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| 1 | | Disney+ lost around 4 million overall subscribers during the most recent quarter, triggering a 9% stock drop on Thursday. Most of the losses came from the Disney+ Hotstar platform, serving India and Southeast Asia, which lost streaming rights to Indian Premier League (IPL) this year. More: - Disney+ Hotstar dropped 4.6 million subscribers during just this most recent quarter, bringing its total subscriber loss since October of last year to 8.4 million.
- Disney's overall streaming unit lost around $400 million during the company's fiscal second quarter.
- The company otherwise posted profit and revenue that were in line with Wall Street estimates.
- CEO Bob Iger told investors the company will be more careful about its spending on new content, suggested that plans to combine the Hulu and Disney+ services are underway, and indicated that some content might move off of the Disney+ service and back into the infamous "Disney Vault."
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| 2 | |  Growth Since Launch: HBO Max was launched on May 27, 2020, by WarnerMedia, then a subsidiary of AT&T, with a slate of original programming along with the bulk of the HBO catalog. The service started out with about 10 million pre-existing HBO subscribers who were added to the new platform at no additional charge, giving them a bit of a head-start in the scramble to add users. By Q3 of 2020, the company's first regular quarterly report to include HBO Max subscribers, the total global count was at around 57 million sign-ups, 38 million in the US alone. As of the end of 2022, that number has jumped to 96.1 million worldwide, with 54.6 million subscribers in the US.
Market Share: HBO Max is currently the fourth most-popular subscription streaming platform in the US, behind only Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, with an estimated 14% market share. The HBO mobile app, however, is the most popular streaming app, leading the market since Q1 2022. It has an estimated 21% market share currently, according to data from SensorTower. "Max" Coming Soon: HBO Max will soon disappear, to be replaced by the new "Max" platform, which also features content from Discovery+. Warner Bros. Discovery executives apparently feared that the "HBO" branding was too specific to describe the new platform, and not inclusive of children's and family programming which they plan to highlight. An ad-supported plan will cost $9.99 per month; $15.99 and $19.99 ad-free plans are also available. | | | |
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| 3 | | According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Netflix aims to reduce spending by around $300 million by the end of 2023. Company leaders apparently asked staffers to be more judicious with spending after plans to generate additional revenue via a crackdown on password sharing were delayed. More: - The move will apparently not include a hiring freeze or additional rounds of layoffs.
- Last month, Netflix increased its goal for free cash flow generated this year from a target of $3 billion to $3.5 billion.
- The delayed move on password sharing was apparently intended to give the company more time to strategize about the best approach; any potential revenue spike will now come in the second half of 2023.
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| 4 | | NBCUniversal plans to expand its Olympics coverage for the 2024 Games in Paris. All 2024 Olympic events will stream live on Peacock in the US, a first for the Summer Games. More: - In addition to the livestreams, Peacock will feature nine hours of daily coverage, with a focus on popular events like gymnastics, swimming, and track & field.
- NBC's broadcast network will also air more live coverage of these Olympics than previous versions of the event; Telemundo has the exclusive Spanish-language rights.
- NBCUniversal also detailed plans for an "enhanced" primetime highlight show, which will relate the biggest events of the day "with special dramatic flair in front of the gathered American audience."
- Some NBCU cable networks -- including USA, E!, CNBC, and Golf Channel -- will also televise selected events.
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| 5 | | FX posted a trailer for a new sequel series following up on the classic 1997 British comedy "The Full Monty." Original stars Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, Lesley Sharp, Hugo Speer, Paul Barber, Steve Huison, Wim Snape, and Tom Wilkinson all reprise their roles for the new eight-episode series. More: - The original film centers on a group of unemployed steel workers who raise money by performing a male striptease act; the new series rejoins the characters 25 years later.
- The original "Full Monty" was nominated for four Oscars in 1998, including Best Picture; it won for its score.
- The film also inspired a Broadway musical that ran from 2000 to 2002.
- All eight episodes of "The Full Monty" hit Hulu in the US on June 14.
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| 6 | | Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos will skip a literary awards gala in New York City, due to concerns about potential disruption by picketing writers. Sarandos will be honored with the PEN America Visionary Award alongside fellow honoree Lorne Michaels. More: - In a statement, Sarandos said "Given the threat to disrupt this wonderful evening, I thought it was best to pull out so as not to distract from the important work that PEN America does for writers and journalists, as well as the celebration of my friend and personal hero Lorne Michaels."
- Colin Jost will host the award gala, which is scheduled for New York's Museum of Natural History on Thursday.
- The WGA strike is currently in its second week.
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| 7 | | At the premiere of his new Apple TV+ series "Platonic," multi-hyphenate Seth Rogen criticized streaming platforms for their lack of transparency. Rogen told Variety that he's "personally distressed" by not knowing how well his shows and films are performing on streaming services. More: - Rogen suggested that the lack of transparency around streaming numbers -- along with "insane salaries" being paid to top executives -- indicates that the business is more profitable than major studios are letting on.
- Rogen added that he's thankful for labor unions "and their ability to force these gigantic corporations... to actually... act fairly and equitably."
- Byrne -- who also stars in the Apple TV+ series "Physical" -- agreed with Rogen and noted "it's long overdue to reevaluate and restructure these contracts we're under," also referring to studio negotiations with the directing and acting unions.
- "Platonic" -- in which Rogen and Byrne play estranged best friends who reunite at mid-life -- hits Apple TV+ on May 24.
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| 8 | | Sony's subscription streaming outlet Pure Flix will merge with cable network owner Great American Media. Sony Pictures Television acquired Pure Flix -- a platform aimed at Christian viewers best known for producing the "God's Not Dead" franchise -- in December 2020. More: - Great American Media (GAM) owns the Great American Family and Great American Living cable networks, along with the free ad-supported Great American Adventures streaming channel.
- GAM CEO Bill Abbott -- a former Hallmark Channel executive -- will oversee the newly-merged entity.
- Upon Sony's acquisition, the Pure Flix platform had around 1 million subscribers.
- Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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- AMC released a trailer for "The Walking Dead: Dead City," the latest spinoff of their zombie mega-franchise following Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) to post-apocalyptic New York.
- Season 3 of HBO's satirical comedy series "The Righteous Gemstones" debuts on June 18.
- The Big Ten Conference -- which controls the university's media rights -- squashed plans by Maryland's athletic department to launch its own subscription streaming service.
- The second season of Apple's sci-fi drama "Foundation" -- based on the books by Isaac Asimov -- premieres on July 14.
- HBO grabbed the rights to "Musk," a documentary from "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" director Alex Gibney taking an "unvarnished" look at billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
- Disney's Onyx Collective ordered a first season for the comedy "Deli Boys," about two pampered Pakistani-American brothers who discover that their late father was secretly a mob boss; the show will stream on Hulu in the US.
- Casting for "The Last of Us" Season 2 has continued during the writers' strike, utilizing scripts from the video game franchise.
- NBCUniversal will make its line-up of free US NBC and Telemundo streaming news channels available to Amazon Fire TV users.
- HBO posted a trailer for "Reality," a fact-based drama starring Sydney Sweeney as former enlisted Air Force member and NSA translator Reality Winner, who leaked information about Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election; the film arrives on May 29.
- Hasbro's Entertainment One will produce a free 24/7 streaming channel dedicated exclusively to Dungeons & Dragons content; the FAST channel will be available across multiple platforms.
- CW canceled "The Winchesters" and "Kung Fu"; shows whose fates remain uncertain include "Superman & Lois," "All American: Homecoming," and "Gotham Knights."
- 29-year-old Trevor Jacob admitted in court to intentionally crashing his small plane into a hillside in California's Santa Barbara County in order to boost views to his YouTube channel; he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstructing a federal investigation.
- Roku will team with NFL Films on a documentary feature about the NFL Draft; if successful, the film could spawn a yearly franchise, with annual editions tracking the event.
- Fox renewed the Gordan Ramsay-hosted cooking competition series "Next Level Chef" for two additional seasons.
- The '80s anime series "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" -- a sequel to the original "Mobile Suit Gundam" that has been inconsistently available in the US -- will now stream on the Crunchyroll platform, along with the other two original "Gundam" series.
- Mubi acquired a collection of 11 Lars von Trier films; the company will release a new uncut 4K restoration of "The Idiots" for its 25th anniversary to theaters prior to its streaming debut.
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 | Writer | | 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." | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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