Friday, December 6, 2024

HBO's Harry Potter producers working through 32 000 audition videos, series to show unexplored parts of Hogwarts


by Thinus Ferreira

HBO's new 10-year Harry Potter drama series will start filming around June 2025 at the Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in the East of England with the producers currently working through 1 000 audition videos per day out of 32 000 that were submitted for casting.

On Thursday in London, HBO executives and the series showrunner and director gave an update to the media on the Harry Potter show that will very likely be on M-Net (DStv 101) and MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax after it was reclassified a few months ago as an HBO Original and said that over 32 000 kids auditioned for the lead roles.

The Harry Potter series is expected to debut in 2026 and will very likely be an Express from the US title on MultiChoice's M-Net (DStv 101) channel on DStv.

According to showrunner Francesca Gardiner, producers are watching through almost 1 000 audition videos per day and haven't made any final casting choices yet.

According to Francesca Gardiner, the show will go according to the characters' ages as mentioned within the books, meaning that Professor Severus Snape will be 31 and Harry Potter's deceased parents James and Lily Potter will appear as 21-year-olds.

The series will make use of the existing sets at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden where the Food Network (DStv 175) recently filmed its Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking food competition series, and which has been used for studio tours since the production of the Harry Potter film series ended.

Director and executive producer Mark Mylod said that the Harry Potter series will use the existing infrastructure and architecture and "won't mess" with The Great Hall at Hogwarts but will expand upon the architecture of Hogwarts and other well-known places within the Harry Potter universe.

New as-yet-unseen areas of the Hogwarts school will be shown and explored within the show.

About casting Mark Mylod said "We haven't made any final choices but we're workshopping with a shortlist in January and there are some crackers".

Paramount Africa's Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. kids channels now available to DStv Compact subscribers


by Thinus Ferreira

From today MultiChoice and Paramount Africa are making the kids pay-TV channels of Nickelodeon (DStv 305) and Nick Jr. (DStv 307) permanently accessible to DStv Compact subscribers in South Africa.

Until now these Paramount Africa channels were only for DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus subscribers.

"As we mark SpongeBob SquarePants' 25th anniversary, we're thrilled that Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. content is now accessible to even more families, solidifying our mission to provide inclusive, world-class entertainment," says Monde Twala, senior vice president and general manager at Paramount Africa, in a statement.

Melusi Sibisi, MultiChoice Group acting head of third-party channels and partnerships, says "This move underscores our commitment to ensuring that more families across South Africa have access to premium kids' entertainment".

Paramount continues with Nickelodeon's Nick in Your Language initiative, offering local language episodes of shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, DORA, Rubble & Crew, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and PAW Patrol in local languages. 

These dubbed shows are on Nicktoons (DStv 308) on weekday mornings between 7:30 to 9:00 and during the afternoons between 15:00 and 16:00.

Nickelodeon December 2024 highlights
SpongeBob SquarePants Christmas Special - 21 December | Saturday 12:30
The Loud House Christmas Special - 21 December | Saturday 14:10
Young Dylan Christmas Special - 21 December | Saturday 18:30
The Patrick Star Show 2 – 13 December at 15:00
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 23 December, weekdays 19:45


Nick Jr. December 2024 highlights
Rubble & Crew (new episodes) from 02 December, weekdays at 17:30
DORA (new episodes) from 09 December, weekdays at 18:00
Nick Jr's Holiday Stunt Premiere episodes: Paw Patrol, Rubble & Crew, Hamsters of Hamsterdale, The Adventures of Paddington, The Tiny Chef Show from 21 December at 12:00


January 2025
Transformers: EarthSpark S3 (new season) on 11 January at 11:00 on Nickelodeon
Baby Shark's Big Movie! 5 January at 12:20 on Nick Jr.
Baby Shark's Big Show S3 (new season), weekdays at 16:30 on Nick Jr., starts 6 January

MultiChoice opens applications for 2025 bursaries for tertiary studies


by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice has opened the application process for its 2025 MultiChoice Bursary Programme for students, who can apply, until29 January 2025, for financial aid in various tertiary study fields.

For the 2025 academic year, MultiChoice is offering 230 bursaries to undergraduate and postgraduate students pursuing studies in critical and scarce skill fields.

These include disciplines within the STEM focus areas, as well as media and entertainment scholarships, within fields such as actuarial science; electrical, electronic & information engineering; information technology (AI & robotics); data and information science, digital media technology; as well as film and television marketing.

Bursary money is also available for the fields of sound engineering, filmmaking, as well as accounting and finance.

The eligibility requirements for the bursary money are that students must be South African citizens.

Students must be registered or intend to register at a South African institution for a field aligned with MultiChoice's focus areas, achieve a minimum of 75% (matric) or 65% (current university students), and be a first-time undergraduate and postgraduate student (Honours and Masters) at South African institutions of higher learning.

MultiChoice says applicants will be considered based on academic performance and financial need, as per the MultiChoice external bursary policy.

The bursary covers one academic year only and does not apply to historical debt. Applications will be evaluated based on both financial need and academic merit.

MultiChoice has partnered with Skills 123 for bursary administration, alongside Student Village.

The programme is open to South African students registered at higher learning institutions and covers all levels of study up to NQF 9. The application deadline is 29 January 2025 and applications can be done at https://multichoice.bursary.sv.co.za/ .

M-Net will do 'devious things' and make housemates 'as uncomfortable as possible' in 2025's Big Brother Mzansi Umlilo with new host Afrika Mdutyulwa


by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice and M-Net will do another season of reality show Big Brother Mzansi that will start on 12 January 2025 and run until 23 March, with M-Net which says it will do "devious things" and make the contestants extremely uncomfortable.

On Thursday afternoon MultiChoice and M-Net's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel held an official media launch event at its MultiChoice City headquarters in Randburg, Johannesburg for a certain group of media and influencers which it didn't bother to tell broader media would be happening.

To those who attended and sat in MultiChoice City's cinema venue, Shirley Adonisi, M-Net director of local entertainment channels, said "We're really going to make the housemates uncomfortable".

"We're experimenting with things never done before. We're determined to make them as uncomfortable as possible. We’re really pushing the envelope. We'll test their intolerance to see how much they can take without breaking any legal rules. The team has come up with devious things."

The upcoming Big Brother Mzansi season is produced and conceptualised with the theme of "Umlilo" meaning "fire" in isiZulu.

Big Brother Mzansi "Umlilo" is the fifth season of the show under this moniker but the 11th season overall of Big Brother done by M-Net in South Africa according to the Banijay format.

The upcoming Big Brother Mzansi season will once again be produced by Red Pepper Pictures.

Besides strands on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) and MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax, Big Brother Mzansi will also again run as a 24-hour linear TV channel on DStv channel 198 until the finale on 23 March 2025.

Lawrence Maleka has been replaced by Afrika Mdutyulwa, known as Smash Afrika, as the host for the fifth season. 

It's not known what he said at MultiChoice and M-Net's media launch event on Thursday and Mzansi Magic didn't share comments or a transcript or include any quotes in a press release.

In a press release quote, Christinah Mazibuko, the M-Net group of channels' head of marketing and publicity, says "We're incredibly excited to bring Big Brother Mzansi back for the fifth season".

"This season is about pushing boundaries, and with the Umlilo theme, we're sure to give our viewers a hot, unmissable experience. Working with Smash Afrika as the host takes the energy to a whole new level, and we can't wait to see how his charisma sparks more fires in the house. It's going to be an unforgettable ride."

Previous seasons of Big Brother Mzansi, including the last, have all filled with controversy with housemates evicted previously and during the last season for shocking behaviour and utterances, causing brand damage to M-Net, Mzansi Magic and sponsor LottoStar associated with it.

M-Net then contracted these people and are currently paying them to be Mzansi Magic brand ambassadors.


TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. Yet another Big Brother Mzansi. Yet another big M-Net and MultiChoice media fail


by Thinus Ferreira

On Thursday M-Net had yet another song-and-dance, performative, so-called official "media launch event" at MultiChoice City in Randburg for the next upcoming Big Brother Mzansi season on DStv in 2025.

On Thursday, just like last year for the previous season, M-Net and MultiChoice yet again utterly failed to communicate with media across South Africa to tell them beforehand that there would be "an official media launch" or to liaise and communicate with them.

While some media got an email on 27 November telling them about and inviting them to the Big Brother Mzansi launch event on 5 December, the PR people at MultiChoice and M-Net's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel did absolutely nothing to communicate with the rest of the other press who remained blissfully unaware.

The result? MultiChoice and M-Net left media who didn't know about anything, unable to Diarise anything or to Plan for any coverage.

Now, and over the next few months, MultiChoice and M-Net presumably want the media to cover and give Big Brother Mzansi exposure - yet did absolutely nothing to manage media relationships, to communicate with actual people around the upcoming season, or to set any type of productive, positive working tone between Mzansi Magic and media for the season. 

To make matters worse: Exactly a year ago in 2023, when exactly the same thing happened, M-Net was told it was a problem. M-Net gave assurances that it wouldn't happen again. Cue December 2024 and guess what happened?

I do not write to scold. 

I write because I'm frustrated and upset as a journalist trying to cover the TV biz in South Africa and across the African continent by the ongoing, can't-care-less, let-the-river-run, attitude of people who are Paid to talk, Paid to communicate and Paid to give information through to media so they can do their job or reporting, but who are not doing it.

In the process a lot of damage occurs: Broadcasters losing out on coverage and media losing out on stories and being hamstrung from doing what they do which is to channel information.

Most of all the losers are ordinary TV viewers and people working and interested in the industry who are being done a massive disservice by not getting access to the information they seek, through the media.

How difficult is it to open an E-mail and to write a quick email, to write or send a voicenote on Whatsapp, or - gasp! - pick up that old thing called a Telephone and Call your media, personally, that you say your company has relationships with and then ... Talk To Them?

The extent to which publicists and PR agencies within South Africa's film and television sphere and whoever else mandated and Paid to Talk to The Media, simply don't do it, remains mind-bogglingly astounding (and shocking). 

And it's everywhere.

PR people working for TV channels want better but aren't willing to Do better. In fact, most don't even do the basics. 

Yet, in some form of cognitive dissonance, they expect ... what? Reams and reams of articles, coverage and exposure, "content" on socials, smiley happy journalists and influencers, and heaps of so-called "positive" stories?

From out of what exactly? What Work? What effort?

On Thursday, after M-Net and MultiChoice's lastest "did-nothing", I spoke with several media across South Africa who all said the same thing to me: Nobody wants special treatment. Nobody needs above-and-beyond effort

But just do actually Do the basics. Talk to us. Talk to us in time so we know, and can plan and can work together. Communicate. 

Nothing will always yield nothing. And in fact, doing nothing creates net negative relationships. It's also true in PR and media.

A year from now, in December 2025 when MultiChoice and M-Net have the official media launch of Mzansi Magic's next Big Brother Mzansi season, I fully expect de ja vu: No prior communication, no email, no call.

It's terrible to say it. 

And yet, to stay silent and say nothing adds to the ongoing problem and adds to the pervasive paralyses when it comes to the gross lack of basic communication between PRs and media practitioners in South Africa, within our TV industry.

For the most part, media coverage, media liaison and actually working with journalists - talking to them and talking to them beforehand to Let Them Know what is going to happen - for some odd reason remains this "elusive art".

It's something that most "communication architects" and "networking liaison fulfilment officers" just refuse to get - and do - right on the most basic of levels.

The media working to report on television (always) wait with bated breath to hear what you're busy with to try and cover it, instead of having to constantly play catch-up afterwards when there's a lack of basic communication.

Talk to me. Talk to us.


As millions continue to watch on analogue South Africa's deadline for switch to digital TV is pushed out again

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's latest switch-off deadline of 31 December 2024 for analogue transmitters in the country's long-delayed migration process to digital terrestrial television (DTT) has inevitably been pushed out yet again, now to 31 March 2025.

Millions more TV households who either haven't had their free set-box box (STB) installed yet by the government as well as the "missing middle" who earn more than R3 500 and must buy one - although none exist in retail - must still make the switch.

If these households in the four remaining provinces of Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape - collectively representing more than 50% of South Africa's population - suddenly lose their TV signals, they will be cut off from news and information. 

It will also prove disastrous for South Africa's broadcasters like the SABC, eMedia's e.tv and community TV channels like Cape Town TV (CTV) who will experience further debilitating viewership losses, with diminished ratings impacting advertising rates, and in turn cratering their ad revenue.

Around 174 analogue transmitters across these provinces are still on.

On Thursday evening Solly Malatsi, South Africa's 12th minister of communications and digital technologies dealing with the issue of the country's DTT transition, announced that the switch-off is once again being pushed out.

The deadline of 31 December is moved out by another three months to 31 March 2025.

The SABC asked the government for another 12 months' delay until 31 December. It's not clear what extension eMedia asked the department for. eMedia declined to say what period it wanted the deadline date to be pushed out by when asked in a media query. 

"This extension will ensure that as many indigent households as possible will enjoy their right to access broadcast services," says Solly Malatsi.

He said that the department "communicated this decision to the broadcasters and relevant stakeholders" in a meeting on Thursday "and commit to continue working together with them on this project".

"Their commitment to ensuring that the free-to-air households migrate is critical to the success of this programme."

"The postponement of the analogue switch-off deadline recognises the considerable delays that have plagued the Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) project since its inception and provides the necessary relief that makes provision for more time to migrate as many South African as possible before the final switch-off."

According to Malatsi, he has "directed the director-general to implement consequence management for any individuals responsible for failures within the department".

Around 467 000 poor households who have registered for the government-subsidised set-top boxes have not yet had these installed with STBs gathering dust in locked South African Post Offices and Sentech warehouses.

"There is no denying that the Broadcasting Digital Migration project has dragged on for far too long, costing the government R1.23 billion for dual illumination, which refers to the simultaneous transmission of both analogue and digital signals," Malatsi says.

No money has been budgeted for dual illumination for 2025 to keep analogue transmitters on and it isn't clear where the department will get the money from for the next three-month extension.

Since 2015 South Africa has spent over R12 billion on the switch to DTT.

"This process is costly and cannot be sustained indefinitely. More so, at a time when the fiscus is under extreme pressure," Solly Malatsi says.

"Our immediate focus between now and the end of March 2025 is to aggressively accelerate the delivery and installation of set-top boxes to indigent households to ensure that as many households as possible are prepared for the switch-off."


Thursday, December 5, 2024

DTT: South African TV's R12 billion, 496 000 undone, 'unmitigated disaster'

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African government has spent over R12 billion on the "unmitigated disaster" that is the country's switch-over process from analogue to digital TV and will be forced to once again postpone the cut-off date at the end of this month since 469 000 households still need a free decoder and installation while many others who don't qualify must buy one.

While not a cent was budgeted for 2025 for South Africa's over-run and extremely costly and wasteful digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration process, Solly Malatsi - South Africa's 12th minister of communications still dealing with the incomplete issue - will very likely have to postpone the latest deadline of 31 December 2024 yet again.

It's not clear where the millions of rand will come from for next year to continue with dual illumination - the process of broadcasting the analogue and digital signals of TV broadcasters like the SABC, e.tv and community TV stations like Cape Town TV (CTV) - as well as to install set-top boxes (STBs) for poor households currently gathering dust in locked South African Post Office storerooms and Sentech warehouses.

A shocking 469 000 poor TV households - many with incomplete and outdated contact details - must get their government-subsidised STBs installed for free before the end of this month. Practically, this is an impossible task.

Besides poor households who qualify for a box, there are many more so-called "missing middle" TV households who must pay for a STB but don't see the urgency or need, might not have the money and can't even buy one since STB are not actually even available in commercial retail. These people must get either MultiChoice's DStv, or eMedia's Openview satellite TV services to switch from analogue to digital.

South Africa is ticking ever closer to having missed the international deadline to complete the switch from analogue to digital TV ... by a decade. The international deadline to which South Africa agreed was June 2015.

Since then the South African government has spent billions of rand and will miss its own deadline - constantly postponed - yet again when 31 December 2024 becomes 1 January 2025.

The government has spent far over R12 billion and pays between R130 million to R160 million per year for dual illumination. There is no money budgeted for this must-pay expense from 1 January.

The SABC, e.tv and community TV channels all want another extension of the 31 December cut-of date. 

If they suddenly lose millions of TV viewers who lose their analogue TV signals without being able to watch TV further, they lose viewership - something immediately picked up by the South Africa's TV ratings system gathering and compiling TV ratings daily.

When broadcaster's viewership plunges, they have to adjust their advertising rate cards, charging less for ad spots due to fewer viewers. This will have a devastating impact on their revenue, especially the already crippled SABC. 

Besides revenue, viewers will lose access to news and public information services, again damaging the SABC.

The SABC asked the department of communications and digital technologies for a deadline extension of another 12 months to 31 December 2025. It's not clear what extension of the deadline eMedia requested and eMedia declined to say in response to a media query when it was asked.

The SABC says its planned satellite TV service with SABC TV channels as an internet-enabled and connected decoder, will target this "missing middle" TV households, similar to the millions of households who have made a once-off payment to buy eMedia's Openview satellite service.

There remain 174 analogue transmitters across the country's most populated four provinces which must be switched off at the end of this month in Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

When these transmitters are switched off in these provinces - collectively representing more than half of South Africa's total population - millions of viewers will be wiped from the TV ratings system and lose television signal access.

Khusela Diko, chairperson of the portfolio committee for communications and digital technologies, told parliament that she doesn't "want to be called alarmist but I think this issue is really an unmitigated disaster".

Google appoints Kabelo Makwane as new South Africa country director


by Thinus Ferreira

Google has appointed Kabelo Makwane as its new South Africa country director from 6 January 2025.

He replaces Dr Alistair Mokoena who served in the position from April 2020 until July 2024.

Kabelo Makwane joins Google from Vodacom Business where is currently the managing executive for Vodacom's cloud, hosting and security business.

The exec has over 20 years of experience in the technology sector.

Prior to Vodacom, Kabelo Makwane was managing director for the Africa Global Unit at Accenture Operations, and also held the role of managing director for Cloud and Technology Consulting. 

 

Kabelo Makwane also spent 8 years at Microsoft in various roles including as country managing director for Nigeria and the public sector director in South Africa. He also served as Cisco's regional manager for public sector in South Africa for 5 years.


"I'm excited to join the team in South Africa and to help more people and businesses get more out of AI, the internet, and technology in general," says Kabelo Makwane.


Alex Okosi, Google Africa managing director, says "We are thrilled to welcome Kabelo as he joins us at an incredibly exciting time for both Africa and Google".


"With digital transformation accelerating across the continent, we are poised to leverage the power of AI to deliver innovative solutions that enable our users, partners and advertisers to thrive in this dynamic era. We're thrilled to have Kabelo join our leadership team."


Kabelo Makwane, holds an MBA from Wits Business School (WBS) and a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

New Paramount Global owner David Ellison plans to cut content of its pay-TV channels and staff


by Lucas Shaw and Thomas Buckley, Bloomberg

David Ellison plans sweeping changes at Paramount Global, including cuts at the company's TV networks, billions of dollars more for streaming and an overhaul of top management, according to people familiar with his plans.

David Ellison who will take over as chief executive officer of Paramount when it merges withhis Skydance Media next year, is exploring combining all of Paramount's TV networks, including CBS and MTV, into one unit.

Those businesses are mostly run by two of the company's co-CEOs, Chris McCarthy and George Cheeks. While Cheeks is expected to stay, McCarthy's future is less certain.

The company’s third co-CEO, Brian Robbins, who leads the Paramount Pictures film studio and the Nickelodeon (DStv 305) kids channel, is expected to leave around the close of the deal, said the people, who asked to not be identified discussing plans that are still being formed.

A movie fanatic who has co-financed most of Paramount's biggest films of the last decade, David Ellison was initially interested in the company's namesake movie studio.

While David Ellison and Robbins have worked together on several titles, they are said to have both conceded it's unlikely Robbins will stick around. No final decision has been made, however.

David Ellison has discussed putting Dana Goldberg, the head of production at Skydance, in charge of the film business, at least for the time being. Spokespeople for Paramount and Skydance declined to comment.

Since agreeing to merge Skydance with Paramount in July, Ellison and his deputies have been meeting with their future employees, seeking opinions about what is working and what isn't. David Ellison told employees at Paramount that he hasn't made any decisions about personnel.

David Ellison agreed to the deal knowing Paramount would require a major overhaul.

The company still makes almost all its profit from pay-TV networks such as Nickelodeon, MTV (DStv 130) and Comedy Central (DStv 122) that defined an era in pop culture. 

But those networks have hemorrhaged viewers and advertisers to technology companies such as Netflix and YouTube. The company's namesake film studio isn't expected to show a profit for 2024, according to analystss estimates.

"The business needs to be transitioned," David Ellison told Bloomberg shortly after the deal was announced.

When Donald Trump won the presidential election, David Ellison and the team at Skydance began preparing to take over Paramount even sooner than they once thought. They now believe the deal could close as soon as the end of March or early April.

The Federal Communications Commission, which approves the transfer of broadcast licenses, still must bless the deal. Petitions from those opposing the transaction are due 16 December, according to the commission. Final responses from the parties are due 13January 2025.

Two areas requiring David Ellison's immediate attention are TV networks and streaming.

David Ellison is looking at potentially cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in costs by folding the company's TV networks into one group, consolidating teams across departments like programming and marketing. The amount of original programming produced for the cable networks will decline, as will the staffing.

David Ellison will combine two groups, one that currently reports into McCarthy and another into Cheeks. While McCarthy was a favored son of former CEO Bob Bakish, Cheeks has a good relationship with Jeff Shell, who will serve as Ellison's number 2 at Paramount. Cheeks and Shell worked together at NBCUniversal.

David Ellison stated plans to streamline the company's operations in an investor presentation earlier this year, without getting into specifics.

Paramount will also explore strategic partnerships involving pay-TV networks that could result in a divestiture of some of those businesses. 

While David Ellison may not formally explore the sale of any of these networks, as was done under the previous regime, he is open to selling almost any network in the portfolio other than CBS.

David Ellison plans to cut back on the company's real estate holdings and will look to sell facilities like the CBS Broadcast Center, a production facility used for 60 Minutes and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. CBS also owns the Ed Sullivan Theater, the home of Stephen Colbert's late-night show.

"We're not going to sell Paramount, we're not going to sell CBS, but we're looking to maximize value," David Ellison previously told Bloomberg.

The transaction has already led to negotiations between David Ellison, Paramount and the NFL.

The league is able to opt out of its broadcasting agreement with CBS as part of a provision in its contract. While the NFL doesn't plan to do so, it has talked to Ellison about turning some of its stake in a joint venture with Skydance into an equity stake in Paramount.

It has also discussed selling some or all of the NFL Network to Paramount.

The cuts in TV will help pay for a greater investment in streaming.

Paramount+ has grown to 72 million customers and has made money two quarters in a row. Yet it ranks last in viewership among mass-market services and is still much smaller than competitors such as Netflix, The Walt Disney Company and Amazon. 

Cindy Holland, who's serving as an adviser to Skydance, is consulting on the streaming strategy and is seen by many at Paramount as the person likely to take over that business.

David Ellison is particularly concerned with the poor user experience in the app and has talked about making it easier for viewers to find shows to watch by improving the recommendation algorithm.

David Ellison, the son of Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, grew up around technology luminaries such as Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs. He speaks often about marrying technology and art at Paramount, and more quotidian changes like improving Paramount's use of enterprise software.

David Ellison will also more closely integrate Pluto, a free streaming service, into Paramount+.

A free service like Pluto can serve as an on-ramp for viewers to use Paramount+ more often while also benefiting from the marketing around Paramount+ programmes. 

Paramount+ is one of three services, alongside Peacock and Max, that are seen as too small to survive independently.

Paramount's current leaders have talked to both Peacock and Max about strategic partnerships to leverage their shared resources. The company has also spoken to Amazon and foreign streaming services.

While Paramount will continue to pursue those deals, Ellison sees less urgency to do so. He believes the company has a solid foundation upon which it can build.

Paramount is much smaller than most of its competitors, even those struggling like Warner Bros. Discovery.

But, after this transaction, it will have a healthier balance sheet. And, unlike most of these other companies, it will have access to the bank account of the Ellison family. While David oversees Paramount day-to-day, his father - one of the world's richest men - financed much of the transaction.