Bob Bakish Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Mipcom, the Cannes-set international TV showcase, will pay tribute to Arthur Essebag, the well-known French TV host and founder of Satisfaction Group. Essebag will receive the international format awards at a gala ceremony on Oct. 15.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said the Disney-Charter carriage dispute took a “notable” financial toll on many pay-TV stakeholders, but he touted his efforts to “modernize” the company’s distribution relationships for the streaming era.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Paramount+ saw its first price increase this year with the launch of Paramount+ With Showtime, and Paramount CEO Bob Bakish says it won’t be the streamer’s last. The goal is to hike the cost of Paramount+ With Showtime once again at some point in the next two years. “Our plan is to raise price again, this isn’t our only price increase.

California Treasurer Fiona Ma has sent letters to the CEOs of seven Hollywood studios urging a return to the bargaining table with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA to end a months-long double strike that’s shut down much of the entertainment industry and is taking a major toll on the California economy.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Paramount Global hosted its second-quarter earnings call Tuesday amid the ongoing writers and actors strikes in Hollywood. Just like every other major media company that has reported its Q2 results already, the CBS parent company’s execs addressed the work stoppages with hopes for a timely resolution and comments on how it will affect their business operations. “We anticipate continued delays in production for the duration of the strikes, and as such, we estimate free cash flow in the back half of the year will be significantly higher than previously expected,” Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra said.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish isn’t ruling out the possibility of the company teaming with other players in the media space to create a more viable streaming bundle.

Bob Bakish, CEO of Paramount Global, has found himself on his second earnings call discuss a strike in Hollywood.

The NFL is expanding its alternate broadcasts with Nickelodeon and CBS Sports to the Super Bowl.

Paramount Global has re-upped CFO Naveen Chopra through 2026.

Fox unveiled its 2023/24 programming slate this morning and the writers strike was front and center.

Kristin Dolan, who took over earlier this year as CEO of AMC Networks, said the company is “very well positioned” to manage through the WGA strike.

Taking the mic for the second time in a week, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish explained why the company slashed its dividend and talked streaming, advertising and weathering a WGA strike.

Warner Bros Discovery’s hour-long earnings call with Wall Street analysts Friday morning included nary a mention of the WGA strike, unlike many other such calls in recent days.

In the last hour, the AMPTP made its first public remarks since the writers went on strike, calling its offer “generous”.

unable to reach a deal in contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers before Monday’s contract expiration. Picketing began in New York City and Los Angeles on Tuesday.The strike involves a long list of concerns that the writers want Hollywood studios to address, from the low pay involved in writing streaming series to reining in “mini-rooms” used to skirt contractual pay practices to addressing the use of artificial intelligence.

Paramount CEO Bob Bakish said today that “writers are essential in creating content and… we hope we can come to a resolution that is good for everyone fairy quickly. But it’s also fair to say there is a pretty big gap today, and it’s really a multifaceted kind of bid and ask.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Shares of Paramount Global tumbled as much as 22% in early trading Thursday after the media conglomerate reported disappointing first-quarter 2023 results and slashed its dividend. Paramount posted a Q1 net loss of $1.12 billion, as revenue of $7.27 billion was down 1% on shortfalls in its TV media and filmed entertainment units. The company’s streaming business, which includes Paramount+ and Pluto TV, saw revenue rise 39% in the first quarter to $1.5 billion. However, the direct-to-consumer segment posted a loss of $511 million, growing 12% compared with the year-earlier period. The company said Paramount+ added 4.1 million subscribers in the quarter, coming to a total of 60 million overall.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish addressed the writers strike during Paramount’s Q1 earnings call Thursday, stating that writers are “an essential part of creating content” and “we hope we can come to a resolution that works for everyone fairly quickly.” However, the Paramount chief added, “it’s also fair to say there’s a really big gap.” “Obviously, we’ve been planning for this, we do have many levers to pull and that’ll allow us to manage through the strike, even if it’s for an extended duration,” Bakish said. “In terms of those levers, we have a lot in the can, so to speak, content in the can. So with the exception of things like late-night, consumers really won’t notice anything for a while. Add to that a broad range of reality, unscripted, where we’re definitely a leader, as well as sports, and that’s not effected, so we can do more in those areas, if necessary.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global said it would it cut its dividend as continued investment in streaming weighed on the company while it saw declines in its traditional revenue from advertising and cable distribution. The owner of CBS, Nickelodeon and the Paramount movie studio said its first-quarter loss came to nearly $1.23 billion, or $1.81 a share, compared with a profit of $775 million, or 58 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue was essentially flat, down 1%, on shortfalls in its TV media and filmed entertainment units, while its streaming operations saw revenue rise 39%. “We are focused on continuing to drive market-leading streaming growth while navigating a dynamic macroeconomic environment,” said Bob Bakish, the company’s chairman and CEO, in a statement.

Bob Bakish, chief executive of Paramount Global, saw total compensation in 2022 of $32 million, up from $20 million the year before.

Paramount Global is shuffling its board of directors, including the addition of Dawn Ostroff, who will serve as an independent non-executive director, the company announced Friday. The filing also noted that Bob Bakish would be making $31.5 million.Ostoroff’s seat is pending a stockholder vote that will take place at Paramount’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders later this year. Bakish, who serves as Paramount Global’s president will be receiving a pay boost to $31.5 million as a result of $16 million stock awards grant.

Showtime has been going through downsizing and recalibration since the November ouster of longtime CEO David Nevins and the premium network’s inclusion in Paramount Media Networks President Chris McCarthy’s portfolio. There have been layoffs, series cancellations and an executive restructuring as McCarthy articulated the plans for the network, which will soon be rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime. They include multiple TV universes built around some of Showtime’s biggest series, including multiple Dexter and Billions offshoots.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish decided to, in his words, “cross the line” and address a recent bid the company received for Showtime.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Though Showtime is being rebranded into Paramount+ With Showtime, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish says the Showtime brand is alive and well and more projects based on the cable channel’s most iconic series, including “Ray Donovan,” are in the pipeline for the integrated platform. “We’re not just doing that streaming, we’re doing that linear as well,” Bakish said during a Morgan Stanley-hosted investor conference. “So come sometime this year, when you turn on Showtime linear, it’s going to be Paramount+ With Showtime. And it’s what I call a win-win-win. It’s a win for consumers, because the product is going to be fundamentally better than Showtime. You’re going to get ‘1923’ on it, you’ll get ‘Tulsa King,’ as part of your Showtime subscription. It’s just going to be a bigger, broader product. We fundamentally believe in a broad thesis. So that will work at the consumer level and as part of that, we’re leaning into the Showtime franchises. So you could think about the slate as smaller, which will be less expensive, but also really giving the people what they want — which is more Showtime, maybe more ‘Dexter,’ maybe more ‘Ray Donovan,’ and really leaning into that. And we have some exciting plans there.”

Paramount Global today announced a new brand positioning and trade campaign around the tag ‘Popular is Paramount’ to reflect “the company’s indisputable strength in making popular content and content popular for every audience.”

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Paramount Global is unveiling today a corporate image campaign that builds on the sentiment of a popular self-help affirmation: You are loved, and you are enough. Just in time for media upfront season, the company’s “Popular is Paramount” marketing push is designed to burnish its image within Hollywood and on Wall Street. Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish wants the town and the Street to know that the company is fielding a new generation of hits – from “Top Gun: Maverick” to “Yellowstone” to “Paw Patrol” — and is not intimidated by having to compete against larger rivals such as Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast. The campaign will include with outdoor advertising in highly trafficked corridors of New York and Los Angeles, as well as on digital and TV platforms, both on and off Paramount’s own air.

Tyler Perry is in talks to purchase a majority stake of BET Media Group amid reports that parent company Paramount Global is exploring a sale of the asset, Variety has confirmed. Perry currently owns a minority stake in the operation run by CEO Scott Mills, which includes cablers BET and VH1, and also produces a large portion of the programming available on BET and streamer BET+, which he helped launch in 2019. Also among BET’s divisions is production company BET Studios, which counts Kenya Barris, Rashida Jones and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas as minority stake holders. Perry and BET have a long history, as the network helped fund his first feature, 2005’s “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” In 2017, Perry endeavored on a long-term film deal with Paramount, with a TV deal that began in May 2020. The partnership has been a lucrative and successful endeavor for Perry, Paramount Global president and CEO Bob Bakish and BET Networks president Scott Mills.

UPDATED with Tyler Perry interest: Paramount Global is talking with Tyler Perry about a deal for BET Media as the conglom explores a sale of a majority stake in the division.

filing Friday. The settlement is still subject to approval by Delaware’s Court of Chancery.CalPERS, California’s state pension fund, was the lead plaintiff in the litigation, which also named Shari Redstone and the Redstone family’s National Amusements as defendants.

“Screw you guys, we’re going to sue,” a Cartman paraphrasing Warner Bros Discovery essentially said to Paramount Global and the series creators today in a scathing lawsuit over South Park streaming rights.