Paramount

Primaries are now well underway, and the 2022 midterm elections are a focus for news organizations already preparing for what’s certain to be a contentious 2024 presidential campaign. With that in mind, The Hollywood Reporter highlights some of the Beltway-based news personalities and executives poised to play a leading role in the months (and years) ahead.

There were constant reminders of the diminished influence of broadcast television networks this past week, when entertainment companies Paramount, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal and Fox hawked their upcoming wares to advertisers in flashy New York presentations. None was more glaring than the fact that Craig Erwich and Kelly Kahl, chiefs of the ABC and CBS entertainment divisions, watched from the sidelines. (Image: Associated Press)

The next chapter of what Paramount+ is calling Yellowstone‘s “origin story” — which began with the wildly popular 1883 prequel spinoff — will introduce viewers to a new generation of the series’ central family, the Duttons. Through them, per an official description, the series will “explore the early 20th century when pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression all plague the mountain west, and the Duttons who call it home.”

Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone agreed to 14 movies, in addition to the weekly Comedy Central sitcom, when they signed their $900 million ViacomCBS deal last year.

Paramount Global is temporarily halting its operations in Russia and giving $1 million to support humanitarian relief for Ukraine.

The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing announced Wednesday that the awards will be handed out June 12 and aired on CBS, but instead of a three-hour presentation, producers are adding an extra hour ahead of the telecast that will stream only on Paramount+. The broadcast will be live across the country, starting at 7 p.m. ET, and the main event will be live at 8.

Over its 75 years, the station has punched above its weight, playing an important role in Los Angeles’ history and setting trends that revolutionized TV news. Despite belt-tightening and ownership changes at the station, along with dramatic shifts in viewer behavior over the last decade, KTLA’s newscasts continue to attract hundreds of thousands of viewers. Its coverage of the annual Tournament of Roses Parade still draws millions; Angelenos are particularly partial to the station’s ad-free 8 a.m. telecast.

ViacomCBS — now Paramount — President-CEO Bob Bakish’s two-and-a-half-hour presentation on Tuesday was heavy on talk of streaming but lacking any noticeable discussion of CBS News. Could this foreshadow the company getting out of the news business?

Shares of ViacomCBS are down more than 20% in early trading as Wall Street digests the company’s streaming strategy, outlook and financials announced after the market closed Tuesday, and clearly has some issues.  MoffettNathanson said: “Despite the big announcement of ViacomCBS changing its name … we are left with a similar question as we had last year: will the company be able to grow EBITDA and FCF again to match prior levels? In short, unfortunately, we still did not learn anything to help us believe the answer will be yes, at least for the foreseeable future.”

In their last outings as leaders of ViacomCBS, the executive team led by Shari Redstone and Bob Bakish finally started to sound like they have a solid plan to compete in streaming. On the day ViacomCBS unveiled its corporate rebrand to Paramount, starting today, the company put on a nearly three-hour virtual presentation for investors that demonstrated how much its operations have been turned inside out to focus on streaming growth opportunities. (Thomas Woo photo)

South Park, which will continue to air new episodes on Comedy Central, will see its vast library make the move from HBO Max to Paramount+ in 2025. Internationally, the long-running animated comedy will be available on Paramount+ next year. New episodes will launch on the streamer in the U.S. and globally starting with season 27 in 2024. Beavis and Butt-Head, meanwhile, will return with new episodes this year and forgo its debut on Comedy Central in favor of Paramount+.

The biggest news of Tuesday’s call with analysts was a renaming of the company built by the late Sumner Redstone — eliminating his long-used Viacom, while CBS remains for the TV network. But beginning Wednesday, Feb. 16, the parent company will called Paramount. President-CEO Bob Bakish did hail the top shows on CBS as examples of how the company is leading on all platforms. But the focus of the presentation was clearly streaming — primarily Paramount+,

ViacomCBS execs Bob Bakish and Shari Redstone on Tuesday announced that the merged company will be known as simply Paramount, beginning Wednesday, Feb. 16. (The parent company’s legal name is technically Paramount Global.) Shares of Paramount will trade on the Nasdaq as PARAA (class A common), PARA (Class B common) and PARAP (Preferred Stock), beginning with trading on Feb. 17 at 9:30 a.m. ET.

While the venerable newsmagazine continues to be one of the most popular shows on television, it’s now 0-for-2 in recent attempts to expand into different platforms.

Filming on Paramount+ drama Star Trek: Picard has been shut down since Monday following a sizable COVID-19 outbreak. Sources say more than 50 members of the large production tested positive on Monday, which was the first day of work after the Christmas break. The Patrick Stewart-led series has one of television’s biggest crews, numbering more than 450 staffers. The infections impacted multiple zones, including cast in zone A.

As Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe expands, so does its audience. After Yellowstone’s” Season 4 premiere in November soared to 14.7 million viewers — an impressive feat in today’s bleak linear TV landscape — 1883, the neo-western prequel, had the biggest new series premiere on cable since 2015.

Four of the biggest ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) platforms in the U.S. generated $3.5 billion in advertising revenue in the 12 months leading up to September 2021. That’s according to new data from Kantar, which said that Hulu accounted for most of the ad sales over the period with $2.1 billion, followed by Paramount+ at $822 million, Peacock with $279 million and Tubi with $250 million.

Until midnight on October 20, subscribers can pay $10 for the ad-supported tier (with limited ads on select Paramount+ programming) or $13 for the ad-free option. As stand-alones, the two tiers of Paramount+ currently cost $5 and $10, while Showtime is at $11.

The Television Academy said Thursday that attendees at next month’s Primetime Emmy Awards and Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be required to provide a negative COVID test in addition to being fully vaccinated. This year’s ceremonies are being limited to nominees and a guest with the rise of the Delta variant this summer hampering the return to fully live in-person events in Los Angeles and around the country.

South Park has been renewed through Season 30 at Comedy Central and 14 original movies based on the show have been ordered at Paramount+, as part of a new deal signed between MTV Entertainment Studios and co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

“He’s our future,” one CBS Studios executive said of Alex Kurtzman, who has a lucrative contract to expand the Star Trek universe — and with it the streaming service’s audience.

The ViacomCBS streaming service has ordered a sixth season of the legal drama starring Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald. The pickup comes less than halfway through the show’s fifth season, which premiered June 24; Paramount+ releases episodes weekly.

ViacomCBS on Wednesday unveiled its content leadership structure for its global streaming services. The moves include appointing Tanya Giles, currently GM of MTV Entertainment Group, as “a centralized programming head” to oversee content strategy for Paramount+ and Pluto TV globally.

At $4.99 per month, the ad-supported version of Paramount+, launching today, is a bit less expensive than the CBS All Access Limited Commercials version it’s replacing. One reason: Unlike the All Access plan, which cost $5.99 per month, the new, limited-commercials Paramount+ Essential service does not provide access to local CBS stations.

The former agent, FX exec and Anonymous Content manager will continue to oversee Paramount TV Studios on top of absorbing some of Julie McNamara’s responsibilities.

Julie McNamara, EVP and head of programming for Paramount+, is leaving after 15 years at CBS and ViacomCBS. One of the top programming executives at the combined company, McNamara has been overseeing the original content strategy for ViacomCBS’ streaming service. Tom Ryan, ViacomCBS’s president-CEO, streaming, just announced McNamara’s exit internally, and she also shared the news with her staff.

Producers of the telecast announced Wednesday that the Tonys will be held Sept. 26 and will air on CBS as well as Paramount+. As if making up for lost time, the usual three-hour event has added a fourth hour.

The series from Robert and Michelle King would join fellow network shows SEAL Team and Clarice in migrating to the streaming platform.