Category: TV

NBCU and Sky owner Comcast has invested in James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree Systems, which in turn is becoming a key player in a new-look Viacom18.

Comcast-owned company NBCUniversal Media has paid an undisclosed amount for a shareholding in Bodhi Tree, which former Fox CEO Murdoch launched with ex-Star and Disney India Chairman Uday Shankar launched last year. The Competition Commission of India approved the investment on Wednesday.

Bodhi Tree has used some of this to finance a minority shareholding in Indian media group Viacom18, which is now under a new shareholding structure, following the completion of a planned partnership with Mukesh Ambani’s conglom Reliance Industries and Paramount Global that completed yesterday.

In effect, the trio has merged locally to create a major TV and films player. Notably, Reliance’s streaming and pay-TV service JioCinema integrated into TV channels and streaming operator Viacom18. JioCinema owns the rights to the massively popular Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket, after Viacom18 outbid competitors at an auction last year.

The complicated set of financial transactions have left Viacom18’s new shareholding structure that sees Reliance owning nearly 51% and Paramount just under 49%, with Bodhi Tree taking 0.11%.

However, Bodhi Tree is taking a far more important role than that suggests. Firstly, it will take a 17.8% share of convertible preference shares (effectively shared that can later be turned into ordinary shares or cash at a later date) and Shankar has taken a seat on the Viacom18 board. Reliance owns the other convertible shares.

If all the shares are diluted, Reliance owns 60.4%, Bodhi Tree takes 13.1%, Paramount 13% and TV18, another company ultimately owned by Reliance, taking the other 13.5%.

Last year, Bodhi Tree committed to raising 13,500 crore ($1.6BN) for investment in Viacom18, which at the time was majority owned by Indian manufacturing and media giant Reliance.

Viacom18 will have access to around $1.9BN in cash for growth, with about two-thirds coming from Reliance and the other third from Bodhi Tree, which counts the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, among its investors. A report suggests Bodhi Tree will now approach more investors to raise the rest of cash committed to Viacom18.

Murdoch, son of Fox Corp owner Rupert, was CEO 21st Century Fox between 2015 and 2019, but left when it was sold to Disney. He was also Chairman of Sky, having previously been CEO, but exited in 2018 when Comcast acquired the European pay-TV business. He later left his father’s News Corp operation and has since turned his attentions to investing in new businesses, initially through his Lupa Systems and later Bodhi Tree, when he united with Shankar.

Paramount+ has become an official partner of Formula 1, as it pushes deeper into sports content.

The promotional partnership for the 2023/24 season will see Paramount+ series, movies and characters feature at Formula 1 events inside Fan Zone areas.

The agreement also includes Paramount+ signage trackside, along with digital sponsorships and promo opportunities. These started at the Melbourne Grand Prix over the weekend, and will be followed by activity in Miami, Montréal, Austria, Silverstone, Monza, Suzuka, Austin, Mexico City, São Paulo and Las Vegas.

Sport has been a central pillar of Paramount+ since its outset, with then-CBS Entertainment Group CEO George Cheeks proclaiming the streamer “will be the leader in live sports” more than two years ago. NFL football, the UEFA Champions League and PGA Tour golf can all be streamed through the platform. At the time, the move was taken as a direct challenge to Peacock, which had also set out its stalls a key sports streaming destination.

“Paramount+ continues to seek new, innovative ways to reach our global audiences, and I am confident this partnership with Formula 1 will continue to support our growth globally,” said Marco Nobili, Executive Vice President and International General Manager of Paramount+ today.

“Becoming an official partner of Formula 1 means bringing the Paramount+ brand and all our characters to life for hundreds of millions of fans worldwide. Through this global deal the worlds of motorsport and entertainment will come together, resulting in powerful storytelling opportunities on and off the grid.”

The partnership follows a short-term deal between Paramount+ and Formula 1 in 2022, which saw the streamer gain strategic exposure at Formula 1 races such as Silverstone in the UK and Monza in Italy. 

The deal comes weeks after Nobili told an audience at Series Mania that he wished the international roll out of Paramount+ had been faster. “If I could have accelerated our rollout then I would have,” he responded when when questioned on how he would have done things differently over the past two years. 

“But you have to balance these things out,” he added. “Sometimes staggering a launch proves to be the right recipe. If you show audiences the window you can get straight out the gate but could compromise on show quality.”

John Oliver’s main topic on Sunday night’s episode of Last Week Tonight focused on home ownership. However, he joked that people under the age of 35 would never own a home and created a whole alternate episode for that group segment talking about Chuck E. Cheese.

“Our main story tonight concerns home ownership, so if you are under 35, honestly, this story isn’t for you,” Oliver said. “It’ll never be for you. You will never own a home. Sorry, that is the deal that you made when you decided to be born after 1988.”

Oliver continued, “We didn’t want you to feel left out so we’ve actually prepared a full alternative story for you tonight about Chuck E. Cheese, a different crumbling American institution that you should go on and watch instead.”

The HBO Max host said the episode was 25 minutes long and was aptly titled “Last Squeak Tonight.” Oliver directed viewers to watch the episode online, which you can view here.

As Oliver went on to talk about home ownership, he took a jab at the reality competition The Voice for having no memorable winners.

“Sure, there are technically winners but name a single one. This show has been on for consecutive 15 years and not a single winner is a household name,” he said. “Seriously, tell me the first and last name of just one winner — you can’t, no one can.”

J Smith-Cameron has revealed how her sizzling real-life chemistry with Succession co-star Kieran Culkin was spotted by show execs and turned into something on screen more… enthralling. 

The dynamic – one part maternal, three parts erotic -between Smith-Cameron and Culkin as Gerri, Waystar Royce’s general counsel, and mogul Logan Roy’s wayward third son Roman respectively, has caught viewers’ imagination as the show careers towards its ultimate ending. 

Smith-Cameron told The Times in London that, with her friendship with Culkin going back many years, they were having fun improvising off-set during the filming of the second season, and making martinis together.

“We had a little talk about how you can’t get a good martini in England unless you were in London,” said Smith-Cameron. Then, “I left and he looked back at me, and then I looked back at him. We missed each other.” And it was this look that was caught by the writers.

The following season, Smith-Cameron revealed director Mark Myold told her to sit a little closer to Culkin during a scene. From there, it was only a short hop to the now infamous ‘behind the door’ scene between the two actors.

Smith-Cameron told The Times she was happy if her character has helped nudge the needle on the screen portrayal of women over some arbitrary age. 

“There’s that age-old horrible wound of a woman only being valuable when she’s at her most fecund and beautiful and guidable… It’s against some faux rule of nature.”

In the same interview, Smith-Cameron laughed at the idea that she had become a sex symbol for many at the age of 65. 

“The Brits have always [had this],” Smith-Cameron says. “I mean, Helen Mirren is the definition of it. And Charlotte Rampling, right? They paved the way.”

But Mirren “had a huge part in changing [attitudes in Hollywood] and I think Gerri’s had her part in changing that too.”

Succession continues on HBO in the US, Sky Atlantic in the UK.