Google circling Sunday Ticket / "Wednesday" hits Nielsen charts / Netflix's "Locked In" / Iger's ESPN plans

Plus today's calendar, "Violent Night" hits VOD, "Velma" HBO Max premiere, Discovery+'s "January 6th," and more

Inside.com Part of   Network December 21, 2022

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell The New York Times reports that Google is in advanced talks with the NFL about Sunday Ticket rights. According to three unnamed insiders, Google is likely to pay around $2.5 billion per year for the streaming package, which includes all non-local Sunday afternoon football games. More: DirecTV currently holds the Sunday Ticket rights, for which it pays $1.5 billion annually to the NFL. DirecTV has an estimated 1.5-2 million Sunday Ticket subscribers; their rights deal ends at the conclusion of the 2022 NFL season. YouTube TV currently had around 5 million subscribers, at a base cost of $64.99/month. The Times did not report about the potential length of the deal, or other performance benchmarks that may be included. NEW YORK TIMES

Netflix's smash-hit fantasy-comedy series "Wednesday" was viewed for nearly 6 billion minutes during is first five days on the platform, according to Nielsen. That's the second biggest streaming week ever measured by the company, trailing only the debut week of "Stranger Things" Season 4, also on Netflix. More: Season 4 of "Stranger Things" was viewed for 7.2 billion minutes during its first full week of availability, and remains securely in the top spot on Nielsen's chart. Netflix's own self-reported numbers had "Wednesday" being viewed for 341.2 million hours in Week 1, jumping up to 411.3 million the following week. The discrepancy is due to the two companies' wildly different strategies for measuring the streaming audience; Netflix looks at hours viewed globally whereas Nielsen measures minutes watched exclusively on US TV screens. Nielsen's all-time Top 5 remains 100% Netflix shows; "Tiger King," "Ozark," and "Dahmer" hold the last three spots. VARIETY

DAILY CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21 TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN: The action-thriller series -- starring John Krasinski as author Clancy's iconic CIA analyst hero -- returns to Amazon for a third season on Wednesday. The new episodes find Ryan on the run and racing against the clock to take out a faction within the Russian government that's attempting to restore the Soviet Empire. Abbie Cornish, Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly, and Mena Massoud co-star; Betty Gabriel and Michael Peña join the cast this year. The series has been renewed through Season 4. [Amazon] HOMEWARD BOUND: A GRAMMY SALUTE TO THE SONGS OF PAUL SIMON: Tribute concert honoring the 16-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, and featuring performances from Brandi Carlile, Angélique Kidjo, Little Big Town, Dave Matthews, Billy Porter, Shaggy, and an appearance from Simon himself. The show was recorded back in April at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles; it airs tonight on CBS and also streams on Paramount+. [Paramount+] EMILY IN PARIS: The romantic comedy-drama series from creator Darren Star ("Sex and the City") is back for a third season. Lily Collins stars as the titular American marketing executive, who experiences culture shock after accepting her dream job in the Paris fashion world. Camille Razat, Lucas Bravo, Lucien Laviscount, Ashley Park, and Samuel Arnold co-star. [Netflix] I AM A KILLER: The Netflix/Crime+Investigation UK reality series features interviews with death row inmates recounting their lives and crimes in their own words. Season 4 comes to Netflix in the US today. [Netflix] DISCONNECT: THE WEDDING PLANNER: English-language romantic comedy feature from Nigeria and Kenya -- a follow-up to the 2018 film "Disconnect" -- about an increasingly desperate man who has limited time to plan a luxurious destination wedding for an important investor. Catherine Kamau, Ozioma Jesus, Pascal Tokodi, and Brenda Wairimu co-star. [Netflix] THE INTEREST OF LOVE: Debut drama series from Korea, based on the novel by Lee Kyuk-jin, about four very different young people who become entangled in complicated romances while working together at a bank in Yeongpo. Yoo Yeon-seok, Moon Ga-young, Keum Sae-rok, and Jung Ga-ram co-star. [Netflix] THE FLAGMAKERS: 2022 documentary short from National Geographic taking viewers inside the Wisconsin facilities of Eder Flag, the nation's largest American flag and flagpole manufacturer, where the workers who sew the actual flags are mostly immigrants and refugees from a diverse array of countries. Cynthia Wade ("Freeheld") and Sharon Liese ("Transhood") co-directed. [Disney+] PORT PROTECTION ALASKA: Reality series from the producers of "Life Below Zero," profiling a group of individuals living in the remote community of Port Protection on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. All five seasons come to Disney+ today. [Disney+] BIG BET: First-year crime drama series from Korea, starring Choi Min-sik ("Oldboy") as a legendary casino mogul from The Philippines who becomes embroiled in a sensational murder case. Son Seok-koo and Lee Dong-hwi co-star. [Hulu] LUCIFER AND THE BISCUIT HAMMER: Debut anime series, based on the manga by Satoshi Mizukami, about a college student who's selected to serve as a magical warrior known as a Beast Knight. Dubbed English-language versions of the first 12 episodes come to Hulu in the US today. [Hulu]

Janssen and Williams Netflix greenlit the psychological thriller film "Locked In," the feature debut of filmmaker Nour Wazzi ("The Last Bus"). Rose Williams stars as an unhappily married newlywed who clashes with her new, emotionally troubled mother-in-law (Famke Janssen). More: The film is currently in production in the UK. The cast also includes Alex Hassell, Finn Cole, and Anna Friel. Screenwriter Rowan Joffé's previous films include "28 Weeks Later" and "Before I Go To Sleep." DEADLINE

IndieWire reported that a number of analysts are pushing Disney CEO Bob Iger to spin off ESPN into its own company. Apparently, many investors believe that Iger's decision to return to Disney, replacing his own hand-picked successor Bob Chapek, makes the ESPN move significantly more likely. More: Both activist investor Daniel Loeb and Wells Fargo have advocated for spinning off ESPN in the past. Though ESPN generates a lot of revenue for Disney, it doesn't align closely with the company's core businesses, and its many licensing deals complicate Disney's earnings reports and valuation. If separated, Disney could continue pursuing its goals as a "franchise IP company," while ESPN could create a powerful standalone sports streaming product. There are concerns, however, that as soon as the two companies separate, they would begin cannibalizing one another, particularly in the linear TV market. As ESPN is not free-cash-flow positive, Disney would also potentially need an influx of cash -- potentially by selling off Hulu -- to complete the deal. INDIEWIRE

The holiday action-thriller "Violent Night" made an early entrance to the digital VOD market this week. The film is now available to rent for $19.99 or purchase for $24.99 on Amazon, Apple TV, and other VOD platforms. More: As the film was released to theaters on December 2, typically Universal would've waited until January for a VOD release; the decision to drop the film online early likely has to do with its Christmas theme. David Harbour stars as a particularly tough version of Santa Claus, who saves a family that has been taken hostage; John Leguizamo, Beverly D'Angelo, Alex Haskell, and Alexis Louder co-star. The film has proved a surprise box office hit, bringing in $55 million theatrically so far. BLOODY DISGUSTING

QUICK HITS No more waiting weeks to find a therapist. Sign up with BetterHelp and you can get matched with a therapist in less than 48 hours.* "Velma," HBO Max and Mindy Kaling's new adults-only spin on "Scooby Doo" character Velma Dinkley, debuts on January 12. Discovery+ dropped a trailer for "January 6th," a new documentary looking back at the 2021 siege of the US Capitol building; the film arrives on January 5, the eve of the insurrection's second anniversary. Jason Ritter signed on to guest star in the upcoming second season of Showtime's "Yellowjackets"; in real life, he's married to series regular Melanie Lynskey. Bob Odenkirk looked back on his many years playing lawyer Saul Goodman in the "Breaking Bad" universe, and called it "probably the role of my lifetime," in a new interview with Empire. The Indonesian action-comedy feature "The Big 4" -- from "The Night Comes for Us" filmmaker Timo Tjahjano -- ranked in fifth place among all films in the US for the week of December 12-18; the film hit the Top 10 in 53 countries, also including its native Indonesia, Argentina, Mexico, Finland, Spain, and Greece. Hallmark Channel already announced its first 2023 holiday film, "A Biltmore Christmas," which enters production next month at the historic Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. *This is sponsored content

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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