Network restructures, Sinners, and a whole lotta news
On Friday came word that Australian broadcaster Nine had reshaped its leadership team in the Streaming and Broadcast division. I’m certainly not the first one to notice it, but everything about the new structure suggests a desire by Nine to strip the company back to being very much a TV/screen business rather than the multi-headed media hydra that it is today (TV/Radio/Press).
I’ve written a number of times here that I could see tremendous value in the integration of the Press and Radio divisions into Nine’s core video business, providing a great foundation for news as the longterm value in a business like Nine.
I can see the argument for slimming down the business. And that wouldn’t necessarily mean that they’d have to slim down news ambitions. It just needs to do so in a way that doesn’t leave the door too widely open to competitors.
The Paramount-owned Ten, for example, seems like it is ready to supercharge its own news service with a greater investment into State-based news and the deeper-dive nightly 10 News+ show, which seems to be as strong a play for TV as it is for driving digital news consumption cross-platform.
In looking at the new Streaming and Broadcast division, the most interesting aspect of it all is seeing SVOD Stan now more closely aligned with the rest of the business, which makes sense as the Stan Sport add-on becomes an increasingly more valuable proposition.
My thinking has long been that the local general entertainment SVOD market is over-saturated and it’s such an uphill struggle for local services to compete with the likes of international giants. There’s nothing about this new corporate structure that does anything other than introduce optionality into the company for if/when the time comes to pivot strategy.
And so, I mostly have two main questions:
How long is it until BVOD 9Now and Stan’s general entertainment offer see greater integration, merging into the one app?
Does Stan Sport eventually just get rebranded as Stan?
Everything Nine has done around this restructure makes a lot of sense. Almost boringly so.
Squeezing the release date window
With the home video release date windows squeezed by studios/distributors in recent years, we are seeing theatrical releases at home fairly quickly nowadays. On Friday I saw the media release come through confirming that Australia, like the US, will see Sinners debut on Max on July 4.
The film debuted in Australia on April 17, so that’s around an eleven week gap. It was released to buy digitally in the first week of June, so that gets it close to around a six week window, but most people will obviously be watching it at home on a standard SVOD platform like Max.
I’m not inclined to buy a film as I tend to see the movies I am most keen on at the cinema. But, as someone with that sort of behaviour, as I think about Sinners coming out eleven weeks after the cinema release - that actually feels kinda perfect for me. That’s exactly when my mind starts to be looking for that re-watch. Maybe that’s a lingering behaviour back from buying DVDs of new films back in the day, but it feels right.
Long story short - I’m watching Sinners again next weekend and I’m a bit excited about it.
News Desk
The Golden Girls may have had a large gay following and incorporated gay themes and plots into the show, but writers on the show say the show was not a tolerant, open workplace. Read: Indiewire
If you’re looking for a good list of Die Hard knock-offs that are actually pretty good, there’s this list at The Wrap.
Jack Betts, one of the great film & TV moustache actors, has died at age 96. He leaves behind an extensive filmography including a broad number of guest roles in TV shows including Perry Mason, Seinfeld, and Friends. Read: Variety
The fifth and final season of Outer Banks is now in production for Netflix. Read: thefutoncritic
Following in Prime Video’s footsteps, there is an increase in the number of ads on the Max ad-supported plan. This is in the US - I’m not sure about internationally. Read: The Streamable
Guys, relax. Paris Hilton is no longer homeless after buying Mark Wahlberg’s $63m home following the recent LA fires. Read: THR
Former Melrose Place star Courtney Thorne-Smith is ending her marriage to husband Roger Fishman. There is no truth to suggestions that her former Chairman of The Board (sp?) co-star was involved. Read: New York Post
Word has it that Marvel is scaling back TV efforts to focus on more street-level characters, saving the movies for the big spectacle nonsense. Make mine Marvel TV going forward, I guess. Read: Dark Horizons
That’s the newsletter for today.
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