Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024

This seems like a good time to ask Bob Iger some follow-up questions

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024:

THIS SEEMS LIKE A GOOD TIME FOR A FOLLOW-UP QUESTION
During Wednesday's shareholder meeting, Disney CEO Bob Iger made these comments in response to a shareholder question:

Iger said that the company is “committed to telling stories that reflect the world around us, and using those stories to entertain people from all walks of life.” He added, “We know our job is not to advance any kind of agenda. So as long as I am in the job, I am going to continue to be guided by a sense of decency and respect, and we will always trust our instincts.”

Which opens up a lot of space for some follow-up questions. For instance, given that one of the criticisms from Nelson Peltz has been that Disney films such as the remake of The Little Mermaid and The Marvels were examples of the company releasing films that were "too woke." I'd love to be able to ask Iger if it agreed with the specific assessment and if he would greenlight similar films today.

And then follow-up with this question. “You say the company is committed to telling stories that reflect the world around us. How do you navigate the desires of the company’s LGTBQ fans, who want to see some of their stories told, and critics who argue that any depiction of an LGTBQ lifestyle is woke and wrong?”

I'd also be interested in hearing his assessment of the working conditions for Disney's LGTBQ employees. Until the recent battle with Governor DeSantis, Disney had been planning to move more employees to its Florida operations. Which is one of the primary reasons why Disney's former CEO got in a public battle over Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law.

So I'd love to hear Iger answer the question, "What would you tell a Disney employee who says that because of recent laws passed in Florida, they don't feel safe moving their family into the state?"

THIS SEEMS LIKE A BAD LONG-TERM APPROACH
Nearly every news organization is struggling for advertising revenue, which I suspect is the reason why the various Penske publications are becoming more and more aggressive with their digital advertising placement. But now some of the sites have been using this pop-ad, which randomly appears and covers the entire page until you close it (I saw this one at The Hollywood Reporter)

WHILE IT'S AN INTERESTING IDEA, I DON'T THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN....PROBABLY
Netflix executives have been very clear that while they don't dismiss the idea of having live sports, they have no intention of pursuing sports rights that would get them into perpetual bidding wars every few years. The streamer has made some bids for live sports rights, but they have either involved owning the league outright or nailing down some variation of mostly global rights.

For instance, Netflix just spent $5 billion to sew up most of the global rights for sports-adjacent WWE for the next decade and has the option to nab other rights in future years. But the company's executives are adamant about not getting into X amount of money for limited live game package from any of the major American sports leagues.

And while I still think it's extremely unlikely Netflix will decide to spend the substantial amounts of money required to get into the major sports league live game business, Streaming TV Insider's Michael Grebb argues that a transformative move would be for the NBA to strike a global rights deal with Netflix, assuring that every game would be easy to watch all in one place no matter where in the world you live:

First, Netflix has a massive global base of 260 million subscribers in 246 countries, more international reach than any other streamer (Only Disney+ comes close.) The NBA, meanwhile, is one of the most popular U.S.-based sports leagues around the world, greatly eclipsing the NFL, MLB, and NHL. According to Ampere, the value split of the NBA’s U.S. to international rights is 78% to 22%. That’s compared to 98% to 2% for the NFL and 95% to 5% for the MLB. Sure, NBA rights could be 14 times the cost of those WWE rights for Netflix - but they could also be 10 times more valuable than the NFL outside the U.S. Picking up the NBA would give Netflix more room to grow in markets like Europe and Africa, not to mention Latin America where Argentina and Brazil in particular love the game. (As for China where basketball is huge, the NBA has a longstanding deal with Chinese streamer Tencent, and U.S.-based media companies like Netflix generally can’t operate there anyway.)

This kind of swing-for-the-fences deal wouldn't come cheap: the NBA is apparently hoping to get around $75 billion for the next 8 or 10 year deal. But being the exclusive home for NBA games would be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the streaming landscape.

There's one other aspect of this that isn't mentioned by Grebb that would have an almost impossible to measure impact. Nabbing sole NBA rights would crush the asperations of two of Netflix's biggest rivals. Losing NBA rights would likely doom the already sketchy sports-oriented streamer set to be launched by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. And it would also bring on a near-extinction level event for some of WBD's linear channels that currently depend on NBA games. Most notably TNT. 

Locking up those rights would be crazy expensive. But Netflix is the only streamer with the reach and money to make it pay off. Particularly since it has been rolling out an ad tier globally and these games would be a great value-added deal for advertisers.

And let's face, crushing WBD head Davis Zaslav's empire-building ambitions does sound like a lot of fun.

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* If I had the chance to make a sports documentary for Netflix, the story of Freddy Adu, aged just 14, who is the youngest person ever to sign a U.S. professional team sports contract.

* Hotel Cocaine is the story of Roman Compte (Danny Pino), Cuban exile and general manager of the Mutiny Hotel, the glamorous epicenter of the Miami cocaine scene of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The series premieres June 16th on MGM+ and here is a first look video and a photo gallery of images.

* ABC has renewed Will Trent for a third season.

* The Ankler's Elaine Low has an interview with anonymous TV studio production executive.

* If you find yourself thinking, "I like college football, but I'm concerned it's not professional enough," then this idea for a college football super league probably sounds like a great idea. 

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3RD:
* A Brief History Of The Future (PBS)
* American Horror Story: Delicate Part 2 (FX)
* Bartender Glass Of God (Crunchyroll)
* Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killers (Netflix)
* Files Of The Unexplained Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Ghost Adventures: House Calls Season Three Premiere (Discovery)
* Loot Season Two Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Pawn Stars Season Premiere (History)
* Pawn Stars Do America Season Premiere (History)
* Resident Alien Season Three Finale (NBC)
* Sight Unseen Series Premiere (The CW)
* Take My Tumor Series Premiere (TLC)
* The New Look Season One Finale (Apple TV+)
* Walker Season Four Premiere (The CW)
* Zero To Hero [aka Rodeio Rock] (Netflix)

THURSDAY, APRIL 4TH:
* A Condition Called Love Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
* An Archdemon's Dilemma: How To Love Your Elf Bride Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
* Crooks Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Hop Series Premiere (Max)
* Invincible Season Two Finale (Prime Video)
* I Woke Up A Vampire Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
* Laid Back Camp (Netflix)
* Musica (Prime Video)
* Ripley Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Son Of A Critch Season Three Finale (The CW)
* Star Trek: Discovery Season Premiere (Paramount)
* The Influencer (ALLBLK)
* The Tearsmith (Netflix)
* Tokyo Vice Season Two Finale (Max)
* Wind Breaker Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)

SEE YOU ON THURSDAY!