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West Side Story streams on Disney+ on March 2

Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story will debut on Disney+ in the UK, the US and most international countries on March 2nd. The beloved musical will launch in Taiwan on March 9th and Japan on March 30th. In addition, the ABC one-hour special Something’s Coming: West Side Story – A Special Edition of 20/20 is available […]

February 14, 2022By Nik Roseveare

TF1 net profit up four-fold

Ahead of the potential TF1-M6 merger, French commercial broadcaster TF1 has multiplied its 2021 net profit by four compared to the 2020 pandemic year to €225.3 million versus €78.1 million, and achieving 45 per cent growth compared to 2019. The group posted consolidated revenue up 16.6 per cent year-on-year to €2.427 billion, and increasing by […]

February 11, 2022From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

Forecast: African OTT to generate $2bn in 2027

African OTT movie and TV episode revenues will reach $2 billion (€1.75bn) by 2027 – triple from $623 million in 2021, according to the Africa OTT TV and Video Forecasts report from analyst firm Digital TV Research. South Africa and Nigeria will together account for 56 per cent of the total by 2027, leaving $896 […]

February 11, 2022

Disney+ adds another 11.8m subs

Disney+ has continued to defy expectations with the SVoD service adding 11.8 million subscribers in the last quarter of 2021, taking the total to 129.8 million globally. Disney CEO Bob Chapek predicted the service will have 230 million to 260 million subscribers by 2024. Overall, the company’s revenues increased by 34 per cent year-on-year to […]

February 10, 2022By Nik Roseveare

Report: AVoD audience set to surpass SVoD

Findings from Tubi, FOX Entertainment’s free streaming service, reveal the explosive growth of AVoD services, set to surpass SVoD this year in audience size, and the changing demographics of a free streaming universe that remains young and multicultural while becoming more reflective of national audience averages in education and affluence. The report, The Stream: 2022 […]

February 10, 2022

French creatives slam SVoD investment rules

French authors association SACD, along with producers’ bodies USPA and AnimFrance, have asked France’s Conseil d’État (Council of State) to scrap the conventions signed by US SVoD platforms Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ with regulatory body Arcom (formerly the CSA) in December 2021. The SACD and its allies also wrote to Arcom requesting the withdrawal […]

February 10, 2022From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

Airtel launches Xstream Premium

Indian multiplay telco Bharti Airtel says it is taking a giant leap towards democratising and growing the digital entertainment ecosystem in India with the launch of its new video streaming service – Airtel Xstream Premium. According to Media Partners Asia, by 2025, India’s OTT subscription market is expected to grow to $2 billion from the […]

February 10, 2022

Disney resurrects Futurama

Disney+ and 20th Television Animation have confirmed the return of animated sci-fi comedy, Futurama, from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. A new season will comprise of 20 new episodes and go into production this month, with a premiere date TBC in 2023. The show’s returning voice cast includes stars Billy West, […]

February 10, 2022By Nik Roseveare

Obi-Wan Kenobi debuts in May on Disney+

Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new limited series from Lucasfilm, will debut exclusively on Disney+ on May 27th. Two episodes will be available at launch. The six episode series sees Ewan McGregor reprising his role as the iconic Jedi Master, whilst Hayden Christensen will also return as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. Both actors last portrayed the […]

February 10, 2022By Nik Roseveare

Whip Media France Survey: 76% say Netflix is the one service to keep

Whip Media, a leading data provider to the world’s largest entertainment companies, surveyed nearly 3,000 consumers in France to understand consumer sentiment surrounding paid streaming in the market. The key findings include: French survey respondents subscribe to an average of 2.7 paid subscription services. Netflix remains the indispensable SVoD to a majority of French respondents […]

February 9, 2022