Starz signed a multiyear agreement with Universal for the studio’s U.S. live-action films to become available exclusively across Starz platforms in the post pay-one window immediately after their pay-one windows, it said Thursday. The deal, which includes the Jurassic World franchise, wraps in select Universal library movies and titles from Focus Features and Blumhouse.
Netflix is in for another quarter of “modest subscriber growth” when it reports Q2 results July 20, Canaccord Genuity wrote investors Wednesday. Net subscriber additions slowed due to the “strong pull-forward” of subscription VOD adoption during 2020's first half, when the company added 26 million new accounts, it said. “Investors likely will be focused on how much this metric can rebound during 2H21 as consumer behavior normalizes and the release schedule strengthens,” after months in which COVID-19 halted content production, the analyst firm said: “We expect the return of numerous popular original series and a slew of new titles across genres and formats to drive a notable uptick in subscriber acquisition.” Netflix's April 20 projection expected 1 million paid net adds for Q2, compared with 15.77 million in the 2020 quarter, when most of the world went into lockdown.
The FCC should grant an extension of commenting deadlines for refreshing the record on the 2018 quadrennial broadcast ownership review, said a filing in docket 18-349 from Common Cause, Free Press, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and NAB. Comments are due Aug. 2, replies Aug. 30, and the groups want the deadlines extended to Sept. 2 and Oct.1. “The proceeding raises many complex legal and economic issues that the Joint Filers will want to address through research, updates to previously filed material, and new information,” they said.
About 3.2 million consumers went to the movies Thursday-Sunday at AMC Theatres locations, setting a new “post-reopening weekend attendance record,” said the theater chain Monday. The figure included more than 2.5 million who went to AMC U.S. theaters, it said. Disney’s Black Widow grossed an estimated $80 million for its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, breaking the previous post-reopening record set by Universal’s F9 two weekends earlier, said AMC. Black Widow debuted simultaneously as a $29.99 premier access streaming option on Disney+.
Low-power TV owner HC2 will change its name to Innovate, effective by the end of Q3, said a news release Friday. It didn’t say if this will trickle down to the HC2 Broadcasting division. The company didn’t comment.
CBS and Fox affiliates continued to argue that approval of AT&T's spinoff of its U.S. MVPD business should be conditioned on DirecTV providing local-into-local service in all 210 designated market areas (see 2105040055), in conversations with aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, said International Bureau filings (here and here) Tuesday.
Hisense is the first smart TV platform to get certification for European Telecommunication Standards Institute standard ETSI EN 303 645, said grantor TUV Rheinland. The standard regulates cybersecurity baseline requirements for consumer IoT products such as user privacy protection and primary network attacks prevention.
Netflix continues to lead living room TV viewing, Cowen wrote investors Thursday, citing a proprietary survey showing 28% of respondents named it as the best way to view video content, “well ahead of other streaming and linear services.” YouTube was second at 15%, followed by basic cable at 10%, Amazon Prime Video at 9% and Hulu, HBO Max and Disney+ all below 7%. Nearly 13% selected “other” in the increasingly crowded over-the-top video space. Cowen analyst John Blackledge expects net paid subscriber additions of 1.2 million, which is above Netflix’s guidance of 1 million, when it reports Q2 earnings July 20. Shares are down 3% since Q1 results in April and 2% for the year, after a pandemic-fueled 67% surge last year when Netflix added 37 million subscribers. Netflix is “working through the pull forward of sub adds from the pandemic” and expects a “robust” second-half content slate, said Blackledge. Netflix's broad and growing content catalog, covering various genres, is a competitive advantage, he said.
Legislation introduced in the House and Senate to create ground rules for the government in seeking confidential source information from the media “would prevent government overreach in obtaining confidential information that would expose anonymous sources and jeopardize the public’s right to know,” said the News Media Alliance in a news release Thursday. “We must do more to protect journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources used in investigative reporting, which are often crucial to helping to shed light on important public matters,” said NMA President David Chavern in the release. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., introduced the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act in the House on Thursday. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate Monday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Vizio certified Google and six other firms for meeting technology specifications of the Open Addressable Ready (OAR) standard and successfully enabling addressable TV advertising campaigns, said Vizio Thursday. Vizio surpassed 11.2 million U.S. addressable TVs (see 2106090024) last month and successfully launched live addressable TV ad campaigns with top TV networks, it said. “Addressable advertising is going to play an important role in the future of TV advertising, and we are working to ensure scale, standards and technology to power this future,” said Vizio Chief Innovation Officer Zeev Neumeier. OAR members include AMC Networks, Comcast NBCUniversal, Discovery Networks, Disney, E.W. Scripps, Fox, Hearst Television, Univision, ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia. Vizio is the lone TV company. Google received Project OAR certification for Google Ad Manager video and advanced TV solutions enabling programmer partners to deliver addressable ads on Vizio SmartCast TVs. Certification also allows technology partners to work more closely with OAR steering committee members including Disney’s Media Networks, WarnerMedia, Comcast NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, Discovery, Hearst Television, AMC Networks, Fox, Scripps and Univision. It also allows for working with agency advisory committee members Publicis Media, Omnicom Media, GroupM, IPG/Magna, Dentsu Aegis Network, Havas, Horizon Media and RPA, Vizio said.