Paramount Global is unveiling today a corporate image campaign that builds on the sentiment of a popular self-help affirmation: You are loved, and you are enough. Just in time for media upfront season, the company’s “Popular is Paramount” marketing push is designed to burnish its image within Hollywood and on…
Comcast
In the chase for scale in streaming, it’s the technology behind NBCUniversal’s Peacock that could be the saving grace for African SVOD service Showmax. Pan-African pay-TV operator MultiChoice revealed on Thursday that it will be relaunching its regional streamer Showmax with Peacock technology. NBCUniversal and the U.K.’s Sky will take…
Rideback Rise, a non-profit accelerator focused on developing BIPOC-created film, TV, digital and audio content, launched by Dan Lin’s Rideback, has added to its leadership team, naming film producer Tracey Bing (“Nappily Ever After,” “Southside With You”) as head of content and veteran philanthropy advisor and former Charity: Water executive Sabrina…
SkyShowtime will complete its European roll-out this month with two remaining launches in Spain and Andorra, Variety can reveal. The two markets, which will launch on Feb. 28, take SkyShowtime’s footprint to over 20 markets and completes its European configuration, allowing the platform to now focus on building out a…
Comcast is ending Peacock’s free ride on Xfinity in the next few months. Since the streaming service launched in 2020, the cable giant has provided access to the ad-supported version of Peacock Premium (regularly $4.99/month) to Xfinity TV and broadband customers for no extra charge ever. However, as of June…
Tom Martin has been named head of business affairs and general counsel for the CW. He joins the currently restructuring network after most recently serving as head of business affairs for MasterClass. There, he negotiated deals to set up classes taught by Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Bob Iger, Aaron…
With Bob Iger back in the CEO seat at Disney, will he look to grab full ownership of Hulu from Comcast — or will the company sell its stake as it looks to refocus its streaming portfolio? Iger, not yet 90 days in his reprise as Disney’s CEO, was noncommittal…
NBC’s Peacock streaming hub is making its way in the world — but the cost of doing so is becoming onerous. Cable-and-entertainment giant Comcast said it managed to add five million new subscribers to its Peacock, but generated substantial investment to do so, even as it had to navigate a…
A post-pandemic ad-spend boom has already begun to recede. Two of the world’s biggest media-buying firms projected a slowdown in the rate of ad-sales growth for both 2022 and 2023, citing factors that include a reduced pace of business in China as well as a pullback by several key advertising…
Daisy Ridley will star in and executive produce the series adaptation of Nina de Gramont’s best-selling novel “The Christie Affair” for Miramax TV, which is set to develop and produce the murder mystery. The series is set to be a reimagining of Agatha Christie’s 11-day disappearance in 1926, which mirrored many…
Disney now owns 100% of BAMTech, the streaming technology services group that powers Disney+ and the media company’s other direct-to-consumer services. Earlier this month, Disney paid $900 million to Major League Baseball to buy out the league’s remaining 15% stake in BAMTech, the media conglomerate disclosed in an SEC filing…
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “there are no second acts in American lives.” By returning to the Walt Disney Company and resuming his former role as chief executive officer, Bob Iger will attempt to disprove that maxim. But if Iger’s first stint at Disney was marked by growth and…