Four cities in Indiana are suing Netflix and other video companies, claiming that online video providers and satellite TV operators should have to pay the same franchise fees that cable companies pay for using local rights of way.
“Children will be protected from advertising based on any past online activities or any previously collected data in the subject app or anywhere else on the internet,” lawyers for parents of young children tell a federal judge.
Analysts and theater owners believe, if successful, Mulan could signal a sea change wherein theatrical tentpoles become premium tier offerings driving revenue above and beyond base subscriptions.
Disney+ content chief Agnes Chu is leaving the Mouse House to head up Condé Nast Entertainment’s video push. Chu, who was SVP, content for the nascent streamer, is set to become president of the publishing company’s studio and distribution division. She joins in September and reports to Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch.
Disney shares jumped 4.5% Friday with investors encouraged by new federal guidelines setting a timetable for reopening venues including theaters and its theme parks. The company’s market cap jumped to over $192 billion on the news, ending Netflix’s two-day run as being worth more than Disney.
Exclusives
Executives at the VP, SVP and EVP level at the company are upset at the coronavirus-driven pay cuts that represent a 20-30% slash in their earnings, saying that the decision to instigate them was unilateral and offers no end date. Affected employees were also given only two days to sign the amended contracts.
Sky is on the verge of a deal with Disney to bring the Hollywood superpower’s new streaming service to millions of British homes. The pair were putting the final touches to a multiyear partnership over the weekend. Sky’s rivals Virgin Media and BT will be able to carry the Disney+ app, however, they will be unable to offer Disney+ fully integrated with other programming.
The company has bumped up the global launch of Disney+ by a week. It will now roll out in eight countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland on March 24, the company announced Tuesday. Disney didn’t explain why the launch date was moved up from March 31.
A first-in-the-nation Maine law seeking to force cable providers to offer a la carte services has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in a decision that renders the new requirement unlikely to ever take effect.
The Walt Disney Company’s new SVOD service signed up an impressive 24 million new users in November, said Cowen analyst John Blackledge, rendering an estimate that blows the doors off previous equity research projections. He said the new service cost Netflix about 1 million subscribers.
There are more than 10 million reasons why The Walt Disney Co. chairman and CEO Bob Iger is Multichannel News’s executive of the year for 2019. The first 10 million are the larger-than-expected number of people who signed up for the Disney+ streaming service on Nov. 12, the first day it was available.
Disney+ looks like the future of the house of mouse. It could also define the CEO’s legacy when he retires in 2021.
Apple, Disney and AT&T’s WarnerMedia want to jump-start their challenges to Netflix by offering freebies and deep discounts on emerging streaming plans.
The deal that the Walt Disney Co. cut with Verizon to give Disney+ free to some Verizon mobile and broadband customers will result in nine million subscribers for the new streaming service in its first year, according to an estimate by analyst Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson Research.
Some 42% of millennials say they’d be likely to subscribe to the offering of Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+, a Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult survey finds.
The 21 popular local sports channels were pulled from the satellite carrier and Sling TV after Dish and Disney were unable to come to terms on carriage fees. Disney is in the process of selling the RSNs to Sinclair, which is said not to have been involved in the negotiations. No word on how the impasse might impact Sinclair’s ability to finance its $9.6B acquisition of the channels.
The Hollywood mega-studio has struck a settlement with the creators of Home Improvement to put an end to a six-year-old lawsuit that resulted in a consequential appellate ruling and was within weeks of going to trial.
FX and National Geographic will remain on Dish Network as negotiations continue with Disney over carriage fees past a midnight deadline. FX, FXX, FXM, National Geographic and National Geographic Wild […]
Disney’s Investor Day culminated with a special clip of The Simpsons gang saluting their new Disney “corporate overlords,” leading to the announcement that Disney+, the upcoming Disney direct-to-consumer platform, will be the exclusive SVOD home of the classic 20th Century Fox TV-produced series.
Disney Plus, has been in the works for more than year, but Thursday marked the first time that the longtime entertainment powerhouse has laid out plans for its attack on Netflix and a formidable cast of competitors, including Amazon, HBO Go and Showtime Anytime. The new service will cost $6.99 a month when it launches Nov. 12 in the U.S., with a full-year option of $69.99, or $5.83 a month.
Among them: How it will fit in the larger Disney digital offerings, and how much it will be able to disrupt the streaming business generally.
Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, will test Marvel’s power, the reach of the Star Wars galaxy and the magic of animated classics spanning more than 80 years, coupled with the new-found bulk provided by its acquisition of Fox Entertainment assets.
Wall Street’s Take On TV’s Future
Among a NATPE panel’s predictions: four global mega-companies, digital’s growing presence and cable’s declining influence, news and sports as key to traditional media’s survival.
Veteran TV executive Joe Earley has been named head of marketing for Disney’s new subscription streaming service. Earley will serve as executive vice president, marketing ad operations for Disney+.
When Disney finally closes its deal to acquire 21st Century Fox’s film and TV assets early next year, the company will gain — among many things — ownership of Hulu, which has never before had just one company hold a controlling stake. But with Disney also readying the launch of its own Disney-branded streaming service next year, it will now have ownership of two competing streaming services, which begs the question: How will Disney be able to launch Disney+ while allowing Hulu to continue to grow?
Disney has finally given a name to its upcoming streaming service. It’s Disney+, but there’s still no word on the launch date or price for the OTT platform.
With Comcast out of the picture, Disney will now likely acquire most of Fox and double its size with enough content and assets to square off against Netflix. Disney will also get access to a range of new cable channels in the deal to help populate its own streaming service.
In the latest sign that Disney’s plans for a streaming service continue at full speed, Disney has hired Kevin Swint as the senior vice president/general manager for it.
