Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, March 4th, 2022

Just because it's conventional wisdom, it doesn't mean it's correct.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, March 4th, 2022. 

THE CHANGING FACE OF CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
When it comes to the streaming video industry, conventional wisdom changes sometimes from day-to-day. A piece of news comes out, and the result is a flood of think pieces arguing "THIS is where the industry is headed!" And then the next bit of news sends the industry conventional wisdom off in a different direction.

Remember last month, when Netflix's weak subscriber numbers spawned a flurry of "Disney+ is now poised to overtake Netflix" pieces? Those hot takes don't seem as hot today after Disney announced that it's streaming service Disney+ is planning a cheaper ad-supported version as a way to help increase its subscriber numbers:

Disney knew that they couldn’t hit their Disney+ subscription goals given the lack of breadth to their content offering, and the acquisition and integration of Hulu has been harder to accomplish than they thought it would be, so they are turning to an ad-supported version to hit their targets,” said Rich Greenfield, a media analyst with LightShed Partners in New York. “It’s a way to reinvigorate subscription growth even if it comes at the expense of the consumer experience.”

A Disney spokesperson disputed that meeting subscription targets is the main goal behind the rollout, calling the move “an additional tool” to help Disney meet subscription targets. Market research had shown that consumer demand for a cheaper price point for Disney+ was strong, and tastes had changed since the company initially said that it didn’t intend to pursue an ad-supported offering, the spokesperson said.

If that news was the shot, then the chaser was this piece of news which surfaced not longer after:

This decision is interesting on several levels, especially since some NBCU executives had been publicly musing about the advantages of keeping next-day content on Hulu for financial reasons.  As it happens, I've been doing some interviews on background for an upcoming project, so I have a bit of insight into what has been going on at both streamers over the past couple of months. 

When 2021 was coming to a close, there were still questions at Disney about launching an ad-supported Disney+. The positives were that it would likely juice subscriptions and provide some added revenue in the United States. Rolling it out internationally was likely going to be more of a process, given the challenges of international ad-tech and some contractual issues that pop up in a couple of territories. But there were also some negatives to consider. One was just perception. Rolling out a cheaper, ad-supported Disney+ would feel a bit...not desperate, but not confident, either. There was likely to be some mixed reactions from the press and much more importantly, investors. But in the end, rolling it out made the most sense from a global integration standpoint.

Obviously, an ad-supported Disney+ in the U.S. makes an eventual combining of basic Hulu and Disney+ much easier. But one of the hang-ups has always been that the deals which allowed Hulu to offer next-day content from rival studios wouldn't apply if the content was moved to Disney+. Several deals would have to be renegotiated - or more likely - Disney would have to come to an agreement to terminate the current deals. By far the biggest impediment would be NBCUniversal, whose executives had reportedly been very clear they had no intention of providing next-day content for use on a rival streamer.

From the Disney side, executives don't seem to have had a clear perspective into what NBCU planned to do. But they were apparently informed at some point in the beginning of 2022 that NBCU had decided to pull its next-day content and shift it over to Peacock in September. That decision made the move to launch an ad-supported Disney+ an easier call. 

And while pulling in-season episodes to Peacock is a good long-term strategy, it might have an impact on the digital viewing numbers for some NBC shows. Hulu has about 20 million more U.S. subscribers than Peacock, which is likely to lessen the +5 day viewing numbers for the NBCU shows. 

So does this mean that the basic Hulu service is going away? The answer I've frequently heard to that question is maybe. While Hulu is losing same-season rights to NBCU programming, it continues to have rights to previous seasons through a deal which expires in 2024. I've been told that assuming that timeline doesn't change, any merging of the two services wouldn't take place until then. Although, I am continually reminded, that doesn't mean it would happen at all.

The truth is that there are a number of complications before that could happen, both technical and contractually. There is a fair amount of sentiment inside the company for further consolidating the Disney platforms internationally, while keeping Hulu as a brand in the U.S. It doesn't sound to me as if executives feel any rush to make a decision before sometimes in mid-2023, although given the way the industry changes, all of this could be out of date tomorrow.

TWEET OF THE DAY

WAIT, MAYBE *THIS* IS THE TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* A review of the new Netflix drama Pieces Of Her. Toni Collette is fabulous.

* I spent $4,000 to be on The Bachelor and was sent home the first night.

* Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. from Daniel Kaluuya’s 59% Productions, will open in theaters and stream on Peacock on Labor Day weekend Friday, September 2nd.

* Sheryl Underwood has signed a multi-year renewal at The Talk, as well as a development deal with CBS Studios.

* In 2015, Putin’s flacks mistakenly brought The American Prospect's Eric Alterman to Moscow to celebrate Russia Today. It didn’t quite work out the way they’d intended.

WHAT'S NEW FOR FRIDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:

After Yang (Showtime)
An Unexpected Killer Season Premiere (Oxygen)
Art In Bloom With Helen Dealtry Series Premiere (Magnolia/Discovery+)
Benedetta (Hulu)
Bug Out (IMDb TV)
Central Park (Apple TV+)
Dear... (Apple TV+)
Fresh (Hulu)
Goyo: En letra de otro (HBO Max)
I (Almost) Got Away With It (Investigation Discovery)
Lies And Deceit (Netflix)
Love After Lockup Season Premiere (WE tv)
Luci And Desi (Prime Video)
Making Fun Series Premiere (Netflix)
Meskina (Netflix)
Mystery At Blind Frog Ranch Season Finale (Discovery)
Pieces Of Her Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Boys: Diabolical Series Premiere (Prime Video)
The Invisible Thread (Netflix)
You Can Never Go Home Again (LMN)

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.