Tag: television

Posted on

Mad Realities’ Devin Lewtan is onboarding crypto users through reality television

Web3 doesn’t have the most inclusive reputation, yet so many crypto founders talk about onboarding the next 100 million users into the space. Statistically speaking, the next 100 million can’t possibly be comprised entirely of a homogenous group of cis white men who spend most of their waking hours coding and/or day trading (no shade, just pointing out a fact)!

This week on Chain Reaction, I interviewed Devin Lewtan, a twentysomething founder who seems to have found the secret sauce when it comes to bringing web3 to new audiences.

Her NYC-based media company, Mad Realities, just debuted its first season of “Proof of Love,” a reality TV show focused on dating that allows viewers to engage with the plot and vote on key decisions through NFTs. This April, Mad Realities raised $6 million in a seed round from investors including crypto VC firm Paradigm and socialite Paris Hilton to build a platform they hope will become the ‘Netflix of web3.’ You can listen to the full interview with Devin below.

“We think the thing that’s going to bring the next 100 million people into crypto is going to be content, because it’s intuitive. It’s a real consumer use case,” Lewtan said on the podcast.

Lewtan, who catapulted into tech world fame when she co-released the viral Clubhouse show “NYU Girls Roasting Tech Guys” during the height of the pandemic, first got interested in NFTs when started chatting with her friend and now-cofounder Alice Ma about how crypto could help change the way media is funded.

“We put out a blog post basically saying, what would it look like if we put on this dating show where people minted our NFTs and they could vote on who made it into the show, what happens and who wins and get fun, special, governance perks based on the tier that they bought,” Lewtan said.

Shortly after the Mad Realities team released its first blog post in November, they had raised the equivalent of ~$500k USD worth of ethereum to finance production. In a matter of just a few months, they had whipped up a five-week, interactive show filmed in person in New York City.

The audience for the first season, which wrapped up in April this year, was ~65% female and comprised mainly of people who were just there for the entertainment value of the show at first rather than for its connection to web3, Lewtan said.

Mad Realities CEO and cofounder Devin Lewtan

Mad Realities CEO and cofounder Devin Lewtan Image Credits: Provided by Devin Lewtan

Once audience members saw the perks and voting rights afforded to Mad Realities NFT holders, called “roseholders” in a nod to “The Bachelor” franchise, they were intrigued.

“They were able to say to their friends, I’m pretty sure that these roseholders that keep appearing are people who bought NFTs, and those NF T’s let them vote on things, and then the money from the NFTs funded the show. And then they’re like, that actually makes sense to me, more than most projects in the space … that’s not really like the scammy type of use case that I think about with NFTs,” Lewtan said.

As for what’s next, Lewtan said the next season of “Proof of Love” launching this fall will inform the startup as it crafts a broader vision for what a web3 media platform could look like. They are experimenting with ideas such as bringing other content creators onto the Mad Realities platform and helping them launch their own NFT projects for their audiences, she added.

Above all, Lewtan emphasized the importance of keeping user-friendliness top of mind while building the product.

“One of the things that we’re focusing on now as we build out our app is that it’s important that [creating a crypto wallet] is not one of the steps in the process. You should just be able to create an account and not think about the fact that it’s connected to a wallet,” Lewtan said.

“A wallet is compatible, but if you sign up, you should be able to have an NFT in your wallet and your app and not even think about it … So a lot of the stuff that we’re focusing on is, what is the experience like to be so user friendly and mobile-first where it doesn’t even feel like it’s a crypto product?”

Pinata raised $21.5M to scale NFT media infrastructure

Posted on

Amazon and DirecTV partnership brings ‘Thursday Night Football’ to 300,000+ bars, restaurants and other venues

Amazon Prime Video and DirecTV struck a multiyear agreement that allows business owners to stream “Thursday Night Football” for their patrons. Amazon’s “TNF” broadcasts, including pregame, halftime and postgame coverage, will be available to more than 300,000 sports bars, restaurants, retail stores, hotel lounges, casinos and sports books, among other venues across the U.S., regardless of if it is a national chain or local.

DirecTV for Business customers that are subscribed to Business Entertainment, Business Xtra, Commercial Entertainment, Commercial Xtra, Commercial Choice PLUS and the Spanish-language Commercial Mas Ultra will automatically get Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” feed for no extra cost. The games can be found on DirecTV channel 9526.

The deal will begin with the preseason football matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Houston Texans on August 25. The regular season slate will commence on September 15.

Typically, bars and restaurants don’t have streaming services because it can be expensive to upgrade all the TVs. DirecTV for Business allows venues to continue providing NFL fans with an otherwise streaming-exclusive “Thursday Night Football” lineup of games.

“The sports media landscape continues to evolve rapidly, and the focus on delivering a great experience to our entire range of customers must remain at the center of that evolution,” said Rob Thun, DirecTV chief content officer, in a statement. “This agreement between Amazon and DirecTV for Business comes at an important time when more streaming companies are obtaining exclusive rights to marquee sports programming and fans want to cheer on their teams at home and while out at bars, restaurants, and other businesses with friends, family, and coworkers.”

Starting in 1994, DirecTV hosted NFL’s “Sunday Ticket.” However, its rights to broadcast the popular football package expire at the end of the upcoming season. While it will no longer be a partner for “Sunday Ticket,” this new deal with Amazon allows the satellite company to remain in the NFL business.

Last month, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the National Football League would most likely announce a streaming partner for “Sunday Ticket” in the fall.

The NFL’s 11-year media rights agreement with Amazon Prime Video makes the streaming service the first streamer to hold exclusive rights to a package of NFL games.

Last week, Amazon closed a three-year deal with Nielsen to include the streaming service and its livestreaming program “Thursday Night Football” in its National TV measurement service, a first for the data measurement firm.

Amazon and Nielsen close ‘Thursday Night Football’ ratings deal

Streaming service NFL+ confirmed, NFL will choose a streamer for its Sunday Ticket this fall

Posted on

After CNN+ shutdown, Discovery+ adds a CNN Originals hub to its U.S. service

Today, Discovery+ subscribers in the U.S. get access to over 800 episodes of CNN content through a dedicated CNN Originals hub. The network’s three brands — CNN Original Series, CNN Films, and HLN Original Series — will provide viewers with a selection of titles such as “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown,” “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,” “Real Life Nightmare,” “Death Row Stories,” “Race for the Vaccine,” among others.

Subscribers can access the hub within the Discovery+ app or on the web. Supported devices include Amazon Fire devices, iOS devices, Apple TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, VIZIO Smart TVs, Roku devices, Android TVs, and other Android devices.

According to the company, the hub will get an initial offering of CNN Originals for viewers to stream, with select CNN Original Series and HLN Original Series added later. More titles will be announced in a few months.

The announcement was initially made earlier this month, ahead of Warner Bros Discovery’s second-quarter results. The news also comes five months after the CNN+ streaming service was quickly shut down, most likely disappointing the 10,000 or more people streaming the service for the one month it had been in existence.

Now CNN fans can stream the content on Discovery+ at $4.99 per month, along with a variety of other documentaries, home improvement shows, true crime, lifestyle, and other content from networks Investigation Discovery, HGTV, TLC, and Food Network.

CNN+ would only have CNN content at $5.99, so having the hub on Discovery+ is a much better value.

CNN+ streaming service pulls a Quibi, will shut down a month after launch

“True crime, food, and travel programming are among the most-watched genres for discovery+ viewers, so these titles from CNN will fit right in with our best-in-class collection of unscripted content,” JB Perrette, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming, said in a statement at the beginning of August.

Other titles on the new hub include “1968: The Year That Changed America,” “American Dynasties: The Kennedys,” “American Style,” “The Bush Years: Family, Duty, Power,” “Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta,” “Christiane Amanpour: Sex and Love Around the World,” “Crimes of the Century,” “Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies” (Seasons 1-3), “Diana,” “First Ladies,” “Nomad with Carlton McCoy,” “Reframed: Marilyn Monroe,” “The People v. The Klan,” “United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell” (Seasons 1-6), “Beyond Reasonable Doubt,” “The Dead Wives Club,” “The Killer Truth,” and lots more.

There will also be select titles from the CNN Special Reports collection like “Assault on Democracy: The Roots of Trump’s Insurrection.”

With CNN+ gone, Warner Bros. Discovery decided to integrate CNN Originals into its streaming strategy both with this new dedicated hub on Discovery+ as well as by adding titles to HBO Max. The CNN Original “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” is premiering on HBO Max this fall.

On September 30, HBO Max will also gain content from Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network, such as the titles “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home,” “The Lost Kitchen,” and “Restoration Road with Clint Harp.”

In the second quarter of 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery reported that the total number of direct-to-consumer subscribers across HBO, HBO Max, and Discovery+ was 92.1 million.

HBO, HBO Max and Discovery+ report a combined total of 92.1M subscribers, plans for major restructuring

 

Posted on

Streaming viewership surpassed cable TV for the first time, says Nielsen

Streaming viewership reached new highs last month, exceeding cable usage for the first time, according to Nielsen. The measurement firm today released its total TV and streaming report for July, stating that streaming represented a 34.8% share of total TV viewing in the U.S. — an increase of 22.6% compared to July 2021. Cable consumption was a little behind at 34.4%, an 8.9% drop from the year prior and a 2% decline compared to June.

Streaming had exceeded broadcast viewing before, and this continued to be the case, with broadcast down 3.7% on volume compared with June. Broadcast’s share of TV viewing was at 21.6% the report said.

The new milestone reinforces streaming as a top choice for TV viewers, mainly driven by original content that can’t be found on cable or broadcast television.

July also broke a record with the highest-volume streaming weeks, the data measurement firm noted. The average time spent streaming last month was 190.9 billion minutes per week. The week of Christmas in December 2021 was the last all-time high that Nielsen measured, with 183 billion minutes.

Note that Nielsen’s report only compares programming viewed on TVs and internet-connected TVs. It doesn’t measure streaming via mobile or desktop, which would likely make streaming’s market share even larger.

In fact, streaming on big screens (connected TVs, smart TVs and gaming consoles) represented 77% of globally streamed minutes in Q1 2022, according to a report by streaming data analytics company Conviva.

Content — especially exclusive and unique content — is key to the success of streaming services. The boost in TV viewership was primarily driven by streaming releases across Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and HBO Max.

Image Credits: Nielsen

When Nielsen looked at the breakdown of streaming services, Netflix held the largest share of overall TV viewing among streaming platforms with 8%. In June, Netflix was at 7.7%. So, while Netflix reported a huge loss in subscribers, the service remains popular among TV viewers in the U.S.

Nielsen pointed to Netflix’s “Stranger Things” Season 4 as the main driver, which had almost 18 billion viewing minutes in July. Netflix boasted that “Stranger Things 4” had the largest opening weekend for an English-language series and was the most watched season of English-language TV in one week on the platform.

Also, “Virgin River” and “The Umbrella Academy” contributed nearly 11 billion minutes of combined viewing. The action thriller “The Gray Man,” which will now get its own universe, and the animated adventure film “The Sea Beast” chipped in more than five billion minutes.

Netflix’s founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings agrees with analysts that say linear TV is nearing its end. In the second-quarter earnings call, he remarked, “Looking forward, streaming is working everywhere. Everyone is pouring in. It’s the end of linear TV over the next five, 10 years.”

Image Credits: Netflix

In second place, YouTube and YouTube TV had a total share of 7.3%, a nice jump from last month at 6.9%. YouTube’s livestreaming service, YouTube TV, recently reached a milestone of its own, surpassing 5 million paid subs and users with trials for the service. While the streaming service isn’t big on original content, it’s a cheaper — and arguably — better alternative to cable, with access to major broadcast networks, national sports channels and major cable news channels, all at $65 per month.

Hulu’s total share of 3.6% can be attributed to the second season of “Only Murders in the Building” and the new hit series “The Bear,” which had a combined 3 billion minutes viewed. With 46.2 million subscribers, Disney+’s sister streaming service broke a record of 58 Emmy nominations this year, while Disney+ only had 34. “Only Murders in the Building” had 17 noms.

Craig Erwich, president of Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment, has called the show Hulu’s “true crown jewel” of its slate because of its “appeal across generations” and “the intersection of humor and heart.” The show has been renewed for a third season.

Amazon’s Prime Video sits in fourth place with a total share of 3%, driven by the new series “The Terminal List,” starring Chris Pratt, and new episodes of “The Boys,” which accumulated more than eight billion viewing minutes. Two days ago, Amazon and Nielsen struck a deal to measure the ratings of Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football.”

According to the report, Disney+ and HBO Max had the smallest share of TV viewing at 1.8% and 1%, respectively.

HBO Max has been under fire lately due to the removal of 40+ titles and layoffs that affected 70 employees.

Last week, Disney+ announced it is raising the price of its premium subscription to $10.99 per month, up from $7.99. U.S. subscribers will see the change in early December. Hulu, ESPN+ and the Disney Bundle (Hulu with ads) also saw price hikes.

Posted on

HBO Max is removing 36 titles and creators are not happy

HBO Max is continuing its content removal spree with 36 titles going off the service this week including 20 of its in-house productions. Other titles include originals from HBO and Cartoon Network along with a few acquired titles. The development first reported by Variety noted that this move was aligned with the big HBO Max-Discovery+ merger slotted to take place next year.

In order to prepare for the merger, the company has been silently removing titles for some weeks now. Earlier this month, during its quarterly earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery said HBO Max will start showing Discovery+ reality shows from Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network starting September 30.

“As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+. That will include the removal of some content from both platforms,” the firm said in a statement to Variety. We have reached out to HBO Max to learn when exactly these titles will be removed.

The company is likely removing titles to cut costs and make way for newer titles in the combined service. While it’s just a money-saving tactic for the streaming giants, creatives are worried that their hard work in creating shows will be wasted because of executive decisions.

Julia Pot, the creator the of animated show “Summer Camp Island” said on Twitter that the makers didn’t have much information about the reasons behind this move. We have asked HBO Max for a comment on its communication with creators, and we will update the story if we hear back.

Here is the full list of titles being removed from the service:

HBO Max and HBO Originals

  • 12 Dates of Christmas
  • About Last Night
  • Aquaman: King of Atlantis
  • Close Enough
  • Ellen’s Next Great Designer
  • Esme & Roy
  • The Fungies!
  • Generation Hustle
  • Generation
  • Infinity Train
  • Little Ellen
  • My Mom, Your Dad
  • My Dinner with Herve
  • Odo
  • Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness
  • Summer Camp Island
  • Share
  • The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo
  • The Runaway Bunny
  • Theodosia
  • Tig n’ Seek
  • Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs

Cartoon Network

  • Dodo
  • Elliott From Earth
  • Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart
  • Mighty Magiswords
  • OK K.O.! – Let’s Be Heroes
  • Uncle Grandpa
  • Victor and Valentino

Licensed Titles

  • Detention Adventure”
  • Messy Goes to Okido
  • Mia’s Magic Playground
  • The Ollie & Moon Show
  • Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
  • Make It Big, Make It Small
  • Squish

Get ready for an HBO Max – Discovery+ mashup app in 2023

Posted on

Sinclair says its streaming sports service, Bally Sports+, will arrive next month

Sinclair’s direct-to-consumer streaming service, Bally Sports+, soft-launched to five regions earlier this summer. Today, the company announced that the streamer would officially roll out on September 26 across all 19 Bally Sports regional sports network brands (RSNs). This completes Sinclair’s three-year-long venture into establishing its own over-the-top service.

Bally Sports+ will launch across RSNs: Bally Sports Arizona, Bally Sports Great Lakes, Bally Sports Indiana, Bally Sports New Orleans, Bally Sports Ohio, Bally Sports Oklahoma, Bally Sports San Diego, Bally Sports SoCal, Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports North, Bally Sports South, Bally Sports Southeast, Bally Sports Southwest, and Bally Sports West.

The upcoming September rollout follows the June initial launch in Bally Sports Detroit, Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports Sun, and Bally Sports Wisconsin.

With the new service, sports fans can get access to RSNs at $19.99 a month or $189.99 for a year. These are the same RSNs that were previously only available on DirecTV Stream for $89.99. Sinclair’s deal will with the linear TV service will end in 2023.

So, Bally Sports+ subscribers are given access to professional baseball, basketball, and hockey teams in their local market without paying the hefty price for cable. Sinclair is also offering subscribers a seven-day free trial.

Sinclair to launch $20/month direct-to-consumer streaming service Bally Sports+ on June 23

Chris Ripley, Chief Executive Officer, Sinclair Broadcast Group, said in a statement, “Today is a significant step for the RSN industry as we offer local sports fans across our Bally Sports footprint a new way to watch their hometown teams.”

The company also noted that additional pricing options will be released on September 26 but didn’t offer any explanation of what that would be.

Bally Sports+ is available via iOS or Android devices, Android TV, TvOS, and BallySports.com. The service has yet to be available on Roku and Amazon Fire TV, two of the most popular streaming devices.

Posted on

The Roku Channel adds 14 linear channels, expanding its local news offering

Roku announced today that it added 14 new linear channels through its Live TV Guide on its free streaming hub, The Roku Channel, including several new local news streams. Viewers can now access three NBC local news channels, San Diego, Boston, and San Francisco Bay Area, as well as LX News, a news network by NBCUniversal Local that is targeted toward adults aged 18 to 45.

According to TVREV, news is a top category that attracts viewers in the free ad-supporting streaming landscape. After experiencing slow growth in active accounts in the first and second quarters of 2022, Roku has been eager to prove its worth to investors and consumers.

Roku points finger at advertising slowdown for missing the mark on quarterly results

“We’re thrilled to further expand our NBCUniversal Local news channels lineup to provide streamers across the country with access to valuable local news coverage through The Roku Channel,” Ashley Hovey, Head of The Roku Channel Advertising-based Video on Demand (AVOD), said in a statement. “Since launching our local news category earlier this summer, we have seen users come to The Roku Channel to engage with this programming category in a meaningful way. We’re proud to offer a convenient way for millions of streamers to stay informed on important local topics and current events.”

In June, Roku launched eight NBC Local news channels, the first time that local news appeared on The Roku Channel. In addition to the news channels that Roku added today, other NBC local news channels available on the streaming service include NBC New York News, NBC Los Angeles News, NBC Chicago News, NBC Philadelphia News, NBC Dallas/Fort Worth News, NBC Washington, D.C. News, NBC South Florida News, and NBC Connecticut News.

Other than news, The Roku Channel also added new channels in various genres like Western, Spanish-language entertainment, true crime, and more. The remaining lineup of new linear channels includes the Ion Channel, which will feature episodes from “NCIS,” “Chicago P.D.,” “Law & Order: SVU,” and other well-known series; Roku Channel Westerns, which will give viewers classic Western titles like “Apache Junction,” “The Westerner,” and “The Rebel;” Cine EstrellaTV, a new Spanish-language channel available through The Roku Channel’s dedicated Espacio Latino hub; among other channels like BBC Kids, BOUNCE XL, Cheaters, Court TV, Grit Xtra, Ion Mystery, and Ion Plus.

Posted on

HBO, HBO Max and Discovery+ report a combined total of 92.1M subscribers, plans for major restructuring

Warner Bros. Discovery revealed its second-quarter results — its first quarterly earnings since the $43 billion merger.

The total number of direct-to-consumer subscribers across HBO, HBO Max and Discovery+ was 92.1 million in the second quarter of 2022, up 1.7 million from the end of Q1 with 90.4 million subscribers. The company did not break down the over-the-top streaming services’ numbers individually, so it’s unclear what the exact number is in terms of HBO Max and Discovery+ subscriptions.

The company also reported a loss of 300,000 domestic subscribers, a decrease from 53.3 million to 53 million.

In the prior quarter, WarnerMedia had reported a combined 76.8 million HBO and HBO Max subscribers and Discovery+ had 24 million. The total topped 100 million subscribers. The discrepancy with today’s numbers is due to how the previous owner, AT&T, had counted wireless customers on plans that bundled HBO Max.

When announcing Q2 results, Warner Bros. Discovery wrote in its letter, “The new definition resulted in the exclusion of 10 million legacy Discovery non-core subscribers and unactivated AT&T mobility subscribers from the Q1 subscriber count.”

During its earnings call, the company disclosed that the upcoming combined streaming service will launch in the U.S. in the summer of 2023, with Latin America to follow that same year. It will rollout in European markets and Asia Pacific territories in 2024. Warner Bros. Discovery also said it was exploring a free ad-supported tier.

“Once our SVOD service is firmly established in the market, we see real potential and are exploring the opportunity for a fast or free ad-supported streaming offering that will give consumers who do not want to pay a subscription fee access to great library content, while at the same time serving as an entry point to our premium service,” the company stated.

In June, AT&T also dropped its plan for new customers that gave users HBO Max as a bundled perk. However, announced in the Q2 results, Warner Bros. Discovery said it re-extended its agreement with AT&T.

“AT&T continues to be an important partner, and we are thrilled that HBO Max will continue to be part of AT&T internet and mobility plans,” said Scott Miller, executive vice president, Distribution, Warner Bros. Discovery, in a statement.

Although Wall Street expected $11.91 billion in revenue, the company missed the mark this quarter with a reported $9.8 million in revenue. Warner Bros. Discovery experienced a net loss of $3.4 million, which includes $1 million of restructuring “and other charges,” according to the report.

Discovery and WarnerMedia reported separate and very different results last quarter. While WarnerMedia’s operating income declined 32.7% year over year, Discovery saw an increase of 13%, with its total revenue at $3.16 million.

The company has a debt load of around $53 billion and is cutting costs to reach a target of $3 billion in savings. This could explain the alterations to its content lineup as well as rumored staff changes.

For instance, The Wrap heard from sources that layoffs were expected in the coming months due to the restructuring of streaming platforms HBO Max and Discovery+. One source reported that 70% of the development staff may be laid off. While layoffs are standard when it comes to company mergers, some sources speculate that the move will result in HBO Max losing executives, and a line will be drawn to separate scripted and unscripted content operations.

TechCrunch reached out to the company for comment and is awaiting a response.

During its earnings call, Andrew Slaven, executive vice president, Global Investor Strategy, said, “We’ve been able to dig deeper into the financials and have gained a much better, more complete picture of where we are and the path forward, including identifying some additional and unexpected challenges that have and will continue to acquire our focus and attention. The upside is that there is even more room for improvement and cost savings.”

The new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has gone on a canceling spree lately, as subscribers were met with disappointment and outrage yesterday with the news that “Batgirl” had been shelved because of poor reception from test audiences. There goes an estimated $70 to $90 million down the drain — which we’d like to add is still less than the short-lived $300 million streaming service CNN+ that Zaslav axed in April.

“Scoob!: Holiday Haunt” was also pulled on Wednesday.

Zaslav removed six original films from the service, including the reboot “The Witches,” as well as “Moonshot,” “An American Pickle,” “Superintelligence,” “Charm City Kings” and “Locked Down.” While content gets removed from streaming services all the time — take Netflix for example — what was unusual about this move was that Warner Bros. Discovery did it quietly.

Redditors have previously noticed a handful of other shows missing like “Amsterdam,” “Final Space,” “Czech It Out” and more. Lance St. Laurent pointed out on Twitter that “Vinyl” was also taken down without warning. Laurent said it was “troubling” as Max originals weren’t the only ones getting axed. “Vinyl” was an HBO show that has long since been canceled.

When a subscriber wondered why “Full Bloom” was missing from HBO Max’s lineup, the company tweeted in response,

The company made the decision to cease new original programming in parts of Europe last month, as reported by Variety. Plus, it shut down Cinemax Go, its free streaming service, on July 31.

However, on September 30, HBO Max will gain content from Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network. Last year, the Gaines struck a partnership with Discovery, launching the Magnolia linear and streaming channel. Discovery+ will still have programming from the Magnolia Network on its platform. HBO Max will get titles such as “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home,” “The Lost Kitchen,” “Restoration Road with Clint Harp” and many others. Discovery+ has a drastically different target audience than HBO Max, so it’s unclear whether this was the right move.

Also, CNN Originals will get its own hub on Discovery+, with original series like “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” and “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” moving to the service. Shortly after CNN+ was shuttered, HBO Max got CNN titles like “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace.”

Zaslav has been adamant that the company will focus on smart spending. However, it’s worrisome that Zaslav may be making content decisions based on making the accounting books look better rather than focusing on appeasing viewers with the content they enjoy.

In today’s letter to shareholders, Zaslav wrote, “We’re confident we’re on the right path to meet our strategic goals and really excel, both creatively and financially, and couldn’t be more excited about the future of our company.”

It’s likely the company will keep the biggest shows on HBO Max. Especially since HBO received 140 Emmy nominations this year, and “Succession” was the most nominated series with 25 noms.

Posted on

Sling TV continues to drop subscribers, loses 55K subscribers in second quarter

Dish reported today that its streaming service Sling TV declined in subscribers during the second quarter of 2022, with a net loss of 55,000. This significantly differs from the first quarter of 2022, when it lost 234,000 subscribers. However, this is the third straight quarter that it has seen a drop.

The figure was also less of a loss than Q2 2021, when Sling TV lost 65,000 subs. Now, Sling has a total of 2.197 million subscribers, a decrease of 242,000 from the 2.439 million in the second quarter last year. During the first quarter of 2022, Sling TV had a total of 2.252 million, for comparison.

The company wrote in a regulatory filing, “The decrease in net Sling TV subscribers was primarily related to higher subscriber disconnects following seasonal sports activity. We continue to experience increased competition, including competition from other subscription video-on-demand and live-linear OTT service providers.”

While Sling TV is considered one of the first live TV streaming services, launching in 2015, it still has yet to beat Google in the streaming wars. YouTube TV continues to be a live TV streaming service to watch after revealing that it topped the 5 million subscriber mark, which included those on trials. Disney reported during its Q1 2022 report that Hulu Live TV had 4.3 million subscribers — but it only includes paid subscribers in its numbers.

Sling TV still beats FuboTV, which has 1.05 million subscribers. Philo has around 800,000 subs.

The company has been focusing on retaining customers with new content, such as the free Elvis Presley Channel, which launched in June. Also, in July, Sling TV provided customers free previews to premium streaming services via its “Freeview Weekends,” which include AMC+, EPIX, Sundance Now, Hallmark Movies Now, and more.

Posted on

HBO Max and Hulu will share custody of Emmy-nominated series ‘Abbott Elementary’

In a bit of an unusual agreement, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that HBO Max will have joint streaming custody of the comedy series “Abbott Elementary” with Disney+’s sister streaming service Hulu. The two streaming giants will now share the hit ABC show on their competing services.

Hulu already has priority streaming rights over ABC programming, so the Disney-owned platform will continue to release episodes the day after it broadcasts on the television network. Once a season of “Abbott Elementary” is finished, it will then appear on the HBO Max platform.

HBO Max subscribers will be able to stream the entire first season (13 episodes) of “Abbott Elementary” on August 20.

The reason behind the move is to give first-time viewers who may not own a Hulu subscription a chance to see the show before the next season begins on the rival service. So, when season 2 releases on Hulu on September 22, HBO Max subscribers will have to wait for the finale until it comes to the service. Those who want to watch its season 2 premiere on September 21 can turn to ABC at 9 p.m. ET.

This deal is unlike most streaming arrangements. While these types of deals are what helped Netflix build its robust content library, this one is different because “Abbott Elementary” is produced by both Warner Bros. Television and Disney-owned 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television.)

Created by and starring Quinta Brunson—who rose to social media fame on Vine in 2014– the workplace comedy “Abbott Elementary” premiered in December 2021 and explores a group of teachers in an understaffed and underfunded Philadelphia public school attempting to help their students succeed even though the cards are stacked against them.

The show made Emmy history recently as Brunson was the first Black woman to receive three comedy nominations and is the youngest Black actress ever nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress comedy category. “Abbott Elementary” nabbed seven Emmy nominations overall. Also, Hulu reached a milestone of 58 Emmy nominations, compared to 26 last year.

The overall boom in streaming and the launch of well-fortified platforms have created a lot of buy-side demand for pre-sold titles. The competition among services has also created some really awkward situations.

Netflix has been known to grab big titles such as “The Office” and “Friends” which have now switched over to other streaming homes. Thanks to a 2017 agreement, “Schitt’s Creek” moved to Netflix from Pop TV, a pay TV channel owned by Paramount. This April, Hulu revealed that the show and all its six brilliantly written seasons are moving over to the streamer beginning October 3.

The streaming wars continue to ramp up and NBC Universal, like every other media company, is trying to beef up its content library for its service Peacock. The company terminated its licensing agreement with Hulu in March, taking back shows like “Saturday Night Live” and “The Voice.” Hulu still has the rights to older titles such as “Law & Order SVU,” “Friday Night Lights,” and “30 Rock,“ among others.

In February, Paramount Global took “South Park” from competitor HBO Max in a $500 million deal. The long-running comedy will stream exclusively on Paramount+ in 2025. “Harry Potter” is also leaving the service on August 30. The film franchise appeared on Peacock in the beginning of July.

When NBCUniversal took the streaming rights to “Yellowstone” in 2020, the show was brought to Peacock. Even though Paramount owns the rights, Paramount+ didn’t launch until the next year, which is why the company isn’t licensed to stream it on the platform. You can watch it on its linear channel Paramount Network.

Yesterday, Comcast released its second-quarter results, revealing that Peacock’s subscriber base has stalled to 13 million subscribers and losses widened to $467 million.

Hulu (Disney), HBO Max (Warner Bros. Discovery), and Paramount are set to release their quarterly earnings reports next week.

HBO’s new ‘House of the Dragon’ trailer offers a peek at the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel

Hulu is turning Spotify’s most popular playlist into a new docuseries, ‘RapCaviar Presents’