Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, November 15th, 2021

Today it really does feel like too much television....

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, November 15th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities, where AllYourScreens HQ did some radio early this morning. Which was fun, but it definitely threw off my workflow.

SOME PROGRAMMING NOTES
As I mentioned last month, beginning today I am adding a paid subscriber option for the Too Much TV newsletter. So will that mean for you?

Absolutely nothing. 

All of my Monday-Friday free newsletters will remain free to all. I think keeping the newsletter free makes it much easier for readers to share it and based on the numbers I've seen, that happens a great deal. And while it's a bit contrarian to keep the newsletter free in an era where just about every newsletter has moved most of their content behind a paywall - or partnered with a newsletter network - I think the positives continue to outweigh the financial hit. 

But with more than 18,000 people now subscribing, I do receive a regular number of requests from people who want to support my work in some way.  So here are three options:

1) Share the newsletter and encourage others to do the same.

2) Buy me a cup of coffee (which is really just a way to throw a few dollars to me in a one time payment)

3) Subscribe to the Too Much TV newsletter. I've priced it as low as I can on the Substack platform - $5 per month or $50 for the year. I'm working on some bonus stuff for subscribers, but honestly, this is mostly just an option for people who want to support the newsletter (and can afford to do so).

I completely understand the financial limitations we all work under. I certainly can't begin to pay for all the subscriptions on my list of "must read" publications. But if you're able to subscribe, I appreciate the support.

I also want to mention that regardless of whether or not you are a paying subscriber, I appreciate all the support I've received so far. It makes writing this a pleasure every day. 

I will post a variation of this reminder once a month around the 15th. Now let's get on with the world of television.....

SINCLAIR'S RSN FUTURE WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
Lightshed Partners has a pretty devastating take on Sinclair's plans to roll out some sort of direct-to-consumer local sports streaming service. There are many issues, but the biggest one is that Sinclair doesn't have the digital streaming rights for most of the sports its RSNs broadcast:

For the NBA, the answer is clear, the NBA decides who gets to monetize their local/regional digital rights. Albeit, given that any streaming decision has a meaningful direct impact on the RSNs (that financially support each team), the decision would require all the teams to agree with the league. For the MLB, the decision is a bit more complicated but it is effectively the same as the NBA. In 2019, MLB enabled teams to decide how their digital rights were monetized, however, only four teams actually licensed over-the-top (untethered to the bundle) digital rights (with Miami, Tampa, KC and Milwaukee granting Diamond Sports digital rights as part of RSN distribution renewals over the past couple of years). While MLB teams were given the power to monetize their local/regional rights, the league still has significant say in how digital rights are monetized and to whom (and could likely override decisions it sees as problematic). Given the rapidly changing RSN landscape, we believe MLB is now thinking about digital rights in a very similar manner to the NBA. While we are unclear of how NHL local/regional digital rights work, we believe they are likely to go along with whatever the NBA and MLB do.

To be crystal clear, Sinclair’s Diamond Sports has no rights to stream NBA games digitally today away from MVPD/vMVPD bundles and only has rights to four MLB franchise digital rights for an untethered OTT offering.

RELATED: Dish and Sinclair have reached a multi-year deal to keep 144 Sinclair-owned local stations in 86 markets, including CBS, FOX, and NBC affiliates, on the satellite service. Notably, the deal doesn't include carriage of the Sinclair-owned Bally Sports-branded RSN's.

ANOTHER BIG WEEK FOR NEW TELEVISION
To be honest, pretty much every week brings a lot of new television, particularly on the streaming side. If you want a complete rundown, check out this list of every new show, movie and special premiering this week. But here are a couple of highlights, with some thoughts about the shows. Full reviews will be posting on AllYourScreens.com throughout the week as embargoes lift.

Michael Che: Shame The Devil (Tuesday, Netflix)
I can't say much due to the embargo. But the problem with this special - and most of Che's work, to be honest - is that you can see him calculating the response each line is going to get from outraged/annoyed viewers. He can be funny, but it's often lost due to his fondness for trolling his audience with faux outrage.

Marvel's Hit Monkey (Wednesday, Hulu)
This animated series about a revenge-seeking Japanese macaque who is mentored by the ghost of an assassin after his family his murdered is the last remnant of Marvel's push into more adult-oriented programming. It's weird and hard-to-follow and definitely adult. It's one of those shows that is an acquired taste, but if you are into it, you are going to love it.

Prayers For The Stolen (Wednesday, Netflix)
Mexico's official Oscar submission this year follows three young girls in a rural town that has been devastated by the war on drugs. It's harrowing to watch, but it is also an exquisite piece of filmmaking. 

Tiger King 2 (Wednesday, Netflix)
I can't say much due to an embargo. But yes, it's a follow-up season to the hit Tiger Kings series that debuted this time last year. Even though the "tiger king" is in jail and rival Carol Baskin didn't participate, opting instead to do her own show for Discovery+

Hollington Drive (Thursday, Sundance Now)
It's a somewhat familiar story in the prestige foreign drama genre: a 10-year-old boy goes missing and everyone is a suspect. It's hard to say much without spoiling things, but I can guarantee this four-episode series from the UK will keep you guessing the entire time.

Star Trek: Discovery (Thursday, Paramount+)
I love the Star Trek universe but have grown bored with the recent focus on the time around the Kirk years of the Enterprise. This series doesn't just blow past all of that familiar history. Last season's jump forward in the timeline places the show in a future where the Federation is struggling to survive after a galaxy-wide disaster. The writing is uniformly excellent and the special effects are dazzling. Paramount+ didn't send me screeners, but I have heard good things about the upcoming season and I'm really looking forward to it.

The Curse Of Von Dutch (Thursday, Hulu)
This insane documentary chronicles the true story behind the rise and fall of the 2000s most iconic fashion trend. It's just packed with one unbelievable story after another.

Cowboy BeBop (Friday, Netflix)
Based on the popular anime of the same name, I expect this to be a pretty polarizing series. I loved the distinctive style and the really strong acting. But I suspect fans of the anime are going to be less than thrilled with the results.

The Wheel Of Time (Friday, Amazon)
I can't offer up any opinion yet due to the embargo. So let's just say it's a major effort from Amazon and given that, you should at least keep it on your radar. I'll have a review on Friday and I have someone recapping the episodes for me over the next few weeks as they premiere.

King Richard (Friday, HBO Max)
The latest Warner Bros. theatrical release to head to HBO Max on day one and it focuses on Richard Williams, father of tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams. I didn't get a screener from HBO Max, but based on what I've heard, it's going to be a must-see movie for sports fans. Or people who can sympathize with having a father who pushes you a bit too hard.

tick...tick...BOOM! (Friday, Netflix)
Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his feature directorial debut with this musical biography of Rent composer Jonathan Larson.

75% OF VIEWERS DISCOVER NEW SHOWS ON STREAMING SERVICES
According to a new study from Hub Research, consumers were three times more likely to discover a new favorite TV show on a streaming platform than on a traditional network in the past year:

Hub’s "Conquering Content" study tracks how consumers discover TV content —and the platforms they use to watch newly discovered shows and movies. The percentage of viewers reporting they did so on a streaming platform has increased each year Hub has done the study. The study was conducted among 1604 US consumers with broadband, age 16-74, who watch at least one hour of TV per week and was collected in October 2021.

When asked which streaming service they used to watch their new favorite series, the percentage of viewers citing Netflix dropped from previous years. But 35% of viewers still mentioned Netflix as the streamer where they were most likely to have watched a new series.

Another interesting takeaway from the study is the growing popularity of the free, ad-supported streamers. For the first time since Hub has been tracking them, a majority (53%) of TV consumers say they sometimes watch content from a free TV streaming service with ads, such as Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Tubi, IMDB TV, and the free version of Peacock. That is up 11% from 2020 and a 15% increase from 2019.

The study also has some good insight on what drives new subscriptions. Forty percent of those questioned had signed up for a new streaming service specifically to watch a show or movie that wasn't available anywhere else. But 77% of those viewers reported they kept the subscription after finishing the show they originally wanted to see. 

ODDS AND SODS
* Andrew A. Rosen's new Parqor newsletter has a good overview of the state of kids programming in the streaming world.

* In its latest report, Conviva says streaming was up 46% in Asia in the 3Q of 2021.

* The English Premiere League is expected to get around $2 billion for the U.S. rights to its games, with ViacomCBS and Disney’s ESPN are among those vying for the rights along with current rights holders Comcast’s NBC.

* Ed Sheeran and boyband BTS were the big winners at the MTV EMAs in Budapest.

* Disney+ has picked up the popular Japanese television series Tokyo MER (Mobile Emergency Room) for a number of its Asian markets, including the newly launched territories of South Korea and Taiwan.

TWEET OF THE DAY

SEE YOU TUESDAY! 

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