Hollywood is reportedly discussing ways to make the latest digital flicks from major studios available for purchase or renting as soon as two weeks following their theatrical debuts in order to make up for declining sales of DVDs in the age of Netflix.
Apple's turned James Corden's late-night “Carpool Karaoke” segment into an original series promoted heavily since its August 8 debut, with an upcoming episode starring actresses Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams who play Sansa and Arya Stark in HBO's “Game of Thrones.”
As news broke that Apple is poised to become a major player in Hollywood by spending a cool $1 billion on original TV shows and movies in the next year, Variety reports that Matt Cherniss, who was a president and general manager of WGN America and Tribune Studios, has joined the Cupertino technology giant's growing worldwide video team.
Apple has set aside a reported $1 billion war chest to procure and produce as many as ten television shows over the next year, according to the Wall Street Journal today.
Entertainment conglomerate Disney announced during its latest earnings report today that it intends to end a major distribution deal inked with Netflix a few years ago and pull all of its movies from the popular service, including Disney as well as Pixar's titles, CNBC said today.
Apple’s version of “Carpool Karaoke”, based on the viral segment of “The Late Late Show” with James Corden, will premiere on Apple Music next Tuesday so the company released new teaser videos today to drum up excitement around the show's debut.
The cartoon service Boomerang on Thursday announced the release of a streaming app for the fourth-generation Apple TV, bringing classic cartoons like Wacky Races, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo and many others to Apple's set-top box.
The service is also adding support for Google's Chromecast and Amazon's Fire TV HDMI dongles. Roku devices will be added in the coming weeks.
Boomerang originally launched its premium video subscription service in April.
You can subscribe to Boomerang for $5 per month, or $40 per year, to access exclusive shows and new episodes of cartoons, as well as enjoy Boomerang's on-demand archive of 5,000+ movies and TV shows from Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes and MGM animation catalogs.
A 7-day free trial of Boomerang is available.
Boomerang also launched the new original series “Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz from” Warner Bros. Animation, with the first thirteen episodes now available for streaming via their service.
The app's App Store description notes that Boomerang is only accessible in the United States “where a high-speed broadband connection is available” (well, I live in Croatia and we have a very high-speed broadband over here as well).
Download Boomerang for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV from App Store.
Facebook has been hosting user-uploaded videos for a few years now, but the uploaded clips haven't generated enough advertising revenue to treat the social network as a primary distribution outlet for premium video entertainment.
To revert that trend, Facebook has started to bankroll the creation of its own video series that'll appear later this year via a new Video tab (also called Spotlight) that hasn’t been released yet.
A second tab is also in the works, devoted to the “more high-end programming”.
To help boost the initiative, the company has hired Ricky Van Veen, co-founder of comedy site College Humor, Netflix executive Sarah Madigan to acquire video programs and former MTV executive Mina Lefevre to oversee the development of new shows.
According to Bloomberg, the company “is closing deals” for its first batch of shows, including reality competition series “Last State Standing” and a second season of comedy “Loosely Exactly Nicole,” which first appeared on MTV.
Plus, the company is said to fund some exclusive “hero” shows with six-figure budgets: it's reportedly willing to spend a couple hundred thousand dollars per episode.
An excerpt from the report:
Facebook is funding two kinds of programs -- a handful of more expensive series from established TV producers that will take a few months to produce (hero shows, they are called) and a bunch of shorter, cheaper videos from publishers like Vox Media Inc. and BuzzFeed Inc. (called spotlight shows). All shows will be episodic and designed to spur conversation among Facebook users.
Facebook is giving publishers a minimum guarantee of $10,000 to $20,000 per spotlight show episode. After Facebook's exclusive rights end, the videos can be made available elsewhere. The company will share ad revenue with the publishers, who can start to sell their own advertisements “after a brief period”.
Rather than compete directly with paid services like Netflix, HBO and Showtime, Facebook is targeting cable networks and ad-driven online services with young viewers in an effort to grab a slice of the massive $70 billion TV advertising market pie.
As per The Wall Street Journal, Facebook is paying pro video game teams and others in the eSports industry to broadcast on its service. The hope for Facebook is that funding video will prompt production firms and studios to upload premium video that could be monetized.
But make no mistake, Facebook's end game is to “eclipse TV,” according to Matthew Segal, chief executive officer of ATTN, a digital media company that publishes video to Facebook.
“Not only do nearly 100 percent of people under 35 have an account, but they are spending over 1,000 minutes a month on Facebook,” said ATTN’s Segal.
Apple, too, is setting its sights on original video programming.
Earlier today, news broke that Sony Pictures Television presidents Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht are joining Apple to help accelerate its push into original programming. Earlier this month, Apple began airing “Planet of the Apps” to all Apple Music members via the Music app's new TV & Movies section found under the Browse tab.
Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg are joining Apple from Sony Pictures Television, the Cupertino giant announced Friday.
In their new Apple role, Erlicht and Van Amburg will be tasked with overseeing all aspects of Apple's video programming, including its video programming worldwide.
Variety says Sony hasn't named their replacement and it's unclear if the studio has an internal successor ready to take the helm of the production unit that is crucial to its bottom line.
Jamie Erlicht was quoted in Apple's press release as saying the following:
It will be an honor to be part of the Apple team. We want to bring to video what Apple has been so successful with in their other services and consumer products—unparalleled quality.
Zack Van Amburg added:
Apple has a relentless focus on delighting customers with their products. We will bring that same intention to Apple’s programming and we could not be more excited about what lies ahead.
Reporting to Eddy Cue, Apple's Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, the two executives have extensive expertise producing television for global audiences and creating programming for video services like Amazon, Hulu and Netflix.
Cue was quoted as saying:
Jamie and Zack are two of the most talented TV executives in the world and have been instrumental in making this the golden age of television. We have exciting plans in store for customers and can’t wait for them to bring their expertise to Apple—there is much more to come.
Both executives were longtime presidents of Sony Pictures Television since 2005, helping produce hit shows like “Breaking Bad”, “Better Call Saul”, “The Crown”, “Rescue Me” and more.
Their shows won 36 Emmys and dozens of Golden Globes, AFI and WGA awards.
The inaugural episode of “Planet of the Apps”, Apple's original show about apps and their creators, is premiering tonight at 9PM Pacific Time, midnight Eastern Time on Apple Music. Apple today released a new trailer for ”Planet of the Apps” on its official YouTube channel.
The show will be streamed free to all Apple Music members, Reuters reported Wednesday.
“The question when you have ideas is how to take those to fruition,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet software and Services. “Sometimes you may not know how, you might be afraid of what’s involved. This really shows how that’s possible.”
Apple will promote the show on its homepage, in iTunes and elsewhere.
“All of our customers are going to be exposed to this in one way or another,” Cue said.
The first episode is also available free for a limited time via planetoftheapps.com. Apple encourages customers to join Apple Music to get new episodes every Tuesday.
Here's the trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDEvJXpjQHM
From the video's description:
Apple Music presents Planet of the Apps, a groundbreaking new series that gives aspiring app creators the opportunity of a lifetime to work with entrepreneur advisors Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Will.i.am.
Under the close guidance of one advisor mentor, each concept goes through an intense incubation period—all in preparation for a real-life, high-stakes pitch to Lightspeed Venture Partners. Will they get funding or will they flounder?
Everything is on the line for these app creators and their million dollar ideas.
As mentioned, the first episode is available free for a limited time via the official website.
“Carpool Karaoke: The Series,” Apple's first original show based on the popular segment on “The Late Late Show” with James Corden, will premiere August 8 on Apple Music. The news was revealed in today's tweet by Eddy Cue, Apple's chief of Internet Software and Services.
The show was originally supposed to air on Apple Music beginning April 2017, but the iPhone maker was forced to postpone its arrival due to tight production schedule.
All sixteen episodes will debut on Tuesdays, available only to Apple Music members.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2fipKCrV3I
Featuring a different host every episode, Apple's version of “Carpool Karaoke” replaces the show's regular host James Corden with actors, comedians, athletes and other celebrities, who will be seen riding along in a car together as they're singing different tunes.
Some of the confirmed celebrities that will appear on the show include Will Smith, Billy Eichner, Metallica, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Ariana Grande, Seth MacFarlane, Chelsea Handler, Blake Shelton, Michael Strahan, John Cena and Shaquille O’Neal.
“Planet of the Apps,” Apple's show about apps and their creators, is coming this year. Apple wrapped up filming of that one back in February 2017, but it's unclear when exactly the company might release it on Apple Music.
Highlighting Apple's ongoing initiatives in terms of producing original shows, The Information reported yesterday that Apple has been looking for a programming chief to lead its video efforts across the company.
“HBO’s former programming head Michael Lombardo met with Apple executives earlier this year to discuss Apple’s video programming strategy,” a person familiar with the talks told author Tom Dotan.
While the iPhone maker has been looking to fill that particular role, it's unclear if Lombardo could be a candidate to run the company's video efforts. Lombardo left his role as HBO president and programming lead in early 2016 to become a producer.
He is currently producing a 10-episode scripted series for HBO, based on true events, because the executive now has a production deal with the network he departed just earlier this year.
The publication speculates that having a programming chief would signal to the entertainment community that Apple was serious about making its own shows and movies. The Cupertino company is working on several video projects for Apple Music members, including reality competition show “Planet of the Apps” and the “Carpool Karaoke” spinoff.