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VARIETY: Paramount-Skydance merger collapsed in the final moments, and will lead to layoffs and austerity measures

Citiprime said:
Yes and no.

Shari Redstone's control of Paramount has an interesting backstory.

Most people believe HBO's Succession is based on Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch family. But the series also, arguably, takes some of its inspiration from the Redstone family too, since how Shari Redstone came to control Paramount was really ugly and about as dysfunctional, with as many absurdities as the fictional Roy family in Succession.
  • Going into the 2010s, Sumner Redstone had 80% control of the holding company which controls CBS/Viacom, and by extension Paramount, with Shari having the other 20% control. Sumner attempts to buy out Shari, but she refuses.
  • Sumner Redstone, Shari's father and the patriarch of the family, is reported to have voiced objections to Shari taking control of the company over a long period, with Shari reportedly telling her son in 2015: "Your grandfather says I will be chair over his dead body."
  • The animus between Shari and her father became so bad that at one point in 2016 he entrusted the then Viacom CEO with health decisions about his care, specifically blocking Shari from having any say in medical decisions if an emergency were to occur.
  • Shari also had to battle Sumner Redstone's "companion," Manuela Herzer, in court for some of these decisions. Herzer, who was almost 50 years younger than the 92-year-old Sumner Redstone at the time, claimed it was Sumner's wish that she be in control of those decisions.
A geriatric Sumner Redstone trying to steal his grandson Brandon Korff’s dates, including once at the MTV Video Music Awards, is also icky — and fateful. It led Korff to hire matchmaker Patti Stanger to find his grandfather a companion. That match turned out to be Sydney Holland, who, with another Sumner girlfriend, Manuela Herzer, wound up with a combined $150 million of the mogul’s wealth before eventually being exiled.​
  • Shari is said to have gotten back into her father's good graces and secured her succession to his company after Sumner lost confidence in CBS-Viacom executives. Former CBS head Les Moonves actually took Shari Redstone to court to block the Redstone plan to reunite CBS and Viacom under one house. But Moonves's influence waned after he was hit with sexual assault allegations during the #MeToo movement.
So, the money is probably a huge factor, but arguably there's a huge pride element at play here too. If I had to guess, after going through all of the above, there's gotta be some piece of her that doesn't want to let go of their family's legacy after having to fight to get it for so long.
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It’s times like this that I start wondering whether AI can run a network. :lol:

I mean, no ego THERE, amirite?
 
C.E. Evans said:
Unsurprisingly, Paramount+ just announced that it will be raising its rates in the next few months. Existing customers with only the Paramount+ Essential plan (with commercials) and those who pay an annual fee won't see a rate increase however.
Paramount+ new price hikes
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P+ Ran a great sale last year (I think it was half off for the Showtime plan) and it convinced me to pay the annual again. Hopefully they run a sale like that this year, even though I have my bill come due early September so I won't be impacted. Since we don't know when Lower Decks will be (I'm thinking August but there has been nothing and Comic Con is pretty late this year) there isn't a good reason to keep P+ unless a good deal comes along.
 
C.E. Evans said:
Unsurprisingly, Paramount+ just announced that it will be raising its rates in the next few months. Existing customers with only the Paramount+ Essential plan (with commercials) and those who pay an annual fee won't see a rate increase however.
Paramount+ new price hikes
Click to expand...
Typical. "We keep making bad business decisions and it's time to place that burden on the consumer."
 
C.E. Evans said:
Unsurprisingly, Paramount+ just announced that it will be raising its rates in the next few months. Existing customers with only the Paramount+ Essential plan (with commercials) and those who pay an annual fee won't see a rate increase however.
Paramount+ new price hikes
Click to expand...
Let's wait how much it is.
Right now Paramount+ is the most reasonably prices streaming service in Europe that offers Star Trek.
The monthly standard subscription is 7.99€ per month.
Amazon Prime is 8.99€
Disney+ is 10.99€
Netflix is 13.99€
None of them is covering all Star Trek shows and movies.
Paramount+ offers the most, everything but Prodigy.
Let's hope for the best...
 
Funny times ahead.
The breakdown of a majority of streaming services was written on the walls long time ago already - just interesting when it will exactly eventually happen.
My prediction is this will then also be the end of the Kurtzman era of Trek. It never made as big of a mainstream impact that another company would pick it up (except maybe SNW if it's still around when P+ collapses).
What then happens will be interesting. Star Trek itself as an IP will survive. But will another streaming service pick it up? Will it return back to "regular" television with lower budget & more episodes per season? Will it rest for a while? Go full reboot or continuation?
I think everything that's in production or greenlit is safe (SNW S3&4, SA S1, S31). I also strongly suspect a SNW season 5, on P+ or somewhere else.
After that? Anything goes.
 
Rahul said:
I think everything that's in production or greenlit is safe (SNW S3&4, SA S1, S31). I also strongly suspect a SNW season 5, on P+ or somewhere else.
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Not necessarily ...

Now-former Disney CEO Bob Chapek renewed She-Hulk for S2. When current CEO Bob Iger took over, he cancelled the renewal and cut She-Hulk back to one season.
 
Ronald Held said:
If kurtzman is let go who will replace him?
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If Paramount+ goes bellyup, we really have no clue. It also depends on whatever deals they made with Secret Hideout(?) to produce TV Trek.

Theatrical releases have been in limbo for years and I think Bad Robot now has a piece of that pie.
 
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