I wrote about cuts coming to David Ellison’s $6.6 billion in sports rights, why women are disappearing from Hollywood’s C-suites and Peter Rice’s challenges after Bela Bajaria’s ouster.
Is HBO suddenly flush with cash? Judging by the flurry of deals Casey Bloys and his team have announced since David Ellison took over, you’d certainly think so. But I’ve been talking to insiders, and there’s more to this apparent spending spree than meets the eye.
First though, I’ve got a Heated Rivalry update — sort of. A year after the hockey romance took the TV industry by storm, its halo is brighter than ever. This just in: Yaga, featuring Hudson Williams in a dual role, is popping on AMC+. The Canadian supernatural drama has become the No. 1 series launch on the platform both among viewership and subscriber acquisition since AMC+ launched six years ago. It’s also a nice score for producer Bell Media’s Canadian streamer Crave, the OG home of Heated Rivalry.
Meanwhile, back here stateside, I’m digging into the uncertainty surrounding Disney’s looming layoffs and Debra OConnell’s long-awaited TV reorganization — see the current “matrix on a matrix” org chart about to be blown up below, where I also get into today’s news about the company’s comms team. Plus, I talk with the creator of my newest obsession, Hulu’s Phony, about the six-way bidding war that landed his show.
But first, is Ellison really letting Bloys loose with the checkbook? Or is there a little Hollywood sleight of hand going on here?
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