10 Stories You Should Know: 11/04/2022

Here are the TV and streaming stories that should be on your radar

Here are the TV and streaming stories that should be on your radar for Friday, November 4th, 2022:

Netflix Unveils Turkish Slate Including Four New Original Series (Deadline)
Netflix has shared its upcoming slate of Turkish productions, including four new original series and a feature film. The announcement was made at a preview event in Turkey by Pelin Diştaş, Director of Original Content (Turkey) who said all projects would begin production shortly.

AMC Networks Hits 11.1M Streaming Subs, U.S. Ad Revenue Drops 10 Percent (The Hollywood Reporter)
AMC Networks, the cable networks and streaming company behind the likes of AMC, AMC+, IFC, BBC America, Acorn TV and Shudder, recorded a 10 percent drop in U.S. advertising revenue in the third quarter, but its streaming subscribers grew to 11.1 million as of the end of September.

Lionsgate/Starz Withdraws From Seven Major Markets (Broadband TV News)
The company attributed the loss to restructuring costs around Starzplay, which has recently rebranded as Lionsgate+, and its international operations. The number of streaming subscribers grew by one million subscribers on the first quarter to 27.3 million.

Lionsgate will withdraw from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux, the Nordics and Japan. Starz will maintain operations in the UK, Canada and Latin America.

‘Fate: The Winx Saga’ Will Live On, As Creator Details Two Upcoming Projects (Deadline)
Fans of Fate: The Winx Saga, take heart. Creator Iginio Straffi has posted that there are other projects in the works now that the Netflix live-action series has been canceled after two seasons.

Are Anime Producers Losing Faith In Netflix? (Game Rant)
While Netflix was able to turn the Korean drama Squid Game into a surprise international hit, they have not done so with anime. Sure, established properties like Shaman King and Cyberpunk 2077 have thrived on the service, there is no anime (as of this writing) that premiered exclusively on Netflix that you can say is a huge hit. Some of their biggest animes that have popped up on the platform include Death Note, Pokemon, and Cowboy Bebop (which produced high enough numbers to convince Netflix to invest in the live-action series).

The thing is that these series either weren’t Netflix productions or (in the case of Pokemon and Sailor Moon) were huge hits before Netflix made deals to continue producing them. This is leading Japanese producers to revise their strategy and offer Netflix small, experimental shows while saving their ‘franchise potential’ series for regular TV, where they have good reason to feel would be a better fit.

Korean Thriller Series ‘Bargain’ Coming to Paramount+ (The Hollywood Reporter)
Korean crime-thriller series Bargain will launch on Paramount+ in all countries outside of South Korea in 2023, the company announced Friday. Bargain is the second K-drama title coming to the streaming platform as part of a strategic partnership between Paramount and Seoul-based content powerhouse CJ ENM unveiled earlier this year. 

Saudi Version Of Netflix’s ‘Dubai Bling’ Pending Approval After UAE Show Huge Success (Arab News)
“Contrary to what people might think, there is actually a lot of excitement in the Kingdom to produce it and showcase the success stories of locals and expats alike in a similar manner,” the Saudi source said.

“If you think the actors in the UAE version are rich, wait till you see who we might have lined up for ‘Saudi Bling’. We are just waiting for approvals now and of course, like with the Dubai show, we will ensure it does not cross any lines and accurately reflects the lives of the rich and famous in Riyadh.”

Fremantle Grows By 27% as Owner RTL’s Revenues Soar To $5 Billion (Variety)
The RTL Group has interests in 56 television channels, eight streaming services and 36 radio stations. The group’s content business, Fremantle, is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content, including “American Idol,” “Britain’s Got Talent” and “The X Factor.”

Indian IPTV Loses Users Due To Competitors' OTT Features, Affordability (S&P Global Market Intelligence)
IPTV operators in India ended 2021 with about 285,000 subscribers overall, down 10.7% year over year, as competing services in the market — such as cable and direct-to-home — offered more affordable and diverse over-the-top options.