Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, July 5th, 2022
That 'HBO Max is pausing some European production' story is a bit more nuanced than you might have read.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, July 5th, 2022.
ABOUT THAT HBO MAX RESTRUCTURING IN EUROPE
Everyone in the TV industry seems to be talking about a piece in Monday's Variety, in which Manori Ravindran reported that HBO Max is restructuring its original content efforts in parts of Europe:
As the media conglomerate looks to recalibrate its streaming priorities, it will no longer produce originals for HBO Max in the Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland), Central Europe, the Netherlands and Turkey, and will also remove some content from its platform in order to free up licensing deals elsewhere.
In a statement shared with Variety, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. Discovery said:
“As we continue to work on combining HBO Max and discovery+ into one global streaming service showcasing the breadth of content across Warner Bros. Discovery, we are reviewing our current content proposition on the existing services. As part of this process, we have decided to remove a limited amount of original programming from HBO Max, as well as ceasing our original programming efforts for HBO Max in the Nordics and Central Europe. We have also ceased our nascent development activities in the newer territories of Netherlands and Turkey, which had commenced over the past year."
The headline in this story and similar pieces that came out after Variety broke the story are+ that the decision is driven by cost-cutting measures and in the grand scheme of things, that's mostly true. But there's a lot more nuance behind the decision and the way it was structured. So let's break this down a bit more.
So why halt originals in these particular regions? There are a couple of reasons and it mostly revolves around regulations that have been imposed on streamers in those countries or ones that are likely to be imposed in the near future.
For instance, Turkey was likely an easy call when it came to suspending original content. Thanks to the success of The Protector, Netflix has a massive lead in the country when it comes to subscriber numbers and mindshare. And Turkey continues to pass regulations that impose serious content constraints on original programs produced inside the country. Also, for political reasons that are too complex to go in to here, some other countries in the region are pressuring large streamers to not license Turkish-produced content. Given all of that - and the small amount of original content that was scheduled for Turkey - stepping away from those efforts was an easy call.
It's a variation of the same issue in the Nordics, especially in Denmark.
In January of this year, the Danish Audiovisual Producers Association and Create Denmark (representing the Danish actors', screenwriters', and directors' unions) signed a new rights agreement that has led to several big streamers (including Netflix, Viaplay and TV2 Play) to suspend production of new programming in Denmark.
Under the new agreement, artists who had given up their rights in exchange for a lump sum will now be paid on an ongoing basis. That is on top of a government-mandated so-called Netflix Tax, which require OTTs to reserve 6 percent of revenues generated in the country for local TV production and public TV support. All of those regulations make producing original content in Denmark a lot more complicated, especially when it comes to the imposition of government-mandated residuals. This is an idea that is also being proposed in several other countries in the region and all of that potential chaos makes the "content proposition" for Warner Brothers Discovery a lot less attractive.
Another complication in this decision is the European Union. In 2018 the EU passed a law called the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS) that requires global streaming services to have at least 30 percent European content in order to operate in Europe. While Turkey is not a current member of the EU, all of the other countries where HBO Max is pausing new original production are and the company has to meet those guidelines (or be actively working towards them).
Given those restrictions, here are a couple of interesting passages from the Variety piece:
While original development will be halted immediately in the aforementioned territories, programs that are already in production will continue, and it’s understood a number of green lights that haven’t yet been announced will move ahead, too. However, some of these shows may be sold to other platforms — a move that provides WBD with more licensing opportunities elsewhere.
As part of the restructure, certain European originals and some U.S. shows are also coming off HBO Max globally. Hungarian drama "The Informant" as well as "Lust" and "Kamikaze" will all be removed from the service.
We will continue to commission local content for Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear networks in these regions and we remain substantial acquirers of local third-party content for use on our streaming services."
So what seems likely to be happening is that HBO Max is buying itself a bit of time in this territories while it waits for whatever the streamer will look like when it's combined with Discovery+. It will continue the original scripted production that is already in the pipeline, but will begin the process of licensing off the titles to other streamers and linear networks outside the region.
When the new combined streaming service launches, Warner Bros. Discovery can rely on Discovery content to hit the 30% threshold on the streaming side. Not only is Discovery's European original content slate already formidable, Discovery's streaming service has a much-wider focus than Discovery+ in the U.S. Nearly all of that production money has already been allocated, so there'll be a fairly substantial savings on the company's bottom-line European market production costs.
The new platform is also likely the reason why HBO Max is not planning to launch in France until 2023. The situation for streamers in France is even more complicated, with the French government mandating that all streamers must devote 20 or 25% of their revenue from the country into French productions, focusing on independent production companies. There are also some pretty stringent regulations mandating the length of windows for theatrical movies, which recently led Disney to opt to release the upcoming theatrical film Strange World directly to Disney+ in France only:
France's so-called chronologie des medias rules. The law forces studios like Disney to wait 17 months before they can release movies to Disney+ after a theatrical release, following a four month purchase and exclusive six-month Canal+ window. Disney+ can then only keep it for five months, as it goes to free-to-air channels like TF1 and France 2 for a 14-month period. Once that window ends (36 months after the theatrical release), it reverts back to Disney+.
It's also worth noting that when it comes to linear networks, this HBO Max original production rollback appears to be limited to the streaming side of the business. Warner Bros Discovery has substantial linear assets in the affected areas. Multiple localized Discovery-owned networks throughout the region as well as the former SBS Nordic, which has been a major commercial broadcaster in Scandinavia for two decades. That portion of the company continues with business as usual, although it appears that some of the high-profile original scripted shows that might have found their way to HBO Max will now be licensed off. Or licensed just for the EU countries for a limited timeframe.
So the net result is that while this halting of original content in some parts of Europe is an attempt to save money, it's also the result of a calculation by Warner Bros. Discovery that those halted productions plans wouldn't add much value to the overall company's streaming efforts and it's smarter to save the money for more cost-effective unscripted programming that travels better across regions that much of its scripted original programming.
One Last Thought: Based on what I am being told, HBO Max has been quietly removing some of its scripted Latin American originals from other territories. I'm making some calls to see if I can get more clarity on that. I'm also interested to see what happens over the next few years in the APAC region. HBO Asia has done some original programming and a few shows have ended up streaming here in the U.S. on HBO Max. But the company has so far not announced any plans to expand HBO Max (or whatever it ends up being called) into any territory outside North and Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.
THE CW UNVEILS ITS FALL PRIMETIME PREMIERE DATES
The CW released its fall primetime premiere dates on Tuesday and here's a quick rundown:
Wednesday, August 31st:
Stargirl season premiere
Sunday, October 2nd:
Family Law season premiere
Coroner season premiere
Wednesday, October 5th:
Kung Fu season premiere
Thursday, October 6th:
Walker season premiere
Walker: Independence series premiere
Friday, October 7th:
iHeart Radio Music Festival
Monday, October 10th:
All American season premiere
All American: Homecoming season premiere
Tuesday, October 11th:
The Winchesters series premiere
Professionals series premiere
Friday, October 14th:
Penn & Teller: Fool Us season premiere
Whose Line Is It Anyway? season premiere
Saturday, October 22nd:
Criss Angel's Magic With The Stars series premiere
World's Funniest Animals season premiere
COMING UP THIS WEEK ON ALLYOURSCREENS
Here is a rundown of the reviews coming up this week on AllYourScreens.com. The reviews will be live when the embargo is over (generally the day of the premiere). Titles in all CAPS are ones in which I didn't receive a screener, so the review won't be posted until after I watch it (generally early the next day):
Wednesday:
Big Brother (CBS) (Recap)
CARPATHIAN PREDATORS (Smithsonian)
GIRL IN THE PICTURE (Netflix)
Hello, Goodbye & Everything In Between (Netflix)
Maggie (Hulu)
Mysteries Decoded (The CW)
The Challenge USA (CBS)
Thursday:
Fatal Flaw (ABC)
Generation Gap (ABC)
Moonhaven (AMC+)
VISITORS (HBO Max)
Friday:
Black Bird (Apple TV+)
Boo, Bitch (Netflix)
Conjuring Keisha (Discovery+
How To Build A Sex Room (Netflix)
Incantation (Netflix)
The Longest Night (Netflix)
THE SEA BEAST (Netflix)
TRIGGER POINT (Peacock)
Saturday:
Flowers In The Attic: The Origin (Lifetime)
HISTORY OF THE WORLD (Smithsonian)
ODDS AND SODS
* Joel McHale makes his return to E! as host and executive producer of Celebrity Beef, the "cooking show that turns pop culture feuds into a battle of foods." The series premieres Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022.
* The Simpsons, Family Guy & American Dad! agree to recognize Animation Guild as bargaining rep for their production workers.
* AMC Theatres is returning $5 Tuesday movie pricing through October for members of its free Stubs program.
* A live Beauty & The Beast musical will air on ABC and stream via Disney+ December 16th.
* Topic has licensed exclusive U.S. and Canada rights to four European series from Newen Connect, including the Sky Italia drama Christian.
* Canal+, is looking to buy a minority stake in Lionsgate as an effort to buy into the US market.
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S NEW FOR TUESDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:
America Outdoors With Bartunde Thurston (PBS)
The Great Muslim American Rod Trip Series Premiere (PBS)
Titans Season Two Premiere (TNT)
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.