Showbiz Sandbox 647: Disney Teams Up For Sports Streaming Service

February 13, 2024

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox are teaming up to deliver a new subscription streaming service that will combine all of their sports programming on a non-exclusive basis. It will have 14 channels including ESPN, ABC, FS1, Fox, TNT and TBS. The surprise announcement has generated more questions than answers, especially over whether any antitrust laws are being broken.

Meanwhile, awards season chugs along with the Directors Guild of America handing out its top prize to Christopher Nolan for “Oppenheimer.” Plus, the Oscars add a new category for casting directors.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Universal Music pulled all of its music from TikTok, Disney invests in “Fortnite” developer Epic Games and Paramount starts pulling content off its streaming service.

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Showbiz Sandbox 646: A Slimmed Down Sundance Still Shines

January 30, 2024

This year’s Sundance Film Festival reflected the current state of the contracting industry itself, offering fewer films at fewer venues for fewer in-person attendees. Yet, as festivals like Sundance work toward rekindling post-pandemic financial support, this year’s official selections were just as noteworthy as those that have appeared throughout its 40 year history. We’ll give you a rundown of the titles too look out for over the next year and fill you in on all the Sundance winners.

Speaking of winners, this year’s Oscar nominations were announced and they included a few titles from last year’s Sundance and Cannes film festivals. The only thing missing for most were nominations for “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and its star Margot Robbie.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Jon Stewart’s return to “The Daily Show,” the influential music website Pitchfork suffers layoffs and Netflix continues dominate the streaming landscape with a stellar quarterly earnings report.

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Showbiz Sandbox 645: Amazon Prime Video Set To Dominate Advertising Market

January 16, 2024

Unlike most major streaming services, which allow new subscribers to choose between a more expensive ad-free plan and a cheaper ad-supported tier, Amazon has taken an opt-out approach with Prime. When Prime Video begins streaming ads in late-January one of the biggest streaming services in the world with at least 150 million subscribers, will immediately become a major player in television advertising. Especially since most of its customers will decide not to pay extra to avoid ads.

Meanwhile the Emmys got slotted into January due to last year’s actors and writers strikes forcing the awards ceremony to compete with football playoffs and presidential election campaigns. Will anyone be paying attention to see who wins prizes for television series that aired two years ago? Or with guild awards nominations piling in has everyone already moved onto the Oscars.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the deal Tom Cruise landed to make movies at Warner Bros., Harry Potter’s best selling video game and another former cable news anchor launches a program on X (née Twitter).

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Showbiz Sandbox 642: What Netflix Subscribers Really Watch

December 19, 2023

Last week Netflix released a huge data dump detailing the viewership of all its programming for the first six months of 2023. The streaming giant is calling it a victory for transparency. While it’s a long way from the granular detail the industry has long sought, it does reveal that almost nobody watches 25% of the 18,000 on the serverice. We discuss other findings the metrics reveal and why Netflix is suddenly so open about releasing data.

Meanwhile, the guilds have started to weigh in with their picks for the top films of this year and providing us with a list of documentaries you should catch up on.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Mayim Bialik is out as host of “Jeapordy,” the 25 films added to this year’s National Film Registry and the (legal and professional) verdict on actor Jonathan Majors.

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Showbiz Sandbox 639: Hollywood Deals With Post-Strike Fallout

November 21, 2023

Hollywood’s dual writers and actors strikes may finally be over, with significant gains in earnings, residuals and AI protections, but the many systemic issues that caused the labor disruption aren’t entirely history. As more of the details of the SAG-AFTRA contract become public we take a look at what they mean for actors and the industry at large.

For instance, how is a hit show going to be defined and how will the new agreements affect upcoming negotiations with unions representing crew, casting directors and teamsters? And why does actress Justine Bateman believe the new contract doesn’t go far enough in addressing synthetic performers?

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Spotify is leaving Uruguay, Amazon threatens the United Kingdom over production incentives and the latest Marvel film collapses at the box office.

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Showbiz Sandbox 634: Spotify Gets Book Smart

October 10, 2023

Spotify, the music streaming service, is going all in on audiobooks in hopes of attracting and maintaining subscribers. Previously, Spotify offered some audiobooks for sale. Now the company’s 220 million premium subscribers get 15 hours of free audiobook listening each month. The service is launching with 150,000 titles and will pay publishers based on consumption.

Meanwhile, while the writers’ strike may be over, actors continue to walk picket lines outside Hollywood studios, networks and streamers. The good news is that SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP are finally sitting down to negotiate a new contract.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Taylor Swift’s film is breaking records even before its release, Dreamworks Animation plans to outsource production and why Wall Street financiers are souring on investing in entertainment companies.

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Showbiz Sandbox 633: Dissecting the New Writers Guild Contract

October 3, 2023

The Writers Guild of America released details of the new contract they negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers ending their historic 148 day strike. The 94-page document is filled with big gains for writers in pay and protection from artificial intelligence. It’s also a compromise to the deal the WGA initially sought from the AMPTP, as is to be expected.

Meanwhile the Golden Globe Awards has christened two new categories; one for cinematic and box office achievement (which makes no sense) and another for best performance ni stand up comedy on television (which seems like a good idea).

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Juilliard’s acting program is about to get a lot cheaper to attend, how artificial intelligence is augmenting a classic Ingmar Bergman film and Beyoncé is bringing a movie of her Renaissance tour to cinemas.

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Showbiz Sandbox 632: Pickets Down – Hollywood Writers Strike A Tentative Deal

September 26, 2023

The Writer’s Guild of America reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) potentially ending its strike after 146 days. Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel wrote the book on Hollywood strikes, literally, and is a contributing writer at Puck where he covers labor issues. He fills us in on what is known about the deal the WGA negotiated and when striking actors may follow suit.

Handel also helps us understand why some big name authors and comedians are suing OpenAI for copyright infringement after discovering the company used their work to train their artificial intelligence platform, ChatGPT.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how HBO is adding sports to its streaming service, Amazon will add advertisements to Prime Video and Ruper Murdoch announces his retirement from Fox and News Corp.

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Showbiz Sandbox 631: Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals Kick Off Unusual Awards Season

September 20, 2023

Every annual awards season has its own strange rhythm and unexpected twists. But with both actors and writers on strike, unable to promote certain movies, surely this year’s awards season will be the strangest of all. At the heart of the madness is Anne Thompson, the Editor-at-Large of Indiewire. The awards season expert is back from both the Telluride and Toronto International Film Festival and she fills us in on which movies managed to drum up some buzz during the fall festival circuit.

Meanwhile, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes roll on without any contract negotiations taking place. Drew Barrymore and Bill Mahr both got into hot water with the guilds by trying to start up production of their talk shows without writers. They quickly reversed course.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Dua Lipa’s book club, music sales hit a new record and why the founder of Rolling Stone magazine was booted out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Showbiz Sandbox 629: Disney vs. Charter Feud Could Finally Unbundle Cable

September 5, 2023

Carriage disputes between cable companies and media companies are nothing new. They happen regularly around big events like the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup or the Oscars. However this time Charter Communications, the second largest cable operator in the United States, has pulled all of Disney’s 19 networks from its service, refusing to pay the higher licensing fees, arguing that the bundled pay television business model no longer works. Settling the disagreement could significantly alter the future of the television landscape.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has conquered the album charts and football stadiums and now she’s going to conquer movie theaters. And with summer box office hitting $4 billion, Swift’s concert film comes at the perfect time, at least for those in North America.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Hollywood Reporter gets another editor-in-chief, more details about Kevin Costner’s departure from “Yellowstone” and Michael Mann brings his “Ferrari” to the Venice Film Festival.

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