Showbiz Sandbox 613: Author James Patterson Questions New York Times Best Seller List
April 4, 2023
James Patterson has been a perennial presence on the New York Times best seller list after his most recent book failed to make the list, he accused the newspaper of “cooking the books” in the way it compiles its lists. According to BookScan, which uses actual sales figures, Patterson’s latest book should have made the list, but the Times uses a proprietary formula and method for determining its list and now he’s publicly calling them out.
Meanwhile, we signed up for the new version of MoviePass just to find out what it offered. It turns out it is very hard to pull off a moviegoing subscription service when you don’t have deals with movie theaters.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Cineworld, the owner of Regal Cinemas, plans to restructure and exit bankruptcy, why the cast of the television series “Blue Bloods” took a pay cut, and the stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro” wins six Olivier Awards.
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Showbiz Sandbox 580: Warner Bros. Enters Its Discovery Phase
April 12, 2022
Last week Discovery closed its $43 billion deal to acquire WarnerMedia from telecom giant AT&T. Discovery topper David Zaslav immediately installed his own executive team to run Warner Bros. Discovery forcing the existing management team to head for the door. We discuss the fallout from the merger and the what the future may look like for the combined company.
One of the exiting executives was WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar whose infamous Project Popcorn opened all 18 Warner Bros. theatrical releases throughout 2021 day-and-date with HBO Max. Kilar claims the controversial distribution strategy was a success, but if that’s true, then why did Warner Bros. discontinue it?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the big winners at the Olivier Awards, “Dancing with the Stars” moves to Disney+ and members of the original Grateful Dead rock band will stop touring after five decades.
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Showbiz Sandbox 576: Director Frank Marshall Strikes A New Note With Jazz Fest
March 15, 2022
Frank Marshall is probably best known as a producer of some of Hollywood’s biggest films, but he has also directed four successful narrative features throughout his career. More recently he has turned to directing documentaries, including “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story,” which he co-directs with Ryan Suffern. Marshall joins us to discuss the film, which premiered at this year’s SXSW Film Festival ahead of its theatrical release.
Meanwhile, as we inch our way closer to this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, the Directors Guild, BAFTA and the Critics Choice Awards were all announced over the weekend, helping to better define who may take home an Oscar.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how compact disc sales are on the rise (sort of), Amazon launches a live DJ streaming service and this year’s Olivier Award nominations.
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Showbiz Sandbox 403: Justice Department Makes Its Case Against AT&T-Time Warner Merger
March 12, 2018
As the Department of Justice prepares for its antitrust trial to prevent the merger of AT&T and Time Warner, they are submitted a brief to the court claiming the outcome of the case shape how video-content is delivered in the United States for years to come. They believe the merger will stifle competition, prevent competitors from entering the market and ultimately disadvantage consumers. If the government succeeds in court, could they go after Comcast NBCUniversal next?
Meanwhile, even though the Academy Awards were last week, Academy Award preferential balloting, there is still some debate over the preferential balloting system used to select Best Picture. Does the method lead to a consensus choice rather than the film most people voted for in the first place? Certainly, complaints about Best Picture winners are not new, nor is preferential balloting, which was first used at the Oscars n 1934.
The Fox television network plans on cutting advertising on its primetime lineup down to two minutes per hour by 2020. This comes as NBC and CBS recently announced similar ad-limiting initiatives. Why are TV networks suddenly so keen to dump their lucrative advertising and how will they make up that lost revenue?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how “Hamilton” has conquered the West End in London, e-sports turns into a billion dollar business and Facebook will broadcast Major League Baseball games this season.
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Showbiz Sandbox 362: What’s The Flipping Problem With Record Store Day?
April 17, 2017
This year’s Record Store Day is just days away, but what began as a way to support independent record stores has turned into a covert commercial endeavor for those reselling the event’s exclusive vinyl releases at exorbitant prices. Sal Nunziato, a former record store owner himself, joins us to discuss why he’s never been all that fond of the annual promotion.
These days Nunziato is a music blogger and drummer in the band the John Sally Ride. Their new album, “A New Set of Downs” will be released later this year, but in a unique twist, is already available on platforms such as Spotify and Soundcloud. He’ll tell us all about it.
Meanwhile, even though ESPN has lost 12 million subscribers in the past six years, the cable sports network is still very profitable, generating $11 billion per year for its owner, Disney. But with skinny cable bundles and online streaming eating into its subscriber base, ESPN is girding itself for an unknown future.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including the launch of YouTube TV, Spotify finally signs a new deal with a major record label, and Harry Potter wins big it at this year’s Olivier Awards.
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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 317: Bundling Cable Networks May Work For Advertisers, But Not For Cable Customers
April 4, 2016
In yet another sign that the difference between broadcast and cable networks is eroding, NBCUniversal announced that it would include all of its cable outlets in their traditional upfront presentation to advertisers for NBC. By combining shows from networks such as Bravo, Telemundo and Oxygen with the big primetime hits on NBC, the Comcast owned media giant is signaling that the best way for advertisers to reach viewers is through aggregating audiences.
Time Warner Cable, on the other hand, is struggling to distribute its own content through different cable providers. Specifically, none of the other pay-TV companies is willing to force their customers to pay for SportsNet LA, the regional sports network owned by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Could this be an indication that cable operators finally understand that technology will force them to unbundle their basic cable offering?
Meanwhile, short, cheap and entertaining books – once called dime store novels or pulp fiction – are making a comeback. As are serialized novels, short stories and lots of things that don’t fit into the 250 pages or more standard of most books today. Technology and the need to hold the attention of readers are the reasons it’s happening.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the controversial film pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival lineup, the death of comedian Gary Shandling and the porn industry gets into virtual reality.
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Showbiz Sandbox 189: Contentious CinemaCon; Corporate Coachella
April 29, 2013
At this year’s CinemaCon movie studios showed up in full force to pitch the world’s largest gathering of cinema operators on a bounty of upcoming blockbusters. Behind the scenes however, some of the larger theater chains were haggling with studios over how to divide ticket sales for tentpole releases such as “Iron Man 3”.
Meanwhile, for the second year in a row, the promoters of the Coachella Music Festival tried to replicate the event over two weekends. They held the same festival, with the same musical acts, on back-to-back weekends. While at times it couldn’t help but seem like a greedy attempt to extract more money from attendees, there were moments of sheer magic that only happen at Coachella.
Then there is Netflix, which after being ridiculed publicly for a series of ill-advised strategic moves in 2011, has managed to turn its ship around. After successfully producing its own hit-content with “House of Cards”, subscribers have returned, profits are increasing and the stock price is on the rise. Netflix CEO is feeling so good he wrote a manifesto on the future of televsion.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Zach Braff’s successful Kickstarter campaign, how Bittorent is helping market a movie and whether “Django Unchained” will ever be released in China.
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Showbiz Sandbox 188: Remembering Roger – Personal Recollections of the World’s Most Famous Film Critic
April 8, 2013
The death of film critic Roger Ebert last week after a lengthy and public battle with cancer was followed by an endless stream of heartfelt appreciations. Arguably one of the most recognized and influential movie critics in the world, few were aware of Ebert’s generosity, especially when it came to fellow critics and journalists.
David Poland of Movie City News and Anne Thompson of Indiewire join our hosts in discussing a few of the personal memories each has of Ebert from spending time with him over the years. For instance, did you know filmmaker Michael Moore credits Ebert with helping spread the word about the his first movie? Or that Ebert was an early investor in a little web startup named Google?
Meanwhile, late night television dominated the entertainment news last week as NBC officially announced they would not be renewing Jay Leno’s contract as host of the “Tonight Show” in order to bring in the younger Jimmy Fallon. The move has been widely hailed as a boneheaded attempt to win ratings in key demos as competition increases, but in the end Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” might still bring in more viewers.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Pixar’s “Finding Nemo” sequel, “American Idol’s” declining ratings and why take-down notices issued by movie studios are actually helping pirates, not hindering them.
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