Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, May 26th, 2021

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, May 26th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities suburbs, where AllYourScreens HQ is powered by morning blend coffee and a granola bar.

AMAZON TO BUY MGM
As expected, Amazon and MGM announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire MGM for a purchase price of $8.45 billion. Here is the relevant comment from the Amazon press release formally announcing the deal:

"MGM has a vast catalog with more than 4,000 films—12 Angry Men, Basic Instinct, Creed, James Bond, Legally Blonde, Moonstruck, Poltergeist, Raging Bull, Robocop, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, Stargate, Thelma & Louise, Tomb Raider, The Magnificent Seven, The Pink Panther, The Thomas Crown Affair, and many other icons—as well as 17,000 TV shows—including Fargo, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Vikings—that have collectively won more than 180 Academy Awards and 100 Emmys,” said Mike Hopkins, Senior Vice President of Prime Video and Amazon Studios. “The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team. It’s very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling."

While it's clear the IP is important, there are also a lot of titles that are beloved but not likely to work as a reboot. For instance, it's unlikely we'll see a Basic Instinct cinematic universe or a TV series based on Raging Bull. And while details on the deal are still not public, it appears that the Broccoli family's hold onto the James Bond franchise remains intact. Which is a bit of a problem, given that the family has been adamant in their belief that James Bond movies belong in a theater and that doing any sort of Bond-related TV series is a bad idea. 

As for other points, while I don't usually reference older newsletters, this excerpt from a piece I wrote last week bears repeating:

Obviously, the crown jewel of the MGM library are the James Bond movies. And at one point, the most recent installment of the franchise almost premiered on streaming because of the pandemic. But thanks to a unique deal MGM has with the Broccoli family, Barbara Broccoli and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson retain an enormous amount of control over the franchise. They currently serve as the final arbiter on everything from the scripts to the casting to the promotional materials. A situation one of my sources described as "not a deal breaker, but worrying." I was told Amazon executives have had at least one meeting with the duo in an effort to wrestle creative control away while allowing them to retain their current split of the profits. It's not clear whether that effort was successful, but I'm told that Amazon executives have already explored the idea of a young James Bond TV series, along with a vague plan to roll out some made-for-Amazon movies set in the Bond cinematic universe.

The older James Bond movies have been available for streaming on just about every major streaming service, but the prize for Amazon would be the exclusive rights to upcoming Bind films, with the expectation that the movies would shift to a same day-and-date release or an Amazon exclusive some point down the road.

For all of the talk about Amazon over-paying, I think this has the potential of being a good deal. Depending in large part on how much effort the company expends on monetizing the massive MGM catalog.

One example of how that can happen is with digital and physical copies of titles. One estimate shows that around 44% of all Amazon Prime users make one digital or physical media purchase per month of a title they want to watch but that isn't available on Prime Video. It's pretty easy to imagine offering the entire MGM catalog available either digitally or with an on-demand DVD/Blu-Ray could be an immensely popular (and profitable) revenue stream. 

WILL AMAZON/MGM DEAL FACE GOVERNMENT SCRUTINY?
There have been some reports that one of the reasons why Netflix didn't get into the bidding war for MGM was that they anticipated a high level of government scrutiny over the deal, which they didn't want to deal with.  While it's still early in the process, some legislators are already weighing in with reservations about the deal. For instance Sen. Amy Klobuchar released this statement:

"This is a major acquisition that has the potential to impact millions of consumers. The Department of Justice must conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that this deal won’t risk harming competition."

The irony is that if you're looking at the possibility of negative impacts on the consumer, the proposed WarnerMedia/Discovery deal is likely to have much more impact and so far I haven't seen a lot of pushback about that proposal.

VIACOM/CBS LOOKING TO SPEND $5 A YEAR ON ORIGINAL CONTENT BY 2024
CEO Bob Bakish told shareholders during a virtual meeting on Tuesday that the company planned to increase its spending on original content for streaming to at least $5 billion a year by 2024. The company currently spends about $15 billion a year for content across all of its channels and platforms. 

Paramount+ is planning to add 1,000 new movie titles to the service in June, and another 1,500 in July:

“That number includes content exclusively for our streaming services and some allocation of highly valuable content that we’ll use across both streaming and traditional [television and theatrical distribution]"

One of the bigger issues with Paramount+ right now is that the app is a mess. It was built on top of the CBS All-Access UX which was not designed to deal with such a flood of content. It's often difficult to find what you're looking for and content discovery is challenging.

BUILDING UX THAT KEEPS VIEWERS COMING BACK
I love UX discussions and spend a fair amount of time in this newsletter talking about UX changes and issues. So this one-hour roundtable that focuses on UX issues is right on target for me. It's a really fascinating discussion that includes CJ Harvey, VP Product Management, HBO Max Greg Riker, Head of Sales and Business Development for the Americas, Metrological Sharana Math, Director of Partner Management, Roku Tom Hurlbutt, Senior Director of Product Management, Crunchyroll.

Here is the official description to the panel, which can be found here on YouTube:

Content is king, but the queen is user experience, and OTT services need to take a holistic approach to making sure their content offerings aren't overshadowed by clunky viewer interfaces, poor recommendations, and hard-to-use search and discovery functions. Finding and watching content should be easy and fun, not a chore. Find out the latest best practices and new approaches to creating user experiences that delight, not deter.

ODDS AND SODS

* Chris Noth will reprise the role of "Mr. Big" in the HBO Max original series And Just Like That...

TODAY'S PREMIERES 
1) Baggio: The Divine Ponytail (Netflix)
A chronicle of the 22-year career of soccer star Roberto Baggio, including his difficult debut as a player and his deep rifts with some of his coaches.

2) Crime Scene Kitchen Series Premiere (Fox)
Can you walk into a kitchen and figure out what’s been baked solely by the ingredients and clues left behind? Each episode begins at the scene of the crime – a kitchen that was just used to make an amazing mouth-watering dessert that has since disappeared. The chef teams of two are challenged to scour the kitchen for clues and ingredients to figure out what was baked. Next, each team must duplicate the recipe based on their guess. To take the $100,000 prize, the competing dessert makers will need to prove they have the technical know-how, imagination and problem-solving skills needed to decode and re-create incredible desserts and cakes from across the world

3) Curse Of Akakor Series Premiere (Discovery)
A team of investigators travels to the Amazon to search does three missing explorers who disappeared while looking for the lost city of Akakor. Their search uncovers disturbing rumors of murder.

4) 40-Year-Old Property Virgin Series Premiere (Discovery+)
the series follows an array of first-time buyers as they try to find their first place all while navigating the opinions of family, friends and nosy neighbors.

5) Ghost Lab (Netflix)
They believe that ghosts are real, but trying to prove it might end up costing them more than their lives.

6) High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America (Netflix)
Food writer Stephen Satterfield embarks on a vibrant and powerful culinary journey that celebrates the courage, artistry, and resourcefulness of the African American people.

7) Justice Now: Race & Reckoning (BET)
Soledad O'Brien and guests address America's racial reckoning and speak truth to those in power.

8) Nail Bomber: Manhunt (Netflix)
This documentary tells the story of the 1999 London bombings that targeted minorities, and the race to find the far-right extremist behind them.

9) Property Brothers: Forever Home Season Premiere (HGTV)
Home renovation superstars Drew and Jonathan Scott will rework humdrum houses into enduring family dream homes. The episodes will follow the Brothers as they unlock a home’s full potential through renovation and redesign to create the perfect place that families won’t want to leave. With reimagined floorplans, creative storage solutions, stunning kitchen and main bedroom suite reveals, the Brothers will reignite homeowners’ passion for their forever home.

10) The Bold Type Season Three Premiere (Freeform)
All eyes are on Jane as she and Jacqueline combat a public inconsistency in her latest story. Kat runs into an old friend, sparking a new idea. Alex uses his podcast to make a statement. Sutton gets a career win, but a personal blow.

I'll be back with another one tomorrow. If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.