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| 1 | | While speaking at a technology and media conference in New York, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts confirmed intentions to sell the company's 33% stake in Hulu to Disney. Roberts said a deal with Disney for the streamer is "more likely than not" and "valuable for our shareholders"; he suggests the primary issue now is settling on a fair price. More: - Under the terms of their agreement, in January 2024, Disney can require Comcast to sell its stake in Hulu, or vice-versa.
- The "guaranteed floor value" will be $27.5 billion; this values Comcast's stake at around $9.2 billion.
- Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a plan last week to merge Disney+ and Hulu content into a single app by the end of the year; he told investors Disney was engaged in "constructive" talks with Comcast, though no agreement had been finalized.
- Hulu had around 48.2 million subscribers at the close of Q1 2023.
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| 2 | | The first-ever livestreamed NFL playoff game hits Peacock next season. The game will air on TV only in the two featured teams' local markets; for the rest of the country, it will stream on Peacock and NFL+. More: - The NFL Wild Card Playoff game will stream during primetime on January 13, 2024.
- It will immediately follow another playoff game, which will stream on Peacock while also airing on NBC.
- Peacock's first-ever exclusive regular season NFL game -- between the Bills and the Chargers -- streams on December 23 of this year.
- All "Sunday Night Football" games -- including playoff games -- stream on Peacock next season.
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR TUESDAY, MAY 16 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES: 2023 fantasy-comedy feature, inspired by the iconic tabletop role-playing game, about a team of adventurers who face off against an evil wizard in order to rescue their leader's kidnapped daughter. Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Justice Smith, Regé-Jean Page, and Sophia Lillis co-star; "Game Night" vets Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley co-wrote and directed. [Paramount+] ANGEL CITY: Three-episode docuseries chronicling the formation and the first season of the Angel City Football Club, a National Women's Soccer League team playing out of Los Angeles with celebrity owners including Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Mia Hamm, and Serena Williams. Arlene Nelson ("Gutsy") directed; Portman appears and executive produced. [Max] ANNA NICOLE SMITH: YOU DON'T KNOW ME: "Unflinching and humanizing" documentary profiling the late Playboy and Guess jeans model and actress, who famously married an 89-year-old billionaire before dying tragically at age 39 in 2007. Ursula Macfarlane ("Untouchable") directed. [Netflix] ZARNA GARG: ONE IN A BILLION: The comedian's new one-hour special was recorded at New York's Gramercy Theater, and includes material about being a fiercely protective Indian immigrant mother. [Amazon] THE INVISIBLE GIRL (LA CHICA INVISIBLE): Debut Spanish-language thriller -- inspired by the novel by Blue Jeans -- about a police detective (Daniel Grao) who joins forces with his teenage daughter (Zoe Stein) to investigate the murder of one of her classmates. [Hulu] | | | |
| 4 | | Lionsgate Television and Showtime are developing new reboots for both "Nurse Jackie" and "Weeds." The leads from both series -- Edie Falco and Mary-Louise Parker, respectively -- are expected to return for the new revivals. More: - Falco and Parker will likely serve as both stars and executive producers on the reboots; their deals are still being negotiated.
- The "Weeds" revival apparently resets the action to Copenhagen, Denmark, and comes from Danish writer/producer Christian Torpe ("Rita").
- The new "Nurse Jackie" comes from writer/producers Abe Sylvia and Liz Flahive, who worked on th eoriginal series.
- Showtime's new strategy revolves around reboots and "franchise building"; new spinoffs are also in the works for "The L Word," "Billions," and "Dexter."
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| 5 | | A lawsuit filed against Disney this month in California federal court accuses the company of hiding Disney+ costs and making misleading forecasts about the platform's potential profitability. The suit specifically alleges that former CEO Bob Chapek engaged in a "cost-shifting scheme," concealing Disney+ expenses via the company's legacy TV networks. More: - According to the suit, Disney aired certain shows produced for the Disney+ platform on cable first, as a way of inaccurately boosting the streaming platform's numbers and concealing its "decelerating subscriber growth, losses, and cost overruns."
- The suit names a few specific shows that it alleges were part of the scheme, including "The Mysterious Benedict Society" and "Doogie Kameāloha, M.D."
- Disney declined to comment on the lawsuit.
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| 6 | | Small US broadband operator Wide Open West (or WOW!) announced plans to abandon cable TV service and move all customers over to YouTube TV. WOW! had just over half a million internet customers as of March 31, and 117,000 households also paying for cable TV through the company. More: - WOW! will begin moving customers over to YouTube TV from its cable services this summer.
- The company started transitioning from traditional cable packages to streaming -- on an Android-based platform it called WOW! tv+ -- over the past several years.
- The company has also offered streaming cable alternatives like YouTube TV, FuboTV, and DirecTV for several years.
- By moving customers off of cable packages, WOW! will free up bandwidth for its ISP business.
- Other cable and internet providers -- including Verizon and Frontier -- have also offered YouTube TV packages to their customers.
- YouTube TV has an estimated 6.3 million subscribers now, though this will likely get a boost during the next football season, as the platform adds NFL Sunday Ticket.
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| 7 | | Sony Pictures TV signed a new deal to bring the CBS action-drama "S.W.A.T." to Netflix in the US. The first five seasons of the series -- which stars Shemar Moore as the head of a highly-skilled Los Angeles S.W.A.T. unit -- hit Netflix in the US on May 17; Season 6 will follow in the fall. More: - As with all CBS originals, "S.W.A.T." is also available to stream on Paramount+; the first three seasons are also currently streaming on Hulu.
- CBS had initially canceled "S.W.A.T." after Season 6, but reversed its decision three days later, and picked the show up for a 13-episode final season.
- "S.W.A.T." comes from executive producer and showrunner Shawn Ryan, who also created the Netflix smash hit "The Night Agent"; it's based on a classic '70s series, which previously inspired a film adaptation in the '00s.
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| 8 | | Netflix posted a new trailer for the action sequel "Extraction 2." Star Chris Hemsworth announced on Twitter that the film contains "a single shot oner that clocks in at 21 minutes." More: - "Extraction 2" reteams Hemsworth with filmmaker and stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave, who directed the first entry, and his MCU collaborators Joe and Anthony Russo.
- The Russos executive produce the "Extraction" films; Joe Russo also wrote the "Extraction 2" screenplay.
- The films feature Hemsworth as international mercenary Tyler Rake.
- The first "Extraction" was the most-watched film in Netflix history at the time of its release in April 2020, reaching around 99 million households in its first month.
- "Extraction 2" hits Netflix on June 16.
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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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