Potential Paramount Sale; thoughts and discussion

Since we made one for the Warner/Discovery merger, I thought I would open up a thread for Shari Redstone’s efforts to sell the struggling Paramount. So far, Warner Bros has backed off, which leaves Skydance and Apollo Investments.

Most recently, Paramount’s credit rating has been reduced to Junk by S&P Global. Source is Deadline.

https://deadline.com/2024/03/paramount-global-credit-rating-cut-to-junk-tv-decline-1235869971/

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Mar 27th 2024 at 6:30:47 AM

I suspect that Disney's overvaluing of Star Wars (or at least overestimating the degree to which they could operate the franchise for profit) might serve as a deterrent for anyone considering the purchase of Paramount.

Does Paramount control any particularly notable intellectual properties other than Star Trek? I'm assuming the back catalog of movies is a relatively minor profit source at most.

SpongeBob, TMNT, Mission Impossible, Top Gun, Avatar: The Last Airbender…

I think they own Nickelodeon's parent company, Viacom, don't they? So those associated IP's.

Edit: 'd

Edited by diddyknux on Mar 27th 2024 at 5:37:11 AM

Who do we think is most likely to buy the studio at this point? A lot of people are guessing someone like Amazon or Apple who need the IP.

I’ve heard talk that the company could also be cut up and sold for parts. At least one commenter on Reddit is speculating that Zazlav wants Nickelodeon, which I don’t see happening, as WB already has CN.

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Mar 28th 2024 at 7:10:35 AM

I hate to double post so soon, but Variety has an article on the potential sale and merger. Shari Redstone is working on a long term strategy that avoids short term noise.

https://variety.com/2024/biz/news/paramount-global-shari-redstone-merger-acqusition-1235953236/

x5 you need to stop listening to the toxic idiots masquerading as Star Wars fans and start listening to actual financial reports. The Star Wars brand is currently worth $12 billion dollars. You might recognize this as 3 times what they paid for it. In other words...profit.

Oh, I know.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinereid/2023/03/01/revealed-disneys-most-profitable-star-wars-movie/?sh=63d094f32a25

The above link discusses how much money was made on various Disney Star Wars films in total. Meanwhile...

https://insidethemagic.net/2021/03/george-lucas-disney-rwb1/

Including the stock George Lucas accepted, which has risen in value since the trade was made, Disney spent $10 billion acquiring the Star Wars franchise. Even if we ignore that and look only at cost at purchase, it was $4 billion.

ROI hasn't been all that great.

Just for future reference, Inside the Magic is a notoriously untrustworthy site.

So if the WB deal is on hold, how likely is it to go through?

They are ALL untrustworthy sites.

Disney clearly isn't going to dry up and blow away any time soon. Equally obviously, they are seriously underperforming. And in any case, this thread isn't about them.

I can't help but think the groups trying to break into streaming are going about it the wrong way. They ought to create a single, easily-accessible, low-cost streaming service that any studio or creator can purchase space on, offer old shows and movies gratis, and lets people purchase specific newer content.

Everyone trying to duplicate Netflix all at once while offering only the IP they personally own just isn't working.

Not to mention that the streaming services have a nasty habit of cancelling shows before they really had time to connect with the audience. Most shows aren't going to grab the audience's attention right away and if streaming services expect these shows to perform well from the get go, then they might as well cancel every show they have.

Big Nate and the Rugrats reboot have been taken off Paramount Plus. You know, in the interest of refocusing.

Yeah, all the services are acting like FOX in the '90s, cancelling everything that wasn't as wildly successful as The X-Files. They somehow forgot that even The X-Files wasn't The X-Files right away.

In the bad old days of broadcast television, there was a limited amount of space in the schedule, only so many hours in the day. So shows that had a rabid following but connected poorly with the masses — like, say, Star Trek — tended to be cancelled.

With streaming, that isn't the case. If people could see a certain number of episodes of a show for free and then pay to see more, there are plenty of niche shows that could sustain themselves off of a narrow fanbase. But the services insist on charging only for the service overall, and then demand specific shows with huge draws.

Streaming is developing the worst features of cable television all over again.

Yeah, I would have thought that streaming services would have made things easier for the audience who are trying to catch up on shows that they missed out on. But unfortunately, that isn't the case here.

Okay, good news, the shows are still on digital storefronts.

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Mar 28th 2024 at 5:19:02 AM

Did they cancel the Rugrats Reboot?

I don’t know

No. I went to Google and wasnt cancelled. I went to the search bar on this site and it has a third season coming next year. Neither it or Big Nate are being taken of Paramount. Like easy research.

Edited by M1gamiTensei on Mar 28th 2024 at 2:25:47 AM

I checked Paramount Plus. It ain’t there.

Bumping with an article from Deadline regarding the removal.

https://deadline.com/2024/03/paramount-plus-removes-nickelodeon-titles-blues-clues-and-you-rugrats-1235871181/

Hopefully, this won’t affect something like Knuckles…

I was wondering if those removals actually hap—

Okay, never mind.

EDATE:

Edited by CursedBarney on Mar 28th 2024 at 3:52:46 AM

The article also mentions the targeting of Nick content is a surprise. That stuff is consistently the top ranked content.

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Mar 28th 2024 at 6:59:47 AM

" as WB already has Nickelodeon." - you mean Cartoon Network, right? And Star Wars can't be valued only by the movies, The Mandalorian alone both led people to sign up for Disney+ and buy lots of merch.

Decided to check what could value Paramount this year, and the one certain blockbuster is Sonic 3, which is only in December. They can make money out of IF (2024), A Quiet Place: Day One, Transformers One and the Smile sequel, but certainly nothing too massive.

Edited by igordebraga on Mar 28th 2024 at 8:03:26 AM

This tweet here seems to indicate that Rugrats hasn’t been canceled at least.

https://x.com/toon4thought/status/1773455047478706241?s=46&t=7YT7yMPCw2VMMwQUxWj5_A