With its streaming operations facing scrutiny as 2024 gets under way, Paramount Global continues to pursue a diversified approach to distributing its flagship, Paramount+.
30.12.2023 - 18:25 / deadline.com
Top U.S. cable operator Comcast has reached a carriage renewal with Paramount Global, averting a potential blackout of service around the New Year’s holiday.
The deal, confirmed to Deadline by a Paramount spokesperson, comes before the expiration of the current pact at the end of the year. In January 2022, Paramount (then known as ViacomCBS) and Comcast announced a “multi-year” carriage renewal.
Talks proceeded quietly in recent days, without any of the consumer-facing warnings about looming deadlines that often accompany carriage negotiations. A blackout would have been ill-timed for both parties, given that Paramount carries the NFL and other marquee programming. The company’s flagship broadcast network, CBS, is slated to broadcast the Super Bowl in February, with cable sibling Nickelodeon providing an alternate telecast.
The new agreement provides for continued carriage of Paramount’s entertainment, news and sports channels and apps on Comcast’s Xfinity TV and internet platforms. It is understood that the deal skirts the kind of outcome some industry observers had predicted, with the loss of linear carriage for some of Paramount’s two-dozen-plus channels. When Disney reached terms with Charter Communications last September, the pact included gains for streaming services like Disney+ but also the loss of carriage for well-penetrated networks like Freeform and FXX. As they contend with subscriber erosion due to cord-cutting, programmers are looking to avoid near-term shocks like having channels outright dropped as the entire industry continues to shift toward streaming.
Paramount CEO Bob Bakish has focused on mending fences with distributors since taking the top job at Viacom in 2015, a process that has grown more
With its streaming operations facing scrutiny as 2024 gets under way, Paramount Global continues to pursue a diversified approach to distributing its flagship, Paramount+.
Jaden Thompson Perhaps spiders are not a nuisance after all — at least that’s the case for Adam Sandler in “Spaceman,” in which he receives emotional support from an oversized arachnid in outer space. Netflix has released the trailer for Sandler’s upcoming sci-fi film, set to premiere at Berlin Film Festival next month. It will then release in select theaters on Feb.
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and Ashley Judd bonded over talking about the suicides of their beloved family members.Judd was on Wednesday’s episode of Cooper’s CNN podcast, “All There Is with Anderson Cooper,” to discuss the death of her mother, Naomi Judd, who died by suicide in 2022.Cooper’s brother, Carter, died by suicide in 1988 by jumping off the terrace of his mother Gloria Vanderbilt’s 14th-floor Manhattan apartment. He was 23.Judd said that her mother’s death was “traumatic and unexpected because it was death by suicide and I found her.”Still, she told Cooper she was “so glad” that she was there.“Even when I walked in that room and I saw that she had harmed herself, the first thing out of my mouth was, ‘Momma, I see how much you’ve been suffering and it is OK … I am here, and it is OK to let go.’ ““And she heard you?” Cooper asked.“Oh, she heard me,” Ashley replied.
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Selome Hailu Despite this year’s Thanksgiving viewing being down from the previous holiday, “Leo” and “Squid Game: The Challenge” kept viewers interested during the Nov. 20-26 viewing window according to Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10. Adam Sandler’s animated comedy opened at No.
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Kate Middleton cut a chic and classic figure as she led the Wales family to the annual Christmas Day service at Sandringham, in a stunning blue ensemble to mark the special day. The 41 year old Princess of Wales opted for a tailored deep blue single breasted coat by Alexander McQueen, which featured an asymmetric waist button detail and notched lapels, that Kate effortlessly paired with a navy blue turtleneck and matching boots.
Selome Hailu NBCUniversal has led the way in terms of holiday season programming. Beginning with record viewership of the annual Macy’s Parade and other ratings wins along the way, the company has boasted a total of 82 million viewers of its holiday programming across NBC and Peacock since Thanksgiving, according to the most current measurement available.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Mega media merger mania is once again afoot in Hollywood with very, very early talks between Warner Bros. Discovery‘s David Zaslav and Paramount Global’s Bob Bakish about a potential merger of the two companies. Analysts and industry sources have already raised a number of questions about what a WBD-Paramount combo would look like and the effect it could have on the larger TV and film landscape.
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