Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management have made a $26 billion cash offer for Paramount Global, according to published reports.

Shari Redstone, whose family investment company National Amusements owns a controlling voting interest in Paramount, has been pursuing a deal with Skydance Media, which would pay a premium for National Amusements.

The Skydance deal raised opposition among Paramount’s other shareholders and led to the departure of Paramount CEO Bob Bakish.

Paramount stock, which has bounced up and down amid reports of bids for the company, jumped 12% Thursday on news of the new bid from Apollo and Sony.

A Paramount spokesman said the company wasn't commenting.

MGM Plus and Amazon Prime Video have ordered what they call a “suite” of live-action television series based on the Sony Pictures universe of Marvel characters. The first series to be produced under the multi-series agreement is Silk: Spider Society, from Sony Pictures Television. The series will debut domestically on MGM Plus’s linear channel and globally on Prime Video. 

Epix, the commercial-free subscription service acquired by Amazon when it bought MGM, is becoming MGM Plus. 

Angela Kang, showrunner on The Walking Dead, will be showrunner on Silk. She developed the series with Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal, who will be executive producers. 

“Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Sony’s recent live-action and animated reimagining of the Spider-Man franchise has represented some of the most dynamic superhero storytelling in film,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. “Together with Angela Kang’s creative vision, we couldn’t be more pleased to bring Silk: Spider Society to our MGM Plus and Prime Video customers.”

Based on characters created by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos, Silk: Spider Society is inspired by Marvel comics and follows Cindy Moon, a Korean-American woman bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker, as she escapes imprisonment and searches for her missing family on her way to becoming the superhero known as Silk.

“We can’t wait to bring the adventures of Cindy Moon to life, thanks to the creative dream team of Chris and Phil, Angela and Amy, along with our partners at Marvel and Amazon,” said Katherine Pope, president of Sony Pictures Television Studios.  “We know this exciting series with new and never-before-seen characters and storylines will wow audiences watching first on linear MGM Plus and then around the world on Prime Video.”

The Walking Dead lasted for 11 seasons. Kang took over as showrunner in season nine.  

“I’m beyond thrilled to be joining the Amazon Studios family for this next chapter of my career. I look forward to working with the executive team on diverse, character-forward, watercooler shows for a global audience and am so excited to dive in to my first challenge — bringing Korean-American superhero Silk to life on-screen,” said Kang, who is Korean-American. ■ 

Sony is making the smart play by not launching a “Sony Plus.”

That’s the contention of LightShed Partners analyst Richard Greenfield, following the studio’s announcement of a new output deal with Disney. The agreement delivers to Disney Plus rights to Marvel Spider-Man films and other Sony movies, after they complete their “Pay 1” window through a separate agreement announced several weeks ago with Netflix. 

The pact, which runs from 2022-2026, gives Disney Plus rights to the Marvel titles it doesn’t already own (aka Spider-Man), about nine months after their theatrical run. It’s the window that was previously confined to ad-supported cable and broadcast TV.

The deal is reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars of its entire span.

Also Read: Netflix Ups the Ante with Latest Deals 

“Every studio exec should be questioning whether competing in SVOD ‘really’ makes sense vs. being an arms dealer,” Greenfield tweeted Wednesday, applauding Sony’s deal. 

Indeed, Sony once had grand plans about building an OTT ecosystem based on its PlayStation console business. But before it even ditched its quest to be a virtual pay TV provider (RIP PlayStation Vue), it ran away from the SVOD biz, too, selling Crackle to Chicken Soup for the Soul in 2019. 

In earlier remarks made at a Variety event on Monday, Greenfield elaborated on the competitive nature of the SVOD business. Most media conglomerates don’t have the scale—or the will and commitment—to succeed in it right now, he said. 

Also Read: Comcast Launches Disney Plus and ESPN Plus on X1 and Flex

“Everything Disney is doing illustrates that the one thing they have learned in the first 12 months of Disney Plus is that the resources to be successful are far, far beyond what they initially anticipated,” Greenfield said. “Everyone is going to have to learn this."

“The way to win in the streaming wars is to be incredibly focused, put the consumer first and stop worrying about your legacy business, stop worrying about breaking windows,” he added. 

Of course, Greenfield’s advice doesn’t necessarily pertain to Sony, which has found a way to profit from keeping windows intact. 

“This groundbreaking agreement reconfirms the unique and enduring value of our movies to film lovers and the platforms and networks that serve them,” said Keith Le Goy, president of worldwide distribution and networks for Sony Pictures Entertainment. “We are thrilled to team up with Disney on delivering our titles to their viewers and subscribers. This agreement cements a key piece of our film distribution strategy, which is to maximize the value of each of our films, by making them available to consumers across all windows with a wide range of key partners.”

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Netflix recently agreed to a groundbreaking licensing deal that will give Netflix an exclusive window on Sony theatrical releases. This is clearly a boon for both parties, with Netflix scoring more of the latest entertainment titles and Sony locking in access to the massive Netflix subscriber base. And there are likely to be promotional synergies too.

Social video has helped SVOD companies excel in the streaming wars, engaging current audiences and accelerating subscriber growth. According to a recent report from social video analytics firm Tubular Labs, U.S. viewers spent 116% more time watching SVOD content on social video in January 2021 compared to January 2020. Tubular’s analysis shows that of the SVODs’ U.S. audiences, 67% are 13-34 years old, a coveted demographic. (A note about methodology: This data is based on the U.S. viewing audience, including YouTube and Facebook. The minutes-watched data is based on views of at least 30 seconds.) 

Also Read: Netflix Ups the Ante with Latest Deals

Of the SVOD platforms Tubular measured, Netflix dominated for U.S. cross-platform unique viewers in January of this year, with 93.2 million. That bodes well for Sony, given that Netflix will surely use its social video muscle to promote new Sony titles as they become available to stream. 

That said, Sony also already has a strong social video strategy.

Sony Pictures utilizes multiple social video platforms to promote its content, but according to Tubular, YouTube is a primary driver of views for the company, netting 796 million from over 1,100 video uploads across various Sony Pictures-owned accounts (that includes Sony Pictures’ global creators and other owned properties such as Sony Pictures Classics). 

The top YouTube video for Sony Pictures’ U.S. accounts across the last year is the official trailer for Monster Hunt, which was posted in October and has generated 11.8 million views, 5.5 million of which occurred within the first 30 days, according to Tubular’s analysis. Meanwhile, the most-watched Netflix video hasn’t even been up for a full month yet: The official trailer for The Mitchells vs. The Machines, posted on March 31, has racked up over 18.9 million views so far. 

Trailers are the bread and butter of Sony Pictures’ social video strategy: Of its top 15 YouTube U.S.-focused videos by views in the last year, only two aren’t teasers or trailers: “Puppy! A Hotel Transylvania Short Film,” from Sony Pictures Animation with over 3 million views, and “The New Spider-Man Title is…” reveal with 2.4 million views. 

This brings us to one specific area where Sony might take cues from Netflix: the diversification of content types in its social video mix. Although both companies focus heavily on teasers and trailers for their YouTube presences, Netflix in particular tends to offer more full-fledged content: While many of Netflix’s top 15 YouTube videos by views are trailers, it's also posted full episodes of Our Planet, which have generated top view counts. 

Also, of the top SVOD platforms that Tubular examined, Netflix has the most format diversity across types of content posted to Facebook.

For example, on Facebook, Netflix shares short clips from shows and movies, such as a 17 Again clip that was posted in early January and is the No. 1 Facebook video by views (55.6 million) for Netflix in the last year, 19 million of which occurred in the first week. Another top video is a collection of “Floor Is Lava Falls,” with 29.7 million views, and this interview with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, which has generated 8.8 million views. Meanwhile, Sony Pictures’ most-watched Facebook videos are all trailers and teasers. 

As Sony Pictures content comes to Netflix under the new licensing deal, it’s easy to envision how the streaming giant can push forward with increasingly engaging ways to promote Sony fare.

OWN will produce a January special that gives a behind the scenes look at the drama series Underground, the network said Thursday.

The special, Revisiting Underground, will debut Jan. 5 after OWN’s premiere of the historical series drama, which aired on WGN America for two seasons from 2016-2017. OWN acquired the rights to Underground from Sony Pictures Television earlier this month.

Also Read: Oprah Winfrey Swaps Most of OWN Stake for Discovery Shares

The special, hosted by series executive producer John Legend, will take a behind-the-scenes look at the series, which stars Aldis Hodge and Jurnee Smollett and follows the journey of slaves running for their freedom during the 1850s. 

Underground on OWN will feature a revitalized version of the series, with newly filmed episodic introductions by cast members and never-before-seen footage, according to OWN. Underground co-creators Misha Green and Joe Pokaski along with Legend and Anthony Hemingway served as executive producers of the series.

Global Eagle Entertainment, a provider of content and digital media for airlines, has signed on Thai Airline Nok Air to provide content, connectivity and digital solutions for the carrier’s free in-flight WiFi service.

According to Global Eagle, Nok Air is the first airline in Asia to offer free inflight WiFi connectivity. The satellite-delivered service is provided to Nok Air by Thaicom PLC. In addition to Nok Air, Global Eagle and Thaicom will jointly develop, implement and support inflight connectivity solutions for airlines in Thailand and the surrounding region.

"We're very excited to be the first in Asia to offer free inflight WiFi to our passengers on top of our other free services. This is a testament to our promise of being proactive in bringing new and innovative services to our passengers. Inflight WiFi will provide our passengers with a whole new travel experience, as they can still connect to what is important to them at 35,000 feet in the air," said Nok Air CEO Patee Sarasin in a statement.

Global Eagle was formed in 2011 by former CBS Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment president Jeff Sagansky and former MGM chairman and CEO Harry Sloan as a special purpose acquisition company and raised about $190 million to invest in the in-flight entertainment industry.

"We're thrilled with the launch of another customer as we bring market-leading connectivity and content solutions to Nok Air and its passengers," said Global Eagle CEO Dave Davis in a statement. "We believe our satellite connectivity service, which operates both over land and water, provides the optimal solution for Nok Air, which has many flights on over-water routes to vacation destinations. Supported by our partnership with Thaicom, we remain focused on further expanding our presence across the growing South East Asia region."