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| Hello once again and thanks for opening today's Inside Streaming brief! Losing all of A24's film content strikes me as a considerable blow for Paramount Global's Paramount+ service, even as it continues rolling out internationally. Don't get me wrong; there are some good Paramount+ originals. I really like the former CBS exorcism-themed procedural "Evil," some of the recent "Star Trek" spinoffs, Taylor Sheridan's crime drama "Mayor of Kingstown," and of course Showtime's "The Curse" and "Yellowjackets." But the library's not nearly as consistent nor deep as rivals like Netflix or Max. It's more like an Apple TV+ service, where you're only ever watching one or maybe two shows at a time, but they're GOOD shows you'd rather not miss. A HUGE added benefit for Paramount+, specifically with the Showtime add-on, was that it also got you access to the full A24 film library. That means not just a handful of the current year's crop of hottest indie films, but an archive of these entries going back a decade plus. As a movie fan, losing all of that content overnight to Max makes Paramount+ with Showtime considerably thinner. I definitely want to see shows like "The Curse," but... Paramount+ with Showtime is $12 a month, baseline. It's tough for them to lose a big chunk of content and still make the case for that price. Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | An update to Disney+, now in beta testing, adds Hulu content as a sixth vertical on the homescreen. The "Hulu" hub joins previous categories for Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic content. More: - Disney plans to roll out a totally integrated app combining Disney+ and Hulu by March.
- Disney has had complete operational control over Hulu since 2019, but is now in the process of acquiring the remaining one-third stake from Comcast.
- Subscriptions to Disney+ with Hulu cost $10/month, $2 more than the basic Disney+ plan
- For the time being, Disney+ and Hulu will continue to be offered as standalone services.
- Disney CEO Bob Iger said the beta period, in which Hulu content appears in a separate hub, was designed with parents in mind, to prepare them for the addition of more mature content to the Disney+ platform.
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| 2 | | Warner Bros. Discovery and A24 signed a new agreement that will bring the independent media company's film slate directly to HBO, Max, and Cinemax. A24's previous TV and streaming distribution deal, with Paramount's Showtime network, was signed in 2019 and expires this year. More: - Current A24 films that will make their streaming debuts on Max include Sofia Coppola's Presley biopic "Priscilla," the fact-based wrestling drama "The Iron Claw," and the surreal comedy "Dream Scenario," starring Nicolas Cage.
- The agreement also brings A24's library of titles -- numbering over 100 -- to HBO and Max; this list includes Oscar winner "Everything Everywhere All At Once," "Uncut Gems," "The Whale," and "Past Lives."
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6 HOLLYWOOD HOUSELIFT WITH JEFF LEWIS: The reality home renovation series follows interior designer Lewis and his assistant Shane Douglas as they remodel and reimagine homes on behalf of celebrity clients. Season 2 includes appearances by Anthony Anderson, Cynthia Bailey, Noah Beck, Kate Bosworth, Reggie Bush, Josh Duhamel, Sara Foster, Regina Hall, Christina Ricci, and Gina Rodriguez. [Freevee] WE LIVE HERE: THE MIDWEST: Intimate 2023 documentary feature profiling LGBTQI+ families from the Midwest, with a focus on how they're reacting to and dealing with rising hostility and discriminatory legislation targeting their lifestyles. Newcomers David Miller and Melinda Maerker direct. [Hulu] THEIR STORIES (A HISTÓRIA DELAS): Debut drama series from Brazil about two mismatched mother-daughter pairs forced by circumstances to live together while two of them are under house arrest. Cris Vianna, Emma Araujo, Letícia Spiller, and Bia Arantes co-star. [Hulu] DIGMAN! Adult animated comedy series from Comedy Central, starring Andy Samberg as a legendary archaeologist and adventurer who comes out of retirement to help his former team track down some legendary artifacts. The voice cast also features Mitra Jouhari, Tim Robinson, Melissa Fumero, and Tim Meadows. Samberg co-created the series with former "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" writer/producer Neil Campbell. Season 1 aired in the spring on cable and hits Paramount+ today. [Paramount+] DELICIOUSNESS: The MTV clip series, a spinoff of "Ridiculousness," features a celebrity panel reacting to viral food and cooking videos. Tiffani Thiessen, Angela Kinsey, Kel Mitchell, and Tim Chantarangsu co-star. Season 3 aired in 2022 on cable and comes to Paramount+ today. [Paramount+] RYAN'S MYSTERY PLAYDATE: The Nick Jr. series features kid influencer Ryan, his parents, and some animated pals as they solve puzzles and unbox surprises. Season 4 hits Paramount+ today after airing on TV earlier this year. [Paramount+] STREET OUTLAWS VS. THE WORLD: AFTER HOURS: Spinoff of the Discovery street racing reality series, taking viewers behind-the-scenes to check out candid moments between the races. The new episodes follow the Outlaws crew on their adventures in Australia. [Max] CHRISTMAS AS USUAL (SÅ VAR DET JUL IGJEN): Holiday romantic comedy from Norway, starring Ida Ursin-Holm as a young woman who brings her Indian boyfriend (Kanan Gill) home for a traditional Christmas with her very old-fashioned family. Petter Holmsen ("Krypto Kings") wrote and directed. [Netflix] BLOOD COAST (PAX MASSILIA): Debut action-thriller series from France, about a rogue police captain and his reckless team who will go to any lengths to prevent a gang war from exploding in Marseille. Jeanne Goursaud, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Tewfik Jallab, Florence Thomassin, and Moussa Maaskri co-star. Olivier Marchal ("36th Precinct") directed two episodes; Kamel Guemra ("Lost Bullet") created. [Netflix] SOUNDTRACK #2: Romantic comedy-drama series from Korea about a wealthy young CEO and a piano instructor who dated many years ago, but reunite for a new series of important music lessons. Geum Sae Rok and Steve Noh co-star. The series is a follow-up to 2022's "Soundtrack #1," which featured similar themes but different characters. [Disney+] | | | |
| 4 | | Netflix renewed the reality competition series "Squid Game: The Challenge" for a second season. Contestant recruitment for Season 2 is already underway. More: - The streamer also indicated that it's developing a video game based on the "Squid Game" franchise, but declined to provide additional details.
- In each season of "The Challenge," 456 people from around the globe face off in a string of cutthroat playground-inspired games for a shot at a $4.56 million grand prize.
- Los Angeles is also hosting an official "Squid Game Challenge" pop-up event, including a themed bar serving Korean food and a gift shop; it costs $39 to attend.
- Some Season 1 contestants have threatened to file lawsuits against Netflix and the show's producers, alleging freezing and inhumane conditions on set that led to hypothermia and nerve damage.
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| 5 | | According to a new report from Media Partners Asia (MPA), Korea is now home to 19 million streaming subscribers. The country added 700,000 new subscribers in the third quarter of 2023 alone. More: - The Korean streaming industry is bracing for the merger of two of its largest players: TVing and Wavve.
- Netflix is currently the market leader in Korea, grabbing 29% of new subscribers in Q3; the streamer counts around 6.5 million Korean customers in total, and has a 34% overall market share.
- TVing comes in second with 3.8 million subscribers and a 20% market share; Wavve is in third place with 3 million subs and a 16% share.
- Amazon's livestreaming platform Twitch announced plans to exit the Korean market this week, saying it's "prohibitively expensive" to continue operations there.
- While Twitch once dominated the Korean livestreaming ecosystem, a decision to downgrade streaming resolutions to 720p caused many fans to move elsewhere.
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| 6 | | According to Amazon's internal data, the holiday comedy feature "Candy Cane Lane" had the #1 most-watched US film debut in Prime Video history. The film also apparently ranks among the platform's Top 10 all-time global debuts, though no official viewership numbers were released. More: - Third-party analytics company Samba TV confirmed the film's successful American rollout; according to their numbers, 1.2 million US households watched "Candy Cane Lane" in its first 48 hours.
- Samba's data indicates that the film was particularly popular with Black American households, over-indexing among that demographic by 46% above average.
- Eddie Murphy stars in the film as a family man who's so determined to win his neighborhood's Christmas home decoration contest, he enlists the help of a mischievous elf (Jillian Bell); "Boomerang" vet Reginald Hudlin directed.
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| 7 | | Paramount+ launched in Japan this week. The service is available as a no-cost add-on via Japanese broadband provider J:COM and the pay-TV service Wowow. More: - Paramount+ is now available in all 10 of the world's top subscription video markets; the streamer launched in June in South Korea, through a similar agreement with the TVing service.
- Rather than launching as a standalone service, Paramount+ is also distributed via local partnerships in Australia and throughout much of Europe.
- All J:COM and Wowow subscribers now get full access to Paramount+ originals, along with the platform's library of classic films and TV shows.
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| 8 | | HBO renewed the late night news commentary series "Last Week Tonight" for three additional seasons. The new deal takes the John Oliver-hosted show through at least 2026, and its 13th overall season. More: - Season 10 of "Last Week Tonight" wraps up later on this month; it was abbreviated due to the WGA strike.
- Oliver's last renewal deal with struck in 2020 and ran through 2023.
- Much of Season 10 revolved around Oliver's case for naming New Zealand's pūteketeke as the Bird of the Century; Oliver brought attention to the campaign during an appearance on "The Tonight Show," triggering more than 350,000 votes.
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| 9 | | QUICK HITS - The Kubernetes Cookbook is your comprehensive companion equipping you with the knowledge and techniques to harness the full potential of Kubernetes.*
- Legendary TV producer Norman Lear -- whose groundbreaking shows include classics like "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons," "Good Times," and "Maude" -- died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles at age 101.
- The official trailer for Rockstar's forthcoming video game sequel "Grand Theft Auto VI" broke the all-time YouTube record for most views within its first 24 hours, with 85 million plays; the previous record had been held by MrBeast's Olympics stunt from earlier this year.
- According to a Disney+ press release, only two new Star Wars series -- "Skeleton Crew" and "The Acolyte" -- will premiere on Disney+ in 2024; the second season of "Andor" has apparently been pushed to 2025.
- Billy Crystal and Judith Light will co-star in the Apple TV+ psychological thriller series "Before"; the story centers on a child psychiatrist (Crystal) whose new patient seems to have a haunting connection to his past.
- In The New York Times, former President Barack Obama discussed his ambitions for Higher Ground, the production company he co-founded with wife Michelle; the company has three films hitting Netflix just this month.
- Amazon renewed the rebooted heist drama "Leverage: Redemption" for a third season; the show will switch platforms from Freevee to Prime Video.
- Max renewed the "Adventure Time" spinoff "Fionna and Cake" for a second season.
- Netflix ordered the romantic drama series "Ransom Canyon," based on novels by "Virgin River" author Robyn Carr; Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly have been tapped to star.
- The guest star line-up for Amazon's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" series now includes Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza González, Sarah Paulson, Sharon Horgan, Ron Perlman, and others; Donald Glover and Maya Erskine lead the cast.
- With former chief Beau Ferrari moving into a new job as advisor to NBCU News Group Chairman Cesar Conde, Luis Fernández will take over as chairman of Telemundo; Fernández previously served as President of Telemundo's news division before exiting the company in 2021.
- Leading nominees for the 2024 Critics Choice Awards include "The Morning Show" with six nods, "Succession" with five nominations, and "A Small Light," "Abbott Elementary," "Beef," "Lessons in Chemistry," "Loki," "Reservation Dogs," and "The Bear" with four nominations each.
- The MGM sports comedy "The Underdogs" -- starring Snoop Dogg as a washed-up former NFL star who's sentenced to coach a peewee football team as community service -- will skip theaters and debut directly on Amazon Prime Video.
- South Korean and Indian films found a major new market in Saudi Arabia, where streaming platforms have helped introduce local audiences to more global content over the last five years.
- Toast to 2024: Key affiliate marketing trends to help your campaigns start off on the right foot in the new year. Get the free report.*
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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 Lon Harris | |
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