Should a third-party appraisal of Hulu match NBCUniversal's valuation for the streaming platform, Disney will have to come up with an additional payment of as much as $5 billion to finally close its purchase of NBCU's 33% stake in the former joint venture, a Disney's 10-Q filing on Tuesday revealed.

Last November, Disney made what was an initial payment of $8.61 billion to NBCU to acquire the last remaining share of Hulu it didn't already own. That amount covered one-third of a $27.5 billion "floor valuation" of Hulu. The two sides agreed to more precisely appraise Hulu's value to determine if Disney owed more than that. 

Also read: Disney Reports $2.6 Billion Net Income as Streaming Turns Profitable in Q3

Unable to agree on a valuation, Disney and NBCU in May decided to abide by a third-party appraisal of Hulu. 

"During the initial phase of the appraisal process, [Disney's] appraiser arrived at a valuation that falls below the guaranteed floor value, while NBCU’s appraiser arrived at a valuation substantially in excess of the guaranteed floor value," Disney said in its SEC filing. 

"Once the arbitration is completed, determination of the final equity fair value will take into account the valuation of a third appraiser pursuant to the appraisal process as resolved by the arbitration. As such, if the third appraiser’s equity fair value determination were equal to or below the guaranteed floor value, the Company would not be required to pay NBCU any additional amount. Conversely, if NBCU’s appraisal were deemed to be valid and the third appraiser’s equity fair value determination were consistent with the NBCU’s appraiser’s valuation, [Disney] would be required to pay NBCU an additional amount of approximately $5 billion as its share of the difference between the equity fair value and the guaranteed floor value. If the third appraiser’s equity fair value determination were between the valuations of the [Disney's] and NBCU’s appraisers, the incremental amount would likewise be between zero and approximately $5 billion."

Hulu had 51.1 million subscribers as of the end of June, up 2% year over year. 

Establishing one of the most robust pure-play bundled streaming offerings in the video business, The Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday officially launched their “Disney+, Hulu and Max Bundle.”

It comes in ad-supported and ad-free flavors. 

The one with commercials goes for $16.99, a 39% savings compared to purchasing individually the ad-supported iterations of Disney Plus ($7.99), Hulu ($7.99) and Max ($9.99). 

Also Read: Disney and Warner Set to Bundle Disney Plus, Max and Hulu Starting This Summer

The ad-free version of the bundle is priced at $29.99 a month, 35% less than premium commercial-free versions of Disney+ ($13.99), Hulu ($17.99) and Max ($16.99).

Also Read: Disney Bundle Cuts Hulu Churn Nearly in Half (Charts of the Day)

For a penny under $30, it's a lot of combined programming tonnage for consumers. There are big tentpole on-demand brands included: the Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars banners under Disney+; the increasingly prestigious FX moniker under Hulu; and HBO on Max.

There's also some linear television heft, with ABC, CNN, Discovery and Food Network available outside a pay TV subscription. 

Disney and WBD are accompanying the launch of their big bundle with air support, a multiplatform marketing campaign that includes TV ads, including this one:

The return of Netflix's Cobra Kai for its sixth and final season, as well as the launch of Apple TV Plus drama Lady in the Lake lead the list of original series, specials and documentaries debuting this week. 

Cobra Kai, a spinoff of the Karate Kid theatrical film franchise, will debut its sixth and final season on July 18 with the first of three parts consisting of five episodes each, according to the streaming service. Ralph Macchio and William Zabka star in the series along with William Zabka, Martin Kove, Jacob Bertrand, and Mary Mouser. 

Apple TV Plus' seven-episode drama Lady in the Lake premieres July 19 and stars Natalie Portman as a Jewish housewife seeking to reinvent herself as an investigative journalist after the disappearance of a young girl in 1960s Baltimore. Moses Ingram, Y'Lan Noel and Noah Jupe also star in the series. 

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of July 15-21. For some, viewer discretion is advised.

July 17, The Ark (returning series), Syfy

July 17, Simone Biles Rising (sports documentary), Netflix

July 17, Unprisoned (returning series), Hulu

July 18, Kite Man: Hell Yeah! (animation), Max

July 18, My Spy: The Eternal City (movie), Prime Video

July 18, Those About to Die (drama), Peacock

July 21, Snowpiercer (returning series), AMC

Hulu is making a competitive challenge to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in the standup comedy business, booking comedian Bill Burr’s next special.

A drop date hasn't been announced yet for the pre-recorded performance, which was already captured live at Seattle’s Moore Theatre in late June. 

Burr’s booking follows an earlier Hulu acquisition announcement of comic Jim Gaffigan’s special The Skinny, which debuts on the Disney-owned platform on November 22. 

Hulu is getting into a standup special business dominated in recent years by Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Burr, for example, has released five prerecorded live comedy specials through Netflix, including the 2022 ensemble-performer-themed Bill Burr: Friends Who Kill. 

Gaffigan has also debuted five specials via Netflix, starting with 2009's King Baby. 

For its part, Netflix seems to sense the competitive pressure, and it's responding by marketing and streaming its specials, initially at least, as live events. 

Earlier this week, Netflix announced that the Joe Rogan special Burn the Boats will be streamed live from San Antonio on August 3. 

ABC News Studios has a Barbara Walters documentary in the works, which will stream on Hulu in 2025. Imagine Documentaries is producing the project, and Jackie Jesko directs. 

ABC News Studios said, “This film will feature unaired footage from ABC’s extensive archives and interviews with people who knew and worked with the broadcast legend who paved a path in journalism unlike any other.”

Walters, a longtime figure at ABC News, died in late 2022. 

“Barbara left her indelible stamp not just on those of us who had the honor of working with her at ABC News but on the entire news industry,” ABC News senior executive producer David Sloan said. “With never-before-seen footage and interviews with those who knew her in her private and public lives, this film will shed new light on one of the most famous broadcasters of all time.” 

After working on NBC’s Today, Walters shifted to ABC News and was co-anchor on the evening newscast, a co-host on 20/20 and creator of the daytime show The View. 

The as-yet-untitled film will look at Walters’ role in the history of broadcast journalism and the example she set for women in the industry. It will also explore sexism, power and what ABC News calls “the price of ‘having it all.”

The documentary is produced by Imagine Documentaries for ABC News Studios in association with Latchkey Films. For Imagine Documentaries, the film is produced by Marcella Steingart, Bernstein, Justin Wilkes and Meredith Kaulfers. Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Betsy West are executive producers. For ABC News Studios, Muriel Pearson is executive producer and Sloan is senior executive producer. 

“Barbara Walters is the OG trailblazer of broadcast journalism,” Sara Bernstein, president of Imagine Documentaries, said. “Imagine Documentaries is thrilled and honored to be working with award-winning filmmaker Jackie Jesko, Oscar nominee Betsy West and the entire team at ABC News Studios on this project to share her inspirational life and career with a new generation.” 

Hartbeat Independent, a division of comedian Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat content production company, is focused on developing comedy-themed original movies and documentaries across multiple platforms, including Hulu’s coming-of-age teen movie Prom Dates, which debuted in May.

Hartbeat Independent co-head Luke Kelly-Clyne says the film is part of the division’s mandate to create original content sitting at the intersection of comedy and culture. (Kelly-Clyne is one of the emerging executives set to be honored June 18 at the B+C Multichannel News 40 Under 40 event in Los Angeles.)

Also Read: '40 Under 40' Class Announced for L.A. TV Week

“Our core goal is servicing the larger company goal at Hartbeat, which is to keep the world laughing together, but doing so in a way that’s sometimes surprising and outside the norm,” he said. 

Click below to hear more of the interview with Kelly-Clyne on the latest episode of the “Content Spotlight” podcast.

Back on November 1, The Walt Disney Co. seemed to culminate one of the most active discussions in media entertainment, agreeing to purchase Comcast's remaining 33% share in Hulu. 

But it turns out the drama isn’t over. 

Reuters reported Tuesday that the two companies are looking to hire a third outside financial adviser to determine the value of Comcast's share in the streaming company. 

Also read: Disney Entertainment DTC Business Gets Out of the Red in Q2

This comes after Disney's adviser, JPMorgan Chase, and Comcast’s consigliere, Morgan Stanley, came in with valuations that were more than 10% apart from one another. 

As per the purchase agreement carved out last year, if the valuations had been within 10% of one another, the two sides would have met in the middle, agreeing to the average of the two sums. 

As it happened, JPMorgan Chase valued Hulu at $27.5 billion, while Morgan Stanley put the number at above $40 billion.

The valuation will now be determined based on the average of the third-party valuation and whichever of the two existing appraisals is closest to the new one. 

And Comcast and its NBCUniversal division will receive 33% of whatever that works out to be. 

The valuation can be no lower than $27.5 billion, which is the floor value assigned to Hulu in the 2019 “put call” agreement between the two media giants, the deal that paved the way for Comcast to sell its share in the former joint venture. 

Hulu ended Disney's fiscal second quarter at the end of March with 50.2 million subscribers, up about 500,000 sequentially and 2 million customers year over year. 

Disney has already integrated Hulu into its flagship Disney Plus streaming app. 

After winning a proxy fight, The Walt Disney Co. said its entertainment business turned a profit and added subscribers in its fiscal second quarter. 

Net income was down as the company wrote off Star in India, but Disney said its overall second-quarter performance was strong enough to increase its full-year earnings per share growth target to 25%.

The company added 6 million Disney Plus core subscribers, giving it 117.6 million in total.

Disney’s direct-to-consumer entertainment business generated positive operating income of $47 million in the quarter. A year ago, it lost $587 million. Cutting streaming losses has been a priority for media companies, which have been bleeding cash trying to catch up with Netflix.

Revenues rose 13% to $5.6 billion.

Disney said its DTC business improved because of subscription revenue growth as the company raised some rates. Distribution costs were down while advertising revenues were up. 

The company said it expects entertainment DTC results to be “softer” in the current quarter because of the India business. 

“We continue to expect our combined streaming businesses to be profitable in the fourth quarter, and to be a meaningful future growth driver for the company, with further improvements in profitability in fiscal 2025,” the company said.

Combined with ESPN’s streaming business, Disney lost just $18 million in its DTC business, with revenue climbing 12% to $6.1 billion.

The company had a net loss of $20 million, or 1 cent per share, for the quarter, compared to net income of $1.3 billion, or 69 cents a share, a year ago.

The results include a $2.1 billion charge for goodwill impairments related to Star India, which was folded into a new joint venture.

Excluding the charges, earnings per share were $1.21 vs 93 cents a year ago.

Revenues edged up 1% to $22.1 billion from $21.8 billion a year ago.

Disney’s entertainment segment increased operating income by 72% to $781 million. Revenue fell 5% to $9.8 billion.

Operating income for Disney’s linear networks was down 22% to $752 million. Revenue was down 8% to $2.8 billion. 

Disney said domestic affiliate revenue was down because Charter now carries fewer networks under the carriage agreement reached last year.

Advertising revenues are down because of lower ratings, the company said.

The company reversed its DTC losses with $47 million in operating income on revenue of $$5.6 million.  The company lost $18 million on content sales and licensing as revenue fell 40% to $1.4 billion. 

Disney Plus added 8 million domestic subscribers to give it 54 million. It lost 1.6 million international subscribers (including Disney Plus Hotstar in India)

Hulu added 500,000 subscribers, increasing its total to 50.2 million. SVOD only subs increased by 700,000 to 45.8 million, which Hulu Plus Live TV lost 100,000 subscribers to end the quarter with 4.5 million customers.

Operating income fell 2% to $778 million at Disney’s sports division, including ESPN. Revenues were up 2% to $4.3 billion.

ESPN operating income was down 9% to $799 million as revenues rose 3% to $4.2 billion. Affiliate revenue was down, while advertising revenue was up. Subscription revenue for ESPN Plus increased because of higher rates.

Disney’s experiences segment, including theme parks, grew its operating income by 12% to 2.3 billion, Revenues were up 10% to $ 8.4 billion.

“Our strong performance in Q2 … demonstrates we are delivering on our strategic priorities and building for the future,” CEO Bob Iger said.

“Our results were driven in large part by our Experiences segment as well as our streaming business. importantly, entertainment streaming was profitable for the quarter, and we remain on track to achieve profitability in our combined streaming businesses in Q4,” he said. “Looking at our company as a whole, it’s clear that the turnaround and growth initiatives we set in motion last year have continued to yield positive results.” 

 The Roku Channel's fantasy series The Spiderwick Chronicles and former late night host Conan O'Brien's return to the small screen leads the list of original shows premiering this week.

The Spiderwick Chronicles, based on the children's book series of the same name by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, debuts April 19 and follows the Grace Family, whose move into their family's ancestral home unveils hidden mysteries as well as a secret, fantastical world around them, according to Roku. The eight-part series stars Christian Slater, Joy Bryant, Noah Cottrell, Lyon Daniels and Mychala Lee. 

Max's Conan O'Brien Must Go reality series stars the former Conan late-night show as he travels to remote places to visit people who have appeared on his based on his Conan Without Borders travel specials and his Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast. All four episodes of the series debut on April 18.  

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of April 15-21. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised.

April 15, The Stranger (movie), Hulu

April 16, An American Bombing: The Road to April 19 (documentary), HBO

April 17, Under the Bridge (drama), Hulu

April 18, Dinner With Parents (comedy), Amazon Freevee

April 18, The Upshaws (returning series), Netflix

April 19, The Barnes Bunch (documentary series), WE tv

April 19, Jane (returning series), Apple TV plus

April 19, The Never Ever Mets (reality series), OWN

April 21, The Jinx-Part Two (documentary series), HBO 

April 21, Secrets of the Octopus (documentary), Nat Geo

Hulu and ABC were among several streaming services and networks nominated for multiple 2024 NAMIC Vision Awards, the diversity organization announced Monday (April 8).

Hulu, led by multiple nominations for its comedy series The Other Black Girl, and ABC, with nods for comedy series Abbott Elementary and drama series Grey’s Anatomy, drew the most nominations for Vision Awards, which honor excellence in diverse programming. Other distributors garnering multiple nominations include ESPN, Disney Plus, Prime Video, Starz, CNN, PBS, Paramount Plus, HGTV, Peacock and OWN.  

Along with ABC’s Abbott Elementary and The Wonder Years, shows up for best comedy series include Bob Hearts Abishola on CBS, Prime Video’s Harlem, and Hulu/Onyx Collective’s UnPrisoned. In the best drama series category, Paramount Plus’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will battle ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and The Rookie; NBC’s Found; and Apple TV Plus’s Swagger for top honors.

ESPN nearly swept the sports category by securing four of the category's five nominations. Also, Max’s Sesame Street will look to repeat in the children’s programming category.

NAMIC will announce the Vision Awards winners in May. 

2024 NAMIC Vision Awards Nominees

Animation

• Firebuds: Bayani Cookout, Disney Junior
• Jessica’s Big Little World, Cartoon Network
• Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow, Disney Plus
• The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder: Juneteenth, Disney Plus
• Young Love, HBO/Max

Best Performance - Comedy

• Ashleigh Murray, The Other Black Girl (Hulu/Onyx)
• Brittany Adebumola, The Other Black Girl (Hulu/Onyx)
• Emeraude Toubia, With Love (Prime Video)
• Justina Machado, The Horror of Dolores Roach (Prime Video)
• Marque Richardson, UnPrisoned, (Hulu/Onyx)

Best Performance - Drama

• Forest Whitaker, Godfather of Harlem (MGM Plus)
• John Leguizamo, The Power (Prime Video)
• Mia Isaac, Black Cake (Hulu)
• Michole Briana White, BMF (Starz)
• Russell Hornsby: BMF (Starz)

Children’s

• American Born Chinese: What Guy Are You, Disney Plus
• Monster High 2, Nickelodeon
• Saturdays: Going For Gold! Disney Channel
• Sesame Street, Max
• The Crossover: Huddle Up, Disney Plus

Comedy

• Abbott Elementary, ABC
• Bob Hearts Abishola, CBS
• Harlem, Prime Video
• The Wonder Years, ABC
• UnPrisoned, Hulu/Onyx

Digital Media – Short Form

• Brave Spaces, PBS
• Ritual, PBS
• Stories from the Stage: Living With Cancer, World
• “Voices of the Civil Rights Movement,” Interview with Gwendolyn Harris Middlebrooks, “Power of Unity: The Atlanta Student Movement,” Comcast NBCUniversal
• Women of the Earth, PBS

Documentary

• 761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers, History
• Black+Iconic: Style Gods, BET
• Dear Mama, FX
• See It Loud: The History of Black Television, CNN Original Series and The SpringHill Co.
• Sound of the Police, Hulu/ABC News Studios

Drama

• Found, NBC
• Grey’s Anatomy, ABC
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Paramount Plus
• Swagger, Apple TV Plus
• The Rookie, ABC

Lifestyle

• Bargain Block, HGTV
• City Eats: Atlanta, AspireTV
• Married to Real Estate, HGTV
• Searching for Soul Food, Hulu/Onyx
• Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, Hulu

News/Informational

• ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis: “Shiloh: Our Inheritance is Washing Away,” ABC News
• America in Black, BET
• “Going Home: The War in Sudan” from The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, CNN Worldwide
• “Homebirth Journey: Saving Black Moms” from The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, CNN Worldwide 
• National Day of Racial Healing Town Halls, MSNBC, Telemundo

Original Movie or Special

• Black Girl Missing, Lifetime
• Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Paramount Plus
• Mary J. Blige’s Real Love, Lifetime
• Shooting Stars, Peacock
• Quiz Lady, 20th Century Studios / Hulu

Reality

• CritterFixers: Country Vets: Ready, Vet, Go!, Nat Geo Wild
• Doubling Down with the Derricos, TLC
• Project Greenlight, HBO/Max
• Bet on Black (Season 3), REVOLT x Target
• The Parent Test, ABC

Reality – Social Issues

• Like a Girl, Fuse TV
• OWN Spotlight: Oprah, Courtney B. Vance & Dr. Robin, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
• RapCaviar Presents, Hulu
• The 1619 Project, Hulu
• Un Cafecito Sin Nervios, Vme Media 

Sports

• E60: “Mayra,” ESPN
• Generations, NBC Sports
• In Her Shoes: Wang Shuang, ESPN/ESPN Plus
• SportsCenter: “Bigger Than Us,” ESPN
• SC Featured: “The Lone Wolves,” ESPN

Variety/Talk Show

• Hart to Heart, Peacock
• Jimmy Kimmel Live! ABC
• OWN Spotlight: Oprah & Kerry Washington, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
• The View, ABC News
• Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts: Community, Disney Plus

VersusGame, which uses artificial intelligence to increase engagement said it hired former Hulu marketing executive Scott Donaton as chief marketing officer, a new position at the company.

VersusGame said it also hired Elliot Solomon as VP of business development.

“Scott’s experience working with some of the top names in entertainment and media will be invaluable as we continue to evolve our platform to deliver the best in AI technology and interactive content,” VersusGame founder and CEO John Vitti said. “Scott’s expertise, combined with Elliot’s proven ability to recognize customer needs and deliver scalable, valuable solutions, will be essential as we work to continue bridging the gap between how people view and engage with content.”

Donaton will oversee all marketing functions for VersusGame.

Before joining Hulu, Donaton held posts at Digitas, Entertainment Weekly and Advertising Age.

“I've spent my career at the intersection of marketing, media, entertainment and technology, and Versus is pointing the way forward for all of those industries,” Donaton said. “I’m thrilled to officially join the Versus team as the company continues to revolutionize the way brands use content to engage fans while increasing revenue.”

Solomon has been an advisor to a couple of companies in the AI industry. He also worked for Disney, Snap and Unity Technologies.

“Versus’s proprietary AI platform, and the incredible value it creates for our partners and their end users, have positioned the company for massive growth and expansion,” Solomon said. “The true depth and strength of our platform extends far beyond what’s visible today. I’m thrilled to be bringing these innovations to our partners to drive new ways of interacting with content, increasing engagement and revenue in novel ways.”

Hulu premieres investigative series Cult Justice, about the efforts of survivors and prosecutors to bring cult leaders to justice, on March 28th. There are eight episodes and the show comes from the Dan Abrams network Law&Crime, Tegna and Cineflix Rights.

In November 2021, Law&Crime, Tegna and Cineflix Rights partnered up in an agreement to produce up to 250 true-crime and investigative originals. 

Cineflix is the distributor for Cult Justice. 

The cults that will be examined include those involving Tiffanie Irwin, Jeffrey Lundgren and General Deborah Green. 

“Alongside the heart-wrenching stories of individual survival and escape, each episode also features candid interviews with the detectives who brought them to justice and the evidence uncovered along the way,” according to Law&Crime. 

Senior executive producers on Cult Justice are Dan Abrams, Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz, Law&Crime President Rachel Stockman, Tegna VP of Entertainment Programming Brian Weiss and Cineflix’s VP of Acquisitions - North America, Felicia Litovitz. 

Abrams is chief legal correspondent at ABC News and hosts Dan Abrams Live on NewsNation. 

Cult shows are a hot TV trend. Others include Hulu’s Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence, Prime Video’s Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe and Netflix’s Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey. 

Law&Crime shows include Justice Rules and Cops Reloaded.

Rather than simply programming a new set of tiles into Disney Plus, the integration of entire Hulu platform into the app, which transitioned on Wednesday from beta status to official, was described by Disney technologists as a massive lift involving not only moving more than 100,000 creative assets, but also recasting their metadata so that they'd fit a unified Disney digital library. 

Speaking to The Verge, Disney CTO Aaron LaBerge described the challenge of assimilating a 16-year old streaming service with content and associated metadata culled from a wide array of sources. 

The files included not just video, but elements like key art. 

“It’s a mixture of content that we own and content from our partners,” LaBerge said. 

Not only did Disney re-encode all of Hulu's video to fit with four-year-old Disney Plus,  company technologists used the opportunity to create a unified content library to better support endeavors like search and recommendation, as well as advanced advertising. 

"That in and of itself has been a bit of a massive lift," LaBerge said. "But when it’s all said and done, we will have one master media library for the entire company that has the same consistent metadata formats, description of content, and playback encoding, that is the highest quality it can be for the entire Walt Disney Company.

“We zoomed out and took a very long-term approach,” LaBerge added. “We’re going to be running a streaming service forever.”

The Walt Disney Co. said that it launched Hulu on Disney Plus, which makes Hulu programming available via the Disney Plus app.

Subscribers to the Disney bundle will be able to access all Hulu programming via a new tile on the Disney Plus homepage. Customers who currently subscribe only to Disney Plus will be able to upgrade to the bunch for prices starting at $2 more per month.

Disney is under pressure to cut losses from its streaming services. Disney agreed to buy Comcast's stake in Hulu, giving it the ability to be more flexible on how Hulu is programmed, marketed and distributed.

“This marks the most significant technical, operational, and product evolution for Disney Plus since its launch — one that reflects a wider technology transformation that we have been undertaking,” said Aaron LaBerge, president and chief technology officer, Disney Entertainment & ESPN. “That work is going to drive an enhanced, more engaging user experience with Disney Plus and lays the foundation for the innovations and enhancements we are planning for the future.”

Disney will be launching an ad campaign looking to upsell consumers.  The campaign includes  out-of-home placements, custom broadcast and digital spots, cross-branded social media posts, bi-coastal experiential stunts, including on-site activations at the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort, 

The ads use the White Stripes song We’re Going to Be Friends to highlight the combination of Disney Plus and Hulu characters.

The Disney Plus homepage also features a new greener logo, reflecting the addition of Hulu.

“The collective power of Disney Plus and Hulu — outstanding originals from the most powerful brands and studios in the industry, libraries filled with decades of iconic favorites, and industry-leading advertising and technological capabilities – is transformative,” said Joe Earley, president of Direct-to-Consumer, Disney Entertainment. “Today’s official launch of Hulu on Disney+ gives viewers even more opportunities to easily discover and enjoy thousands of titles all in one place, underscoring the extraordinary value of the Disney Bundle.”

AMC’s drama series Parish leads a limited lineup of original shows debuting during the week of Easter.

Parish debuts March 31 and stars veteran actor Giancarlo Esposito as a taxi driver whose dark past is revived after the murder of his son. Also starring in the six-part series are Arica Himmel, Paula Malcomson, and Skeet Ulrich.  

Premiering March 29 is Apple TV Plus' Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces, a documentary film focused on the iconic comedy/actor. Martin Short, Tina Fey and Selena Gomez appear in the two-part profile.

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of March 25-31. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised.

March 27, Dead Hot (comedy), Tubi

March 28, American Rust: Broken Justice (drama), Prime Video

March 28, The Baxters (drama), Prime Video

March 28, We Were The Lucky Ones (drama), Hulu

March 29, Madu (documentary), Disney Plus

March 29, Spermworld (documentary movie), FX

March 29, Renegade Nell (adventure), Disney Plus 

March 31, A Gentleman in Moscow (drama), Showtime

The Walt Disney Co.’s FX and Hulu said they bought a Super Bowl commercial to promote the upcoming series Shogun.

The 30-second Super Bowl spot will direct viewers to go online to view a new 2 1/2-minute trailer for the show.

Disney Advertising was able to sell 30-second Super Bowl spots for about $7 million.

Shogun is adapted from James Clavell’s novel set in Japan in the year 1600.

The 10-episode limited series is scheduled to premiere February 27 on FX and Hulu in the United States. Star Plus will stream the show in Latin America and Disney Plus has it in all other territories. The premiere will include the first two episodes, with a new episode dropping each week afterwards.

FX will bring back the second half of its American Horror Story: Delicate series on April 3, the network announced prior to its Television Critics Association press event on Friday. 

The four-episode, second half of the latest installment of the American Horror Story franchise follows the first segment which debuted on September 20. The series stars Emma Roberts, Kim Kardashian and Cara Delevingne, and follows an actress who fears that something may be targeting her and her pursuit of motherhood, according to the network. 

FX also said the April 13 season three premiere of its sports-documentary series Welcome to Wrexham on Hulu. The series tracks the dreams and worries of a working-class city in North Wales, U.K., as Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds guide the future of their historic club.

Other announcements include the April 26 debut of documentary series The New York Times Presents: Broken Horses, and the debut of two limited series on Hulu – The Veil (April 30) and Clipped (June 4), said the network.

With its stock price down more than 20% since Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery announced a new plan to bundle their linear sports networks in a live-streamed service, struggling virtual MVPD Fubo is playing a little defense. 

“We have already seen that a consortium born of historical competitors is a difficult undertaking, and streaming joint ventures rarely work,” Fubo said in a statement sent out Wednesday afternoon. 

The missive arrived in our email box less than an hour after Disney reported that Hulu, perhaps the most famous — and successful — streaming joint venture of all time, launched by historical competitors NBC and Fox back in 2008, had reached at the end of 2023 an all-time subscriber high of 49.7 million paid users. 

We get the competitive threat: Starting at $80 a month, Fubo has made the bundling of linear sports networks its calling card. And it certainly could be undermined by a streaming bundle with the same national sports channels running at half the monthly price. 

We sent an email response to Fubo asking for a few other examples of failed streaming JVs, and we're still waiting to hear back. 

Here's Fubo's full statement:

The recent announcement regarding the collaboration between Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery to introduce a sports-only streaming service has undoubtedly captured our attention. Fubo has consistently championed the principle of consumer choice and we're not surprised more sports streaming options are becoming available. We have already seen that a consortium born of historical competitors is a difficult undertaking, and streaming joint ventures rarely work. As well, we know sports-only programming is highly challenged.

Consumers have demonstrated that they want an aggregated sports, news and entertainment package differentiated by a quality product experience. This is what Fubo delivers. We have also continuously pushed the boundaries of live TV streaming with market-first features like 4K, multi viewing and AI products like our just-launched Instant Headlines. 

The underlying motives and implication of this joint venture also command our scrutiny. Every consumer in America should be concerned about the intent behind this joint venture and its impact on fair market competition. This joint venture spotlights a concerning trend where an alliance with significant market share, reportedly controlling 60-85% of all sports content, could dictate market terms in a manner that may not serve the broader interests of consumers.

We believe our robust programming and quality product experience cannot be duplicated by what is likely to emerge from this joint venture. 

Hulu’s new murder mystery series and the final season of Max’s Sort Of Comedy show lead the list of shows debuting during the upcoming week. 

Death and Other Details debuts January 16 and follows a woman traveling on a cruise ship who becomes the prime suspect in a murder mystery. Mandy Patinkin stars along with Hugo Diego Garcia, Lauren Patten and Angela Zhou. 

Max’s Sort Of debuts its third and final season on January 18, and continues to follow the life of a non-binary millennial who looks to navigate love, career and family, according to Max. 

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of January 16 to 22. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised.

January 16, June (documentary), Paramount Plus  

January 18, Double Cross (returning series), ALLBLK

January 19, Chad (comedy), The Roku Channel

January 19, Hazbin Hotel (animation), Prime Video

January 19, The Kitchen (sci-fi movie), Netflix

January 21, The Woman in the Wall (drama), Showtime

The Walt Disney Co., which is adding Hulu content to its Disney Plus streaming service, told advertisers that they will be able to buy commercials across both Hulu and Disney Plus in a single campaign.

Disney has also announced the launch of a new commerce platform, Gateway Shop.

Speaking at the Disney Tech and Data Showcase in Las Vegas, where media companies and agencies are beginning upfront conversations at CES, Disney Global Advertising president Rita Ferro urged advertisers to start their streaming strategy with Disney.

Also Read: More Coverage From CES 2024

Ferro said that 2023 was Disney’s year for investments in ad technology, including the global expansion of Hulu content into Disney Plus.

“We’re not slowing down,“ Ferro said. ”This commitment means a better experience for consumers and better performance for you.” 

Disney has built its one ad tech stack to monetize its streaming assets, including Hulu, Disney Plus and ESPN Plus.

“It was made for you to buy once and deliver everywhere,“ Ferro said. “We’re not renting or borrowing someone else’s technology. We own it.

“Unlike others who just recently decided to get into advertising as part of a new business strategy, Disney has been in it since the beginning,” she added in a pointed reference to Netflix, the company Disney’s streaming business is chasing.

Ferro noted that more than half of new subscribers to Disney Plus are choosing its ad-supported tier. Viewers of the ad tier are spending almost the same amount of time with content as those not seeing ads, she said.

She added that since Disney began testing the Disney Plus-Hulu combination last year, “bundle subscribers are loving having Hulu and Disney Plus.”

The combo will also be good for advertisers “simplifying and maximizing advertiser impact across two of the top streaming services in the world with the best originals, deep libraries and an unmatched commitment to consumers.” 

Joe Earley, who heads Disney’s direct-to-consumer business, said that since the beta launch of Hulu on Disney Plus, engagement with Hulu content in the Disney Plus app is “beating even our own expectations and continues to grow week-over-week.”

He said consumers are watching more hours and a wider variety of programming.

Hulu will officially be a part of the Disney Plus app in March, he said.

The foundation of Disney’s tech stack is the dedicated Disney Ad Server, said Ajay Arora, senior VP of streaming for Disney Streaming.

“A modern technology platform requires more than just state-of-the-art ad decisioning,” Arora said. “That’s why ours draws on data from a truly unique audience graph, with thousands of audience segments, allowing you to target and reach your consumers.

 “This stack has to be agile to work in any way you want to do business,” he added ”So we’ve made automation a key part of our offering, with self-service and programmatic opportunities as core features.”

Measurement is built directly into the platform as well.

“When you combine decisioning, data, automation and measurement, it gives you a massive competitive advantage in meeting your business needs,” Arora said.

Disney also announced its latest move into T-commerce with Gateway Shop.

“It lets the viewer go from interest to action to purchase without ever leaving the viewing environment, It’s streaming commerce without disruption,” Arora said.

Gateway Shop is in testing mode now, and Disney is seeing a boost of up to 5 times the engagement by using the Gateway capabilities.

Viewers will be able to “Shop the Stream,” and Disney will help marketers with the Disney Experience Composer, a set of tools to create immersive ad experiences.

Disney said that its spending on tech has generated results for advertisers.

“Across thousands of campaigns leveraging Lucid, Innovid and Affinity measurement solutions, Disney delivered across the board,” Dana McGraw, senior VP, audience modeling and data science, said. 

“At the top of the funnel, Disney surpassed industry norms for ad recall, brand consideration, purchase intent and brand favorability in every category,” McGraw said.

Disney’s lower funnel metrics also look good. She said data from Affinity Solutions shows that Disney delivered a spend rate lift 2 times greater than campaign norms, while measurement by Innovid demonstrated Disney overperforming in campaign response rate across categories like retail, financial services and pharma. 

Advertisers will be getting results from their campaign in real time through new dashboards. 

“With Innovid, we’re currently in beta on a customizable solution that gives advertisers the ability to immediately learn whether your creative is working,” McGraw said. 

“We optimize towards the ‘winner’ in real time, which increases the return on your investment with Disney,” she explained. “Currently, we can empower this solution for web/app attribution results. Disney and Innovid are also working together on incorporating other signals as part of this effort including purchase data.” 

Saying the Magic Words

No Disney presentation would be complete without a bit of magic, and Ferro introduced ad clients to Disney’s Magic Words, which taps into the moods and emotions its content generates.

“This new technology allows us to analyze scenes and visuals across the Disney library,“ Ferro said. “Think about every reference, every line of a dialogue, every emotion, the context of each scene … Through the power of this context — brands can capture a specific moment, mood or emotions and personalize your messaging around that emotion.”

For example, think of a scene with characters at the kitchen or restaurant talking about being hungry.

“Now imagine you’re a brand running across our portfolio … or wanting to connect with food culture,” Ferro said. “You will be able to run an ad buy that optimizes your creative to a contextual mood within these collections of scenes that deal with food or dinner conversation.”

Disney Magic Words will be available this upfront to beta partners and be expanded by the end of the year, she said.

Last week's "beta" integration of Hulu into the Disney Plus app created what is perhaps the most popular catalog in U.S. subscription streaming, according to Ampere Analysis.

The British research company said that based on a third-quarter market audit, the two streaming services stock 33 of the 100 most popular movie and TV series titles in the U.S., usurping even top SVOD Netflix (which has 29).

In terms of depth, meanwhile, the combined Disney Plus and Hulu have 9,578 distinct movie and TV seasons in their collective library, second only to the perennially loaded Amazon Prime Video. This is despite Comcast, which is divesting itself of former joint venture Hulu, removing more than 300 titles from the platform. 

Disney last week took the first stop in a process that will, starting in March, fully combine the family-oriented catalog of Disney Plus and the more adult-oriented library of Hulu. Ampere said that currently, around 44% of Hulu's 48.5 million subscribers also take Disney Plus through the Disney Bundle.

Disney has been bundling Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus for several years. But with the integration, the media company is now offering Disney Plus and Hulu as a bundled duo for as low as $9.99 for ad-supported versions. (The premium no-commercials iteration is $19.99 a month.)

Ampere sees the integration as an effective way to drive more Hulu users to add Disney Plus

"The combined Disney Plus and Hulu catalogue will provide one of the most well-rounded and popular offerings in a single platform, upping the content stakes at a time when many are pulling back on content investment," said Joshua Rustage, an analyst at Ampere Analysis, in a statement. "Rivals will have to ensure their offerings remain competitive as the battle for viewing time intensifies, especially as the need to pull in advertising dollars is now also central to the streaming mix.”

Disney kicked off a previously outlined plan to combine its major subscription streaming services into one app Wednesday, with most Hulu content integrated as a "beta" offering within the existing Disney Plus app for Disney Bundle subscribers. 

Using the Disney Plus app, bundle customers will now see a Hulu tile (marked as "beta") at the top portion of their screen next to similar tile links for "Marvel," "Star Wars," "Pixar," "National Geographic" and "Disney." 

The initial integration has limitations. For instance, if you started, say, season 1, episode 3 of Hulu original series The Bear in the Hulu app, Disney Plus will have no idea where you left off watching if you try to restart the series in the beta app. 

And as the Penske showbiz trades note, some Hulu shows, including off-ABC sitcom hit Modern Family, aren't currently watchable in the beta. 

Disney plans to launch a more integrated iteration in March, but a Disney rep told Next TV that a dedicated Hulu app will still be maintained going forward, with the virtual pay TV component, Hulu + Live TV as well as premium add-ons only accessible from that Hulu app. 

As it combines the FX-fueled, adult-oriented Hulu platform with its more family-focused Disney Plus ecosystem, Disney is aggressively touting parental controls. It put together the video below to highlight the features:

Disney just rendered the initial $8.61 billion payment to Comcast to assume outright control of Hulu, which was formerly a joint venture. Hulu had 48.5 million subscribers, mostly in North America, as of the end of September. 

Technically, Hulu is still a joint venture until the final valuation of the platform is determined and Comcast is finally and completely divested, but Disney has been in complete operational control of Hulu for some time.

With the integration, the Disney Bundle has become somewhat of a confusing shell game. For example, since Next TV signed up for the bundle over a year ago through a long-established Hulu subscription, it can only receive the Disney bundle as a "trio" of Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus -- for $14.99 with ads or $24.99 sans commercials. 

Under Disney's latest pricing configuration, however, those who initiate the Disney Bundle via Disney Plus also have access to a "duo" option that includes just Disney Plus and Hulu -- $9.99 with ads, $19.99 without commercials. 

Next TV has been paying $24.99 for over a year for the Fully Monty. Since we already receive linear ESPN through our virtual MVPD provider, we don't really need ESPN Plus video. For at least a year, we've tried, unsuccessfully for some reason we've been unable to determine, to use the service to access premium content on ESPN.com. 

On Wednesday, we finally decided to devote some time -- over an hour, as it turned out -- on the phone with Hulu's Far Eastern call center, trying to claw back some of that lost ESPN Plus money and switch our account to duo status. 

Disney would only refund us a month's worth our ESPN Plus coin, but it did help us convert our account to the cheaper duo option. 

The Walt Disney Co.’s $8.61 billion check to acquire Comcast's 33% stake in Hulu arrived on Friday, and Comcast president Mike Cavanagh told a UBS media investor conference in New York Monday morning (December 4) he expects there to be more money from the Hulu divesture coming in following an ongoing process to properly value the platform. 

The “check cleared, it’s in the account,” Cavanagh said. “We expect, and certainly hope to get, more than that once the process ends. But it’s really just the beginning.”

The payment, initial or final, is timely, given Cavanagh's disclosure that Comcast and its NBCUniversal media division will lose $2.8 billion on building streaming assets in 2023. Cavanagh told investors that he believes those losses have peaked. 

Notably, NBCUniversal now counts 30 million subscribers for its flagship streaming service, Peacock — more than three times as many paying customers as the platform had two years ago. 

“Our primary focus is to figure out domestic and make sure that we continue to have the reach and relevance between linear and digital as we look several years down the road,” Cavanagh said. 

At a time when several of NBCU’s peers have had the will to endure the heavy losses needed to build scale in emerging platforms, Cavanagh and his team seem to have their feet under them. Comcast shares were up more than 2% at the time this sentence was typed. 

“We disclose what we ‘lose’ in Peacock for clarity, and it’s going to peak this year at $2.8 billion of losses,” Cavanaugh said. “But don’t forget the counternarrative of, what would it all look like if we weren’t trying at Peacock? You’d be asking a different set of questions, which is, where are the linear businesses going if you’re not trying to figure out a future for the powerful platforms you have?”

Disney said Wednesday that it will launch in beta next month a new app that combines the Disney Plus and Hulu UX for bundled U.S. subscribers.

“We remain on track to roll out a more unified one-app experience domestically, making extensive general entertainment content available to bundle subscribers via Disney Plus,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the company's July-September-quarter earnings call. 

Also read: Disney Adds Disney Plus Subs, Expects Streaming Profits in Q4 2024

The announcement comes after Disney last week announced plans to buy out the remaining 33% stake in the Hulu joint venture from Comcast for at least $8.61 billion. 

During Wednesday's call with equity analysts, Iger touted ample parental controls that will enable users of the combined app mechanisms for keeping Hulu's more adult-oriented content away from kids. 

And thanks largely to the growth of the premium Hulu + Live TV tier, Hulu's overall customer tally rose by 200,000 to 48.5 million.

Disney Plus added 500,000 customers in the U.S. and Canada to reach 46.5 million UCan users. 

FX announced it will dish out a third season of its Emmy-nominated comedy series The Bear in 2024.

The Bear, which stars Jeremy Allen White as a chef who transforms a family sandwich business into a high-end restaurant, launched its second season this past June. The series is currently nominated for 13 Emmy awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series.  

"The Bear, which wowed audiences in its first season only to achieve even greater heights in season two, has become a cultural phenomenon,” FX Entertainment president Nick Grad said in a statement. "We’re so proud to partner with Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Josh Senior and the rest of the creative team, as well as the brilliant cast led by Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. We and our partners at Hulu join fans in looking forward to the next chapter in the story of The Bear.”

The Bear is executive produced by Calo, Senior, Storer, Hiro Murai and Matty Matheson. 

The Walt Disney Co. said it will acquire the 33% of Hulu owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit.

Disney and Comcast had an arrangement in which Comcast could force Disney to buy the stake, and Comcast exercised that right on Wednesday, Disney said.

Under terms of the agreement, Disney said it expects to pay NBCU a floor price of about $8.61 billion for the 33% stake in Hulu. 

The price may change as the value of Hulu is being appraised under terms of the two companies’ agreement. If the value is higher than $27.5 billion, Disney will pay Comcast the difference between the floor value of the stake and its fair-market value.

Disney said it expects the appraisal process will be completed during the 2024 calendar year.

The acquisition of full ownership of Hulu “will further strengthen Disney’s streaming objectives,” Disney said.

Disney has been in control of Hulu since it acquired most of the assets of 21st Century Fox in 2019 for $71.4 billion in stock.

Since then, Disney and Comcast have feuded about Hulu’s strategy and value and there was some question about whether Disney would want to buy the remaining or if somehow Comcast would wind up with Hulu.

More recently, Disney has taken steps to include a Hulu section on its Disney Plus streaming service.

Hulu was started in 2008 by Fox, Disney, NBCUniversal and Time Warner as a streaming service to rival the upstart Netflix.

ABC’s The Golden Bachelor premiered as the top-rated unscripted series in two years, and has added to its audience through DVR and on-demand viewing plus streaming on Hulu.

The Disney-owned channels said that three days after its premiere, The Golden Bachelor had racked up 7.7 million total viewers, adding 3.34 million viewers in delayed cross-platform viewing, showing that not online is there life in older men, but there might be life in traditional TV.

The new show scored the biggest ABC series premiere ever on Hulu.

The Golden Bachelor was last Thursday’s highest-rated entertainment series, beating CBS’s Big Brother. The show was also the highest-rated unscripted series debut in two years since Judge Steve Harvey premiered in January 2022.

The Golden Bachelor was higher rated than any telecast in The Bachelor franchise in three years.

It also scored in the younger-skewing demos important to advertisers, drawing the franchise’s highest rating among adults 18-49 since March 2022 with a 1.9 rating.

In terms of total viewers, The Golden Bachelor delivered the strongest premiere for any Bachelor show since January 2021.

Hulu has ordered a fourth season of Only Murders in the Building, the dark comedy about Manhattanites digging for clues in and around their apartment building. 

“The trio's journey is far from over,” the network said on X. 

Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short play residents of a Manhattan apartment building who team up to launch a podcast about the suspicious death of a resident in the building. 

Season three began August 8. 

Martin and John Hoffman created the show. Dan Fogelman, creator of This Is Us, executive produces the series with Martin, Hoffman, Short, Gomez, Jamie Babbitt and Jess Rosenthal.

Guest stars have included Meryl Streep, Sting and Paul Rudd. 

The show was nominated for best comedy at the Golden Globes in 2022 and 2023, and the Emmys in the same years. 

Every week — or when we get around to it — Next TV’s leading voices have a little SMS meeting of the minds to discuss the recent TMT news and events. 

Daniel Frankel: So I know you’re closing out what's left of the good weather in Nantucket, but as one of my favorite recording artists, Chuck D, might say, ”There's a carriage war going on, so where y'all at?“ Watching Chris Winfrey at Goldman Sachs Thursday, calm and succinct-like, break down Charter’s issues with Disney was striking. I don't think Disney was ready for Charter, which doesn’t appear at all like it's bluffing. Take 14.7 million linear homes away from ESPN and ABC, and Disney has a problem. Charter just has to make sure its users detach from video without also moving their internet to T-Mobile or Verizon.

David Bloom: I think all that’s true, though there are definitely risks here for Charter, too, like people cutting one cord (linear TV) and saying, “A pox on their cable-y house,” and cutting that other, more profitable cord (high-speed broadband). Charter has inoculated itself somewhat from that second, unkindest cut by bundling broadband with cheap mobile service and hefty first-year discounts. You can understand cable executives having finally had enough of what Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson calls “cheating,” creeping football and other premium programming off linear and onto their streaming services, without reducing the fees they want from the old business partners. Worse, it’s all to finance the expensive new business ventures.  Winfrey, for his part, seems quite happy to watch Disney sail out the door, based on his latest comments. The more sports fans leave during the fight, he said, the less motivation Charter has to do any kind of deal. Ouch. 

Daniel: Yeah, a lot of “broken” pay TV out there right now, with DirecTV and Nexstar, as well as Dish and Hearst also keeping folks from their beloved sportsball. But since we’re throwing around Craig Moffett terms, I will tell you that as a consumer, what really gets my “doom cycle” revving is the specular fall of the once must-have subscription streaming service now known as  Max. Now, I’ve expressed my disdain for Nielsen metrics, but their streaming measurements do tell us at least a little something about what's going on in the world's most important entertainment market. Max has nothing clicking right now. I saw Lakers owner Jeannie Buss on Twitter the other day desperately trying to drum up viewership for Winning Time. This very solid show is so isolated, alone and on-the-ropes that even Buss, who distanced herself from creator Adam McKay and the production last year, is now willing to tip her hand and tacitly concede she’s involved in what amounts to a love letter to her father and family.  And the show is pretty good. I love it. Even my Celtics-loving, er, contacts think so. But I don't think anyone else is watching this thing. Or anything on Max these days, for that matter. Outside of Aaron Rodgers and Hard Knocks, I'm not sure the “One to Watch” has had anything even Jason Mamoa would tune into since The Last of Us signed off season 1 in mid-March. It has to be asked, has David Zaslav, in all of his insolent wisdom, turned the erstwhile HBO Max into America’s Most Irrelevant Subscription Streaming Service?

David: Speaking of broken, Max seems headed that way. Even my non-sports-loving spouse likes Winning Time, and Steven Soderbergh’s Full Circle was an absorbing, if imperfect circle. But it’s generally slim pickings, something I’ve expected since Zaz and “Weeds” (CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels) whacked hundreds of employees just a year or two after Killer Kilar did his own hacking and whacking. At some point, the bench is thinner than the Lakers after Magic retired. Franchises run their course, and finding and building the next White Lotus, Euphoria, or House of Dragons gets harder and harder. I keep envisioning Casey Bloys as the TV exec equivalent of Beau Geste, propping dead bodies on the battlements. All those dead guys make terrible development executives. 

Daniel: But at least Hulu's still relevant. You know, the Disney-Comcast-Put-Deal story reminds me of a scene in the Ben Stiller movie Tropic Thunder, in which Jay Baruchel pontificates endlessly on the aughts-era Blu-ray vs. HD DVD debate only to be asked by a black-faced Robert Downey Jr., “You talking to me this whole time?” I mean, as I’ve told you before — to your dismay and disgust! — I’m fed up with any navel-gazing that includes the words “Bob” and “Iger.” There's sooo much smarty-pants speculation around Disney in general. But with Disney and Comcast pushing up the deadline for Comcast to sell its 33% stake in Hulu, we do seem to be, finally, close here to another major change. And why do I feel like it's going to suck for consumers?

David: It’s worth noting, in my humble defense, that there are two very good reasons to write a lot about Disney. 1) It’s the biggest media company, by a lot, in whatever’s left of traditional “Hollywood;” and 2) It has a lot of, um, broken things that need fixing, so there’s always something to poke at. And my job is about poking. So, poke, poke, Bob. Iger. I mean, we could talk about, say, Paramount Global, with a $9 billion market cap now less than half the $21 billion Apple’s services division generates every quarter. At an investor conference last week, CEO Bob Bakish said, “Our investments are paying off,” as they trim program spending, trudge through the strikes, and wait for the fallout from, ahem, Disney-Charter. That latter kerfuffle could be huge, given how dependent Par still is on the cable bundle while leaking its premium sports and entertainment content onto Paramount Plus. Bakish has done a good job playing a bad hand, but the strikes and cable collapse make that hand worse every day. So I always wonder when Shari decides to fold and cash in her chips. Even without a media company, she’ll still get invited to Sun Valley and all the movie premieres she wants. 

Daniel: But wait! I’m literally begging you to speculate on what happens next with Disney (and the executive known as Bob Iger) on what happens next in regard to Comcast and Hulu. (I'd take advantage of that carte blanche, knowing how you roll.) It all comes down to how much Hulu is valued over $27 billion. Is there a third-party mediator/arbitrator on Planet Earth who could possibly come up with such a figure that both companies agree to? I mean,  I don't buy the story — that I admittedly just got duped into writing myself! — that this will all be over soon. 

David: Okay, fine. Iger will rip that humongous Hulu Band-Aid right off as soon as possible. It’s one of the few things he can immediately control. The valuation process is complicated, involving assessments from up to three investment banks, then averaging, blah, blah, blah. Absent an auction, that’s probably as good as it gets in finding Hulu’s “true” worth. The extra wrinkle is that Disney is busily referring unhappy Charter customers to Hulu Plus Live TV, where they say signups have jumped markedly, adding to Hulu’s value. Maybe this makes up for years of Disney foot-dragging over Hulu’s long-overdue international expansion, which Comcast claims was done to depress said market value. The most important thing is It. Will. Get. Done. That’s one item off Iger’s very long checklist. But strikes, ESPN, succession, crummy movies, franchise fatigue, and blah. Remind me why he came back? 

Daniel: I'll remind you on Tuesday when I see you in New York. Have to go now and find actual long pants to wear to our Next TV Summit, which will touch upon at least two of the topics we cover every day at Next TV. See you at Etc.Venues on Madison Avenue Tuesday morning, David. 

David: See you there. 

Essence magazine celebrates its 50th anniversary this year by expanding its brand into television programming in an effort to better serve its target audience of Black women.

Essence Ventures, which owns Essence, last month teamed with OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network to launch a five-part documentary series, Time of Essence, which spotlights the magazine’s influence on Black culture over the past five decades. The OWN series, which airs its penultimate episode Friday (September 8), features interviews and perspectives from stars like Winfrey, Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Time of Essence comes on the heels of Essence’s partnership with streaming service Hulu in July for live, three-day coverage of the annual Essence Festival of Culture, featuring performances from musicians such as Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott and Megan Thee Stallion. 

Spearheading Essence’s move into television and streaming is VP of experiential branded content and video Stephanie Dunivan, who joined the brand in 2017 after previous stints at BET and Inside Edition. Dunivan talked about the evolution of Essence’s television strategy with Multichannel News. Here’s a lightly edited version of that conversation. 

MCN: Essence has had a long and successful run as a print magazine. Why was it important for the company to transition to television?

Stephanie Dunivan: Actually, Essence has been in the television space over the years. For Time of Essence, the great partnership Essence has with OWN to tell the story of Essence’s 50-year legacy was just a natural fit. With a brand like Essence, people feel a lot of ownership of the brand because it’s been a companion piece across many of our lives, especially if you’re a black woman. So now, to be able to tell this story in this way and peel back the curtain to let people know all the things that it took to keep the last black-owned magazine standing on stands to this day really makes for great TV.

MCN: What do you hope viewers take away from the series once it’s completed? 

SD: I think that there is going to be a moment or a story of resilience or perseverance — whether personal or about the business — where people will see themselves. I just think that people are going to have even more of an affinity to the brand if they didn't before, just knowing what it took to keep it around. 

MCN: Earlier this summer, you oversaw the production of Essence Fest Primetime on Hulu. How well was that received, and will you look to continue to develop content around the Essence Festival of Culture in the future? 

SD: That was our second year doing the telecast — being able to bring the Essence Festival to the masses with Essence Fest Primetime was really great. We are already brainstorming on how to make that bigger and better for our 30th birthday party next year. I actually came from  BET and I produced a show called 106 & Park, so live television is definitely a passion of mine and something that we do really well here at Essence with our Black Women in Hollywood event as well as Essence Fest Primetime.  We definitely plan to do more of that in the future. 

MCN: Who is the target audience for content like Time of Essence or Essence Fest Primetime: an older female viewer who grew up with Essence magazine or a younger viewer who may not be familiar with the brand? 

SD: The shows are multigenerational. With Time of Essence, there are going to be people who grew up with Essence for the past 50 years that look at it as a tool to reminisce and remember this or that cover. There are also going to be people that are my age who really look at it as a tool for inspiration. I've heard a lot of feedback from Gen Z and younger people who talk about their appreciation for the evolution of what this magazine has been and what it will be for the next 50 years. So just like the Essence Festival and anything that we produce, we are producing it for her, no matter what the demographic is, what the household income is, what her personal style is, what the age is.

One of the more anticipated media business deals will happen sooner than we thought. 

Comcast and The Walt Disney Co. have agreed to push up the start date to formally decide the fate of Hulu from January to the end of this month. 

Comcast chairman and CEO CEO Brian Roberts said his company will be basing the sale of its 33% stake in the Hulu joint venture on a valuation of the streaming service well north of $30 billion.

Also Read: Roberts: Comcast ‘Likely’ to Sell Its Stake in Hulu to Disney

“We are excited to get this resolved,” Roberts said during the Goldman Sachs Communcacopia + Technology Conference Wednesday. “And the minimum $27.5 billion that people have bandied about, that was a hypothetical that we picked five years ago because Disney has control of the company. The company is way more valuable today than it was then.”

Amid its purchase of Fox's entertainment assets in 2019, Disney became Hulu's majority and controlling shareholder. At that time, it also signed an agreement for Comcast to sell its remaining 33% stake in the JV at a minimum valuation of $27.5 billion. 

Hulu finished 2019 with just over 23 million subscribers. As of the end of June, the platform touted over 48 million paid users. 

Disney and Comcast have been negotiating an outcome for years. But now the formal timeline to arrive at a decision is set to start on September 30. 

“The next steps are an appraisal process for valuation with Comcast indicating it will have its own valuation, as will Disney and a third party,” Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall wrote. “No timing was given for a consummation of the process,” he added, “but we think investors will assume a deal by approximately year-end 2023.” 

Teen horror show Goosebumps, based on the books by R.L. Stine, premieres on Disney Plus and Hulu October 13. A Goosebumps series aired in Canada for four seasons in the late ’90s and the Stine novels also hatched a couple of feature films, with Jack Black portraying the author. 

Whereas the Canadian series had an anthology motif, each episode having a distinct story with a beginning, middle and end, the new series spreads story and characters across 10 episodes. Justin Long, Rachael Harris and Zack Morris are in the cast. 

Stine is part of the production, but does not have an official title. “As someone who grew up reading his books as a tween, it’s incredible to be able to have anything to do with R.L. Stine,” executive producer Conor Welch said. “To have him involved is really awesome.”

The books focused on middle-school kids and the series ages them up to high school. The aim was to make the show something that both children and parents can enjoy together. “It was important to us, when we were developing the new version of the show, that it would be authentically funny and dramatic and scary,” executive producer Pavun Shetty said. “Five high-school kids face real high-school issues that kids face, and their parents face real issues that adults face. A lot of times those issues are messy and awkward and absurd and frightening.”

The show shoots in Vancouver. Rob Letterman and Nicholas Stoller developed Goosebumps and are executive producers along with Hilary Winston. 

Five episodes roll on premiere day and subsequently premiere weekly
on Fridays. 

Shetty described Goosebumps as “a total genre mashup” that blends horror and comedy. “Our aim was, when you expect a scare you actually start laughing, and when you laugh at something awkward, you actually get super scared,” he said. “It takes the traditional scary elements, jump scares and gross-out scares and psychological scares, and combines them with everyday life.”

Besides horror and comedy, Goosebumps has some drama, too. “It’s a grounded, funny, real-feeling show about an awkward set of kids figuring out high school and that time of life,” Shetty said. 

Two sci-fi-themed series headline the list of shows debuting during the last full week of August. 

Disney Plus's series Star Wars: Ahsoka premieres August 22 and stars Rosario Dawson as former Jedi Knight Ashoka Tano who investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy after the fall of the Empire, said the streaming service.  The first two episodes of the eight-episode series will premiere August 22. 

Apple TV Plus will roll out the second season of Invasion on August 23. The 10-episode series follows an alien invasion through different perspectives around the world. 

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of August 21-27. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised.

August 23, BS High (documentary) HBO

August 24, Who is Erin Carter (drama) Netflix

August 24, Mountain Men (returning series), History

August 24, The Hustle of @617MikeBiv (documentary), ALLBLK

August 25, Vacation Friends 2 (movie) Hulu

August 25, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (movie) Netflix

August 25, Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn (documentary series) Apple TV Plus 

FX will bring back Emmy-winning shows American Horror Story in September and Fargo in November as part of its fall original programming slate.

American Horror Story: Delicate, the 12th installment of the Ryan Murphy-created American Horror Story anthology series, will debut September 20. The season will be divided into two parts, FX said, with the four-part first season running through October and the second part debuting in 2024. 

The fifth season of anthology series Fargo will debut on November 21 and will be set in Minnesota and North Dakota in 2019. The series will star Juno Temple, Jon Hamm, Joe Keery, Sam Spruell and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Series creator Noah Hawley will serve as executive producer for Fargo along with Warren Littlefield, Steve Stark, Kim Todd and Joel and Ethan Coen. 

Also on FX’s fall docket is the October 26 return of American Horror Story spinoff series American Horror Stories, which will stream on Hulu. Also premiering on Hulu is  A Murder at the End of the World, which will debut its seven-episode season on November 14. The mystery series stars Emma Corrin, Brit Marling, Harris Dickinson, Alice Braga, Joan Chen and Clive Owen.

On the unscripted front, FX will debut The New York Times Presents: “How to Fix A Pageant” on September 29, according to the network. 

The return of Hulu’s animated series Solar Opposites and Peacock’s comedy series Killing It highlight this week’s list of original show premieres.

Season four of Hulu’s animated science-fiction series debuts August 14 and continues to follow the exploits of a family of aliens shipwrecked on Earth. Dan Stevens joins the cast for season four of Solar Opposites, which also includes Thomas Middleditch, Sean Giamborne, and Mary Mack. 

Peacock’s Killing It premieres its second season on August 17, with Craig Robinson returning to star as a rags-to-riches snake hunter along with Claudia O’Doherty and Rell Battle.

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of August 14-20. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised.

August 14, 90 Day: Last Resort (reality series), TLC

August 16, Depp v. Heard (documentary series), Netflix

August 16, Miguel Wants to Fight (comedy movie), Hulu

August 18, Time of Essence (documentary series), OWN

August 18, Harlan Coben’s Shelter (drama), Prime video

August 18, The Monkey King (Animated movie), Netflix

August 18, The Winter King (drama), MGM Plus

Season three of FX comedy Reservation Dogs premieres on Hulu August 2. The season, which is the final one, sees the Rez Dogs group of friends stranded in California and trying to figure out how to get home. 

The show is about four Indigenous teens in rural Oklahoma. Devery Jacobs plays Elora, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai portrays Bear, Paulina Alexis plays Willie Jack and Lane Factor is Cheese. Season two saw the foursome stealing and scrounging to get cash for a move to California as they deal with the suicide of a close friend.  

After they get home in season three, Elora thinks about college, Bear interacts with a conspiracy theorist, Willie Jack aims to heal her community and Cheese moves back in with his “grandmother.” 

“Season three is full of road trips, bathroom wisdom, unexpected fathers, boarding schools, Bigfoot, rumors, revenge and healing,” FX said. 

Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi created the show, which is filmed in Oklahoma. They executive produce with Garrett Basch. 

Critics adore Reservation Dogs. A review in Variety said the show “goes out on a high note.” 

The Hollywood Reporter called the final season “a spirited and deeply felt homestretch.”

Newsday called the show “an overlooked TV gem.”

Entertainment Weekly, for its part, said, “It's too early to say goodbye to this little marvel of a show; there will be plenty of time for tears in September when the final season wraps. Reservation Dogs is happening now, and it's a blessing.”

FX said when the final season was announced: “People throw around the words historic and groundbreaking far too often and without merit: Reservation Dogs is worthy of those superlatives. Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi created one of the most important TV shows ever made. They gave the world a wholly unique, original and honest portrayal of Native people — one that has never before been seen in television or film.”

FX’s Reservation Dogs and Apple TV Plus’s Physical are among several series returning to television with new seasons during the first week of August.

Reservation Dogs on August 2 will launch its third and final season on Hulu. The Taika Waititi-produced series, which follows the lives of four teenagers in rural Oklahoma, is the first TV series to feature all indigenous writers and directors. Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paula Alexis, and Zahn McClarnon. 

Apple TV Plus's Physical is also launching its third and final season on August 2. The series stars Rose Byrne as an insecure 1980s housewife who decides to make her own way through the world of aerobics. Zooey Deschanel joins the Physical cast that also features Rory Scovel and Diedre Friel.

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of July 31-August 6. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised.

July 31: Breeders (returning series), FX

August 3: Heartstopper (returning series), Netflix

August 3: The Lincoln Lawyer (returning series), Netflix

August 4: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (drama), Prime Video 

August 6: The Chi (returning series), Showtime

August 6: Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (returning series), HBO

Hulu said that Lauren Tempest has been promoted to general manager, a new position, effective immediately.

Tempest had been senior VP of content partnerships, acquisitions and scheduling. In her new role, she will expand her portfolio, assuming responsibility for the overall Hulu business.

She will continue to report to Joe Earley, president of direct-to-consumer Disney Entertainment.

“As we enter our next, critical, phase of growth for Hulu, I can think of no one better to lead us through the evolution than Lauren,” Earley said. “Over the past eight years, she has proven to be an exceptional partner and leader, while continuing to deliver the most in-demand content to our subscribers.  The relationships she has built internally and externally have helped propel us forward, which is why I, and teams across Disney Entertainment, are excited for her to officially step into this role.” 

Tempest joined Hulu in 2015. She was responsible for acquiring Schitt’s Creek and launching series including The Bear and Prey. Earlier, she spent six years at NBCUniversal’s USA Network.

“I have had the privilege of working with some of the most dedicated and passionate people during my time at Hulu, and I am excited to help lead and accelerate Hulu’s vision and strategy, particularly during such a major inflection point in the streaming industry,” Tempest said. 

Hulu will shine a light on the family life of veteran entertainer Wayne Brady in a new unscripted project.

The eight-episode, untitled Wayne Brady & Family project will chronicle Brady, currently the host of the Let's Make A Deal game show, as he and his ex-wife Mandie Taketa serve as co-parents to their 20-year old daughter while running their production company, A Wayne & Mandie Creative, according to the streaming service. Meanwhile, Taketa’s life partner of 12 years Jason Fordham handles the family’s cinematography and post-production while they raise their recently-born son. 

According to Hulu, the series will offer an intimate look into Brady’s blended family’s personal life – revealing unexpected points of view and values that most people (including his own family) have a hard time understanding, according to Hulu.

The series is executive produced by Brady, Taketa, Shahram Qureshi and Rachel Tung. 

Two cable-network drama series — AMC’s Dark Winds and Starz’s Heels — will launch their sophomore campaigns amid a crowded lineup of shows and movies debuting during the last week of July. 

AMC on July 30 will premiere the second season of Dark Winds, starring Zahn McClarnon as a Navajo Tribal Police lieutenant investigating a series of seemingly unrelated crimes. Also starring in the series are Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, Jeri Ryan and Nicolas Logan.

Starz will return to the wrestling ring on July 28 with the second season of drama series Heels. Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig return as brothers participating in a local pro wrestling league both inside and outside the ring. Heels also stars Alison Luff, Mary McCormack, Kelli Berglund and Allen Maldonado.

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of July 24-30. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised.

July 24: Futurama (returning series) — Hulu

July 24: The Golden Boy (sports documentary) — HBO

July 26: The Hardy Boys (returning series) — Hulu

July 27: Harley Quinn (returning series) — Max

July 27: Twisted Metal (comedy) — Peacock

July 27: The Witcher (returning series) — Netflix

July 27: Zoey 102 (comedy movie) — Paramount Plus

July 28: Good Omens (returning series) — Prime Video

July 28: This Fool (returning series) — Hulu

Bob Iger, since returning as CEO at The Walt Disney Co., has determined that linear television — including ABC, local television stations and entertainment-focused cable networks — may no longer be core businesses for the company.

“They may not be core,” Iger said, speaking on CNBC from the Allen & Co. conference. 

“Yeah, there’s clearly creativity and content that they create that is core to Disney, but the distribution model, the business model that forms the underpinning of that business, and that has delivered great profits over the years is definitely broken,“ he said. “And we have to call it like it is, and that’s part of the transformative work we're doing.” 

Also Read: Disney Board Extends Bob Iger’s CEO Contract Through 2026

Since returning to the company last year, Iger said, he found that the linear TV business has been more disrupted than he expected, becoming what he termed “no-growth businesses.”

Iger did not say when he might dispose of Disney’s TV businesses or who might buy them.

Iger continued to say that Disney will inevitably create a stand-alone, direct-to-consumer version of ESPN.

“ESPN: If you look at today's media landscape, sports stands very, very tall in terms of its ability to convene millions and millions of people all at once,“ he said. “There’s almost a guarantee that that occurs. It's an advertiser’s dream. There’s a great demographic there and it lends itself to technology in many ways, both in terms of coverage, distribution and consumption. And our position in that business is very unique. We have a great brand. We've had a great business, and we want to stay in that business. That said, we’re going to be open-minded there, too, not necessarily about spinning ESPN off but about looking for strategic partners that could either help us with distribution or content, but we want to stay in the sports business.

“There’s so much more that can be done with it in terms of the way it's distributed, the way it’s consumed,“ he added. “It’s interesting just thinking about the Apple announcement of a few weeks ago, and what the possibilities there — that device lends itself to in terms of sports. So I think it's a business that, you know, we want to stay in.”

Disney already has a partner in ESPN with Hearst, which owns 20% of the sports business.

Iger said a new potential partner for ESPN would have to come to the table with value. 

“Whether it’s content value, whether it’s distribution value, whether it’s capital, whether it just helps de-risk a business to some extent, but that wouldn't be the primary driver,“ he said. “But if they come to the table with value that enables ESPN to make a transition to its direct-to-consumer offering, then we’re going to be very — we’re going to be very open-minded about that.” 

Iger also reiterated that Disney would prefer to own Hulu rather than sell it, possibly to Comcast, which owns a third of the streaming service.

“I spent a lot of time looking at that as part of the future of our streaming business, and ultimately concluded that we would be better off having Hulu than not having Hulu,” Iger said. “And in fact, the plan is for Hulu to be available starting the end of this calendar year as part of the Disney Plus offering. So in terms of the path to profitability of that business, which obviously has tremendous amount of focus on and a lot of attention, combining Hulu and Disney Plus is a major step in that direction.”

FX will end its Hulu-distributed dramedy series Reservation Dogs after its upcoming third season debuting in August, the network said Thursday (June 29).

The series, the first to feature an all-Indigenous group writers and directors, follows four teenagers in rural Oklahoma who look to achieve their dream of moving to California by any means necessary. 

Series co-creator Sterlin Harjo first revealed that season three would be the final season of Reservation Dogs in a Thursday-morning Instagram post. “The third season of Reservation Dogs will be the final season,” he said. “That’s a difficult line to write and a more difficult decision to make. However, it’s the correct decision creatively for the show.” 

FX also released a statement, saying that it’s “difficult to say goodbye to these incredible characters and to an award-winning series … that said, we support Sterlin and [co-creator Taika Waititi’s] decision to end the series in a way that will cement its legacy.” 

Reservation Dogs stars Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paula Alexis and Zahn McClarnon. 

Executive producers for the series include Harjo, Waititi and Garrett Basch.

FX’s full statement regarding Reservation Dogs reads as follows:

“People throw around the words historic and groundbreaking far too often and without merit: Reservation Dogs is worthy of those superlatives.  Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi created one of the most important TV shows ever made. They gave the world a wholly unique, original, and honest portrayal of Native people — one that has never before been seen in television or film.

“It’s difficult to say goodbye to these indelible characters and to an award-winning series that The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Variety and Vulture named The Best Show of 2022. That said, we support Sterlin and Taika’s decision to end the series in a way that will cement its legacy.

“We, along with our partners at Hulu, are forever grateful to the producers, writers, directors, cast, crew and the Native land and communities in eastern Oklahoma who collaborated to make this masterpiece. While we’re sad to see the show come to an end, we’re excited for Sterlin, Taika and Garrett Basch to continue to tell stories for FX. And Rez Dogs fans, we hope you share our excitement and anticipation for the coming season.” 

Freeform’s final season of Grown-ish and the third season of Netflix’s The Witcher highlight the light list of show debuts heading into the July 4 holiday week.

Grown-ish -- a spinoff of ABC's Black-ish, will debut its sixth and final season on Freeform June 28. Grown-ish stars Yara Shahidi and Marcus Scribner will return for the show’s final season along with Trevor Jackson, Diggy Simmons and Daniella Perkins.

Netflix will return its fantasy drama series The Witcher for its third season on June 29. The show will star Henry Cavill in his last season as the show’s lead character Geralt of Rivia (Liam Hemsworth will take over the role in season four). The eight-episode, third season of The Witcher will be split in two parts, with the second half premiering in late July, according to the streamer.

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of June 26 to July 4. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised:

June 28: Anthem (music documentary), Hulu

June 28: Hijack (drama), Apple TV Plus

June 29: Lace (returning series), ALLBLK

June 29: Warrior (returning series), Max

June 29: Ten-Year-Old Tom (returning series), Max

June 30: Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (drama), Prime Video

June 30: Nimona (animation movie), Netflix

June 30: Celebrity (drama), Netflix

Sharkfest starts July 2 on National Geographic and lasts throughout the month of July. Disney networks Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN2 are also taking part. Disney Channel will feature shark content July 8 and 9, Disney XD will feature ten hours of shark stuff July 3-7, and Disney Junior will do so July 3-9. 

Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior and Nat Geo Kids’ YouTube channels will all have shark-themed shorts beginning July 3.

ABC’s owned stations will feature Sharkfest content from the past year. 

Disney Plus and Hulu will stream every Sharkfest premiere. There are over 22 hours of original programming in this summer’s event, and more than 50 hours of what Nat Geo calls enhanced content. 

Sharkfest ventures from Australia to the Bahamas, South Africa, and Indonesia, among other nations. Stateside, Sharkfest stops in Hawaii, Cape Cod, MA, Florida and New York, among other destinations. 

Premiering July 2 on National Geographic, Disney Plus and Hulu are Bull Shark Bandits, Shark Eat Shark and Saved From a Shark. July 3 features six-episode When Sharks Attack 360, Return of the White Shark and Bull Shark vs. Hammerhead. 

Other Sharkfest highlights include Shark Below Zero on July 5, eight-episode When Sharks Attack … and Why, premiering July 6, and Sharks vs. Dolphins: Bahamas Battleground on July 10.

Sharkfest has been going on for 11 years.  Last year, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, Disney Plus, Hulu, ABC and ESPN partnered with Nat Geo on Sharkfest.   

In other shark-related summer TV events, Shark Week starts on Discovery July 23. Jason Momoa hosts the 35th edition of Shark Week. “My love of sharks came long before my time as Aquaman — it began several generations before me,” said the actor at the Warner Bros. Discovery upfront presentation. 

Discovery has not yet shared programming plans for the summer event. 

ABC News Studios has four true-crime docuseries lined up for release on Hulu. The Ashley Madison Affair premieres July 7, Betrayal: The Perfect Husband is on July 11, Mother Undercover debuts July 27 and Demons and Saviors starts August 3. 

With three parts, The Ashley Madison Affair looks at the rise and fall of dating platform Ashley Madison, which catered to extramarital affairs. “The docuseries tells the story of the hackers’ unmet demand, a data breach, and the catastrophic fallout. Upon the exposé-style demise of Ashley Madison, the public soon discovered that perhaps the site’s unfaithful users were not the only ones with a secret,” according to ABC News Studios. 

It is produced by Wall to Wall Media and ABC News Studios.

Betrayal: The Perfect Husband has three parts. Coming from the podcast Betrayal, it details Jen Faison falling in love with a high school teacher named Spencer Herron, but she discovers that behind her fairytale romance is a web of lies, affairs and criminal sexual assault. 

Betrayal “is a tale of earth-shattering discoveries, a victim’s bravery, and a woman’s quest to reclaim her life against all odds,” ABC News Studios said. 

It is produced by Glass Entertainment and ABC News Studios. 

Mother Undercover has four parts. It tells the tales of four mothers on a mission to save or get justice for their children. In incidents of murder, international kidnapping, mass suicide and judicial corruption, the mothers transform into undercover detectives, mounting covert operations. 

“The series showcases the strength and resilience of these women who give new meaning to the saying ‘a mother’s love knows no bounds,’ said ABC News Studios. 

It is produced by Pioneer Productions and ABC News Studios.

Demons and Saviors has three parts. It tells of Christina Boyer, once known as the “poltergeist girl” due to objects mysteriously moving when she got angry, and convicted of murdering her three-year-old daughter. The series follows a group of amateur sleuths who are obsessed with exonerating her. 

“Exploring Christina’s troubled upbringing, her alleged telekinetic abilities, and the questions that remain about the death of her daughter, Demons and Saviors investigates what is the conspiracy and what is the truth,” said ABC News. 

It is produced by Latchkey Films and ABC News Studios.

ABC News Studios is led by Mike Kelley. Reena Mehta is the senior VP of streaming and digital content.

Hulu will livestream the annual Essence Festival of Culture music event beginning June 30.

The streaming service’s Essence Fest Primetime will feature three nights of live coverage of the music festival, including performances from Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott and Megan Thee Stallion, Hulu said. Also scheduled to perform during the event are Doug E. Fresh, Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, Eve, Salt-N-Pepa, T.I., Ice Cube, Ice-T, Remy Ma and Lil Jon.

Hulu aired last year’s Essence Fest Primetime, the first time the festival had been made available on a streaming platform.  “It is great to be reteaming with our incredible partners at Essence,” Hulu VP of brand partnerships and strategy Adia Matthews said in a statement. “We are thrilled to join them in celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop throughout the festival weekend by bringing this iconic event back into the homes of our viewers, once again.”

Added Essence Ventures chief revenue officer Pauline Malcolm-Thorton: “The partnership between Essence and Hulu is a perfect example of the media industry moving toward a ‘phygital’ future. We’re thrilled that Hulu’s viewers will get to experience a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop, produced as only Essence can.”

The Walt Disney Co. said in an SEC filing last week that it will incur a $1.5 billion impairment charge in its ongoing fiscal third quarter following the removal of shows and movies from Disney Plus and Hulu.

Looking to reduce taxes and other charges, Disney pulled more than 50 titles from Disney Plus and Hulu, including recent series The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Y: The Last Man, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Dollface, The Mighty Ducks, Turner & Hooch, Willow, Maggie, Dollface and Cheaper by the Dozen.

Disney also said in its filing that it expects to write down another $400 million as more content gets removed. 

It wasn't a surprise. During Disney’s fiscal Q2 earnings call last month, chief financial officer Christine McCarthy told investors an impairment charge of between $1.5 billion-$1.8 billion was coming. 

Disney trimmed EBITDA losses on streaming to $659 during its fiscal second quarter vs. $1.1 billion the previous quarter. 

AMC’s drama series Dark Winds won multiple National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Vision Awards to lead all shows, the diversity organization announced Tuesday morning.  

The freshman series won two NAMIC Vision Awards -- which celebrate original, multiplatform television programming that reflects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the viewing audience -- including best drama series, beating out strong competition from Fox’s 9-1-1, ABC's Grey’s Anatomy and Women of the Movement, and Paramount Plus’s The Good Fight.

Dark Winds star Zahn McClarnon also won a Vision Award for best performance in a drama series, besting Cliff “Method Man” Smith (Starz’s Power Book II: Ghost); Courtney B. Vance (AMC’s 61st Street), Patina Miller (Starz’s Power Book III: Raising Kana) and Viola Davis (Showtime’s The First Lady).

Also: Zahn McClarnon Hopes ‘Dark Winds’ Series Opens Eyes to Native American Actors, Stories: Multicultural Perspectives

CBS’ veteran series The Neighborhood took home the award for best comedy, topping ABC’s Abbott Elementary, black-ish and The Wonder Years, as well as Disney Plus’s Ms. Marvel. 

Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani won the best performance in a comedy award for her starring role in the Disney Plus series, beating out Frankie Quiñones (Hulu’s This Fool) Omari Hardwick (Paramount Plus’ Fantasy Football) Raven-Symoné (Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home) and Tichina Arnold (CBS’s The Neighborhood) for the honor.

HBO Max’s Pause with Sam Jay was the only repeat winner, taking honors in the Variety/Talk Show category for the second straight year. 

“We are honored to recognize the outstanding achievements of the 2023 Vision Award recipients, whose innovative programming has not only captivated audiences but also reflects our society's diverse voices and perspectives,” NAMIC president and CEO A. Shuanise Washington said in a statement. “The Vision Awards celebrate excellence in programming that pushes the boundaries of creativity, storytelling, and inclusivity. The work celebrated this year reminds us of the power of diverse representation and the importance of telling authentic stories that resonate with viewers from all walks of life.” 

The complete list of the 2023 NAMIC Vision Awards appears below: 

Animation 

More Than I Want to Remember – MTV Entertainment Studios 

Best Performance – Comedy

Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel) – Disney Plus 

Best Performance – Drama 

Zahn McClarnon: (Dark Winds) – AMC 

Children’s

Sesame Street – Sesame Workshop 

Comedy 

Ms. Marvel – Disney Plus

Digital Media – Short Form 

Historian’s Take: What is #LandBack? Inside New Native American TV Shows – PBS 

Documentary 

Fannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America ReFramed Special – American Documentary, Inc. 

Drama

Dark Winds – AMC 

Lifestyle 

Delicious Miss Brown – Food Network 

News/Informational 

The Color of Care – Smithsonian Channel 

Original Movie or Special 

REVOLT x Michelle Obama: The Cross-Generational Conversation – REVOLT 

Reality 

Why Not Us: Southern Dance – ESPN Plus

Reality – Social Issues 

The Hair Tales – Onyx Collective/OWN/Hulu 

Sports 

After Jackie – History Channel 

Variety/Talk Show 

PAUSE with Sam Jay – HBO Max 

The debut of History's limited series FDR along with the premiere of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first scripted TV series lead the list of original content premiering on streaming services and cable networks during the week leading into the Memorial Day holiday weekend.  

History's three-episode series, FDR, debuts May 29 and provides a portrait of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as he led the U.S. through the Great Depression and World War II while dealing with his own personal fight with polio, according to the network. Co-produced  by Bradley Cooper, the series is based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin Leadership: In Turbulent Times.  

Netflix on May 25 will debut drama/comedy series Fubar, starring Schwarzenegger as a CIA operative who, on the verge of retirement, discovers that his daughter also works for the agency. The two are paired together for one last undercover mission, according to Netflix. Monica Barbaro, Milan Carter, Gabriel Luna and Fortune Feimster also star in the eight-episode series.

Also this week, FX will debut the fifth and final season of its Sons of Anarchy biker spinoff drama Mayans M.C. on May 24. The series stars JD Pardo as Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes who runs the Mayans M.C. charter on the California-Mexico border, according to the network. JR Bourne, Danny Pino and Michael Irby also star in the series.

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of May 22-29 (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

May 23, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai (animation), Max

May 23, How to Create a Sex Scandal (documentary), Max

May 24, American Born Chinese (drama), Disney Plus

May 24, Platonic (comedy), Apple TV Plus

May 25, The Kardashians (returning series), Hulu

May 26, Being Mary Tyler Moore (documentary), HBO

May 26, Run The World (returning series), Starz

Despite a series of breathless, counterintuitive reports over the past year, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts on Tuesday confirmed that his company will "more likely than not" execute a contractual clause that lets it sell its one-third stake in Hulu to controlling shareholder Disney. 

Speaking at the MoffettNathanson Technology, Media and Telecom conference in New York, Roberts said, “I think we have a very valuable position ... What would a willing buyer in a robust auction [for Hulu] pay?” 

In 2024, Comcast has a "put call" option to sell its 33% stake in Hulu to Disney, with the streaming platform floor-valued at a minimum of $27.5 billion. That would mean that Disney would have to come up with at least $9.2 billion in cash. 

Of course, Comcast has argued that Hulu is worth more than just $27.5 billion, and the two sides have been haggling and positioning for several years. 

"I’m pretty certain that when we sell our Hulu stake, it’ll be for more than what we have in it. In fact, that’s contractually certain,” Roberts added.

Last week, Roberts' Disney counterpart, Bob Iger, suggested that recent talks have been more productive. Iger revealed during Disney's Q1 earnings call that the conglomerate intends to combine Hulu programming with Disney Plus. 

“I can’t tell you, and I can’t really say where they end up, only to say that there seems to be real value in having general entertainment combined with Disney Plus. And if, ultimately, Hulu is that solution, that’s we’re -- we’re bullish about that,” Iger said.