 "FBoy Island" WB Discovery plans to downscale the size of HBO Max's reality programming department. About 70 employees -- roughly 14% of the staff working under HBO content chief Casey Bloys -- will be laid off as part of the restructure. More: - HBO Max's head of content, Sarah Aubrey, will focus her department's efforts on scripted series; she'll also begin collaborating on the company's international programming strategy.
- Some existing HBO Max reality series -- such as the dating competition "FBoy Island" -- will continue to run.
- HBO and HBO Max's original comedy teams will also be united into one group, under the supervision of executive VP Amy Gravitt.
- Most of HBO's reality and non-fiction content will now be farmed out to the existing team at Discovery.
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 According to a new report in The Wall Street Journal, YouTube plans to introduce an online platform for third-party streaming subscriptions. The so-called "channel store" -- similar to the Amazon Channels concept -- could launch as early as this fall. More: - YouTube has been nurturing this concept for a long while; The Information reported on a similar scheme in 2020.
- Bundling subscriptions via a "channels" system has become a popular trend in streaming, simplifying subscription management and bill-paying for consumers, while passing along a small cut of the proceeds to carriers.
- Before exiting the partnership, HBO Max had built up 4.5 million subscribers via Amazon Channels; WB Discovery is reportedly considering a renewal of the relationship.
- Walmart is also reportedly considering the launch of a similar platform.
WSJ
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DAILY CALENDAR MONDAY, AUGUST 15 LEGACY: THE TRUE STORY OF THE LA LAKERS: Expansive 10-part docuseries chronicling the history of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers franchise, featuring insights from Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, Metta World Peace, and many others. Lakers President Jeanie Buss appears in the series and executive produced; Antoine Fuqua directed. [Hulu] LOVE REVOLUTION: Teen romantic comedy series from South Korea, starring Park Ji-hoon as an outgoing high school student who's desperately pursuing the aloof, standoffish girl (Lee Ruby) of his dreams. [Hulu] LEARN TO SWIM: Indie romantic drama from first-time co-writer and director Thyrone Tommy which debuted at last year's Toronto Film Festival. It chronicles the tempestuous love affair between saxophone player Dezi (Thomas Antony Olajide) and singer Selma (Emma Ferreira). [Netflix] DEEPA & ANOOP: This new animated series for young kids is the first project from Mattel Television based on an original concept. It follows the colorful, musical adventures of 7-year-old Deepa and her magical color-changing baby elephant friend, Anoop. [Netflix]
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 CW's "Walker: Independence" Nexstar Media Group announced plans to acquire a 75% majority stake in The CW Network. Current owners Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery will each retain a 12.5% ownership share and will continue to produce original content for the network. More: - The deal is expected to close sometime during the third quarter of 2022.
- WB Discovery and Paramount have co-owned The CW since 2006, and the merging of the WB and UPN networks into a single entity.
- The CW has never rivaled the Big Three networks in terms of viewership or profitability; it brought in $272 million in revenue in 2020 but lost money overall for the year.
- Mark Pedowitz will remain chairman and CEO of the network following the close of the sale.
- Though several CW shows -- including "The Flash," "Nancy Drew," and "Superman & Lois" -- have received renewals for next season, and "Gotham Knights" is expected to debut, it's unknown what kind of overall programming changes Nexstar has planned for the network.
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 A message from ADOBE CONTENT Why modern headless CMS is essential to grow your business. The heart of any digital operation is content. No matter how much you have, the right content management system (CMS) will help you manage it all to create personalized, consistent brand experiences across web, mobile, apps, social, voice, in-person, and more. An agile CMS combined with a modern data asset management (DAM) system provides a single foundation for managing all your content. You’ll be able to quickly find assets, pull them into templates and other designs, reuse existing content, and automatically deliver AI-driven, personalized content across all channels. According to Forrester, brands with the strongest omnichannel customer engagement strategies see 10% year-over-year growth, a 10% increase in average order value, and a 25% increase in close rates. Read our new guide Opportunity is Calling. Answer it with Content to find out how to set up your content management, digital asset management, and analytics to serve the right experience to the right customer in the right way. Get The Guide
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 A new Time cover story goes behind the scenes with the cast and creators of Amazon's "Rings of Power," the "most expensive show ever made." The epic fantasy series, based on the writings of author JRR Tolkien, hits Prime Video on September 2. More: - Amazon is reportedly investing $1 billion on the series over the next several years.
- Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" is, by some accounts, the fourth best-selling book in history, behind only The Bible, Mao's "Little Red Book," and the Koran.
- Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay worked on several projects in development for JJ Abrams' Bad Robot, but won the job mainly via their lifelong dedication to Tolkien and "Lord of the Rings" and their deep knowledge of the text.
- The duo's pitch for the series -- a prequel to "The Lord of the Rings" inspired by the rise of Sauron and the forging of the Rings of Power -- was based on Tolkien's own appendices to the book "The Return of the King."
- "Game of Thrones" vet Bryan Cogman advised the duo as a consulting producer.
TIME
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 Netflix renewed the animated sci-fi anthology series "Love, Death, and Robots" for a fourth season. The show's nine-episode third season premiered back in May. More: - The show has picked up 12 Emmy Awards to date, including a recent jury award for "Best Individual Achievement in Animation" for the Season 3 episode "Jibaro."
- Each episode of the series relates a different story in a different animation style, from a different creative team; they're all under 22 minutes in length.
- Filmmakers David Fincher and Tim Miller are among the show's executive producers; Jennifer Yuh Nelson serves as supervising director.
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 Guillermo del Toro's eight-episode Netflix horror anthology series "Cabinet of Curiosities" will premiere between Friday, October 25 and Tuesday, October 28. Two new episodes will arrive each day over the course of all four days, in the latest experimental twist to Netflix's release strategy. More: - The show will debut as part of the "Netflix and Chills" Halloween event.
- Del Toro serves as creator and co-showrunner of the series, alongside his "Shape of Water" collaborator J. Miles Dale; each episode tells a standalone story.
- The series features episodes directed by Del Toro himself, along with Panos Cosmatos ("Mandy"), David Prior ("The Empty Man"), Vincenzo Natali ("Splice"), Jennifer Kent ("The Babadook"), and others.
- Multi-episode debuts, followed by staggered weekly launches, have become a popular release format online, employed by Amazon recently for Season 4 of "The Boys" and Disney+ for the upcoming "Star Wars" series "Andor."
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- Actor Anne Heche died following a car accident in Los Angeles at age 53; she had recently appeared in the TV series "The Brave," "Quantico," and "Chicago PD," and competed in the 29th season of "Dancing with the Stars."
- The comedy-drama feature "I Used to Be Famous" -- about the friendship between a washed-up former boy band member (Ed Skrein) and a gifted autistic teen drummer (Leo Long) -- premieres theatrically in the UK on September 9 and hits Netflix on September 16.
- In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, "Squid Game" creator Hwang Dong-hyuk discussed the show's landmark 14 Emmy nominations, why he's okay with Netflix's plans for a "Squid Game" reality show, and the themes he hopes to explore in Season 2.
- Director Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum and star Sofia Carson spoke with Variety about the political controversy surrounding their breakout Netflix hit "Purple Hearts," which centers on the romance between a liberal musician and a conservative Marine.
- "Westworld" co-creator Lisa Joy discussed potential avenues for a fifth season -- and confirmed who's still alive and who's dead following the Season 4 finale -- on the new episode of Deadline's "Crew Call" podcast.
- Angela, one of the primary subjects of Nathan Fielder's HBO series "The Rehearsal," addressed the show's heated religious controversies, and why she decided to end her rehearsal early, in a post to a Fielder fan group on Facebook.
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 |  | Lon Harris is the writer and editor of Inside Streaming and was the very first person to ever write an Inside newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and also writes about TV and film for Fandom, Screen Junkies, Rotten Tomatoes, Gamma Ray and others. Plus he has a Game of Thrones podcast called "Casterly Talk" and competes on The Movie Trivia Schmoedown as "The Professor." |  | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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