Showbiz Sandbox 171: Cost Of Sports Could Be Cable’s Unbundling

November 26, 2012

 Thumbnail

The rights to broadcast Major League Baseball games through 2021 were recently scooped up by ESPN for a cool $5.6 billion. That’s nothing compared to the $15.2 billion the network will be paying the NFL for “Monday Night Football” over the next eight years. Now News Corp. has coughed up billions for a stake in the New York Yankees network and are on the verge of paying a rumored $6 billion for the rights to air Los Angeles Dodger baseball games for 25-years. Some cable operators are now saying the skyrocketing costs of sports programming is out of control and unrealistic.

Since we’re talking about billions of dollars, we may as well mention Sony Pictures. Thanks to films such as “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “Skyfall” the studio has taken in more than $4 billion worldwide this year at the box office. Lionsgate isn’t doing too bad either, earning $1 billion with releases such as “Hunger Games” and “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn”.

In fact, the North American box office is on pace to set a new record this year, much like the grosses recorded over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The $290 million was a new high for the four day period.

Of course, we also cover all the big entertainment headlines from the past two weeks including the ongoing sexual abuse scandal rocking Sesame Street, the death of actor Larry Hagman and NBC’s big win during the November sweeps.

‘Twilight,’ ‘Skyfall’ Pace Record Thanksgiving At Hollywood Box Office
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/twilight-skyfall-pace-record-thanksgiving-earnings-at-hollywood-box-office/2012/11/26/688d9992-381c-11e2-9258-ac7c78d5c680_story.html

Lionsgate Passes $1B Domestic For First Time Helped By Summit’s Twilight Finale
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/lionsgate-passes-1b-domestic-for-first-time/

Sony Pictures Passes $4 Billion Mark, Has the Best Year Ever
http://www.vulture.com/2012/11/sony-pictures-4-billion-this-year.html

An Unfestive Start For ‘Rise of the Guardians’
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/an-unfestive-start-for-rise-of-the-guardians/

Earliest Surviving Hitchcock Film Debuts on Web
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/alfred-hitchcock-film-white-shadow-web-national-film-preservation-390406

Warner Bros Agrees To Release Up To 20 More Films On IMAX Over Next 3 Years
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/warner-brothers-imax/

Aaron Sorkin on Steve Jobs Biopic: Three Real-Time Scenes From Backstage
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/15/aaron-sorkin-on-steve-jobs-biopic-three-30-minute-scenes-from-backstage.html

NBC Wins First November Sweep in Almost a Decade
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nbc-wins-first-november-sweep-393366

Is the FCC About to Take the First Step in Lifting Cross-Ownership Ban?
http://www.adweek.com/news/press/fcc-about-take-first-step-lifting-cross-ownership-ban-145206#.UKp5N7t0EXg

The Hollywood Reporter, After 65 Years, Addresses Role in Blacklist
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/blacklist-thr-addresses-role-65-391931

Larry Hagman, Who Played J.R. Ewing in ‘Dallas,’ Dies at 81
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/arts/television/larry-hagman-who-played-jr-ewing-on-dallas-dies-at-81.html

‘Dallas’ Producers Prepping Send-Off for Larry Hagman’s J.R. Ewing
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/larry-hagman-death-dallas-prepping-393767

Apple Asks Developers To Stop Using ‘Memory’ In App Titles
http://www.geek.com/articles/games/apple-asks-developers-to-stop-using-memory-in-app-titles-20121114/

‘Downton Abbey’ Renewed for Fourth Season On Britain’s ITV
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/downton-abbey-renewed-fourth-season-393739

YouTube Preps Big New Round of Content Investments
http://adage.com/article/digital/youtube-preps-big-round-content-investments/238248/

Starz Cancels Kelsey Grammer’s ‘Boss’ After Two Seasons
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/kelsey-grammer-starz-boss-canceled-393242

Chevy Chase Leaving NBC’s ‘Community’
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/chevy-chase-leaving-nbcs-community/

Fox Searchlight To Develop Susan Boyle Story Based On Musical ‘I Dreamed A Dream’
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/fox-searchlight-developing-susan-boyle-story-based-on-musical-i-dreamed-a-dream/

Tolkien Estate Sues Warner Bros. Over ‘Lord of the Rings’ Slot Machines
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/tolkien-estate-sues-warner-bros-393212

Peter Jackson Denies ‘Hobbit’ Animal Claims
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/peter-jackson-denies-hobbit-animal-392242

Elmo Actor Resigns Amid Sex Scandal
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-elmo-puppeteer-kevin-clash-resigns-20121121,0,7262279.story

News Corporation’s Bid For A Stake In YES Would Value Channel At $3 Billion
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/news-corporations-bid-for-a-stake-in-yes-would-value-channel-at-3-billion/

Cable Pioneer John Malone Says Sports Costs Are Out Of Control
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-malone-sports-20121119,0,1724652.story

Comments

Comments are closed.