COMCAST declines to give any PEACOCK user updates for first time
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COMCAST declines to give any PEACOCK user updates for first time
A QUIET PLACE spinoff loses director / SIRIUS hits new subscriber high / WORLD SERIES sets opening game low (sans 2020 covid series)
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY October 28, 2021.
Where I was just doing a check-in on DISCOVERY’s stock early this morning (yes, that’s something I do over cereal - but really that can’t be too surprising 🤓), and … apparently they haven’t had a great go of it since announcing the WARNER MEDIA deal back in May 😳.
ALSO: Today is the day I guess we… await (🤷♂️?) the new name for FACEBOOK corporate and details on that $10 Billion Metaverse investment. A universe that according to an AXIOS piece this week… will likely not have any inhabitants below 35 years old. #getoffmylawn
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
“A Quiet Place” spinoff movie loses its director
Jeff Nichols (“Mud”, “Loving”) departs project to work on a Sci-Fi movie he is also developing at PARAMOUNT. So if ya got a director… the door is open on a fast-track project. /Deadline
The first of 14 PARAMOUNT+ “South Park” movies will drop on Thanksgiving: “South Park: Post Covid”
Trey & Matt are doing 2-per-year for 7 years, and the 2nd movie for 2021 will hit Dec TBD.
An interview with Trey & Matt is in the link too for any SP fans… where they clarify PAR+ is the one who’s calling them “movies” - they are not (sounds like they’ll be in the hour-long duration vicinity). /THR
ALSO IN MOVIES
Felicity Jones (“Rogue One”, “Theory of Everything”) starring in NEW REGENCY pic “Blood Mother” about a woman who discovers her baby is inhuman and does the “unimaginable” to keep him alive.🧐 So I guess she imagines it? /Deadline
Former SEARCHLIGHT co-head Nancy Utley signs first look Film + TV production deal at CHERNIN ENTERTAINMENT. Ergo NETFLIX where CHERNIN ENT has a deal. Peter Chernin and Nancy go back a ways of course at 20th CENTURY FOX, Nancy’s company will be called LAKE ELLYN ENTERTAINMENT - no initial projects announced with the deal but she will focus on writer-director driven projects. /THR
📺 THE TV SET
WORLD SERIES opens with 10.8 Million viewers for Game 1
Obviously bigger than last year’s Covid series, but otherwise it’s the lowest watched WORLD SERIES Game 1 ever. And about on par (ish) with FOX’S THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL audiences. /THR
ALSO IN TV
HBO orders Season 3 of “The Righteous Gemstones”. /ScreenRant
APPLE TV+ adds Forest Whitaker, Marion Cotillard, Tobey Maguire to “Extrapoliations”, the Scott Z. Burns (“Contagion”) limited anthology series of stories affected by climate change. /Deadline
IN THE HOLLYWOOD CORP COMMUNICATIONS SUITE
ABC Head of Communications Naomi Bulochnikov adds DISNEY TV divisions, ABC NEWS, FREEFORM and DISNEY Syndication under her Comms leadership. ABC & HULU Marketing execs Aaron Goldman, Erin Weir, and Barrie Gruner also add some responsibilities, details in the link for the inclined. /Deadline
PARAMOUNT TV Studios SVP of Comms, Mia Ammer is departing, her position reportedly was eliminated. SHOWTIME Comms EVP Erin Calhoun will add the PAR TV communications duties to her oversight. /Deadline
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
COMCAST gives no PEACOCK subscriber or free user info updates for the first time since its launch
Not a great look. This is as of 9:05am… the earnings call is still going on, but nothing included in their presentation, and no analysts seem to be asking oddly enough.
COMCAST did reveal almost all PEACOCK usage on TV’s comes from COMCAST and COX subscribers (distribution deal there), not other streaming boxes (ROKU, APPLE TV, AMAZON FIRE etc). But otherwise… yeah. “Halloween Kills” has been it’s most popular non-live event programming thus far, but no numbers revealed.
PEACOCK is launching in UK next month, APPLE TV+ app coming to COMCAST FLEX and SKY streaming platforms.
AT COMCAST:
BROADBAND: Added 300k subscribers - hits 31.7 Million (29 Mil residential, 2.3 Mil busines)
CABLE TV: Lost 408k subscribers, drops to 17.8 Million.
They’ve lost 1.4 Million Cable TV subscribers over the past year.
PHONE/MOBILE: WIRED home customers continue to drop, now at 9.2 Million residential customers.
MOBILE is growing, adds 285k in Q3, now at 3.7 Million
SIRIUS XM paying subscribers increase 616k, hits 32 Million total
That’s almost double the amount of adds from Q2, and they’re on track for a better year than 2019. Obviously 2020 wasn’t ideal.
The company did lose 828k freeloader subscribers, so the overall total dropped from 34.5 Million, to 34.2 Million people who have access to SIRIUSXM.
PANDORA lost 59k paid subscribers, still hanging around 6.5 Million total. and Lost 6 Million free users from this time last year, down to 52 Million. Or about 25% of SPOTIFY’s Free user base.
SIRIUS Q3 Revenue was $2.2 Billion with $343 Million in net profit.
For reference, SPOTIFY’s Revenue was $2.7 Billion (but from 172 Million pay subscribers, or over 5X as many as SIRIUS). But unlike SIRIUS, profit is still scarce for SPOTIFY at $12 Million, since all of their money goes to record labels for royalties. Well ok not all of it, but yeah. /THR
ALSO IN MEDIA
WWE enters NFT biz with broadcast-partner FOX’s BLOCKCHAIN CREATIVE LABS division, which will create NFT’s from the WWE’s IP. The WWE is the FOX division’s first external partner. /NextTV
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
GOOGLE up almost 5% on news of making all the ad money on the internet in Q3
LIONSGATE down over 8%
TWITTER -10% on not overly promising Q4 outlook
SNAP -6% kind of in tandem with TWITTER
SPOTIFY +8% on earnings news / subscriber growth
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
HBOMAX “Love Life” Season 2 - Stars William Jackson Harper as a recently divorced 30something looking to rebuild his life and find a lasting love in NYC - Anna Kendrick is involved in a smaller, sorta transitionary role. Stream or Add to Your List here - First 3 episodes drop today, then 3 next Thurs, and final 4 on Nov 11.
HBOMAX “Selena + Chef” Season 3 - Stream or Add to Your List here
FOX THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL - The undefeated CARDINALS vs. PACKERS at 8p
If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
DISNEY PIXAR “Lightyear” teaser trailer. Chris Evans as the title character in this “Toy Story” ‘origin story’… I guess? It’s the movie featuring the character that the “Buzz” toy character was based on… if you’re following along there. Definitely a big pivot from the Randy Newman vibes to the David Bowie vibes. Coming this Summer TBD.
PARAMOUNT+ “The Real World Homecoming: Los Angeles” trailer. Reunion of the show’s 2nd season back in 1993. This “homecoming” reunion premieres on the very-thematic day before Thanksgiving, Wed Nov 24. Wonder how much these folks get paid for doing this? 🤔
NETFLIX “Tiger King 2” season trailer. Premieres Wed Nov 17.
AMAZON PRIME “The Wheel of Time” series trailer. Fantasy-action series starring Rosamund Pike. First 3 episodes drop on Fri Nov 19
NETFLIX “True Story” limited series trailer. Kev Hart as a world famous comic playing his Philly hometown who has a wild night out with his estranged brother played by Wesley Snipes and… well think - what if “The Hangover” wasn’t a comedy. Premieres Wed Nov 24.
FOX “Monarch” series teaser. Pretty much feels like a Country Music version of “Empire”… not that that’s a bad idea. Susan Sarandon, Trace Atkins, and Anna Friel star, Premieres in January
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
If there’s a better song to start your day with… or quite frankly start anything with, it’s a high bar to surpass - even in the TRIBE catalog.
If you need new tunes:
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-Sean McNulty
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