Streaming service wars news and trends 4 4

[Bosco685]

ViacomCBS and NBC potential merger put on hold for more bidders

ViacomCBS waiting for other suitors: sources

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Shari Redstone is hitting pause on any potential partnership talks between her media company ViacomCBS and NBC owner Comcast in hopes of lining up more suitors, The Post has learned. 

 

The billionaire heiress, who serves as chairman of ViacomCBS, has decided to hold off until next year before re-engaging in talks with Comcast’s Brian Roberts, according to two sources close to the situation. 

 

This includes any talks of a merger or a joint domestic venture where Comcast and ViacomCBS could combine their respective streaming services, Peacock and Paramount Plus, according to a source.

Reps for ViacomCBS, Redstone and Comcast declined to comment.

 

[Bosco685]

[Bosco685]

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Sony Pictures Animation and Amazon are nearing deal for over $100 million for the animated feature “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” to stream globally on Amazon Prime Video, Variety has learned exclusively.

 

“Hotel Transylvania” has been a monster family franchise for Sony, with the first three films grossing more than $1.3 billion in theaters worldwide since 2012. But the surge in COVID cases — driven by the highly contagious delta variant predominantly infecting unvaccinated people — has made theatrical exhibition of family pics untenable since there is no vaccine yet for children under 12. With New York City enacting a vaccine mandate for indoor venues on Tuesday, and other major cities seriously considering their own, sources say that in early August, Sony began exploring an alternative release for the fourth “Hotel Transylvania” movie, which had been slated to open in theaters on Oct. 1.

 

Sony will retain rights to home entertainment, linear TV and Chinese exhibition, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.

 

[media_junkie]

On 8/16/2021 at 6:21 PM, Bosco685 said:

 

All things considered, this might get them more money than releasing in theaters.

[D84]

On 8/14/2021 at 12:00 PM, Bosco685 said:

Wait, people use Apple TV+?

[Bosco685]

Historic WB Studio deals look to be holding up bigger distribution news (France's OCS streaming has a distribution contract ending in 2023).

HBO Max to Launch in the Nordics and Spain, Followed by Central, Eastern Europe and Portugal

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WarnerMedia’s streamer HBO Max will launch in the Nordics and Spain this fall, followed by Central and Eastern Europe and Portugal in 2022, it was revealed at a Series Mania Forum keynote conversation on Tuesday.

 

Delivering the keynote were Priya Dogra, president, WarnerMedia Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia (excluding China) and Christina Sulebakk, general manager, HBO Max EMEA.

 

“Europe is a huge priority for us,” said Dogra. “We now have the U.S. and Latin America under our belt, we feel very good about those successes there and the growth that we’re seeing. Europe is a complicated market, but it’s an exciting one.”

 

“We want to have more voices and more stories to be told and we want to offer consumers a very competitive price point and a very flexible way of accessing our products, both through D2C but also through our very established wholesale distribution partners in the regions,” said Sulebakk.

 

Sulebakk revealed that for the first time, all of the WarnerMedia slate, including HBO, Max originals, DC, Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network, would be available on one service, in addition to acquisitions from third parties. “So what you are going to see on the on the platform is a huge improvement from our current streaming services, that has a smaller scope of content slate today, to a much more broad and compelling offer that communicates broadly,” Sulebakk said.

 

[▫️]

On 8/16/2021 at 7:33 PM, D84 said:

Wait, people use Apple TV+?

I don’t hardly use AppleTV+ at all. And yet I have it. Just because its part of my subscription bundle. My daughters can’t live without Apple Music. They finally got me on board. I have the subscription bundle because I want the two Terabytes of iCloud storage for our photos, videos, back-ups, etc. That’s really all I care about. But my girls enjoy the Music and the Arcade. So I would take those AppleTV subscriber numbers with a grain of salt. No one is subscribing to AppleTV+ for AppleTV+. They are getting it in a bundle which saves over buying individual services. I have seen the list of future programming and I believe AppleTV’s content may be impressive in two more years. Right now, you could watch all the good stuff on it in just a day. 

[Bosco685]

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WarnerMedia will launch HBO Max on October 26 in six European territories, among including Spain and the Nordics.

 

Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Spain and Andorra will be the first markets to get the service, the company said. HBO Max will be available to new customers as well as existing customers of HBO España, HBO Nordic and HBO Go. (HBO Go has disappeared in the U.S. but continues to operate in certain parts of the world.) Billing will be  directly or via eligible partners. Pricing, product and programming details will be revealed at a virtual launch event in October.

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As the global rollout continues, the UK, Germany and Italy remain off limits for now due to a long-term distribution deal HBO struck with Sky. That deal runs through 2025, though executives have indicated they are interested in trying to negotiate an earlier exit. The distribution relationship was formed in a previous era, before WarnerMedia became a full participant in the streaming competition.

 

[Bosco685]

If streaming was ever heading toward being even more of a theatrical threat, now more than ever that threat has arrived.

LG Unveils Absolutely Monster 325-Inch Television

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LG has unveiled an absolutely monster television that would be the envy of every man cave on the planet.

 

The Extreme Home Cinema really utilises the word 'extreme' as the machine is a whopping 325-inches wide at its biggest.

 

It has Direct View LED technology and the size is customisable if you wanted it a bit smaller.

 

"Available in various sizes and performance levels, LG's home cinema displays take the guess work out of configuring which DVLED screen is right for you," the company says on its website.

 

"From 2K to 8K configurations with screen sizes from 108" to a show stopping 325", these solutions come with virtually everything you need, except the popcorn."

Now, to find a house big enough for your TV set. 

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It’s been said before here but interesting to see it in print.

The truth is that, decades from now, the Disney-era blockbuster will be as quaint and uninteresting as the 1930s melodrama or the 1950s western. A few high-quality exceptions will be celebrated, and the rest will congeal into a dated mass of capes, quips and cameos. The Disney-era blockbuster will become an embarrassing relic, from when business controlled culture and decided to run it into the ground.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/sep/15/disney-plus-blockbuster-movie

Edited September 15, 2021 by Scam Likely

[Bosco685]

On 9/15/2021 at 8:34 AM, Scam Likely said:

It’s been said before here but interesting to see it in print.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/sep/15/disney-plus-blockbuster-movie

Ouch! But very true.

Yet like has been noted here repeatedly, the general audience has now been conditioned to accept this as the model all studios should follow to be successful. Even though they recognize the flaws.

[▫️]

On 9/15/2021 at 8:45 AM, Bosco685 said:

Ouch! But very true.

Yet like has been noted here repeatedly, the general audience has now been conditioned to accept this as the model all studios should follow to be successful. Even though they recognize the flaws.

The reality is this says less about Marvel than it does about us. Marvel will not (should not) change a thing as long as they keep making money. I can’t knock them if they are making the masses happy. Screw the minority. There’s a reason for these scores below. 

Edited September 15, 2021 by Scam Likely

[Bosco685]

On 9/15/2021 at 9:24 AM, Scam Likely said:

The reality is this says less about Marvel than it does about us. Marvel will not (should not) change a thing as long as they keep making money. I can’t knock them if they are making the masses happy. Screw the minority. There’s a reason for these scores below. 

Clearly the general audience accepting such content as acceptable common practice leading to billions in box office revenue will always lead to root cause. If the Mouse was not making massive bank each time, it wouldn't be washing and repeating such cinema practices.

And with other studios seeing how much Disney is making, they want a piece of that pie too. Which led to the initial Universal Monsters Franchise kickstarting and failing. Though unfortunately Dracula Untold was judged more on how it structured the beginning of the new monster franchise versus gauged on standalone merits. The same with The Mummy, which even more forced the story to attempt an 'Iron Man' launch of events.

[@therealsilvermane]

On 9/15/2021 at 8:34 AM, Scam Likely said:

It’s been said before here but interesting to see it in print.

The truth is that, decades from now, the Disney-era blockbuster will be as quaint and uninteresting as the 1930s melodrama or the 1950s western. A few high-quality exceptions will be celebrated, and the rest will congeal into a dated mass of capes, quips and cameos. The Disney-era blockbuster will become an embarrassing relic, from when business controlled culture and decided to run it into the ground.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/sep/15/disney-plus-blockbuster-movie

The writer of this article probably sees the consistent output of the MCU in the theaters and on Disney+ as a problem because he's not a comic book nerd. Meanwhile, comic book nerds who grew up with these characters or this world love this sh*t.

[▫️]

On 9/15/2021 at 1:32 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

The writer of this article probably sees the consistent output of the MCU in the theaters and on Disney+ as a problem because he's not a comic book nerd. Meanwhile, comic book nerds who grew up with these characters or this world love this sh*t.

Yeah, that must be it. 
 

[Bosco685]

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WarnerMedia is offering a half-off discount on HBO Max now that HBO is no longer available on Amazon Prime Video Channels.

 

Today through September 26, the monthly subscription cost will be $7.49 for up to six months for anyone who had accessed HBO via the Channels platform. The discount is available to both new and returning subscribers.

 

The move is aimed at counteracting the inevitable loss of subscribers due to management’s decision — set in motion two years ago — to break from Amazon Channels. The platform removed HBO earlier this week, ending a relationship that long pre-dates the current streaming era.

Amazon's platform must have had restrictions in place not allowing for HBO Max to be distributed to other markets. Another case of WB Studios legacy contracts that have been holding up its wider distribution.

[Bosco685]

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With The Queen’s Gambit and The Crown (holding its coronation in London) both taking 11 wins overall each, a truly impressive haul for Netflix which is no longer snake-bit at the Emmys finally getting some crowning glory that has eluded them. They are tied now for the all-time Emmy winning hand — ironically with CBS which also notched 44 wins in 1974.

 

It’s ironic since this rout took place tonight on, you guessed it, CBS, which in the sad state of network affairs won nothing from its primetime show this evening. Only NBC, with Saturday Night Live (which counting last weekend’s Creative Arts wins took eight Emmys overall) racking up another win for Variety Sketch Series, kept the Emmy broadcast from being a complete washout for the four broadcast networks who once exclusively ruled this roost — and certainly did the last time the Emmy show was held as a banquet rather than in a 6,000-seat theater.

 

And kudos to Apple TV+ which with Ted Lasso took seven overall wins in a really huge boost for the young streamer. Between Netflix’s Sarandos and Apple’s Lasso it was a big night for anyone named Ted (a Netflix source handed me that line).

 

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Didn’t want to create a new topic but I think this was created just for streaming on AppleTV. Looks like a good family film.

 

[media_junkie]

On 9/20/2021 at 9:40 AM, Oddball said:

Didn’t want to create a new topic but I think this was created just for streaming on AppleTV. Looks like a good family film.

 

Too bad I don't do the Apple TV thing because that looks pretty good.

[▫️]

On 9/20/2021 at 5:31 PM, media_junkie said:

Too bad I don't do the Apple TV thing because that looks pretty good.

Yeah, but its $4.99 a month. Definitely worth a cup of coffee to see this and a couple others for 30 days and then cancel.