Apologies for those looking for Always Be Watching in their inbox yesterday - I simply ran out of time. I couldn’t let it happen again today though as there’s a LOT of interesting news stories about…
When US telco AT&T bought what is now Warner Media a few months ago, they were very open with its plans to scale-up HBO and take it global to compete with large players like Netflix, Amazon, and the impending Disney streaming service. They’re not just stopping there - they are launching a second streaming product that seems like something that will incorporate a lot more of Warners assets.
To me, it reads like it’ll be HBO plus additional content, leveraging the very rich Warners library of TV shows and movies. It’ll cost more than HBO now, but apparently won’t include CNN.
My job isn’t to build another Netflix,” WarnerMedia chief John Stankey said onstage Wednesday at the Vanity Fair conference. “Our job is to build a compelling offer of content that gets a large number of customers to say it’s worth paying that much money.”
Remember when The Walking Dead was the biggest thing on TV? The season 9 premiere dropped by a staggering 47%. Analysts have been watching The Walking Dead closely with so much of AMC Networks value connected to it. Stock prices have fallen dramatically.
If there is a huge storm happening, I want to see news reporters out in the weather, hammered by rain and wind. The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore was out reporting on Hurricane Michael in Florida just a few hours ago and was almost hit by a 2x4 during a live cross:
Ozark will be back for a third season.
How do they keep secrets on the Game of Thrones set with so much exterior shooting? By employing high tech drone killers.
The Paul Greengrass film 22 July launched on Netflix, with The AV Club ripping into it:
It’s pretty icky, watching kids—largely unidentified by name—obliviously go about their young lives, unaware of their own impending slaughter. And that discomfort bottoms out into a deep nausea once the culprit, Anders Behring Breivik, arrives by ferry, two hours after the explosion in Oslo, disguised as a police officer and carrying an assault rifle. These scenes should make us sick, of course. How else should an audience feel when confronted with images of teenagers cowering in fear, pleading for their lives, being gunned down for the supposed sins of their parents and country?
And finally…
The Fox deal which will see Disney take ownership of most of the company and its assets will be finalised on 1 Jan.
