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As the great de-bundling of cable grows courtesy of “skinny” digital offerings, where consumers get a few dozen channels — think Sling TV from Dish Network — instead of several hundred, Roku on Jan. 2 took a baby step toward bundling streamers. The maker of smart-TV devices led by CEO Anthony Wood said its customers could now choose from 25 offerings — including Showtime, Starz and Epix alongside lesser known streaming entities like Noggin, Dropout and Tastemade — and pay for them all on a single bill. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but observers estimate that Roku is taking up to an ongoing 20 percent commission on each subscriber it enlists. Bundled streaming would mark a turning point in the landscape: In 2015, there were 205.4 million traditional pay television subscribers…
Film Weinstein 2.0 Can the company’s new owners light a path? p. 20 ↑ Television Netflix Censored Saudi Arabia isn’t the only dicey issue p. 22 Susan Zirinsky The 46-year CBS News veteran succeeds David Rhodes as president, inheriting a storied but troubled news division at a key #MeToo moment. Olivia de Havilland The Supreme Court declines to hear the 102-year-old legend’s appeal over her depiction on FX’s Feud, ending the legal fight over historical drama on TV. Shari Redstone The CBS and Viacom controlling owner settles multiple legal battles with her father Sumner’s former companion Manuela Herzer, avoiding an embarrassing and potentially costly trial. R. Kelly Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly docuseries, in which multiple women accuse the singer of abuse, brings in strong ratings as a movement builds to…
When Kevin Spacey walked into a Nantucket courtroom Jan. 7 for his arraignment on one count of indecent assault and battery, noticeably absent was his near-constant companion of the past three years. Spacey’s manager, Evan Lowenstein, a chiseled 44-year-old former boy-bander, was nowhere to be seen inside or outside the packed courthouse, where TV trucks jostled for space. But behind the scenes, sources say the Svengali figure is calling the shots and even spearheaded Spacey’s bizarre Christmas Eve video in which the fallen actor broke his silence of more than a year. Now, as the 59-year-old former House of Cards star appears headed to trial, mystery surrounds the man who is guiding Spacey’s career and will likely be a key witness in the case, given that he was at the…
When The Upside, the new odd-couple dramedy starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston, opens nationwide Jan. 11, the Lantern Entertainment logo, an interlocked L and E, will hit movie theaters for the first time. It provides the first hints of how the Texas-based private-equity investors Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic plan to exploit the remnants of The Weinstein Co., whose assets they acquired for $289 million in a bankruptcy sale last May. But however Neil Burger’s The Upside fares — it’s tracking at $10 million to $12 million, which, though a respectable number for a midrange movie, would be one of Hart’s lowest openings, arriving weeks after the comedian stepped away as this year’s Oscars host — it’s not likely to jump-start Lantern. The company, which now consists of about…
On Jan. 6, 2016, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings stood onstage at CES in Las Vegas and declared that the audience was “witnessing the birth of a global TV network.” Now, three years later, the streaming behemoth is learning the unique challenges that come with being a content provider in more than 190 countries. Netflix began 2019 facing criticism over its decision to remove an episode of comedian Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act in Saudi Arabia. The episode — which features Minhaj lambasting the actions of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the CIA has concluded ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — was subject to a takedown notice from the Kingdom, Netflix says, for violating its Anti-Cyber Crime Law. Netflix defended its decision as complying with a “valid legal demand.”…
Guest Column The Ellen DeGeneres Show managed to pull off a feat Jan. 4 during host Ellen DeGeneres’ interview with comedian Kevin Hart. Most celebrity apology tours end up making the celebrity come off as even more ridiculous, but the one who ought to be most embarrassed by this interview is DeGeneres herself. Perhaps because she’s gay, DeGeneres thought she was the right person to absolve Hart of his previous homophobic behavior — behavior he insists he apologized for in the past, though he in fact did not. And a cocky and defiant Instagram video from your bed, calling out the haters and negative people for trying to bring you down — like the one he made after controversy arose when he was announced as host of the Oscars —…
