Business Features
Cable News Finally Seeks Exit From Pay TV Bundle
When Mark Thompson was hired as CEO of The New York Times in 2012, he knew that he was facing skepticism from within the storied news organization, wary of the TV executive coming in with a mandate to transform its business. “An outsider has many disadvantages, but one advantage is a ‘cold eye,’ ” Thompson recalled […]
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Why Streaming Services Are Pushing Subscribers to Ad Tiers
On Disney’s last quarterly earnings call Aug. 9, CEO Bob Iger waited until the end of his opening remarks to drop the hammer: His company’s streaming business was introducing price increases. Big ones. The monthly cost of the Disney+ and Hulu ad-free tiers would be rising by nearly 30 percent, or $3. For a company […]
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Scraping or Stealing? A Legal Reckoning Over AI Looms
For nearly 20 years, Karla Ortiz has worked as a concept artist, bringing to life an entire universe of characters in projects like Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Thor: Ragnarok. She’s credited with coming up with the main character design for Doctor Strange in her own blend of impressionist and magic realism styles honed […]
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Strike Impact Hits Earnings as Executives Size Up War Chests
In the first round of corporate earnings since the double strike began, the financial hits are starting to come into view. While hoping and planning for a resolution in September, Hollywood studios, streamers and affiliated businesses have begun forecasting lower revenue, content spend and, in some cases, a lower outlook for the year. Because while some […]
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For Actors Podcasting During a Strike, Speaking Out of Turn Is the Big Concern
“We’re not allowed to talk about Scrubs.” That was the consensus that co-stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison reached almost immediately during the Aug. 1 episode of their Scrubs rewatch podcast, Fake Doctors, Real Friends. The pair, like many actors with thriving audio platforms, had been unsure of how to approach their side gig during […]
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Behind the Brawl Over Streaming Revenue Sharing for Actors
Striking actors and the media companies they work for remain far apart on negotiations for a new contract, with no talks taking place since SAG-AFTRA members took to the picket lines July 14. Both the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing studios, seem dug in to their respective positions. One of the […]
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A Disney Sale to Apple? Don’t Count It Out This Time
A few weeks before Bob Iger sat down for that CNBC interview in which he said Disney’s linear TV networks, like ABC and FX, “may not be core” to the company’s business, a veteran Hollywood executive mused to The Hollywood Reporter on the possibility of a deal that would rock the industry: Apple buying Disney. […]
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How the Strikes Could Impact Lavish Hollywood CEO Pay
As Hollywood actors and writers strike together for the first time in more than half a century, executive pay is in the spotlight. Talent are posting residuals checks barely worth the postage it cost to mail them alongside captions criticizing Hollywood execs’ eight-figure pay packages. SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America didn’t strike because […]
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Hollywood’s Major Crew Union Debates How to Use AI as Contract Talks Loom
On July 5, the major crew union IATSE, which reps 160,000-plus entertainment workers from grips to animation to makeup artists, unveiled a set of “core principles” for applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in its members’ work ahead of its 2024 contract talks with studios. The list set off a debate among union members […]
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The Strike’s Side Effect: A Cash Hoard for Studios
The ongoing actors and writers strikes are creating a paradox for major studios and streamers, one that will become more apparent over the coming months, when each company reports quarterly earnings. As the impasse wreaks havoc on the entertainment economy, the companies that SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America are striking against will see […]
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Influencers Navigate Strike Minefield
“They want us to stop certain things and for us to lose money to show support, but if the roles were reversed, would they do the same?” wonders Emanuel Rodriguez, whose 8-year-old son Logan Winter is a superhero-centered content creator who frequently does partnerships with Marvel and DC. Rodriguez is now among the sea of […]
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Streaming Services Beware: A Crackdown Is Coming on “Cancellation Trickery”
As the FTC aims fire at Amazon Prime, it's also evaluating 50-year-old rules governing recurring subscriptions, which could impact the major streamers
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