10 Stories You Should Know: 02/21/2003

Here are the global TV stories that should be on your radar

Here are the global TV and streaming stories that should be on your radar for Tuesday, February 21st, 2023:

Netflix To Slash Subscription Costs Across Middle East (Arab News)
In Yemen, Iraq, Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine, Libya, Algeria, Lebanon, Iran, and Sudan, the streaming service’s basic plan will now cost $3.99 instead of $7.99, its standard plan $7.99 instead of $9.99, and premium plan down from $11.99 to $9.99.

African Streamer Showmax Readies Ghanian Drama Series ‘The Billionaire’s Wife’ (Deadline)
Showmax's next original drama will explore marital power structures in Ghana. The Billionaire's Wife is a 10-part series set to launch next month (March 2). New episodes will stream every Thursday and represent Showmax’s increasing investment in Ghana.

Prime Video Greenlights German Original Series With Comedy Actors Anke Engelke And Bastian Pastewka (Variety)
One of Germany’s most popular comedians and entertainers, Engelke also appears in Amazon’s ongoing comedy gameshow “LOL: Last One Laughing,” based on the hit Japanese show “Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents Documental.”

Content Cuts Loom At Disney India Unit (Mint)
“It is clear that a certain cost consciousness will come in internationally and will ultimately flow to India. The issue though is that digital hasn’t really taken off versus linear platforms in India and while Disney+ Hotstar is big in the country, it is low on ARPUs (average revenue per user)," said Anuj Gandhi, media analyst and founder of Plug and Play Entertainment, a media tech start-up.

Streamers To Account For A Fifth Of All Sports Rights Spend In 2023 (Rapid TV News)
Driven by the massive deals inked by Amazon and YouTube to show NFL action, the global spend on sports rights is set to reach $8.5 billion in 2023, a 64% increase compared with the previous year according to a new report from Ampere Analysis.

Premier League Set To Air On New TV Channel After BT Sport Takeover And TV Rights Debate (Football London)
The Premier League is set to air on a brand new TV channel as of next season following a set of changes at BT Sport after their takeover by Warner Bros Discovery last September. The American company look set to make a host of changes in the summer, which looks set to rearrange the number of channels currently used as well as a potential merger with another.

ZDF Studios To Distribute Second Season Reboot Of Legendary Spanish Horror Series ‘Stories To Stay Awake’ (Variety)
The series is a reboot of the classic series created by Spain’s Chicho Ibáñez Serrador in the 1960s which proved a milestone in Spanish horror, introducing Spain to classic tales from Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allen Poe.

Dubai Bling: Netflix Launches Investigation Into Salary Leak Scandal (Arab Business)
The revelations have also caused huge embarrassment to cast members who have been demanding considerably higher sums for public appearances. “I cannot ask for AED100k anymore to open a new shop because everyone knows I charged less than AED10k for the show. This is a massive problem,” one cast member said.

Netflix, sources say, is to reiterate to cast members the confidentiality clauses in their contracts and NDAs signed, whilst interviewing several other individuals who may have had access to the information.

Spanish Bullfighting Channel To Close (Broadband TV News)
The Spanish bullfighting channel Toros will close after over 30 years on March 23.
However, according to Telefónica’s Movistar+, it will continue to offer it clients a wide catalogue of exclusive VOD content sourced from the channel over the last three decades.

Amazon Prime Video Renews UEFA Champions League In Italy (Digital TV Europe)
Streaming platform Amazon Prime Video has retained the live rights to UEFA Champions League fixtures in Italy. The big tech-backed platform initially secured UEFA CL rights in 2021/22 and is in the last year of a three-season deal. The new deal gives it a further three seasons – covering 2024/25 to 2026/27.