Kevin Mayer, Walt Disney Co.’s longtime strategy chief, is moving from behind the scenes to a starring role. Mayer, who previously weighed acquisitions for Disney, will be responsible for executing the company’s shift from traditional TV to on-demand viewing.
“We want to do this and I think we’ve got to open that door,” NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack said on Wednesday. The service would operate alongside NBC’s cable channel, MSNBC, which benefits from the interest in politics and frequently is the second most popular cable channel in primetime after Fox News Channel. Lack wouldn’t reveal any details about how NBC is looking to do it beyond saying it’s on the drawing board.
2018 is likely to finally be the year that more Americans get news online than from TV (we were almost there last year). Right now, it’s primarily an older crowd that watches TV news: 58% of those over 65 often get news from cable, for instance, versus just 10% of those 18-29, according to Pew. But — young people have to get their hard news video somewhere, right? (Uh…right?) Enter Facebook and Netflix.
The Walt Disney Co. today unveiled a sweeping reorganization that prepares the company to integrate 21st Century Fox assets. Two Disney executives received major promotions.
Exclusives
On The NAB Exhibit Floor: Artel Video
Artel Video | Booth SU6102 | www.artel.com Artel Video Systems is a provider of innovative, real-time multimedia delivery solutions serving global markets. At the 2018 NAB Show, Artel will feature […]
They do not intend to use the shows to respond to President Trump or conservative critics. The two have talked about shows that highlight inspirational stories.
Sports-first, live streaming TV service fuboTV continues to add stations. With this week’s addition of another six, FuboTV now has a total of 227 stations on its platform (including CBS, Fox and NBC O&Os), plus access […]
A Discovery OTT service would enter an increasingly crowded field. Viacom will launch a direct-to-consumer OTT offering built around library content later this year. Viacom CEO Bob Bakish says his company’s OTT service would “complement what we are doing in the MVPD space,” rather than compete with it.
YouTube Studio, the video sharing network’s revamped channel management system, launched into beta last June, will now become the default experience for creators. The company announced today that YouTube Studio will began to reach many creators in the weeks ahead, though the option to switch back to the Classic view will remain available.
Netflix has now overtaken McDonald’s and General Electric in market value. It’s edging up on IBM. More importantly, it’s nearing the value of some of its toughest competitors, like Disney and Comcast. Netflix surpassed Time Warner in 2017 and it’s long been worth more than CBS or Viacom.
CBS Corp. COO Joseph 
forecast more investment in the company’s direct-to-consumer services, CBS All Access and Showtime, albeit not in the thin air of Netflix’s level of spending. “This is an arms race to get there,” he said today in a keynote appearance at Deutsche Bank’s Media, Telecom & Business Services Conference.
The website’s efforts to police misinformation have become more visible since the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., last month.
Jeff Franklin is gone as showrunner of Netflix’s Fuller House and Warner Bros. TV has declined to renew its overall deal with the TV veteran. According to multiple sources, the studio’s decision comes after it has received complaints about Franklin’s behavior in the writers’ room and on the set of the series, which is a sequel to the family-friendly “TGIF” sitcom Full House that was a staple of ABC’s schedule in the 1980s and ’90s.
CBS Sports HQ is available on CBSSports.com; the CBS Sports app for key connected TV devices including Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku; the CBS Sports mobile app for iOS and Android; CBSN and the CBS All Access subscription service.
CBS has been one of the most aggressive networks in capturing new and existing viewers as they shift toward OTT consumption, launching both All Access and the free CBSN streaming news channel in the fall of 2014. (Showtime’s OTT app also falls under CBS Interactive’s purview.) Today, it’s set to add another streaming channel with the launch of CBS Sports HQ, which will be followed by an entertainment-themed channel later this year.
In the battle for video content, Amazon appears poised to up the stakes. According to estimates from JPMorgan’s Doug Anmuth, Amazon is expected to invest approximately $5 billion in video content this year, with an emphasis on big-budget original shows and sports rights.
Watching popular TV shows such as The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones has become so easy online that millions are not only logging in to a plethora of new services, they’re also paying for it — including 2.2 million subscribers at Sling TV, parent Dish Network revealed for the first time Wednesday.
Mark and Jay Duplass are entering into a new agreement with Netflix that gives the streaming giant worldwide rights to their next four upcoming films.
Ryan Murphy’s nine-figure Netflix payday prooves that traditional TV’s creative standard-bearers face a moment in which they appear unable to stop their digital challengers from poaching top talent at will.
Right now, each of the players is acting smartly given its position — but all eyes are on Amazon.
