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“Now Streaming” is The Fly’s weekly recap of the stories surrounding the biggest content streamers.
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PLAYING THIS WEEKEND: Among this weekend’s now streaming content is Hulu’s comedy drama miniseries “Dying for Sex,” starring Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate. Meanwhile, Netflix (NFLX) subscribers can watch medical drama “The Pulse” as well as animated series “Devil May Cry,” which is based on the Capcom (CCOEY) series of video games. Additionally, Amazon Prime Video (AMZN) users can watch action horror series “The Bondsman,” starring Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles.
AMAZON MOVIE STRATEGY: Amazon’s movie strategy is finally hitting the big-screen, with the company set to take center stage at the annual convention for theater owners, Nicole Sperling of The New York Times reported earlier this week. The point of this move is to prove that its movie arm, Amazon MGM Studios, is serious about releasing around 14 big commercial films a year to theaters around the world. Most of the movies will spend 45 days in theaters before hitting pay-per-view and then Prime.
COMCAST/YES NETWORK: In a surprise development, YES Network and Comcast (CMCSA) on Monday night reached a new carriage agreement, coming to terms on a deal just hours before the regional sports network was set to go dark in Xfinity households across northern New Jersey, the lower Hudson Valley and parts of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, Sportico’s Anthony Crupi reports. An informal extension in the YES-Comcast carriage feud was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. ET, which would have led to the RSN being yanked in short order.
COMCAST/LOOP: Loop Capital analyst Alan Gould maintained a Buy rating and $50 price target on Comcast while noting that among its peers, the company is the firm’s top pick in the “tariff world”. No media or digital company will be immune to the direct or indirect impact of the tariffs, but 70% of Comcast’s revenue is subscription or affiliate based, almost 80% of its revenue is domestic, and the stock trades at the lowest multiple of the telecom companies, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
PARAMOUNT/DEUTSCHE BANK: Deutsche Bank downgraded Paramount (PARA) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $12, down from $15. The firm sees the stock’s risk/reward as more balanced now, given that it sees increasing risk to Paramount’s advertising outlook due to macroeconomic factors. There are more attractive investment alternatives in the sector, including Fox (FOXA) and Formula One (FWONK), which are better positioned to “weather a cyclical downturn,” and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) or Disney (DIS), which offer “attractive valuations, but with more clarity into their outlooks,” the analyst tells investors in a research note.