ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J.—LG Electronics USA has launched its first curated content channel, a new FAST channel on LG Channels called the "LG Channels Showcase."

Featuring a wide range of studio films from Amazon MGM Studios, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Shout! Studios, "LG Channels Showcase" offers a curated collection of movies and exclusive content available only on LG Channels, including its series LG Presents: The Rivalries.

In July, the channel will showcase Hercules (2014), Tomb Raider (2018), Pompeii (2014) and Red Dawn (2012). Additional feature-length films featured within the new channel's rotating library include, The Terminator, Thelma & Louise, Sophie's Choice, Big Eyes and more.

Also discoverable on "LG Channels Showcase" is LG Channels' exclusive docuseries, LG Presents: The Rivalries, which features intense NCAA matchups in Division II and Division III sports. Content connoisseurs can also enjoy LG's Taste of Tennessee series where BBQ expert and author host Matt Moore is joined by local Nashville restaurant owners and former Tennessee Titans players to celebrate the power of community, cuisine, and optimism in the Volunteer State.

LG Channels is available on LG Smart TVs (models 2016-present).

Just as movie theaters were trying to recover the effects of pandemic closure, a cost-of-living crisis tipped the scales in favor of in-home entertainment. Studios must once again retool licensing and distribution strategies to reach consumers.

U.S. studios have doubled down on SVOD initiatives since beginning to experiment with new release opportunities during the pandemic. Disney+ did so with PVOD, allowing users to rent select movies day-and-date with their theatrical release, while HBO Max (now known as "Max"), simply made many of its high-profile theatrical releases available to stream day-and-date.

The Status Quo Long Gone
Comparing pre-pandemic and post-pandemic first window buyers reveals a stark departure from the long-established status quo. Between 2019 and 2022, the number of streaming services in the US that premiered major studio movies within one year of theatrical release doubled. The number of premieres jumped from 82 to 91, according to 3Vision.

Warner Bros. Discovery continues to be the first window home for most major studio movies in the US. Titles once limited to HBO now typically appear on its Max streaming service as well. Overall, Warner Bros. Discovery airs far fewer movies from competing studios than it did before the rise of studio SVODs, apart from standing deals such as the Warner/Disney agreement to air 20th Century movies first on HBO alongside Max in the US.

Many of the newer service owners buying major studio movies in the US are supported by their own vertical integration. While Paramount’s Showtime has long been a first window home for many high-profile indie movies, its pre-pandemic acquisition activity from major studios was limited (with Paramount rarely engaging in vertical integration). 

This strategy has changed since the launch of Paramount+, with the SVOD taking most Paramount movies in the first window in 2022. Paramount’s CEO, Bob Bakish, claimed the decision to bring "Top Gun Maverick" to Paramount+ served as a major boost to the service’s subscribers in the US and abroad.

The same is true for NBCUniversal and Peacock. The studio is now more likely to license its movies to HBO or Netflix than before the pandemic, although Universal Pictures’ recent slate has been sizeable enough to split between supporting Peacock and selling to third parties to drive more external licencing agreement revenue.

One of the biggest changes is the output of MGM. The studio that previously focused its sales to Hulu is now going either directly onto MGM+ (FKA EPIX) or Amazon Prime, following Amazon’s acquisition of MGM.

The only studio seemingly uninterested in supporting its own service is Lionsgate, undoubtedly due in no small part to its continued efforts to find a buyer for Starz. This of course will always be a more attractive proposition to prospective acquirers if Starz is not wholly reliant on its relationship with Lionsgate to find content. 

What it has allowed Lionsgate to do is adopt the traditional Sony ‘arms dealer’ approach: licensing movies to several different services, including other first window newcomers like FOX, AMC+ and The Roku Channel.

While studios have pivoted, the U.S. licensing market has yet to land firmly in a new normal. Ongoing market flux will require studios to scrutinize data, as both buyers and suppliers, to a greater extent than ever.

Vertical Integration on a Global Scale
The rollout of studio owned SVOD services has also affected the type of services buying major studio movies in the first window internationally.

In 2019, pay TV services made up 69% of major studio movie buyers. In 2022, it was only 28%.  Global SVODs such as Amazon and Netflix are now a greater share, and studio SVODs are the driving force. 2022 was the first year that they comprised the majority share of first window movie premiere buyers. Most of this was supported by Disney, which essentially went all-in on vertical integration.

Local regulations create unique dynamics in international markets. In France, for instance, any studio looking to engage in vertical integration must contend with existing legislation that prohibits movies from streaming within 36 months of theatrical release. Disney continues to licence its movies in the first window to the French pay TV service Canal+ before they can premiere on Disney+ in a later window.

Even studios without their own service are selling less to pay TV than global SVODs. While the likes of Netflix and Amazon may be acquiring less of the latest TV from third parties, they recognize the importance of big theatrical releases on their platforms. For studios like Sony, the opportunity is huge if SVODs are willing to pay a premium to acquire Sony’s biggest movies for its services across multiple international markets. In the case of MGM, the vast majority of global SVOD sales are to its new parent, Amazon.

Studio movies are more likely than ever to debut on SVOD than their traditional first window home of pay TV. The one exception is NBCUniversal. It has the highest proportion of pay TV buyers, greatly supported by the company’s own Sky group in the UK, Germany and Italy. In the instance of NBCUniversal, vertical integration is helping keep the traditional pay TV window open.

Looking back at market data since 2019, two things are immediately clear: the dramatic scale of change and its resulting complexity. Looking forward, studios will need to analyze their own data with more granularity to understand how variables per market, distribution channel, and even title could impact revenue.  

A Pragmatic Content Approach
Studios are shifting to a vertically integrated SVOD model. Although it’s happening more slowly than it did in the scripted TV genre, movies increasingly serve as banners to attract subscribers and unlock streaming revenue. As streaming profitability displaces growth-at-all-costs as a priority, we may see the current breadth of third-party buyers (both in the US and abroad) remain as it is for now.

The more sudden change that studios face is a need to rapidly, constantly refine distribution strategies. The ability to granularly analyze market, distribution channel, and title-level data is critical to doing so. Expect each studio’s approach to differ more and more from the next in this new era of movie distribution.

Will streaming see a permanent upending of the traditional movie experience? Do viewers still strongly prefer to stay away from crowded theaters and in the comfort of their own home? Or are people ready to “get back to normal” and rush to their local AMC when the next major studio film hits the box office? 

Data continues to show patterns that put movie theaters at risk, but with viewers now entering the third year of the pandemic, how are we seeing those numbers shift, and what avenues are viewers taking to ensure their ideal movie experience?

To the home viewer, there is not a one-size-fits all solution for delivering content. Streaming falls into one of two big categories: subscription services where users pay a monthly or yearly fee, a pay-per-view model, and free ad-supported TV (FAST). 

There are seismic behavioral shifts occurring in viewers across the nation, and streaming TV platforms will need to further innovate their models in the year ahead to stay on top as we move to embrace an endemic era. This need to innovate comes in the form of content offerings, ad placements, and accessibility to a wider audience from both subscription based services and FAST services. 

Streaming services saw a dramatic increase in business during the early days of the pandemic lockdown, when viewers had no choice but to stay indoors and away from public theaters. Now, as venues continue to open up, people's behaviors are proving slower to catch up. 

Many viewers still strongly prefer the comfort of their own home when indulging in a movie with friends or family. The overall cost of a “movie experience” to the viewer dramatically decreased. And streaming services have since taken advantage, with both subscription-based and ad-supported models racing to add an abundance of new, diversified — and increasingly original — content as viewership behaviors seismically shift, so much so that recent reports have all but signaled that the streaming TV industry is reaching a tipping point. 

The interesting fact here, though, is that it’s not the streaming TV industry as a whole that’s tipping. It’s subscription-based services. Where we are seeing is a boom in the FAST industry, which allows platforms to provide ad-supported CTV content to their viewers free of charge — and often without even needing a “free membership” or email address. 

In order, consumers prioritize the following factors when choosing a streaming service: price, available content, and original programming. FAST services are like the new digital antenna, except now all you need is an internet connected device to access these apps with entire libraries of content for free. This opens up an opportunity to reach a much larger global audience, while passing along the costs to advertising partners. Entire channels on these platforms are dedicated to movies be it classics, or recently released films fresh out of the theaters, which gives the viewer a wide variety of genres and title options to enjoy. 

So what can viewers expect in the coming year from streaming services, and how will that continue to influence the way we interact with traditional movies?  The future is FAST. 

The best way to break through and keep streaming feeling innovative for viewers is by continuing to grow the FAST market, which favors content diversification and is continuing to expand into new regions and markets to meet the demands of its growing global audience base. In essence, FAST gets to the heart of what the TV entertainment industry is meant to center on: the viewer. 

In a massive analysis of SVOD movie catalogs and consumer habits, a new report from Reelgood shows that consumer streaming habits for movies shifted towards Action & Adventure films and Thrillers but that those increasingly popular genres actually declined as a percentage of SVOD catalogs. 

The report also found that SVOD players were adding Documentary, Animation, and Family movies while pulling back from darker genres like Horror, Drama, Action & Adventure, and Thriller in their catalogs. 

That lead to a notable disconnect between changing consumer demand and the catalogs, Reelgood reported. 

Their data shows that Drama  showed the biggest decline in terms of its movie streaming down (down 3.4 share points in the three month period ending November 30, 2021), followed by Family (down 1.1 share points), Documentary (down 1%), LGBTQ (down 0.6 share points) and Animation (0.4 share points). 

Documentary, Family and Animation, however, all increased as a share of SVOD movie catalogs. 

Meanwhile, Action & Adventure, which declined 1.5 share points in SVOD movie catalogs in the U.S., gained 3.0 share points in terms of streaming during the three month period ending November 30, 2021. Likewise Thrillers, which declined 1.4 share points in terms of SVOD movie catalogs, gained 1.0 share points in terms of movie streaming. 

Other genres showing an increased share of SVOD movie streaming were Mystery (up 1.8 share points), Science-Fiction (up 1.6 share points), Comedy (up 1.5 share points.)

These trends were “a complete 180 from early last year when viewing for these types of content trended in the opposite direction around the pandemic’s start," the Reelgood report noted. 

The trends highlight an opportunity by SVOD players to capitalize on consumer trends by bulking up on increasingly popular genres like Action & Adventure, the report said. 

In terms of the Action & Adventure movie genre, Prime Video has the largest catalog, followed by Netflix, Paramount+, Epix Now and HBO Max. 

But HBO Max had the most streaming of Action & Adventure movies among the SVODs, followed by Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and Hulu. 

Prime Video had the largest movie catalog of all genres, followed by Netflix, Fandor, HBO Max and HBO. 

For more data and the full report visit here. 

Fremont, CA - August 24, 2018 - Blackmagic Design today announced that post production, including an innovative live visual effects (VFX) workflow, for sci fi adventure, "2036 Origin Unknown," was delivered in DaVinci Resolve Studio by editor Will Steer and Goldcrest Post colorist Maria Chamberlain.

Directed by HaZ Dulull, and starring sci fi veteran Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Riddick and Netflix’s Another Life), "2036 Origin Unknown" tests the relationship between humanity and technology, when an artificial intelligence system, A.R.T.I., assisted on a mission to Mars by Katee’s character, Mack, goes rogue.

Completing the online edit and conform was Will Steer, who adopted a unique, layered approach to his pipeline developed by Dulull and Associate Producer Paula Crickard.“The timeline was naturally VFX heavy, and with such a tight deadline, we needed a workflow that would allow Goldcrest complete flexibility in the grade,” explained Steer.

“Within Resolve, we had separate layers for on screen graphics and visual effects work, as well as for each of the camera packages, which all had different color spaces. When it came to the grade, Maria could turn everything else off and just work within a specific layer.”

Another timesaver, for both Will and Maria, was the ability to manipulate the VFX work themselves. “Adding realistic detail to shots is normally done in compositing software, but we could do this directly in Resolve with built in plugins such as grain, lens flares, camera shake and motion blur. As well as delivering high quality, convincing effects, this workflow meant no time consuming round-tripping with other software packages,” says Will.

Maria adds, “For example, during the grade, we adjusted the timing of the button illumination on Mack’s main control desk to suit the story at any given point, as well as manipulating A.R.T.I.’s responses by refining color and timings that were already mapped out in the layer.

“We also had access to all the assets we needed for screen graphics and monitor UIs on separate layers too, which allowed easy access to color, position and sizing live on the timeline, without having to request new versions or mattes for specific elements from vendors. This afforded HaZ and myself total creative freedom in the grade without compromising delivery time.”

“It’s often the case that last minute VFX changes are attempted in the grade,” concludes Will. “But developing such a flexible, multilayered timeline in DaVinci Resolve elevated the workflow hugely. We were adding deliberate creative, yet very convincing, flourishes to the film as part of our process, and we could do it right in Resolve with extreme ease.”

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

As a fan of movies and after having studied through my corollary sequence under Ohio University’s School of Film, I have a great interest in movies and movie making. I’m always seeing a movie and certainly appreciate the work involved in creative story telling. Adding to my love for story telling is the idea that technology has now “evolved” (that word might not be the same word used by die-hard “film” people) into 4K video and even 8K video. Besides my radio engineering career, I’m also a video engineer currently converting a full facility from HD to 4K (technically, UHD in this instance, but many people use them interchangeably). This Off the Beaten Path column is about the movies and the HD and 4K/UHD technology behind them.

First, a quick explanation of 4K/UHD video to get you up to speed. The easiest way to put it is that UHD a combination of four HD images. The difference between 4K and UHD? 4K is what the movie people use for big displays in theaters. The aspect ratio is just a little wider than the standard TV widescreen ratio of 16:9, while UHD follows the 16:9 aspect ratio. Unlike common HDTV, 4K/UHD now has something thrown in called HDR or High Dynamic Range. The interesting thing about HDR is that it’s like pre-emphasis in FM. To use an FM analogy what it really means is that if you use HDR with UHD/4K, you really need to have a monitor capable of decoding that HDR — something like encoding audio with dbx then listening to the audio without running it back through a decoding circuit. It sounds odd.

To take it a little further, an HDTV image streams over coax/BNC at 3 Mbps. To send 4K/UHD video over a coax (or four of them if being done as “quad-link”), you need to push 12 Mbps. Oh, and the next generation of video, called 8K, requires 48 Mbps of bandwidth!

So that’s the Cliff’s Notes version of 4K/UHD, which is the current main display spec for movies. 8K is on the horizon, but for a typical consumer TV in a home, you won’t see big differences on images unless your screen size is excessively large — such as viewing on an 8-foot TV screen! Remember when the days when a 25-inch RCA or Zenith console TV was considered a “big screen”?

The First Film Makers

Just like radio & TV’s history, film history becomes a little checkered and cloudy when you go back in time. Who is taking credit for what become a common issue with technology. Though Edison has a large influence in the U.S., Luis and Auguste Lumière (“The Lumière Brothers”) are generally credited as the first true film makers. By 1881, the young teenaged brothers had created a developing process which took Edison’s “peephole film viewing” technique and gave it the ability to become something that could be “projected;” which is the reason they’re more frequently credited with inventing “film” (or something more closely resembling film today).

Early Movies

It’s simply amazing to see where we’ve come from and where we are going with movie-making technology — from the earliest days of Edison and the Lumière brothers, to Charlie Chaplin, to Walt Disney and his multiplane camera, George Lucas, and into today. We began with studios where the roofs were open because they needed more light than was technically possible using the then current lighting technology. Then came “rocking” sets. “Talkies” followed. Visual effects like forced perspective created size illusions while matte paintings created incredible backgrounds. Now computer graphics and digital animations make “virtual everything” — from people to places to create pretty much anything we want in film (from the truly believable to the unbelievable!). When you look at movie technology and consider all the invention behind it, a lot has happened in just over 100 years!

Technicolor

Here’s an awesome video about the technology behind Technicolor. Technicolor was not the first movie film available, but it really became the first great color film technology. The Technicolor process really held its own over the years and through the life of 35mm film.

Movie Mistakes

For fun, I’ve had this link about the worst on-set mistakes from Hollywood. Just like staying until the end of a Jackie Chan movie where you get to see the outtakes, it’s interesting to see things when they don’t go right!

Movie Technology “Past Predictions”

This link is now six years old, but I included it because it was a look at the future of movie technology. Now we can look at it and see what came true and what hasn’t. For instance, they talk about IMAX “with lasers,” and the fact is that now high-lumen projectors are incorporating laser technology! Long gone are the days of carbon-arc projecting … and now even xenon bulbs are seemingly old technology. Instead of a massive 6,000 watt bulb, projectors have transitioned to multiple stacks of bulbs (no more single point of failure with a “bulb blow-out”) and laser technology. Just three years ago, I had the opportunity to see a 90,000 (!) lumen projector in Christie’s digital labs in Kitchener, Ontario. Until then, 35,000 lumens was about the brightest output for a projector. To give you an idea how bright 90,000 lumens is, if you stand close in the path of the light, dark clothing can start to smolder and ignite! Though this technology hasn’t advanced, likely due to the danger involved and the very unique need for something that bright, laser technology has continued to advance.

More on Movie Technology

Since the days computers found their way into movie making, things have changed a lot. Here’s another look at the technology today and where it’s going.

Time to Think About 8K?

And here’s a sneak look into 8K video and the development. By the way, the next Olympics from Japan will be shot in 8K.

And finally ...

If you stumble across a good or unusual website that might be of interest, please don’t hesitate to send me the link and any info you might have about it. My email address is dan_slentz@yahoo.com.