Showbiz Sandbox 378: ESPN Goes Looking For Some Fights
August 28, 2017
In the midst of a blockbuster boxing match viewed around the world between welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA champion Conor McGregor, ESPN announces they spent a small fortune to secure the worldwide rights to future bouts. The network plans on providing access to the fights on their recently announced streaming service, with ESPN even getting a potential piece of any fights that go the pay-per-view route.
The Mayweather vs. McGregor match was faulted for causing the North American box office to dip to it’s lowest level in 16 years this past weekend. In fact, box office receipts which will not surpass $4 billion for the first time since 2006 thanks to an attendance decrease of 25%. Maybe MoviePass, a subscription moviegoing service, will help fill cinemas now that they’ve lowered their price to $10 per month.
Meanwhile “Handbook for Mortals” took the young adult book genre by storm over the last week, and not in a good way. The debut novel topped the New York Times bestseller list for that genre its first week out without anyone ever having heard of the book or its unknown author. Controversy ensued.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why the issue of on-set safety has gotten a lot of attention after Tom Cruise got injured making the next Mission: Impossible movie, the big editorial changes at the Los Angeles Times and how “The Walking Dead” has inspired another lawsuit.
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Showbiz Sandbox 332: How Cable Companies Will Profit From Cord-Cutting After All
August 22, 2016
We keep hearing that cord-cutting is going to destroy the U.S. cable industry. But SNL Kagan analyst Ian Olgeirson says the economic outlook for the business over the next decade is actually quite solid. Olgeirson joins us to explain how cable companies are turning cord-cutters into more profitable cord-swappers and what that means for their long-term health.
Meanwhile, for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio you didn’t need to have a cable subscription since so much of the action was streamed live online. In fact, while television viewership may not have reached the levels some networks around the world had hoped, a record number of hours were streamed over the Internet from this year’s games.
We also launch a new segment that tells you the one new book worth reading out of the thousands that are published each week, as listed on BookFilter, a book lover’s best friend.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the dispute over Tom Cruise’s salary for “Mission: Impossible 6”, the power struggle at Viacom nears a resolution and Barbara Streisand tells Apple’s Siri how to pronounce her name properly.
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