Paramount Plus Shows Off Its Entertainment Mountain
The view from the mountain top is much clearer now that ViacomCBS revealed what it has in store for its new streaming service Paramount Plus. At an investor event, held last week, the media conglomerate showed that despite being the last of the bigs to launch a streaming service, it believes that Paramount Plus will be a formidable and mighty competitor.
The company is beefing up what used to beCBS All Access and will launch on Thursday with original content, live sports, news, and a library baked with over 30,000 episodes and movies from Paramount Pictures, CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET, and MTV.
The cost of the streaming services when it launches will be $9.99 for the ad-free version, which will be available immediately, and $4.99 for the ad version, which will be made available in June. The ad version will be limited with its news and sports offerings, while the ad-free version will be stacked with sports and news including live local news from CBS-owned affiliates.
ViacomCBS says that Paramount Plus will debut with 36 original shows in its first year — this will be made up of scripted dramas, reality TV, and children's programming.
A lot of the original content will feature franchise revivals of familiar shows such as Frasier, Criminal Minds, and iCarly; reboots of shows such as The Game, Real World, and Rugrats; and reimaginations such as spinoffs of Yellowstone and a live-action Dora the Explorer series.
Paramount Pluswill also absorb original programming that existed on CBS All Access and will siphon away Inside The NFL from Showtime. Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah will have a weekly show and there a plans for movies featuring Beavis and Butthead, and Spongebob Square Pants.
The streaming service will not go down the same route as HBO Max when it comes to theatrical releases, instead, some new movies from Paramount Pictures will air 35 to 45 days after they premiere in theaters, and new movies from MGM will appear on the service after their full theatrical releases and a window of time when they're exclusive to the cable channel Epix.
On the news side, the venerable show 60 Minutes will launch a streaming version called 60 Minutes+, and the investigative show 48 Hours will debut a spinoff show titled The Lie Detector.
Sports fans will have something to really cheer about as Paramount Plus will show every NFL game that airs on CBS as well as The Masters, NCAA Division One Men's Basketball Championship, The PGA Championship,National Women's Soccer League, UEFA Champions League, and Concacaf. All in all the streaming service will have more than 1,000 live sporting events per year.
ViacomCBS has high expectations for Paramount Plus — it will take on the same level of importance within the company the same way Disney Plus is at Walt Disney and HBO Max at WarnerMedia. The company hopes to have 65 million to 75 million global streaming subscribers by 2024.
(CNN, AdWeek, CNet)
RECAP
Black News Channel Goes On The Offensive
Black News Channel has been on the air since early 2020 but now it’s ready to be in the spotlight with a revamped news lineup.Starting in March the news network will launch new shows in the morning and evening — former ESPN & Fox Sports presenter, Mike Hill, and Shannon Reed kick things off in the AM with Start Your Day With Mike and Shannon. Evenings will include shows by commentators Mike Lamont Hill and Charles Blow. BNC, which is being led by Princell Hair, has increased its distribution to 52 million homes up from 2.5 million due to deals with Xfinity, DirectTV, and Dish Network. (The Wall Street Journal)
NFL Reaches Deal With Disney
The NFL has been working with its broadcast partners looking to increase their rights investment by almost 100%. Disney, the parent company of ESPN and ABC, balked at that suggestion seeing that it pays the most for its rights and gets not so exciting matchups and no Super Bowl. It now seems like the NFL and the house of Mickey have come into an agreement, a 30% increase, that sees Monday Night Football staying on ESPN with occasional simulcasts on ABC, and most importantly they are back in the Super Bowl rotation with the game airing on ABC — last time this happened was in 2006. The new rights deal between the NFL, Disney, and the rest of its broadcast partners should be announced within the next week. (Sports Business Journal)
Disney’s Star Is Gets More International Exposure, What Does It Mean For Hulu?
This past week Disney launched its more adult-oriented streaming service, Star, in some international markets. Star will be the home to local originals as well as Hulu exclusives outside the US, FX originals, and content from the likes of the Kardashians, which begs the question what will happen to Hulu? Hulu was supposed to be preparing for international expansion, but those plans were shelved because, according to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Hulu has no international brand recognition. Complicating matters is the fact that Comcast still has a 33% stake in Hulu, which the house of Mickey will not be able to buyout until 2024. Limiting its presence to the US market will make it harder for Hulu to be a streaming force and if Star succeeds internationally it may make its way into the US at Hulu’s expense. (Business Insider)
QUICK RECAP
Fox Newsmakes Mike Emanuel its chief Washington correspondent and Jacqui Heinrich its congressional correspondent. (Fox News Press)
Mehdi Hasan joinsMSNBC hosting a Sunday night show. (Mehdi Hasan/Twitter)
Jonathan Blakely named EP for 60 Minutes Plus. (CBS)
ESPNpromotes Kaitee Daley & Flora Kelly to VP roles. (ESPN Press Room)
Rich Gannon is out at CBS Sports. (Pro Football Talk)
CNN wins George Polk Award for its reporting of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan. (TVNewser)
Ratings: Rachel Maddow and MSNBC are tops in February. (Forbes)
The “Plus” sign is taking over streaming services, why is that so? (New York Times)
WarnerMediamerges the production, business affairs departments of HBO and HBOMax. (Variety)
Netflixcreates a $100 million global fund to help underrepresented communities looking to find work in the entertainment industry. (Wall Street Journal)
BET+now has 1.5 million paid subscribers. (Ben Mullin/Twitter)
NBA unveils its second-halfschedule for ESPN, ABC & TNT. (Richard Deitsch/Twitter & ESPN Press Room)
NBC Sports to carry one night of the Paralympics in primetime this summer. (Sports Business Journal)
Profile: CBS News’ Margret Brennan on the future of Face The Nation. (WWD)
CNNrenews for a second season Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. (CNN Press Room)
Discovery+will be available in Saudi Arabia. (Brian Steinberg/Twitter)
Profile: MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on being a Black openly gay man on morning TV. (The Advocate)
Al Jazeera is encroaching on Fox News’ territory by launching a digital conservative channel - Righty. (The Guardian)
NBC Sportsmay have to fork up more for Sunday Night Football. (Front Office Sports)
Who runs things at Netflix? (Business Insider $$$)
The ratings race betweenCNN and MSNBC tightens. (MediaPost)
Magic Kingdom Universeis being developed for Disney Plus. (The Hollywood Reporter)
TNT’s Inside The NBAdocumentary set for March 4 premiere. (Awful Announcing)
Discovery Plusgrows to 11 million global subscribers. (MediaPost)
Mike Greenberg will serve as host on ESPN during the NFL Draft. (New York Post)
MSNBC’s 11th Hour with Brian Williamsexperienced major technical difficulties on Wednesday. (TVNewser)
Thanks for reading the Coverage Notes newsletter - subscribe & share. Let us know what you think here - love it or hate it we'll learn to deal with it and make it better.
A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - issue #48 - 2021
Paramount Plus Shows Off Its Entertainment Mountain
Paramount Plus Shows Off Its Entertainment Mountain
Paramount Plus Shows Off Its Entertainment Mountain
LEAD STORY
Paramount Plus Shows Off Its Entertainment Mountain
The view from the mountain top is much clearer now that ViacomCBS revealed what it has in store for its new streaming service Paramount Plus. At an investor event, held last week, the media conglomerate showed that despite being the last of the bigs to launch a streaming service, it believes that Paramount Plus will be a formidable and mighty competitor.
The company is beefing up what used to be CBS All Access and will launch on Thursday with original content, live sports, news, and a library baked with over 30,000 episodes and movies from Paramount Pictures, CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET, and MTV.
The cost of the streaming services when it launches will be $9.99 for the ad-free version, which will be available immediately, and $4.99 for the ad version, which will be made available in June. The ad version will be limited with its news and sports offerings, while the ad-free version will be stacked with sports and news including live local news from CBS-owned affiliates.
ViacomCBS says that Paramount Plus will debut with 36 original shows in its first year — this will be made up of scripted dramas, reality TV, and children's programming.
A lot of the original content will feature franchise revivals of familiar shows such as Frasier, Criminal Minds, and iCarly; reboots of shows such as The Game, Real World, and Rugrats; and reimaginations such as spinoffs of Yellowstone and a live-action Dora the Explorer series.
Paramount Plus will also absorb original programming that existed on CBS All Access and will siphon away Inside The NFL from Showtime. Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah will have a weekly show and there a plans for movies featuring Beavis and Butthead, and Spongebob Square Pants.
The streaming service will not go down the same route as HBO Max when it comes to theatrical releases, instead, some new movies from Paramount Pictures will air 35 to 45 days after they premiere in theaters, and new movies from MGM will appear on the service after their full theatrical releases and a window of time when they're exclusive to the cable channel Epix.
On the news side, the venerable show 60 Minutes will launch a streaming version called 60 Minutes+, and the investigative show 48 Hours will debut a spinoff show titled The Lie Detector.
Sports fans will have something to really cheer about as Paramount Plus will show every NFL game that airs on CBS as well as The Masters, NCAA Division One Men's Basketball Championship, The PGA Championship, National Women's Soccer League, UEFA Champions League, and Concacaf. All in all the streaming service will have more than 1,000 live sporting events per year.
ViacomCBS has high expectations for Paramount Plus — it will take on the same level of importance within the company the same way Disney Plus is at Walt Disney and HBO Max at WarnerMedia. The company hopes to have 65 million to 75 million global streaming subscribers by 2024.
(CNN, AdWeek, CNet)
RECAP
Black News Channel Goes On The Offensive
Black News Channel has been on the air since early 2020 but now it’s ready to be in the spotlight with a revamped news lineup. Starting in March the news network will launch new shows in the morning and evening — former ESPN & Fox Sports presenter, Mike Hill, and Shannon Reed kick things off in the AM with Start Your Day With Mike and Shannon. Evenings will include shows by commentators Mike Lamont Hill and Charles Blow. BNC, which is being led by Princell Hair, has increased its distribution to 52 million homes up from 2.5 million due to deals with Xfinity, DirectTV, and Dish Network. (The Wall Street Journal)
NFL Reaches Deal With Disney
The NFL has been working with its broadcast partners looking to increase their rights investment by almost 100%. Disney, the parent company of ESPN and ABC, balked at that suggestion seeing that it pays the most for its rights and gets not so exciting matchups and no Super Bowl. It now seems like the NFL and the house of Mickey have come into an agreement, a 30% increase, that sees Monday Night Football staying on ESPN with occasional simulcasts on ABC, and most importantly they are back in the Super Bowl rotation with the game airing on ABC — last time this happened was in 2006. The new rights deal between the NFL, Disney, and the rest of its broadcast partners should be announced within the next week. (Sports Business Journal)
Disney’s Star Is Gets More International Exposure, What Does It Mean For Hulu?
This past week Disney launched its more adult-oriented streaming service, Star, in some international markets. Star will be the home to local originals as well as Hulu exclusives outside the US, FX originals, and content from the likes of the Kardashians, which begs the question what will happen to Hulu? Hulu was supposed to be preparing for international expansion, but those plans were shelved because, according to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Hulu has no international brand recognition. Complicating matters is the fact that Comcast still has a 33% stake in Hulu, which the house of Mickey will not be able to buyout until 2024. Limiting its presence to the US market will make it harder for Hulu to be a streaming force and if Star succeeds internationally it may make its way into the US at Hulu’s expense. (Business Insider)
QUICK RECAP
Fox News makes Mike Emanuel its chief Washington correspondent and Jacqui Heinrich its congressional correspondent. (Fox News Press)
Mehdi Hasan joins MSNBC hosting a Sunday night show. (Mehdi Hasan/Twitter)
Jonathan Blakely named EP for 60 Minutes Plus. (CBS)
ESPN promotes Kaitee Daley & Flora Kelly to VP roles. (ESPN Press Room)
Rich Gannon is out at CBS Sports. (Pro Football Talk)
CNN wins George Polk Award for its reporting of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan. (TVNewser)
Ratings: Rachel Maddow and MSNBC are tops in February. (Forbes)
The “Plus” sign is taking over streaming services, why is that so? (New York Times)
WarnerMedia merges the production, business affairs departments of HBO and HBOMax. (Variety)
Netflix creates a $100 million global fund to help underrepresented communities looking to find work in the entertainment industry. (Wall Street Journal)
BET+ now has 1.5 million paid subscribers. (Ben Mullin/Twitter)
NBA unveils its second-half schedule for ESPN, ABC & TNT. (Richard Deitsch/Twitter & ESPN Press Room)
NBC Sports to carry one night of the Paralympics in primetime this summer. (Sports Business Journal)
Profile: CBS News’ Margret Brennan on the future of Face The Nation. (WWD)
CNN renews for a second season Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. (CNN Press Room)
CNBC replaces Squak Alley with TechCheck. (Variety)
Discovery+ will be available in Saudi Arabia. (Brian Steinberg/Twitter)
Profile: MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on being a Black openly gay man on morning TV. (The Advocate)
Al Jazeera is encroaching on Fox News’ territory by launching a digital conservative channel - Righty. (The Guardian)
NBC Sports may have to fork up more for Sunday Night Football. (Front Office Sports)
Who runs things at Netflix? (Business Insider $$$)
The ratings race between CNN and MSNBC tightens. (MediaPost)
Magic Kingdom Universe is being developed for Disney Plus. (The Hollywood Reporter)
TNT’s Inside The NBA documentary set for March 4 premiere. (Awful Announcing)
Discovery Plus grows to 11 million global subscribers. (MediaPost)
Mike Greenberg will serve as host on ESPN during the NFL Draft. (New York Post)
MSNBC’s 11th Hour with Brian Williams experienced major technical difficulties on Wednesday. (TVNewser)
Thanks for reading the Coverage Notes newsletter - subscribe & share.
Let us know what you think here - love it or hate it we'll learn to deal with it and make it better.
A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - issue #48 - 2021