☀️WBD to Layoff ~1,000, Top Analyst Calls for Breakup
Studios license more to NETFLIX / New WNBA rights deal details / New DIS streaming engagement effort
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY, July 17, 2024.
Where apparently Shari’s coming to Broadway! Axios reports that America’s favorite Redstone (sorry Brent) is a co-producer on the show Job, a psychological thriller which is moving from Off-Broadway to debut on the Great White Way on Monday in previews.
The show is also produced by Alex Levy, who runs a speechwriting & strategy firm that counts Shari as a client.
AND: Emmy nominations happen at 11:30 a.m. ET.
ALSO: Bob Iger & Willow Bay made their purchase of the NWSL⚽️’s ANGEL CITY team official, setting a new record team valuation for the league at $250M.
They’ll control the team and Bay will control its board, and Axios figures the minimum investment here is circa $87M.
Iger’s DISNEY pay package for 2023 alone totaled $31M.
$50M of the investment will be used to support future growth of the club, but no real specifics there.
The NWSL still has to approve the deal.
The NWSL’s annual TV rights package brings in $60M total for all teams.
BTW: Details on the large increases the WNBA will be getting in the new TV rights deal just dropped as well, I’ll break that down below and what’s still to come.
PLUS: OZY MEDIA founder Carlos Watson was found guilty on several fraud and other charges and faces 37 years in prison. Sentencing is in November.
THEN: Car repossessions have shot up 23% in the first half of 2024 vs. 2023, according to new data cited by Bloomberg. The number was also +14% over the corresponding time period in 2019. Things are getting real out there, folks.
KUDOS: To Glen Powell for always keeping a level head and having a backup plan (though pretty sure he’s good) — he’ll be finishing his UT degree with a mix of remote classwork and flying to Texas from London this fall as he shoots The Running Man.
IN TODAY’S EDITION
Another summer, another WBD layoff . . . although this one is bigger than the trims that happened throughout last summer (equally as unsettling for employees, of course). This as a top Wall Street analyst says WBD isn’t working and should explore a breakup of the company. Take a look at the levers WBD seems to be pulling this summer, and what that potentially does for the company.
Remember when the studios decided to keep all of their content to themselves? Yeah, we’re back to 2013 tactics — I mean, do you know how many people NETFLIX reaches in the U.S.?? 🤯
Get the latest snapshot into the size of impending local TV rights 💰 abyss that MLB teams are facing . . . with NBA and NHL pretty much in lockstep.
Axel F had a rough week 2 on the NETFLIX Films chart — see the comps and get all of the latest numbers, including another new hit from Italy.
The latest sports TV audience roundup shows the growing power of the Latino audience in the U.S., and some very interesting soccer vs. NBA comps.
Plus a busy day of TV and movie biz developments and more so let’s get moving.
