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NBCUniversal Brings 40 FAST Channels to Smart TV Partnership

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  The quiet and often under-considered success of the Roku Channel may be leaving its own mark on the entertainment landscape. Last week, NBCUniversal announced a partnership with LG Smart TVs that will see 40 new FAST channels launch. Our entertainment lawyer in the know, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A., unpacks this exciting new development for us.                                                                            Brandon Blake   New FAST Offerings   These new FAST channels will cover a broad range of subjects, from “standard” entertainment to sports, news, true crime, and even a dedicated Spanish channel. The deal includes key live event shows like Dateline 24/7, NBC News, and Today All Day alongside their extensive TV show library and films from the Univer...

Linear TV Loses Ground to Streaming in February

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  Despite the hype and action of the Super Bowl, traditional linear TV services continued to lose ground against streaming services in February. Brandon Blake, our expert entertainment lawyer Los Angeles from Blake & Wang P.A., takes a closer look at the figures.                                                                         Brandon Blake   Below 50% of the Market   In February, cable and broadcast services accounted for just 44% of all TV usage, a further slip from its January totals. This was despite their being record-making audiences for the Super Bowl, one of the highlights of the live sports calendar and traditionally a big moment for linear services.   Ironically, the Super Bowl this year drove one of Nielsen’s biggest single days in the history of their...

A24’s Babygirl Shifts to Max After Lengthy Theatrical Window

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  As the post-pandemic box office recovery accelerated over the past 2 years, we’ve seen over and over again how a smart theatrical release can drive extra value and marketing for streaming releases. After one of the longest theatrical windows of the modern entertainment era, A24’s Babygirl is finally shifting over to streaming on Max. To tell us more, we have Brandon Blake, best entertainment lawyers in Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                               Brandon Blake   121-Day Window   Although there is, strictly speaking, no set modern theatrical window as we once saw, with 90 days being the then-standard, we have seen the post-pandemic period slowly default to either 45-day runs or 31-day runs in genera...

Max Now Has Its Sights Set on Turkey as Part of Growing Expansion Plans

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 Max has made no secret that it’s pushing to grow its streaming arm’s relevance and subscription numbers with an ambitious new rollout. While the focus to date has mostly been on Southeast Asian markets, they’ve now got their eye on a 77th new territory. To tell us more, we have Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                            Brandon Blake Turkey Marks the Next Big Expansion Warner Bros. Discovery has taken a slightly different approach to its next expansion. In late 2023, they bought out local Turkish streamer BluTV. Now, they will be shuttering that service in favor of an “evolution” to Max’s global streaming platform. It appears they will be keeping much of BluTV’s locally-focused co...

WBD Sees Impressive DTC Profit in 2024

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   We now have another streamer officially in the black for an entire year— and surprisingly, it’s Warner Bros. Discovery, which likely wasn’t on many people’s bingo cards. We have Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A., to share the happy news.                                                                             Brandon Blake   A Strong Year End   Warner Bros Discovery onboarded enough new streamers last year to grow their overall subscriptions to 116.9M, with an ambitious target of 150M by the end of 2026. This is on top of an announced $677M in DTC profit for the whole year. In 2023, that was just $103M, with a $55M loss in the Q4 period of that year.   This streaming subscriber growth was seen over both global and ...

Your Oscar Nominations Roundup and Films to Watch

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 Who’s who in the 2025 Oscar Season race? With the ceremony, slightly delayed due to the California wildfires, finally taking place in the first week of March this year, we take a look at the key films to know from the 97th Academy Award lineup with Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                             Brandon Blake Where We Stand 2024 itself brought us a very unpredictable and rather turbulent, although ultimately successful, blockbuster year. Films that were meant to be blockbusters flopped, while little-considered ones saw massive popular traction. From the festival circuit, we saw some stellar titles emerge, including Anora , A Real Pain , and The Substance proving to be crowd-pleasers....

Ne Zha 2 Shoots to Global Prominence on the Back of Successful Chinese Release

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 The Chinese New Year box office has launched what may be the world’s next biggest animation success. As Ne Zha 2 continues to blow through local Chinese records, it’s also beginning to make its name on the global stage. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A., shares this exciting news.                                                                     Brandon Blake Bigger than Inside Out 2 ? It is thoroughly remarkable to be talking about global records around a film that has yet to release outside of the Chinese market. Ne Zha 2 will only open this week in North America, New Zealand, and Australia. However, with takings now topping $1.37B from its Chinese run alone, Ne Zha 2 has already knocked The Super Mario Bros. Movie out of its spot on the Top 3 animated films of...