Could Paramount Global Be Looking To Close Channels Soon As It Hints A Streamlined Portfolio?

During the week, Paramount Global had made headlines after it was reported that they'll be laying off 800 employees. This included Liz Paulson, head of animation and live-action at Nickelodeon and Geoff Stier, SVP, Original Programming at Showtime Networks.

Since then, consumers have been left shocked and in tremendous fear as to what fate awaits their businesses seen globally. In Africa, Paramount not only provides brands like MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon but produce various local content most of which is likely to get scrapped.

They've also appointed various people to manage these channels in Africa individually and as seen with MTV and Nick Jr. These brands are currently using globalised feeds with very little local variation and if anything they'll likely look into merging operations.

As to the closing of channels, Paramount Global doesn't dive into specifics but plans are underway to reduce content spend as they pivot towards streaming. This could lead to the cutback of channels particularly secondary brands like MTV Base and Nicktoons.

Since Disney+ inception, Disney has been closing various channels around the world. As some readers are aware, Amusement Park has been exploring a potential sale of Paramount Global with bids from Warner Bros. Discovery, Skydance Media and Byron Allen Group.

Byron Allen Group had talked about keeping the channels and making them cost effective while selling other properties. What that could imply is Paramount Global halting further distribution of TV channels in other countries and local broadcasters having to acquire the content.

If anything regions that still carry these channels will likely undergo content reconstruction as seen with CW and Disney XD. Both of which no longer offer first run original programming and licence content from third parties.

Development Alert (Rumour): Noggin Streaming Service Reportedly Shutting Down Soon

Noggin is an educational brand that was started in September 1999 before being replaced by Nick Jr. in 2009. Similar to Da Vinci, it started as a TV channel for a preteen audience featuring educational programs and other factual content like The Electric Company, Ghostwriter and 3-2-1 Contact.

it was revived as a streaming service by Paramount Global and Sesame Workshop featuring a line-up of original content outside of Nick Jr alongside archived material. Internationally, it is being distributed by Prime Video in the UK, Germany, France and Austria.

During the week, Paramount Global had made headlines after it was reported that they'll be laying off 800 employees. This included Liz Paulson, head of animation and live-action at Nickelodeon and Geoff Stier, SVP, Original Programming at Showtime Networks.

It had also been suggested by other sources that Noggin team's had also been affected by these layoffs. Similar to the parent company, there was reports going around that Paramount was looking to sell share in the venture.

New leads have pointed toward the company looking to shut down the streaming service. Although not official, Paramount had shuttered apps for Nickelodeon, BET and Comedy Central so it's likely that latter should it be true will probably integrate with Paramount+.

Recap To Last Year: Boomerang Continues To Assert Dominance Despite The Switch To Cartoonito Africa

After Cartoonito launched as a programming block in 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery expanded the offering with a 24 hour channel. It would offer shows like Thomas And Friends and Batwheels infused with several Boomerang favourites such as Zig And Sharko and Mr. Bean.

Despite the attempt at preschool content, Boomerang's family offering continues to dominate the 24 hour line-up by 70% mainly due to runs of Mr. Bean and Masha And The Bear. The remaining 30% is allocated to Cartoonito with shows like Batwheels and CoComelon.

Below is a weekday schedule where the former's remaining offering is highlighted in bold while Cartoonito despite holding 30% is much lower if you exclude shows like Grizzy And The Lemmings and Masha And The Bear.

00:00 Zig & Sharko (X3)
00:25 New Looney Tunes (X8)
01:55 Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (X2)
02:40 Scooby-Doo And Guess Who? (X2)
03:25 The Tom And Jerry Show (X6)
04:10 Looney Tunes Cartoons (X4)
04:55 The Adventures of Little Penguin (X4)
05:15 Grizzy And The Lemmings (X3)
05:40 Masha And The Bear (X3)
06:00 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X2)
06:25 Lu&TheBallyBunch (X2)
06:40 CoComelonCompilations
M.07:00 Thomas&Friends (X2)
07:25 BugsBunnyBuilders
07:35 Zig & Sharko (X3)
08:00 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)
08:35 Lu&TheBallyBunch (X2)
08:50 Masha And The Bear (X3)
09:10 Masha And The Bear: Nursery Rhymes (X2)
09:15 Zig & Sharko (X3)
09:40 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X2)
10:05 Grizzy And The Lemmings (X4)
10:30 Pat TheDog (X2)
10:45 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)
11:30 CoComelonKaraoke
11:55 Thomas&Friends
12:10 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X2)
12:35 Zig & Sharko (X3)
12:55 Masha And The Bear (X3)
13:15 Lu&TheBallyBunch (X2)
13:30 BabyLooneyTunes
13:50 Batwheels (X2)
14:15 LegendsOf Spark 
14:30 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)
15:05 Grizzy And The Lemmings (X2)
15:20 Zig & Sharko (X4)
15:50 Batwheels
16:00 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)
16:35 Masha And The Bear (X3)
17:00 BugsBunnyBuilders (X2)
17:11 BugsBunnyBuilders: HardHat Time
17:25 CoComelonKaraoke
17:45 Lu&TheBallyBunch (X2)
18:00 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)
18:35 Zig & Sharko (X3)
19:00 BugsBunnyBuilders (X2)
19:25 Masha And The Bear (X3)
19:45 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X2)
20:05 Thomas&Friends
20:20 TomAnd JerryInNewYork
20:40 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X4)
21:25 Grizzy And The Lemmings (X13)
22:55 Zig & Sharko (X10)

Huiik
27 Cartoonito 37 Boomerang 53
Cartoonito
Formerly
Toads And Friends
Interstellar Ella
Lucas The Spider
Dino Ranch

Current
Thomas And Friends
CoComelon
Batwheels
Bugs Bunny Builders

This comes after Cartoonito had scrapped several preschool shows from parts of Europe including Big Bunny Builders and Masha And The Bear. Unlike most feeds, Warner Bros. Discovery had opted to retain the latter while attempting to build its offering as it took over Boomerang.

It is believed that Cartoonito is looking to retain existing IPs from Boomerang. Especially after Warner Bros. Discovery had cut down on its preschool offering with Jessica's Big Little World serving as the last shows to have been produced for the network.

New Channel Alert (Rumour): NBC HD Reportedly In Development On The DStv Platform

Yesterday, MultiChoice had begun work on yet another TV channel for the DStv platform with the initials NBC. Taking to account that there is already Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) residing within Africa this could as well be a potential high definition (HD) feed.

It's also possible that this could be a seperate TV channel and not one based on the Namibian broadcaster. Notice how the channel is currently residing on channel 111 where MultiChoice often rolled out various pop-up channels by M-Net Movies.

Another would be the distribution quality, as seen above this NBC is currently being tested in HD and while the one in Namibia is still in standard definition (SD). If this were the Namibian NBC, MultiChoice would have placed it in test channel section and not a prestigious channel number.

Could it be that NBCUniversal is looking to introduce a new (pop-up) channel to DStv customers?

MultiChoice revamped the Showmax streaming service during the month which is now in partnership with NBCUniversal. This has led to the addition of content from their studios including Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation and Telemundo Studios.

It wouldn't seem as far fetched of a coincidence that the NBC test card would launch around the time all this content came up on Showmax. I mean MultiChoice has numerous projects with NBCUniversal including Universal+ on DStv Stream and soon DStv Glass.

Some guesses for this possible new channel is that they'll start airing shows like Parks And Recreation and The Office which served as the highlight of the new Showmax. Unlike the American version, this one will probably be a watered down/repeat filtered version of the channel.

MultiChoice was scheduled to axe both Me and 1Magic from the DStv platform earlier in the month. NBC had been supplying several content to these channels including The Real Housewives, The Voice, Chicago Med, Law And Order and Young Rock.

1Magic had since then become a Showmax repeats channel with shows like Outlaws and Adulting. It had been long speculated that there could some behind the scenes going on within the company about the closures and if anything it could have something to do with channel 111.

Perhaps the idea of keeping 1Magic had to do with the rollout of the new Showmax. Perhaps they're treating more as a pop-up channel and as for Me that was slated to go off air as well and if anything maybe MultiChoice was looking to make NBC their predecessor.

I say this particularly because there's been various rumours going around that Me's viewership is low as opposed to M-Net City. Me was only catering to Compact and Family while as M-Net City was adored by even on premium as M-Net invested in fresher content unlike Me.

NBC despite housing a number of shows to M-Net and Universal TV could help expand the line-up. I believe there's various content people would love to see again aside from The Office and Parks And Recreation there is also Days Of Our Lives and Parenthood.

Paramount Global Layoffs: Paramount TV Studios Combines Development & Current, Other Senior Executives Impacted

Details are starting to emerge about the major round of layoffs Tuesday at Paramount Global impacting about 800 employees in the U.S.

Headed into today’s reductions, there had been chatter about Paramount TV Studios possibly downsizing. The studio, led by Nicole Clemens, has remained independent from the larger CBS Studios as the two combined support operations in November 2022 by centralizing finance, law, production, business affairs and casting.

Paramount TV Studios, which absorbed Paramount+’s scripted originals team in 2022, is now streamlining its programming operations by consolidating development and current under Head of Development Jana Helman, who will continue to report to studio president Clemens.

Leaving are Cheryl Bosnak, PTVS’s EVP and Head of Current; Kate Gill, SVP Development; Julie Katchen, VP of Current; and Devin Crossfield, Manager, Development.

Also departing is PTVS’ SVP and Head of Communications Dominic Pagone, who moved into the role a year ago after five years at Showtime and 18 at FX. CBS Studios and PTVS’ communications operations are now being consolidated under CBS Studios’ EVP Communications Kristen Hall.

CBS Studios and Paramount TV Studios’ development/current teams will remain separate.

PTVS established a stand-alone current department in 2019 when former Disney ABC current executive Bosnak was brought in to lead it.

All Paramount divisions are said to be impacted by the layoffs.

At Nickelodeon, Liz Paulson, head of animation and live-action casting and talent development for the network and studio content for third-party platforms, is leaving. The division’s talent department is being decentralized, I hear. Nick’s animation department has been significantly impacted, with close to 10 layoffs on both coasts.

Other notable TV executive departures so far include Brie Neimand, SVP, Current, Cable and Streaming Series at CBS Studios, who has been at the studio for 2 1/2 years; and Geoff Stier, SVP, Original Programming at Showtime Networks, who has been there for five years.

Today’s layoffs represent about 3% of Paramount’s global head count. At the start of 2023, Paramount had 24,500 full- and part-time employees in 37 countries, with another 5,800 project-based staffers.

“To those with whom we are parting ways, we are incredibly grateful for your hard work and dedication,” Paramount CEO Bob Bakish wrote in a company memo at the start of the layoffs this morning. “Your talents have helped us advance our mission of unleashing the power of content around the world.”

Like other traditional media companies, Paramount has been hampered by a slowdown in advertising as it navigates the transition from linear TV to streaming.