Disney Fights Fire
The battle between streaming services is heating up. Amazon and Disney have been unable to reach terms regarding Amazon’s Fire TV devices.
Distribution
Netflix and Amazon Retreat
Netflix and Amazon, who were once touted as the saviors of the indie film market, are retreating from acquisitions to focus on producing more original films.
What Distributors Want
Discover what type of films independent distributors want to acquire in their own words. Understand what elements 26 U.S. distributors are looking for when they acquire a film at TIFF or elsewhere.
Buyer Beware
Buyers at TIFF are skittish after a 6% drop in North American box office receipts in 2019. Worse still, is the dire year indie films are having, where receipts have declined 45%.
Will Amazon Buy ViacomCBS?
There is growing speculation that Amazon will acquire ViacomCBS after the post-merger dust settles.
European OTT Trends
European broadcasters and content providers are implementing three strategies in the online content delivery market to stave off competition from Disney, Amazon and Netflix.
Cord Cutting Continues
During the second quarter, DirecTV’s traditional satellite service lost 778,000 subscribers and its streaming service DirecTV Now lost 168,000 accounts.
Follow The Leader
NBCUniversal, who competed against Disney for Fox, is planning to follow Disney’s lead in India with the purchase of Zee Entertainment.
Netflix Overtakes Sky
Sky’s new owners, Comcast, will more than double its investment in European original programming for the new venture – Sky Studios.
Lionsgate Films Are Disney Bound
Starting in 2020, films released by Lionsgate will be distributed on the Hulu streaming service, and FX, the basic-cable channel now owned by Disney after the takeover of Fox.