Showbiz Sandbox 431: India Is Set for A Battle Over Streaming Market Share

By 2023 the country of India is forecast to have 550 million people streaming content, earning $18 billion in video streaming alone. Of course, most of people will be watching on their mobile devices, but big players like Amazon, Disney, Netflix and Spotify don’t care, so long as they wind up with the largest piece of the Indian market. One major hurdle; India makes its own content and doesn’t need Hollywood.

That is why streaming companies have begun to produce their own India-centric shows, though that can be challenging in a country with more than 20 languages and wildly diverse cultures. Plus all the major providers have to compete with the likes of YouTube, which is by far India’s most popular streaming service thanks to its advantageous price point; free.

Meanwhile, the awards season is clearly upon us with the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics weighing in on their favorites. Los Angeles Film Critics will be making their picks shortly and Golden Globe nominations will be announced this week.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including a lucrative new deal at Warner Bros. for director and producer Ava DuVernay, actor Hugh Jackman is planning a worldwide concert tour and the collapse of independent bookstores.

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Showbiz Sandbox 163: Plenty To Feel Good About at Telluride and Toronto

Anne Thompson has just returned from two whirlwind weeks at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals. The editor of Indiewire’s Thompson On Hollywood blog is happy to report that, despite all the doomsayers, there is still reason to believe there are plenty of good studio and independent movies awaiting release this year. Thompson joins us for a discussion about this year’s festivities and tells us which films came out ahead as the awards season kicks off in earnest.

Someone who knows a few things about good how to make good movies is Tom Rothman, the Co-Chairman of Twentieth Century Fox Filmed Entertainment along with Jim Gianopulos. Rothman announced he would be stepping down on January 1st, ending his 18-year tenure as head of the studio. Gianopulos, on the other hand, is sticking around to run the studio on his own.

The new TV season ramped up last week with the debut of Katie Couric’s daytime talk show and the season premiere of “Sons of Anarchy” pulling in big ratings.

Of course, we cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including this year’s Kennedy Center honorees, two new judges on “American Idol” and why streaming music could be bad for the environment.

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Showbiz Sandbox 151: Is It Time To Move Your Music To The Cloud?

If anyone is going to struggle with managing their digital music collection it’s Bob Boilen, the creator and host of NPR’s All Songs Considered, and a talented musician in his own right. Boilen created quite a stir a few weeks back when he announced he had just deleted all his music. Rather than keep tens-of-thousands of songs on his hard drive, Boilen has decided to move all his music to the cloud. He joins us for an in-depth conversation about the pros and cons of how we’ll all be listening to music in the future.

The 66th Annual Tony Awards were held over the weekend to honor this year’s best Broadway production and “Once”, based on the hit indie film, was the big winner this year taking home eight awards including Best Musical. Even host Neil Patrick Harris couldn’t liven up a lackluster show where the highlight was meant to be a number from a ten-year-old musical performed live from a Caribbean cruise ship.

When tickets went on sale recently for Justin Bieber’s upcoming tour they sold out all 48 shows in less than 60 minutes. Two concerts at Madison Square Garden sold out in 30 seconds. Yet, what might seem technically impossible at first becomes more understandable upon learning just how few tickets went on sale to the public.

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Showbiz Sandbox 99: How To Fix Hollywood’s Obsolete Residual Payments System

Labor and contract negotiations are a constant concern in Hollywood. Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel is a contributor to The Hollywood Reporter and has written a book about the industry’s labor disputes,  “Hollywood on Strike!: An Industry at War in the Internet Age“. The book grew out of his coverage of the labor unrest that began with the 100 day Writers Guild strike leading to turmoil in all union negotiations over the next two years. Handel proposes a new formula for residuals that could help avoid future strikes.

Blockbuster, the beleaguered video chain which filed for bankruptcy protection last year, was auctioned off to Dish Networks.  How the acquisition will benefit the satellite television provider remains to be seen.

The Grammy Awards are getting trimmed down as they cut more than 30 categories and combine a number of others.  Music industry professionals are split over whether the changes will help the awards show.

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