Disney acquires BAMTech / "Wednesday" sets new record / Salke to oversee MGM / DC animation on Amazon

Plus today's calendar, "Shrinking" teaser, "Emily in Paris" Season 3, "Tell Me Lies" renewed, Disney-Kodansha deal, and more

Inside.com Part of   Network November 30, 2022

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Disney purchased Major League Baseball's (MLB) remaining stake in the streaming video technology company BAMTech for $900 million. Disney first acquired majority ownership of BAMTech from MLB in 2017; they now own it outright after grabbing MLB's remaining 15% stake. More: BAMTech formally changed its name to "Disney Streaming" this month. The company's technology powers the critical infrastructure behind Disney's streaming services and apps, including Disney+ and Hulu. The company was originally developed in-house at MLB as a digital hub for ticket sales, before expanding into online video to power baseball highlights and streaming games; BAMTech, then called "MLB Advanced Media," streamed a full baseball game in 2002, three years before YouTube launched. Disney purchased a 10% stake in BAMTech from the National Hockey League in 2021 for $350 million. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

According to Netflix's internal figures, the supernatural teen mystery-comedy series "Wednesday" was viewed for 341.23 million hours in its debut week. This sets a new platform record for the first week of any English-language TV season, previously held by the fourth season of "Stranger Things." More: The Korean series "Squid Game" remains the all-time largest Netflix draw during its peak week, with 571.8 million hours viewed.  "Wednesday" cracked the Top 10 in all 93 countries that Netflix tracks, and made the #1 spot in 83 of them; that's a record that the show shares with "Stranger Things" Season 4. All in all, according to Netflix, the series has been viewed by more than 50 million households. "Wednesday," inspired by "The Addams Family" comic strips and their various TV and film adaptations, stars Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, who leaves home to study at the mysterious Nevermore Academy.  The series comes from "Smallville" vets Al Gough and Miles Millar and director Tim Burton. DEADLINE

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DAILY CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30 WILLOW: Fantasy-adventure series, serving as a direct sequel to the 1988 film from producer George Lucas and director Ron Howard. Warwick Davis reprises his role as the Nelwyn sorcerer Willow, who leads a new party on a rescue mission. Joanna Whalley, Kevin Pollak, and Rick Overton also reprise their roles from the film; newcomers include Ruby Cruz, Erin Kellyman, Ellie Bamber, and Tony Revolori. [Disney+] FIREBUDS: The animated Disney Junior series follows the adventures of a fire engine and his young friends, who help first responders out on rescue missions. Three new episodes, including the show's first-ever holiday special, hit Disney+ today. [Disney+] THE LOW TONE CLUB (EL CLUB DE LOS GRAVES): Debut Spanish-language comedy-drama series from Colombia, starring Carlos Vives as an unconventional music teacher who inspires a group of underdog students. [Disney+] IRREVERENT: 10-part limited crime drama series from Australia, about an American thief (Colin Donnell) who's forced to hide out in Far North Queensland and pose as a church reverend after a bungled heist. Paddy Macrae ("Godsend") wrote and directed. [Peacock] TAKE YOUR PILLS: XANAX: Follow-up to the 2018 documentary special "Take Your Pills," which looked at the culture around the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Adderall, applying the same deep-dive approach to the titular anti-anxiety medication. Original "Take Your Pills" vet Alison Klayman returns for the new edition. [Netflix] SNACK VS. CHEF: Debut culinary competition series in which 12 chefs face off in a string of challenges, attempting to both recreate iconic snack foods and invent some original snacks of their own for a shot at a $50,000 prize. Megan Stalter and Hari Kondabolu co-host. [Netflix] A MAN OF ACTION (UN HOMBRE DE ACCIÓN): Spanish crime drama feature inspired by the life of infamous anarchist, bricklayer, and bank robber Lucio Urtubia, and focused on one of his most ingenious counterfeiting scams, targeting one of the world's largest banks. Juan José Ballesta stars as "Lucio"; Javier Ruiz Caldera ("Spy Time") directed. [Netflix] MY NAME IS VENDETTA (IL MIO NOME È VENDETTA): Action-drama from Italy starring Alessandro Gassmann as a former Mafia enforcer who evades a hit squad along with his feisty daughter (Ginevra Francesconi), then hides out with her in Milan and plots his revenge. [Netflix] THE LOST PATIENT (LE PATIENT): Thriller from France starring Txomin Vergez as a young man who wakes up in a hospital after a three-year coma, only to be informed that his entire family -- save one missing sister -- has been killed in a massacre. Clotilde Hesme co-stars; Christophe Charrier ("I Am Jonas") co-wrote and directed. [Netflix]

Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke will now oversee film and TV for MGM as well. Amazon acquired the MGM studio earlier this year for $8.5 billion. More: MGM COO Chris Brearton will take on a new and expanded role, as VP of PVS Corporate Strategy, MGM+, and MGM Alternative Television. Brearton has been leading the integration of MGM into Prime Video and Amazon Studios; he'll now add general business planning and corporate strategy for the brands to his responsibilities. Amazon also restructured MGM's Television division; former president of international TV Rola Bauer will become head of pan-English scripted SVOD development, while Lindsay Sloane will lead US scripted TV development. The Orion Television banner, launched by MGM just two years ago, will be folded back into the studio. The changes were announced one day after Mark Burnett, the former chairman of MGM's Worldwide Television Group, announced his exit from the company. DEADLINE

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Channing Dungey During the Content London conference, Warner Bros. Television CEO Channing Dungey teased a potential new deal with Amazon. According to Dungey, the agreement would largely concern animated projects inspired by DC Comics characters. More: Dungey suggested that WB TV is exploring various deals to host animated projects on platforms beyond HBO Max. A number of media and entertainment companies are considering similar moves, adding revenue by licensing some of their content to third-party streaming platforms. Showtime President Jana Winograde made similar comments at Content London, indicating that budgets for new shows would likely drop in the coming years as an additional belt-tightening move. DEADLINE

Apple released a teaser for the debut comedy series "Shrinking." Jason Segel stars as a grieving therapist who decides to break the usual rules of his profession and tell his patients what he really thinks about their problems. More: Segel co-created the series along with "Ted Lasso" vets Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein; the trio wrote the pilot episode together. Filmmaker James Ponsoldt -- who worked with Segel on the 2015 film "The End of the Tour" -- directed the pilot episode. Harrison Ford co-stars in the series, in one of his first-ever regular TV roles; Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, and Lukita Maxwell also appear in recurring roles. The first two episodes hit Apple TV+ on January 27. DEADLINE

Netflix dropped a trailer for the third season of the comedy-drama series "Emily in Paris." All episodes hit the streaming platform on December 21. More: Season 2 ended with a cliffhanger, as Emily (Lily Collins) was presented with a new job offer that could take her out of Paris permanently. Kate Walsh, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Ashley Park, Lucas Bravo, and Lucien Laviscount co-star. The series has already been renewed for a fourth season. "Emily in Paris" was created by "Sex and the City" vet Darren Star. PEOPLE

Hulu renewed the romantic drama series "Tell Me Lies" for a second season. The show is based on a novel by Carola Lovering, and comes from "Queen America" and "Fear the Walking Dead" vet Meaghan Oppenheimer. More: The series centers on the toxic and manipulative relationship between Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen (Jackson White), after they meet at a college party in 2017. Episodes jump around within the 8-year time span in which Lucy and Stephen stay together; the Season 1 cliffhanger jumped between a break-up in 2008 and potential reconciliation in 2015. Catherine Missal, Spencer House, Sonia Men, and Branden Cook co-star. Actor Emma Roberts is on board as an executive producer. TV LINE

"Tokyo Revengers" Disney announced plans to expand its partnership with Japanese publishing house Kodansha. The new deal will bring a slate of original anime shows and films based on Kodansha's manga titles to the Disney+ service. More: The first project to emerge from the new agreement will be "Tokyo Revengers: Christmas Showdown Arc," coming to Disney+ internationally in January 2023. Anime is an increasingly important international draw for streaming platforms; according to Parrot Analytics, global demand for anime content increased by 118% over the last 2 years. Disney made the announcement at the annual APAC Content Showcase in Singapore. Disney's collaborations with Kodansha date all the way back to the 1950s, when the company published a manga art book featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, and other iconic Disney characters. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

QUICK HITS HubSpot and Brandwatch partnered this year to survey over 1,000 individuals across the U.S to better understand consumer purchasing habits, thoughts and behaviors.* HBO Max shared a trailer for the third season of the comedy series "South Side": the show, starring Chandra Russell and Bashir Salahuddin as cops in Chicago, originally debuted on Comedy Central before moving over to Max in Season 2. Ryan Eggold and Isaiah Mustafa joined the cast of Amazon's upcoming mystery-drama series "Cross," based on the Alex Cross novels by author James Patterson; Aldis Hodge will star in the series as the famed detective and forensic psychologist. Tech innovation is surging in education, finance, health care, and other industries. See what your competitors are building with Crowdbotics.* *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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