OCTOBER H1, 2020

T V & S T R E A M I N G
ACTIVIST INVESTOR DAN LOEB CALLS ON DISNEY
TO HALT DIVIDEND & DOUBLE STREAMING BUDGET

Disney should halt its $3 billion annual dividend and

instead spend that money on content for Disney+.
That is the crux of a letter sent by activist investor
Dan Loeb to Disney CEO Bob Chapek. "By
reallocating a dividend of a few dollars per share,
Disney could more than double its Disney+ original
content budget," Loeb writes in the letter OCT 7

DISNEY REORGANIZES MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT

BUSINESS AROUND STREAMING

Disney shares were up nearly 5% in after-hours

trading after the entertainment giant announced it
would be shifting its entertainment strategy to have
streaming be its "primary focus.". The company will
rearrange its structure to focus on developing and
producing original content for its streaming services
(Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+), as well as for its legacy
OCT 12 TV networks

TED SARANDOS DEFENDS CONTROVERSIAL ‘CUTIES’

MOVIE AS "MISUNDERSTOOD"

Ted Sarandos has brushed off a Texas grand jury

indictment of the indie film 'Cuties' that has created
controversy for its depiction of prepubescent girls.
Sarandos defended it saying, "I think it’s a little
surprising that in 2020 in America, we’re having a
discussion about censoring storytelling". Sarandos
OCT 12
said he never considered making edits to the film

DICAPRIO, STREEP, OTHERS JOIN NETFLIX’S ‘DON’T

LOOK UP’ FOR ADAM MCKAY

Netflix is giving Jennifer Lawrence quite the group of

co-stars: Leonardo DiCaprio. Cate Blanchett, Jonah
Hill, Himesh Patel, Timothée Chalamet, and Ariana
Grande are joining the ensemble. The film follows
two low-level astronomers who embark on a
media tour to warn mankind of an approaching
asteroid that will destroy Earth
OCT 14

'GODFATHER' SERIES A GO AS CBS ALL ACCESS

RENAMED PARAMOUNT+

ViacomCBS plans to rebrand CBS All Access as

Paramount+ in early 2021, stocking the service with
originals tied to well-known franchises, from The
Godfather to Criminal Minds to The Game. In the
lead-up to the rebrand, ViacomCBS has been filling
CBS All Access with additional programming from its
portfolio of networks, including BET, Comedy
Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, with plans to offer a SEP 15
library of 30,000 TV episodes and movies
STREAMER FUBOTV'S STOCK RISES IN MARKET
DEBUT

The IPO comes amid a boom for streaming providers

due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. FuboTV earlier this
year merged with tech firm Facebank Group. It had
ended 2019 with 316,000 paid subscribers, up from
229,000 in the previous year. Its 2019 revenue rose
96% to $146.5 m. The firm says it offers more than
OCT 8
50,000 live sporting events each year

H O L L Y W O O D & F I L M
CINEMA GROUPS SHOULD CONSIDER CONTENT
DEALS WITH STREAMERS AS A "LIFELINE":

Cinemas should look at striking content deals with

streaming services to get much-needed content amid
studios' ongoing film slate delays due to the pandemic..
"Theater owners should consider finally striking a deal
with Netflix, Amazon and other SVOD services as a
lifeline to get more product on movie screens,"
OCT 9 MoffettNathanson's analyst Robert Fishman writes

VIACOMCBS NETWORKS INT'L SETS “NO DIVERSITY,

NO COMMISSION" PRODUCTION POLICY

The new policy requires that all new international

productions be made by a diverse team. It will require
productions "to adhere to diversity guidelines before
budgets are signed off and productions are approved
to begin...when budgets are agreed, the commissioner
or project lead will check for appropriate diversity
and recommend improvements, as needed." OCT 13

ZHANG YIMOU’S CENSORED ‘ONE SECOND’

FINALLY HAS A RELEASE DATE

After a long tussle with censorship authorities,

director Zhang Yimou’s Cultural Revolution-set film
“One Second” will hit local cinemas on Nov. 27, more
than a year after it was first set to debut. The title was
originally to premiere in competition at the Berlin Film
Festival in 2019, but was abruptly yanked from the
lineup just days before due to “technical reasons.” The
OCT 14 incident stands as the highest profile case of
censorship of Chinese cinema abroad in recent years

RIDLEY SCOTT EYES ANOTHER EPIC: JOAQUIN

PHOENIX AS NAPOLEON IN ‘KITBAG’

The Oscar-winning star will play the French military

leader Napoleon for 20th Century Studios, where
Scott Free has its deal. The film is an original &
personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his climb to
emperor, viewed through the prism of his often
volatile relationship with his wife and one true love,
Josephine. The intention of the film is to capture
Napoleon’s relentless ambition and astounding OCT 14
strategic mind as an extraordinary military visionary

“WE WILL BE FLEXIBLE WITH WINDOWS” SAYS VUE

CINEMAS’ TIM RICHARDS

UK-based Vue Cinemas has said the exhibitor will be

“flexible with windows” as the industry scrambles to
respond to the dismal 2020 box office. “I don’t think we
will ever see ... a day-and-date [VoD and theatrical]
release of a major film. Equally, I don’t think we will
adopt what AMC has done [screen Universal films with
a theatrical window of just 17 days in the US], which
OCT 9
we don’t really agree with.”
 I N D U S T R Y N E W S
WARNERMEDIA PLANS THOUSANDS OF JOB CUTS
IN RESTRUCTURING

AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia is restructuring its

workforce as it seeks to reduce costs by as much as
20% as the pandemic drains income from movie
tickets, cable subscriptions and TV ads, according to
people familiar with the matter. The overhaul, which
is expected to begin in the coming weeks, would
result in thousands of layoffs across Warner Bros. OCT 8
studios and TV channels like HBO, TBS and TNT

ICM PARTNERS ACQUIRES STELLAR GROUP,

LAUNCHES SPORTS DIVISION

ICM Partners is expanding its footprint in the sports

representation space. The talent agency is buying the
sports management company Stellar Group. Terms of
the deal weren't disclosed but layoffs are not expected.
The deal for Stellar will give ICM, which has around
500 employees, a foothold in the representation
business for player contracts, a space that other major
OCT 8 agencies have increasingly devoted resources to

AT&T CLOSES $1.1B SALE OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN

MEDIA STAKE

AT&T's $1.1 billion sale of a majority stake in CEM to

Petr Kellner's PPF Group has finalized. AT&T had
acquired the stake in the TV operator when it bought
WarnerMedia. The company operates networks in
Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Romania, the
Slovak Republic & Slovenia. Under terms of the deal,
AT&T receives $1.1 billion in cash and is also relieved OCT 13
of a $575 million debt guarantee

FORMER DISNEY EXECS TOM STAGGS, KEVIN MAYER

TEAMING WITH SHAQ ON MEDIA SPAC

A new SPAC called Forest Road is seeking $250

million to acquire/merge with a company in the TMT
sectors.The most notable news for Hollywood is who is
behind the SPAC: Former Disney execs (Co. COO) Tom
Staggs & (D2C chief) Kevin Mayer, NBA legend
Shaquille O'Neal, producer Mark Burg (Saw, Two and a
Half Men), former Focus Features CEO Peter Schlessel,
OCT 8
and Martin Luther King III

AMC SAYS CASH RESOURCES WILL DRY UP BY END

OF YEAR OR EARLY 2021

the world’s largest exhibitor expects its cash

resources to dry up by end of year in light of the
devastating effects of the pandemic. In a filing with
the SEC the company said it needed “material”
additional liquidity in light of low attendance levels
and the absence of tentpoles for Q4. Possible courses
of action include taking on additional debt and equity
financing, potential asset sales, joint ventures with OCT 13
existing partners, or minority investments

NICOLE BROWN NAMED PRESIDENT OF TRISTAR

PICTURES

Brown will continue to report to motion picture group

chairman Tom Rothman. Currently, TriStar's slate
includes the Whitney Houston biopic 'I Wanna Dance
With Somebody.' Brown, who sits on the board of
Women in Film, has recent credits that include
TriStar titles A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
OCT 13 and Edgar Wright’s breakout Baby Driver. Prior to
TriStar, she served as an EVP at Good Universe
 F E S T I V A L S & A W A R D S
MIPCOM: TYLER PERRY TALKS PRODUCTION AND
REPRESENTATION IN 2020

Tyler Perry was honored with international TV

market MIPCOM's World Screen Trendsetter Award
where the director, producer and actor spoke about
resuming production amid COVID-19 and the Black
Lives Matter movement. He detailed how he has shot
82 episodes of his shows amid the pandemic and how
important TV has been to the racial justice movement OCT 12

BAFTA FILM AWARDS UNVEILS RADICAL OVERHAUL

OF VOTING, MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANISATION

Bafta Film Awards is revamping its voting methods,

expanding the number of films to be nominated and
limiting how distributors can promote their titles as
part of a radical overhaul of the organization. The aim
is to ensure the awards more equitably reflect the UK
film industry. The changes are the result of Bafta’s far-
reaching Awards Review which was launched in
SEP 24 response to the outcry following the lack of diversity
at every level of the 2020 Film Award nominations

WARNER BROS.’ ‘PARTISAN,’ STARRING

‘WESTWORLD’S’ FARES FARES, TOPS CANNESERIES

Dominated by the charisma of Fares Fares, “Partisan,”

a Warner Bros production for Scandinavia’s NENT
walked off with best series at the 3rd Canneseries TV
festival. The unsettling Nordic Noir is set to play on
NENT’s SVOD service Viaplay. “Partisan” was part of
a 10-title competition which painted this year a fairly
disturbing portrait of the contemporary world OCT 14

R E S E A R C H F I N D I N G S
THE NEW NORMAL - VIRTUAL WORLDS ARE HERE TO STAY

Animal Crossing's 3-day sales set a Nintendo record,

Roblox usage surged 40%, and 350 million Fortnite
players logged 3.2 billion hrs last month. Nintendo sold
a record number of Switches, & sales of Sony PS4s &
Microsoft Xbox Ones both rose more than 25%, despite
all being 3+ years old. Some are even going full Ready
Player One, with Facebook attributing the bulk of its
MAY 9 non-advertising revenue in Q1 to Oculus VR hardware

JAMES SCHAMUS: FINANCIAL MODELS OF SVOD

GIANTS CANNOT BE SUSTAINED

“Streamers are using vast sums of essentially

borrowed capital,” says Schamus. Episodic TV has also
become challenged, with the decline of syndication.
All the economics that used to flow to creative people
are being stopped. No residuals, no profit sharing… By
the end of season 3... there is very little incentive for
the streamers to go to season 4 or 5 because the cost
is higher than the retention rate that translates from OCT 12
the access to the show on their streaming service.”

10 SALES CHIEFS AT MIPCOM TELL US HOW COVID

HAS CHANGED TV DISTRIBUTION FOREVER

Distributors are investing in tech to spotlight shows.

Sales tools have become increasingly sophisticated in
the absence of in-person pitching. ITV Studios & Sony
are starting their own buyer showcases, while gaining
value from catalog shows is more important than ever
as shoots are halted. The conclusions are clear: COVID
has accelerated change on an unprecedented scale,
OCT 12 but there is still a huge demand for content
THE SUPREME COURT WILL RESHAPE TV’S
MEGAMERGER FUTURE

The future of TV M&A is set to be majorly impacted

by a coming decision from the Supreme Court. The
justices announced why they would grant a petition
from the FCC & broadcasters to hear a case about
media ownership rules. The case focuses on the FCC’s
attempt to lift a ban on any company owning both a
newspaper and TV station in a single market, but it
OCT 8
will impact broadcast regulation broadly

STREAMLABS & STREAM HATCHET Q3 2020 LIVE

STREAMING INDUSTRY REPORT

Audiences watched over 7.46 billion hours of content

across all live streaming platforms. This number is
slightly down from last quarter (7.71 billion hours in
Q2). Year-over-year, the live streaming industry grew
by 91.8%, compared to 3.89 billion hours watched in
Q3 2019. YouTube Gaming experienced the most
OCT 7
growth for hours watched with an increase of 156M
hours from Q2 to Q3

SPORTS/TECH/MUSIC
CHINA'S CCTV SPORTS CHANNEL TO SHOW NBA
GAMES FROM SATURDAY: STATE MEDIA

CCTV claims to have taken note of the goodwill

expressed by the NBA. “Since the beginning of this
year, the NBA has made active efforts to support the
Chinese people in their fight against COVID-19,” a
spokesperson said. CCTV holds exclusive TV rights in
China for the NBA, while tech giant Tencent
Holdings has exclusive internet streaming rights in OCT 9
the country

AMAZON NABS NFL PLAYOFF GAME STREAMING DEAL,

TO BE SHARED WITH VIACOMCBS

Amazon, for the first time, will expand its NFL

streaming game-plan into the postseason. The
ecommerce giant has acquired rights to the NFL’s
wildcard playoff game, one of two added by the league
for the 2020 season. Amazon will stream the game
Prime Video and Twitch, while ViacomCBS will carry
the game on CBS & Nickelodeon in the U.S. The news
OCT 14 was first reported by the Wall Street Journal

BTS’ AGENCY, BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT, DOUBLES

SHARES ON IPO

Big Hit Entertainment, the agency behind BTS,

soared during its market debut. Having been offered
at KRW135,000 apiece, shares began trading at
KRW270,000. That gives the company a valuation of
$8.38 billion and gives agency co-founder Bang Si-
hyuk (36% stake) a net worth of over $3 billion. Each
member of BTS, from which the agency earns ~90%
of its revenues, has received over 68,000 shares OCT 14

CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT BUYS BOOKMAKER

WILLIAM HILL FOR $3.7B

“The opportunity to combine our land based-casinos,

sports betting and online gaming in the U.S. is a truly
exciting prospect,” Caesars CEO Tom Reeg’s. “William
Hill’s sports betting expertise will complement
Caesars’ current offering, enabling the combined
group to better serve our customers in the fast
growing U.S. sports betting and online market.” The
JUN 2017 PE firm Apollo Global had also been interested in
acquiring William Hill
BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS SEES POST MALONE
WIN 9 AWARDS, INCLUDING TOP ARTIST HONORS

Post Malone was the big winner at the 2020 Billboard

Music Awards, taking home 9 trophies, including the
night’s biggest award, Top Artist, and the Top Male
Artist honors. The awards were held at the Dolby
Theatre in LA, with many artists there in person for
performances, though there was no live audience.
Khalid had the second most wins of the night OCT 14

GOLDFINCH STRIKES FIRST LOOK DEAL WITH

‘FOOTBALL RAMBLE’ PODCAST FIRM STAKHANOV,

UK producer-financier Goldfinch has struck a first

look deal with UK podcast creators Stakhanov,
launching with missing bookie story 5 Dimes, which is
being jointly optioned for production. The idea will be
for Goldfinch to develop and produce TV series and
narrative features and documentaries based on
OCT 15
Stakhanov podcasts. In turn, Stakhanov will get first
look to create podcasts from Goldfinch’s productions

U.S. GAMING PLATFORM ROBLOX PREPARES TO GO

PUBLIC

Roblox is preparing for a U.S. market listing which

the gaming platform expects could double its $4
billion valuation. U.S. demand for video games has
surged as consumers seek entertainment while living
under lockdown. U.S. consumer spending on video
gaming hit a record $11.6 billion in the second
OCT 1
quarter, up 30% on the year-ago period

EXTRAS
EVERY MEMBER OF MARGOT ROBBIE‘S ALL-WOMEN
SCREENWRITING LAB HAS SOLD A FEATURE FILM

An inaugural screenwriting lab designed to help

women writers break into the action & franchise film
market, has seen a stunning 100% sales return on 6
original pitches. Each of the writers marked their first
major sale following the workshop, all with
commitments for distribution. It’s not only a win for
representation in a male-dominated space, it’s a
OCT 14 victory for film sales during the COVID crisis

INDIAN CINEMAS REOPEN AFTER 7-MONTH

CLOSURE

After a prolonged shutdown, cinemas in certain

regions of India begin re-opening today. The
famously cinema-hungry nation has been deprived of
physical venues since March. India is currently
recording the highest global daily rate of confirmed
COVID cases and has more than 7.3 million in total.
However, the number of daily cases has been
OCT 15
creeping down in the last three weeks

PLAYBOY IS GOING PUBLIC

Now you can buy Playboy and you don't have to hide
it from your mom. In a very 2020 move, Playboy is
merging with Mountain Crest Acquisition, an SPAC,
in a $415 million deal. Playboy describes itself as "one
of the largest and most recognizable lifestyle brands
in the world," selling a variety of items ranging from
sexual wellness products, branded clothes and even a
OCT 1 home goods line.