Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, January 6th, 2023

The state of Netflix animation and apparently we are getting Xumo TVs.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, January 6th, 2023.

ONWARD TO THE TCAs
Members of the Television Critics Association (The TCA) are returning to Pasadena on Monday for the first live sessions with the networks in nearly three years. This Spring gathering runs about ten days, but it's notable that a number of networks didn't sign on this time around. It sounds as if there were a variety of reasons, but it will be interesting to see how things shake out in this almost-post-pandemic world.

Paramount+ kicks things off on Monday and I'll be there through the following Sunday. That means the timing of next week's newsletters might be a bit unpredictable. They'll go out, but they might be a bit early or late depending on what is happening that day. I'll just touch on some highlights in the newsletters, since whatever news comes out of them will be everywhere within minutes. I do have a number of one-on-one interviews set up throughout the week and I'll pass along some highlights from those as well.

I know there are a large number of industry people who read this newsletter and if you're going to be there, please reach out and say "hello."

TWEET OF THE DAY

FUBO TV RAISES SUBSCRIPTION PRICE FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS
For the second time in eight months, live TV streaming service fuboTV has raised its monthly subscription rates. After eliminating the $64.99 per month Starter Plan in May 2022, Fubo unceremoniously increased its price by $5 again on Friday. The Pro plan has increased from $69.99 to $74.99 per month and the Elite plan has jumped from $79.99 to $84.99. Subscribers who started 2022 on the Starter Plan have now seen a $10 per month price increase after having automatically been moved to the Pro plan:

Another change unveiled on Friday is that the old Ultimate plan — which included SHOWTIME and the Sports Plus add-on — no longer exists. The option that ran $99.99 per month has instead been replaced by the Premier plan, which comes in at $94.99. It is essentially the same package of channels, just without Sports Plus, which runs $10.99 monthly à la carte. Unaffected by the changes is fuboTV’s Spanish-language Latino package, which remains untouched at $32.99. As of now, it appears that the changes are only geared toward new subscribers, however, in the past, Fubo has made these types of changes for existing customers roughly one month after introducing them for new signups.

This price increase comes as the vMVPD continues to makes changes in its packages and channel offering:

One of the upcoming additions to the Fubo channel lineup that should make many customers happy will be the incorporation of the Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs). The in-market channels are expected to be added to the streamer's offerings this month, though no date has been announced for the launch.

Additionally, earlier this week, the streamer also announced that it was ending its carriage deal with AMC Networks, prompting some to speculate that the move could be part of an effort to bring back TNT, TBS, and other Warner Bros. Discovery channels to the service. Adding the Bally Sports RSNs and all of the NBA, NHL, MLB, college basketball, and wrestling on the Turner channels would certainly bring the type of additive value that Gandler believes his sports-loving subscribers would appreciate.

ODDS AND SODS
* CBS has renewed its rookie drama Fire Country for a second season.

* Darnell Ferguson is hosting the new Food Network series Superchef Grudge Match, which premieres on Tuesday, February 7th. In each episode, Darnell stages two different battles between chefs who have beefs with each other to finally bury the hatchet and win $10,000 cash, a prized knife from the losing chef and lifelong bragging rights over their food foe.

CHARTER, COMCAST JOINT VENTURE XUMO TO LAUNCH BRANDED SMART TVS
Xumo, a streaming joint venture between Comcast and Charter, plans to launch a new line of UHD 4K smart TVs in the U.S. this year from Element Electronics.

The company didn’t disclose details about sizes or pricing, other than to say it will offer "a range" of Element Xumo TVs at select U.S. retail locations later in 2023. The TVs will come with a voice remote, along with Comcast’s integrated interface, providing access to live and on-demand streaming content “from hundreds of apps and services."

Formed in April 2022, Comcast and Charter joined forces to develop and offer a next-gen streaming platform on branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs. In November the join venture announced its name as Xumo – the former branding of Comcast’s free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service which as a result got the new name Xumo Play.

While I can't speak to the usefulness of the upcoming Xumo TVs, the Xumo Play FAST is mostly third-rate on-demand titles along with the typical selection of live channels. The service has recently added a number of Comcast-owned TV shows and movies, but it still is very much a shadow of what users will find on rivals such as Pluto or Tubi.

THE STATE OF NETFLIX ANIMATION
The Sea Beast has become the most-viewed animated movie in Netflix’s history and The Hollywood Reporter has an interview with Chris Williams, the man behind the film. 

He had previously worked at Disney Animation and he has an interesting perspective on the difference between working for Disney and for a relative animation upstart like Netflix. It's certainly a point of view I don't think I've heard before:

Netflix gets knocks for the movies it makes, especially on the live-action side. But in animation this year, it really established itself as a legit studio. What is the mood inside that department?

It’s a huge source of pride. These are different projects, and they all feel risky. They all feel like they came from a place of passion, that the people who made them really wanted to make them. And that to me really separates it from being strictly a commercial enterprise. When you see these movies that Netflix made, it seems like the artists were given a chance to make the movie they’ve always wanted to make. And there are more coming.

The business model is fundamentally different. If you’re at Pixar or Disney, you make one or two movies a year. And all the eggs are in that basket, so there’s a lot of concern and consternation about that one thing. And when you’re working on it, it’s a conscious thing and it’s also an unconscious thing. You feel that nervousness. If it doesn’t succeed, it can be an existential problem.

At Netflix, the risk is spread out over many things so that no one movie feels like it has that burden. So you’re free to make what you think is great. In either system you can make a movie that is great and one isn’t inherently better than the other. But I do feel like being at a place in my career that is less risk averse is pretty exciting.

WHAT'S NEW FOR FRIDAY:

All The Single Ladies Series Premiere (OWN)
Ancient Aliens (History)
Blue Bloods Spring Premiere (CBS)
BMF: Black Mafia Family Season Two Premiere (Starz)
Boys In Blue (Showtime)
Buddy Daddies (Crunchyroll)
Cosmic Love France Series Premiere (Prime Video)
Dateline Spring Premiere (NBC)
Fire Country Spring Premiere (CBS)
Helpsters Season 3B Premiere (Apple TV+)
Lopez Vs. Lopez Spring Premiere (NBC)
Mumbai Mafia: Police Vs. The Underworld (Netflix)
Mythic Quest Season Three Finale (Apple TV+)
Pressure Cooker Series Premiere (Netflix)
Ready To Love Season Premiere (OWN)
RuPaul's Drag Race Season Premiere (MTV)
Secrets In The Building (LMN)
Shark Tank Spring Premiere (ABC)
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale (Crunchyroll)
SWAT Spring Premiere (CBS)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel - Northern War (Crunchyroll)
The Mosquito Coast Season Two Finale (Apple TV+)
The Pale Blue Eye (Netflix)
The Rig (Prime Video)
The Ultimatum: France Series Premiere (Netflix)
Vesper (AMC+)
Who's Talking To Chris Wallace? Season Two Premiere (CNN)
Young Rock Spring Premiere (NBC)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU MONDAY!

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.