problem; such digital platforms pay far less than networks used to getting.
Warner Music Group is also suffering from shrinking revenues thanks to consumer migration to streaming online services. The company signed a new licensing agreement with YouTube, but they aren’t happy with a deal they felt forced into accepting. We’ll explain why.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the multiple “Game of Thrones” spin-offs planned by HBO, Harry Potter heads to Broadway and the return of “American Idol”.
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Showbiz Sandbox 358: The Skinny on YouTube’s New Live TV Service
March 6, 2017
With YouTube becoming the latest player to offer an over-the-top subscription streaming service it’s safe to say the the skinny television bundle has officially arrived. For $35 per month, subscribers can now get 40 channels of live TV including major networks and ESPN. YouTube TV also has a virtual DVR with no recording limits.
YouTube is entering an increasingly crowded market with competitors such as Dish Network’s Sling TV, AT&T’s DirecTV Now, Hulu and many others. But YouTube may have an advantage thanks to some powerful artificial intelligence that has helped increase worldwide viewing to over one billion hours per day, nearly as much as traditional television in the United States.
Now normally, two weeks after the Academy Awards we’d already be struggling to remember who won Best Score. But thanks to the most notorious screwup in Oscar history, we’re still talking about the broadcast and its fallout. We’ll explain why.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including the absurd controversy over Disney’s first gay character, Harry Potter tops the Olivier Awards with a record 11 nominations and Spotify reaches the 50 million subscriber mark.
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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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Showbiz Sandbox 342: Box Office Growth in China Begins to Fizzle
October 31, 2016
Hollywood has been talking up China’s explosive box office growth for years and the country is forecast to surpass North America as the largest movie market in the world as early as next year. However, the growth in China is slowing with ticket sales down 10% this year from last year’s figures. Ryan Faughnder, a staff writer with the Los Angeles Times, stops by to explain some of the reasons for the decline and what it means for major studios.
Faughnder also gives us the lowdown on how some studios, specifically Lionsgate, are turning to YouTube stars in search of their next big hit. Warner Bros. and Disney have similar efforts underway, though none have found the secret to success in transforming online talent into mainstream stars.
Meanwhile politicians and investment analysts have publicly expressed their concern over AT&T’s acquisition of TimeWarner. Some have gone so far as to say the deal can lead to “a whole bunch of different horribles for consumers”. For their part, AT&T is trying to assuage fears by moving head with its virtual cable plan.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why the creator of “Mad Men” signed with Amazon for his next series, why viewership of two popular sports has decreased significantly and how the pop group ABBA is reuniting for a live performance… sort of.
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Showbiz Sandbox 341: AT&T Deal For Time Warner Makes Vertical Integration Trendy Again
October 24, 2016
Last weekend, in a sudden and unexpected deal, telecommunications giant AT&T agreed to buy the media conglomerate Time Warner for $85 billion. As its current offerings become more commoditized AT&T is looking to add content to its portfolio through picking up Time Warner, a company that counts among its assets networks such as HBO and CNN, not to mention Warner Bros. Pictures. However, this marriage is far from certain will surely come under the scrutiny of antitrust regulators.
As awards season gets underway, studios have begun releasing some of their high profile title in hopes of going after Oscar glory. Historically, that meant opening arty films in a limited number of cinemas before going wide after gaining word of mouth. We explain why that’s happening less often these days.
Meanwhile, the Wanda Group is inviting all of Hollywood, and frankly anyone producing film and TV, to its new movie studios in Qingdao, China. They are offering a 40% incentive in hopes of luring productions to the multi-billion dollar facilities, but will anyone take them up on it?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Bob Dylan might not be interested in commenting on his recent Nobel Prize award, why the “Deadpool” sequel lost its director and Garth Brooks signs an exclusive deal to stream his music on Amazon’s new service.
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Showbiz Sandbox 325: Keeping Track of Who’s In Charge at Hollywood Studios
June 20, 2016
It would seem keeping one’s job as a senior executive at a major Hollywood movie studio has become much harder of late. Last year both Paramount and Sony Pictures replaced their studio heads. Now the executive shuffles at Sony and Fox, as well as the turmoil at Viacom, have our heads spinning. We’ll be joined by Anne Thompson of Indiewire who explains why Hollywood is in turnaround.
We also breakdown the past week’s worldwide box office, where a little fish swam a long way. Apparently audiences hadn’t forgotten the forgetful character from “Finding Nemo” and thus turned the Pixar movie “Finding Dory” into a box office smash.
Amazon plans to expand its streaming music service, but will it be worth listening to? Meanwhile, CBS won a potentially significant lawsuit when it argued successfully that a remastered album can in fact be considered a brand new work in terms of copyright.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the Tony Awards telecast get a ratings bump, Disney opens a theme park in Shanghai and ESPN devotes itself to soccer (or football, depending where you live).
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Showbiz Sandbox 321: New Power Players Emerge In Cannes
May 16, 2016
The Cannes Film Festival has become one of the most important annual cinema events because it programs a diverse array of movies from all over the world. We’ll head to the French Riviera for this year’s festival to tell you which of the hundreds of films are generating buzz and argue over the elements necessary for the successful exportation of European films.
Meanwhile the Marché du Film, or Cannes Film Market, takes place alongside the festival each year. New industry players such as Amazon Studios and other streaming companies have made some bold moves during Cannes, stealing the thunder from veteran power brokers.
Speaking of streaming companies, Amazon is opening its video platform to users, allowing them to upload content and make money off ads, just like they do on YouTube. And YouTube is dreaming of selling its many customers a skinny bundle of TV channels.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the Ukrainian winner of the Eurovision song contest, Sean Penn gets an apology from Tyler Perry and Disney sets a historic box office milestone.
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Showbiz Sandbox 320: Is Comcast the New Disney?
May 2, 2016
Comcast announced last week that it would acquire Dreamworks Animation for $3.8 billion, taking another step toward transforming themselves from a cable giant into a full fledged media conglomerate. Meg James, a corporate media reporter for the Los Angeles Times, join us to discuss how, though the deal may not have been anticipated, it makes a lot of sense for both companies.
The purchase is the most recent in a string of acquisitions that have closely mirrored the strategy Disney has executed over the past decade as they gobbled up companies such as Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. Comcast has proven quite adept at turning undervalued assets such as NBCUniversal and Universal Studios theme parks into profitable entities.
Meanwhile, as the Tony Awards season officially kicks off, Broadway is suffering from what is being referred to as The Hamilton Effect. This is a condition in which you open a musical that blends hip-hop and history in a way that not only makes the show a cultural phenomenon, but the inevitable winner of this year’s much coveted Best Musical Tony.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the Daytime Emmy winners, why Fox is pulling out of this year’s Comic-Con convention and how French law enforcement is preparing for the Cannes Film Festival.
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