Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, May 21st, 2024

I won't say that I told you so, but....

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, May 21st, 2024:

SOME PRODUCTION NOTES
It is not your imagination, there was not a newsletter Friday or yesterday. And today's is running a bit late. I had some dental work done last week and ended up with an infection. And simultaneously managed to catch that viral flu thing my son brought home from school. So I've been taking antibiotics as well as steroids, which is not optimal if you're trying to think.

I WON'T SAY I TOLD YOU SO. BUT.....
When Comcast announced their new StreamSaver soft bundle last week, it prompted a flurry of "great rebundling" stories and predictions that a consolidation in the streaming business was now in sight. But as I wrote last week, this wasn't an indication of any massive sea change in streaming industry. It was just another effort to improve churn rates and lower customer acquisition costs. But it didn't reflect any real change in the industry:

And like clockwork, every time a streamer raises its price or cuts a distribution partnership, a flurry of think pieces get posted arguing that "hey, all of this streaming stuff is going to cost as much as a cable package" and "all of these different streaming services are starting to feel like a new bundle."

But once again, that's nothing like a cable bundle. If it was, subscribers would have to subscribe to every major streaming service in one package and wouldn't be able to drop any individual streamers. Which is the complete opposite of the reality of the streaming business.

Shared billing is not "reinventing the cable bundle." Customers can still purchase the services separately, much as they can buy only the products they want in a grocery store. And no one walks out of a grocery store with a bag of food and proclaims "I'm rebundling dinner!"

And predictably, when Dave Watson, president and CEO of Comcast Cable, announced the details about the "bundle" on Tuesday at J.P. Morgan’s 2024 Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference, StreamSaver turned out to be a lot less than it might have appeared at first glance.

First of all, StreamSaver is only available to Comcast customers, which makes the idea less of a deal all the way around. The combination of Peacock Premium (with ads), Netflix Basic (with ads) and Apple TV+ will be available as an add-on for $15 a month. Which Comcast (and the majority of the trade press coverage) touts as a discount of at least 35% off of the price customers would pay if they purchased the services separately.

But there are a LOT of caveats in that framing. Most notably is that nearly all Comcast customers already receive Peacock Premium with ads for free. So for those Comcast customers, given that the current cost of Netflix Basic with ads costs $6.99/month and the standard Apple TV+ plan is priced at $9.99/month, the actual saving is only $1.98 per month.

StreamSaver will also be available on Now TV, which is Comcast's streaming only service that is only available to Comcast's broadband customers. Currently, Now TV costs $20 per month and includes Peacock. Netflix and Apple TV+ will be available as an add-on for $10 per month, which to be fair is a more substantial savings of $6.99 a month.

Now that I've seen the details of StreamSaver, it seems to have been created to shore up some weaknesses in each participant. Primarily, it seems to be a way to help Comcast retain broadband customers. Which is a pressing issue, given that Comcast lost 65,000 broadband customers in Q1 2024. 

It's also helpful to Apple TV+, which continues to struggle to add domestic subscribers, especially given it's relatively more expensive subscription price. 

It's not clear to me how much this helps Netflix. It certainly will bring in some reluctant subscribers who will be lured in the promise of a discount. But I suspect the deal is mostly about branding for Netflix, since Comcast is likely to throw a lot of promotional efforts behind the bundle. It also provides more inventory for its ad-supported tier, which will be helpful since Netflix has generally had a lot more interest from advertisers than it has had inventory.

Generally, these soft bundles happen because each of the streamers offer up a discounted price to the bundler. And that discount can be substantial. I was told that the discount Paramount+ offered to Walmart in order to obtain its bundle with Walmart+ was on the order of $3.50 or so per subscriber. Which is substantial. So given the relatively skimpy package discount for StreamSaver, I suspect Netflix didn't shave too much off of its price. 

But overall, as I said at the top, these soft bundle ideas are really about marketing and getting new eyeballs on your service. It is not the "new cable bundle," no matter how many times people say it.

THE END OF 'WALKER'
After a couple of weeks of speculation, The CW announced today it was pulling the plug on Walker after four seasons. It's not a surprise at all, given that the network and producer CBS Studios were reportedly far apart on a license fee, which I understand is currently in the range of $525,000 per episode. A source at The CW told me CBS Studios had been asking for a boost to $650,000 per episode, which the network felt was impossible. 

"In the abstract, it makes sense," the source told me. "The show is successful in its own lane and the studio is certainly losing a lot of money up-front. But you also have to look at our cost structure and what is possible for us. No one is in the wrong here, but our interests just don't align."

While no decision has been announced publicly about the fate of All-American and All-American: Homecoming, the latter show seems increasingly unlikely to return. 

PARAMOUNT+ IS RUINING MY LIFE
Customer experience with streaming apps continues to be an under-appreciated issue across the industry. It doesn't matter how much great content a service might have, subscribers will focus instead on their bad UX issues and even worse, will complain about the problems to everyone that brings up the service.

This piece in Defector about Paramount+ might not be subtle, but it certainly captures the frustrations that come with trying to use that streaming service to watch pretty much anything:

The Paramount Plus app is one of the most garbage apps I have ever encountered. Its first problem is that it crashes, sometimes in the middle of an episode, but usually during the ad break. This means that you have to restart the episode and watch all the ads again. This is annoying. Usually, the app starts the episode over, so then you have to watch more ads to even get back to the place where you left off.

ODDS AND SODS
* Proving once again that cancel culture is in most cases, just a myth, Netflix announced today that it has given an early season two renewal to the upcoming Shane Gillis comedy Tires. Gillis, who recently hosted SNL after being fired from the show in 2019 for making racist comments on some podcasts, has recently been giving interviews in which he gloats about how all of his critics have been silenced due to his success. As a reminder, here is a bit of his past comments.

* Primo has been canceled by Amazon Freevee after one season.

* Netflix has picked up Worst Roommate Ever for a second season.

* The 67th annual Grammy Awards will air live on CBS on Sunday, February 2nd, 2025.

* CTV has decided not to pick up a second season of The Spencer Sisters, starring Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber. That means it also won't return to The CW, which had picked up the first season earlier this year.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

TUESDAY, MAY 21ST, 2024:
American Experience: The Riot Report (PBS)
Angry Birds: Mystery Island Series Premiere (Prime Video)
FBI Season Six Finale (CBS)
FBI: International Season Three Finale (CBS)
FBI: Most Wanted Season Five Finale (CBS)
Hell On Earth: The Verónica Case (La Mano En El Fuego) (Max)
Lolla: The Story Of Lollapalooza (Paramount+)
Rachel Feinstein: Big Guy (Netflix)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22ND, 2024:
Chicago Fire Season Finale (NBC)
Chicago Med Season Finale (NBC)
Chicago PD Season Finale (NBC)
Chief Detective 1958 Series Premiere (Hulu)
Marvel Studios' Assembled: The Making Of X-Men '97 (Disney+)
Nova: Decoding The Universe - Cosmos (PBS)
Sistas Season Premiere (BET)
Survivor Season Forty-Six Finale (CBS)
Toughest Forces On Earth Series Premiere (Netflix)
Trying Season Four Premiere (Apple TV+)

See You On Wednesday!