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| Welcome back and Happy Monday! Paramount announced plans over the weekend to pull some high-profile original content from Paramount+, including the "Star Trek" animated series "Prodigy," which had already been renewed for a second season. Following similar moves by Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney, it's seemingly undeniable that the big tech and media companies are reconsidering how they approach and market these platforms. While consumers were once promised blockbuster new productions alongside an archival library of classic content, the desire to earn extra revenue by licensing out older content while eliminating anything new that doesn't immediately find an audience is seemingly too compelling to turn down. If consumers stick around and churn rates don't skyrocket over the next few months, there's be no reason to reverse course, and we'll likely see streaming libraries become less robust and more focused on recent hits over time. Enjoy today's issue and thanks for reading! Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | Paramount+ joined the list of streamers that are canceling and removing original shows from their platforms. The streamer canceled the musical prequel series "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" after a single season, and shut down plans for a second season of the animated "Star Trek" spinoff "Prodigy." More: - The reality competition series "Queen of the Universe" and a revival of the scripted behind-the-scenes sports drama "The Game" were also canceled after two seasons each.
- As part of a financial strategy that has been previously utilized by both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, all four shows will be removed from the Paramount+ library as a tax write-off.
- The standalone Showtime streaming service disappears this week, as the network's content is fully absorbed into Paramount+.
- More content is expected to be removed from the platform over the coming weeks, but these will likely be the most high-profile shows to disappear.
- Most of "Star Trek: Prodigy" Season 2 has already been produced; CBS Studios will complete post-production and seek out a new network or streaming home.
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| 2 | | Without making a formal announcement, Netflix ceased to offer its $9.99 CAD Basic plan for new Canadian subscribers. The lowest-cost Canadian Netflix plan remains the $5.99 CAD ad-supported tier; the next upgrade goes right to the ad-free Standard plan, which supprots 1080p HD streaming and costs $16.99 CAD per month. More: - The Basic plan offered ad-free streaming but was limited to 720p resolution, and just one concurrent stream.
- Canadian subscribers who are currently on the Basic tier will be grandfathered in, and allowed to remain there until they cancel their accounts.
- It's unknown if Netflix intends to eliminate the Basic plan from more markets; in the US, the Basic plan is offered but not promoted, and new users must click a "See All Plans" option to find it.
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR MONDAY, JUNE 26 AVERAGE JOE: Debut crime drama series, loosely inspired by the real life of creator Robb Cullen. Deon Cole stars as Joe, a Pittsburgh plumber who discovers a stash of millions of dollars hidden by his late father and starts investigating its mysterious origin. Tammy Townsend, Malcolm Barrett, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Michael Trucco, and Pasha Lychnikoff co-star. [BET+] CANNES CONFIDENTIAL: First-year English-language comedy-mystery series about a detective (Lucie Lucas) who joins forces with a charming international con man (Jamie Bamber) to solve crimes along the French Riviera. The six-episode first season hits Acorn TV in the US today. [Acorn TV] BATMAN: THE DOOM THAT CAME TO GOTHAM: Animated direct-to-VOD film from WB, based on the three-issue "Elseworlds" comic miniseries by Mike Mignola, Richard Pace, Troy Nixey, and Dennis Janke. The story finds Bruce Wayne tangling with his usual line-up of foes alongside HP Lovecraft-inspired monsters in 1920s Gotham City. David Giuntoli, Tati Gabrielle, Christopher Gorham, John DiMaggio, and Patrick Fabian co-star. [Max] JOURNEY: A VOICE LOST... AND FOUND: TV special from Reelz chronicling the rock band's history and development, with a focus on their search for a new singer after the departure of famed frontman Steve Perry. [Peacock] | | | |
| 4 | | Fox News anchor Jesse Watters will take over the 8 pm timeslot previously occupied by Tucker Carlson. In other scheduling moves, Laura Ingraham will jump from the 10 pm timeslot up to 7 pm, while Greg Gutfeld slides up an hour from 11 pm to 10 pm. More: - Carlson has been replaced by a rotating group of hosts since exiting the network in April.
- Sean Hannity will remain in the 9 pm spot.
- Fox's primetime ratings have slid by 38% since Carlson's departure, from an average of 2.6 million viewers down to just 1.6 million.
- The new line-up debuts on July 17.
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| 5 | | A number of networks, streamers, and studios have backed out of participating in this year's San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), scheduled for the weekend of July 19. Disney (including its Marvel Studios subsidiary), Netflix, Sony, HBO, and Universal have all indicated they will skip hosting any major SDCC panels this year. More: - The ongoing WGA strike and a potential strike by the actors union, SAG-AFTRA, would mean an absence of talent from promotional events like Comic-Con.
- Some studios and streamers -- including Apple, Amazon, Warner Bros. and Paramount -- have taken more of a "wait and see" approach to Comic-Con; Paramount will hold a panel for the animated film "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," but has not committed to any "Star Trek" events yet.
- NBC has suggested that it will move forward with Comic-Con plans only if an actors' strike is avoided.
- After taking two years off during the height of the COVID pandemic, SDCC returned last summer.
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| 6 | | A recent report in UK tabloid The Sun indicates that Netflix is not happy with the content it has received so far from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's production company. According to The Sun, Netflix has threatened to withhold the remaining £40 million ($50.1M) of their contract until they produce additional content of "real interest." More: - The Duke and Duchess of Sussex previously produced the six-part docuseries "Harry & Meghan" for the streamer, which apparently ranks among its most successful unscripted shows to date.
- A new report in The Wall Street Journal suggests that Netflix has not been pleased with most of the royal couple's pitches for a follow-up show, and that their deal is unlikely to be renewed in 2025.
- Harry and Meghan have also apparently struggled to produce content for Spotify; on his podcast recently, the company's head of global sports content Bill Simmons denounced the duo as "f**king grifters."
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| 7 | | One month after launching the combined Max streaming service, Warner Bros. Discovery still has not changed its controversial "Creators" designation. The streamer labels writers, directors, producers, and other behind-the-scenes figures under the single term "Creators" rather than identifying their specific roles; the move was widely criticized, and drew a response from the leadership of unions representing both writers and directors. More: - In a statement, WGA West chief Meredith Stiehm and DGA boss Lesli Linka Glatter referred to the new credits as "disrespectful and insulting to the artists that make the films and TV shows."
- Following the initial controversy, WBD insiders cautioned that the issue could take several weeks to fix.
- Collider notes that the recent Max release of the blockbuster sequel "Avatar: The Way of Water" currently lists writer/director James Cameron fourth in its list of "Creators."
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- YouTube star Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson tweeted over the weekend that he'd been invited to take a trip on the ill-fated Titan submersible, but had declined the offer.
- In a new YouTube interview with Unilad, Tom Holland acknowledges that his Apple TV+ series "The Crowded Room" has been "horribly reviewed," but joked that he's continuing to promote the show because "I'm very resilient."
- Netflix signed a multi-year partnership with Indian filmmaker Hansal Mehta; the director's first Netflix series, the crime drama "Scoop," launched on the platform just last month.
- In Variety, Michael Schneider notes that the TV Academy's attempts to reorganize the variety and talk show Emmy categories have led to considerable confusion, and now pits news-oriented shows like "Last Week Tonight" against variety comedy series such as "Saturday Night Live."
- Amazon ordered a new slate of 12 unscripted shows from Scandinavia, including Danish and Norwegian versions of the "LOL: Last One Laughing" Prime Video franchise.
- "Drive" writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn will adapt author Enid Blyton's YA adventure novels "The Famous Five" into a series of films for The BBC and German public broadcaster ZDF.
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INSIDE STREAMING LEADERBOARD (ALL-TIME) |
 | 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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