Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, July 25th, 2023
In a world of unlimited channels, no one can afford to be away for long.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, July 25th, 2023.
ESPN HEAD SAYS NETWORK WILL BE MAKING CHANNELS AVAILABLE D-TO-C 'SOONER THAN LATER'
At today's CNBC x Boardroom Game Plan Summit in Los Angeles, ESPN Chairman James Pitaro appeared on a "Business Of Live Sports" panel with Jessica Berman, National Women’s Soccer League Commissioner; Aryeh Bourkoff, LionTree Chairman & CEO and Jay Marine, Amazon Global Head of Sports. He had some comments about the future of ESPN's business, including its plan to offer a stand-alone consumer streaming service:
"We are obviously very aware of what's happening in the traditional television world. And, we - that business model has been very good to ESPN and the Walt Disney Company. It continues to be very good to the Walt Disney Company. At the same time., Bob and I have been clear that taking our channels, our flagship channels direct to consumer is when, it's not if. By the way when I do want to clarify something when we do that it'll be in parallel with the traditional world."
He went on to talk about interest from partners and who those partners might be:
"We are going to be making our flagship channels available direct to consumer. And yes Julia as a part of that we are interested in partners. Partners that we think can make the flagship product more compelling. And so we're looking at things like distribution, technology, marketing, and content and yeah, Bob and I have had conversations, we've been having conversations. It's early but we've both been very pleased by what I'll call a healthy level of interest in ESPN."
"Can’t comment on who we’re talking to. I will, I will emphasize the fact that we believe that there are parties out there that can help us on the content side. And so you can, you can draw whatever conclusions you want from that. But, you know, my priority is when we do launch flagship channels directly to the consumer a la carte, that the content proposition is as compelling as it can be."
He also discussed NBA rights discussions:
"That partnership is incredibly important to ESPN. It's incredibly important to the Walt Disney Company. We have games on ABC, we have finals on ABC. I don't think the relationship has ever been better between the NBA and Disney and ESPN. As we, as we look out at what we could potentially do here, one of the things we're focused on is production innovation. Like we can’t, you're watching an NBA game it can feel like it's 1997 like we have to continue to push here and identify new alternative broadcasts, new camera angles, new ways to present these games digitally within our app that. That's the priority right now. But yes, we love this relationship and it's important to us."
"We already have a relationship with NBA. We broadcast their games in Brazil today. First of all fantastic league – global, young. They've done just an absolute fantastic job. We've been very public, we're we'd be very interested and would love the opportunity to grow our partnership with them. And with all of these things, you know the economics do matter. Of course. You know, we traditionally with sports rights will be aggressive but rational. And I think that's at least for us, that's the right approach. But listen, every sports broadcaster would like to be in partnership with NBA."
There was also a discussion of women's sports:
"I can't imagine a world where women professional sports is not dramatically bigger when you look out in the future. Because I think it just hasn't had the visibility and the access. So again, when you see something that can grow like that, you want to get in early and then hopefully I believe Amazon can help grow those, those sports as well. So we're very bullish on that."
NETFLIX ADVERTISES $900,000 AI JOB
While entertainment firms like Disney have declined to go into specifics about the nature of their investments in artificial intelligence, job postings and financial disclosures reviewed by The Intercept reveal new details about the extent of these companies’ embrace of the technology:
Netflix’s posting for a $900,000-a-year AI product manager job makes clear that the AI goes beyond just the algorithms that determine what shows are recommended to users.
The listing points to AI’s uses for content creation: “Artificial Intelligence is powering innovation in all areas of the business,” including by helping them to “create great content.” Netflix’s AI product manager posting alludes to a sprawling effort by the business to embrace AI, referring to its “Machine Learning Platform” involving AI specialists “across Netflix.” (Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
A research section on Netflix’s website describes its machine learning platform, noting that while it was historically used for things like recommendations, it is now being applied to content creation. “Historically, personalization has been the most well-known area, where machine learning powers our recommendation algorithms. We’re also using machine learning to help shape our catalog of movies and TV shows by learning characteristics that make content successful. We use it to optimize the production of original movies and TV shows in Netflix’s rapidly growing studio.”
And if you wonder why SAG-AFTRA negotiators are pushing so hard to rein in AI-related moves by the studios, The Intercept also discovered this tidbit:
The daily rate for background actors can be around $200, per the SAG-AFTRA contract. A job posting by the company Realeyes offers slightly more than that: $300 for two hours of work “express[ing] different emotions” and “improvis[ing] brief scenes” to “train an AI database to better express human emotions.”
Realeyes develops technology to measure attention and reactions by users to video content. While the posting doesn’t mention work with streaming companies, a video on Realeyes’s website prominently features the logos for Netflix and Hulu.
The posting is specially catered to attract striking workers, stressing that the gig is for “research” purposes and therefore “does not qualify as struck work”: “Please note that this project does not intend to replace actors, but rather requires their expertise,” Realeyes says, emphasizing multiple times that training AI to create “expressive avatars” skirts strike restrictions.
TWEET OF THE DAY
IN A WORLD OF UNLIMITED CHANNELS, NO ONE CAN AFFORD TO BE GONE FOR LONG
No matter how popular your show might be, you don't have a lock on your audience. In today's seemingly endless menu of viewing choices, there is always the fear that if you're gone too long, your audience will forget while they enjoyed watching you in the first place.
That fear is why the liberal, union-friendly women of ABC's The View have kept doing their show even after their WGA writing staff went on strike. It's why Jeopardy is returning with new episodes this fall, even though some former champions of the show are refusing to cross a picket line and why producers have decided to reuse old questions since the game show's WGA writing staff is on strike.
That's also likely why the ABC daytime drama General Hospital may have taken the extremely unusual step of hiring "temporary writers" this week, since the show has reportedly run out of scripts written before the start of the WGA strike.
I say "reportedly," because there are a lot of questions about this story. The only mention of the plan came from a writer on the show, who wrote about the move on their Instagram account. ABC has so far declined to comment, so there's no way of knowing the validity of the comments. But what is certain is that given the struggles of the few remaining daytime dramas still on the air, no show can afford to go months without new episodes.
I think we are going to see more of these attempts to skirt around the strike as it continues week after week. In theory, these types of issues should put more pressure on the studios to craft a deal agreeable to all sides and settle the strike. But that doesn't seem to be likely now before the fall.
One of the big question marks for me is the fate of the three late night talk shows. They generate a lot of money from advertising, especially timely commercials such as for major movie releases. But they were all struggling both creatively and in the ratings before the strike. What is the future of these shows if they don't have new episodes for six months or more?
WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:
TUESDAY, JULY 25TH, 2023:
Dream (Netflix)
Jim Gaffigan (Prime Video)
Mako Mania: Battle For California (Discovery)
Mark Normand: Soup to Nuts (Netflix)
Monster Hammerheads: Killer Instinct (Discovery)
Raiders Of The Lost Shark (Discovery)
Sintonia (Netflix)
Windy City Rehab: Alison's Dream Home (HGTV)
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26TH, 2023:
After The Bite (HBO)
Air Jaws: Final Frontier (Discovery)
Baki Hanma (Netflix)
Big Brother: 25th Anniversary Celebration (CBS)
Cocaine Sharks (Discovery)
Florida Shark: Blood In The Water (Discovery)
Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case (Netflix)
My Strange Arrest Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals Season Seven Premiere (Netflix)
The Hardy Boys (Hulu)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU WEDNESDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.