Disney already has the perfect place for it: Freeform content like “Cruel Summer,” “Good Trouble,” and “Grown-ish” is watched more on Hulu than on the cable channel itself. Should Freeform the channel forever go away, the brand will likely continue on. Freeform was formerly known as ABC Family it was rebranded in 2016 and caters to young women. Our source referred to Freeform as the most meaningful casualty of the Charter negotiations not so much in terms of originals, but for its popular stunt programming like 31 Nights of Halloween and 25 Days of Christmas. Last month, Disney chief executive Bob Iger made it fairly clear that none of the company’s linear channels are particularly crucial to its future he’s exploring partnerships and straight-up sales for some of them. They’re just no longer “primary channels,” the person said. One person with knowledge of Disney’s plans told IndieWire that the cable channels dropped by Spectrum will still exist and that Disney will still program for the channels. have been preparing for this for years, the person told us, through advanced advertising with distributors, co-marketing relationships for Pluto TV and Paramount+, and bringing Showtime to more homes via integration into Paramount+.Īndre (Trevor Jackson) and Annika (Kelly Rowland) in Freeform series “Grown-ish” Freeform To them, it doesn’t really matter to them how the distribution money comes in, so long as it comes in. Not bad - not like rival Paramount.Ĭool your jets, Cahall, the company behind “Top Gun” cautioned.Ī source with knowledge of Paramount’s thinking told IndieWire that this whole channel-count thing is being overhyped this week. Wells Fargo estimates an annual earnings impact of 4 percent from future cable-channel erasure, Cahall wrote. Comcast’s size at least somewhat protects its NBCUniversal and its 14 linear networks. Charter is the second-largest cable provider in the U.S. One of those deals was with Charter, which is still carrying WBD’s cable channels. Actually, you probably haven’t even read about them happening that’s how smooth and under-the-radar it’s been, Wiedenfels said. Nothing has changed, really, Wiedenfels said - but don’t take his word for it, look at how many carriage deals they’ve successfully executed since merging with WarnerMedia in April 2022. Wiedenfels and his boss David Zaslav have been talking up the relative value proposition of their cable bundle since the Discovery days. And I think there’s a very significant gap.” “I am 100 percent convinced that we are delivering significantly more value to our affiliates in terms of viewership, which in the end is driving their revenue, than our relative share of our programming expenses. “We’re not breaking the bank (for them),” Wiedenfels insisted. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels touted his company’s “very, very strong and amicable relationships” with MVPDs and vMVPDs. At Thursday’s Bank of America Securities 2023 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, Warner Bros. Paramount, which Cahall called “the worst positioned in a future skinny bundle era,” is staring down the barrel of a whopping 19 percent ($500 million) impact to annual operating income.ĭisney Junior series “Doc McStuffins” ©Disney Channel/courtesy Everett / Everett Collectionīoth WBD and Paramount say those fears are overblown. Discovery could be exposed to a 7 percent earnings hit, or about $840 million annually. Sixty percent (examples: BET Gospel, BET Jams, MTV Classic, MTV Live, Nick Jr., and Nicktoons, etc.) of Paramount’s are at risk, he wrote. Cahall believes about half of WBD’s cable channels (examples: Cooking Channel, Destination America, and Science) could soon be dropped. Discovery has the most linear networks with 27 Paramount Global (26) is a close second. Per research company SNL Kagan, Warner Bros. By “negotiating publicly” with Disney, Cahall wrote, Charter “has put other programmers on notice that it’s seeking to evolve the way linear distribution is done.” It could be even worse for other channel providers. He sees Disney’s overall operating income taking a 6 percent hit that’s more than $1 billion annually, which ain’t mouse crumbs. Steven Cahall, the lead equity analyst at bank Wells Fargo, believes that 75 percent of the Disney cable channels will “disappear” (with 25 percent remaining in big bundles), he wrote in a Wednesday note to clients (and obtained by IndieWire). Why ‘Apples Never Fall’ Bathed Its Dark Noir Tale in Sunlight
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