I managed to find a little time yesterday to check out the season premiere of a show that somehow I had never seen before. But since I happen to know a couple of members of the recurring guest cast of TYLER PERRY’S RUTHLESS, I spent some time in the BET+ ecosystem. As it turned out, only the first three of what will purpotedly be a total of 18 were dropped yesterday, and their respective arcs are yet to come. But I did watch what was shown and may I dare say what I saw was quite well done. Perhaps not FYC-worthy, but certainly at least of the quality of numerous other original scripted dramas for basic and pay cable, including a whole host of ones I’ve worked on.
As it turns out, I’m quite late to this party, as they were episodes 88 through 90 of a show that began in 2020, and is a spin-off of an even more enduring franchise for BET and its streaming partner Tyler Perry, THE OVAL. The platform algorithm telescoped me into that rabbit hole after my mini-binge was complete, and while that particular plotline didn’t grab me, I came away equally as impressed with the acting and execution as I did with the hole that I admit I was emotionally predisposed to liking.
I take note of all of this because this happened on the very day when BET’s still-current parent company, Paramount Global, was taking an exceptionally pessimistic public stand against the cable network business as they released their 2Q24 earnings report, which BUSINESS INSIDER’s Peter Kafka offered up details and insights on:
On Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery told investors its TV business was in free-fall, and that it would take a $9 billion writedown on those assets. On Thursday, it was Paramount’s turn: The entertainment conglomerate, which is about to be acquired by David Ellison and a consortium of investors, just took a $6 billion charge on its TV business.
For context: Public investors value all of Paramount’s equity at $7 billion.
Paramount’s press release barely acknowledges the writedown — it’s first referenced in a tiny print footnote. On the company’s earnings call, Paramount management said part of the writedown is a bookkeeping necessity to even out what the company had previously thought its TV business was worth, and the value implied by Ellison’s pending acquisition. But the broad strokes echo what WBD was suggesting earlier: The cable TV networks that once powered Paramount — MTV, Comedy Central, etc. — are in permanent decline, even as they continue to throw off lots of cash.
And as THE LOS ANGELES TIMES’ Ryan Faughnder and Meg James reported, news that sobering is lately accompanied by the least desired kind of news of all:
Executives also announced another steep round of layoffs to shrink the Paramount workforce by 15%. During a conference call with analysts, co-Chief Executive Chris McCarthy said the planned job cuts — which total about 2,000 positions — was part of a previously announced effort to achieve $500 million in annualized cost savings. The reductions, which will take place over the next few weeks, will be concentrated in marketing and communications, finance, legal technology and the corporate office.
“As you can imagine, these are difficult decisions to make,” McCarthy said. “We have incredibly talented people at Paramount, and these actions are not a reflection of their contributions. Rather they are necessary to transform our organization for the future.”
If you look at the specifics of McCarthy’s portfolio of oversight, you’ll note that BET isn’t a part of it. That’s largely because even while Bob Bakish and Shari Redstone were steering this Titanic BET was identified as a potential asset sale. Last year, it was widely reported that Perry himself was interested in taking over sole command, which considering his acumen at production efficiency and volume made him as qualified as any suitor of any media company could be in this day and age. But talks with both him and fellow entrepreneur Byron Allen were called off by Redstone in the wake of the seeds of the Shakespearean drama that ultimately saw Redstone finally cede control to Skydance and its David Ellison-led team last month.
And as Kafka reminded, unlike the reaction to the WBD announcement of cable devauling that caused yet another Wall Street tailspin for its stock, at least the writedown part of this story wasn’t as alarming:
The big difference between WBD and Paramount is that Paramount has already agreed to be sold — most likely to Ellison, unless a (real) bidder emerges in the next few weeks. So people who own Paramount shares won’t care about these results — it’s going to be Ellison’s problem in the near future.
And if one takes the story from VARIETY’s Todd Spengler from last month as still fully accurate amidst the impending transition, Ellison appears hell bent on letting someone else take over one of the less problematic entities of the conglomerate he’s ready to attempt to turn around:
Paramount Global is engaged in exclusive discussions to sell BET in a deal valued at $1.6 billion-$1.7 billion to “buyers that include” BET CEO Scott Mills and Chinh Chu, founder of private-equity firm CC Capital, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. The BET Media Group comprises the BET cable channel, VH1 and other networks; the BET+ streaming service; and BET Studios.
My question to Ellison and to Jeff Shell is simply–Are you SURE y’all want to do that?
As a linear entity, in 2023 BET ranked in the Top 40 of all cable networks, outdelivering MTV by +31% and Comedy Central by +44%. The BET Music Awards have been consistently one of the most-viewed tentpole events on the networks that McCarthy does oversee. And by the time this season of RUTHLESS is fully released, both it and THE OVAL will have eclipsed the number of episodes of the signature show of the network/service that McCarthy did take over, DEXTER, and they’re well on their way to passing its ten-season wonder SHAMELESS. RUTHLESS is already in production for a sixth season at Perry’s self-contained studio complex in Atlanta. And I happen to know they still have enough left over to fly even their recurring cast members first class and house them in far nicer surroundings than, say, Prime Video has done with those producing BEAST GAMES.
And it’s not as if Perry came out of nowhere to figure out how to save networks. Remember he partnered with OWN and Oprah Winfrey after her first few years of flailing with low-rated vanity projects like SUNDAY SOUL drained both the resources and patience of the Discovery family of networks that one David Zaslav championed. Only when Perry’s sitcoms and production acumen became part of a regenerated prime time did the network stabilize into relevance and at least survive long enough for the supersized version of Zaslav to screw it all up.
And while BET+ is the very definition of a niche service–its latest publicly available subscription numbers place it at around 2 million–having such assets as RUTHLESS and THE OVAL have the potential of transitioning to wider-distributed platforms with enough volume to be impactful both to its viewing and churn reduction. There’s frankly scant few shows from any of the networks that McCarthy has commandeered that can make similar claims. Even YELLOWSTONE, the most popular original drama anywhere for a spell, has produced a whopping total of 47 original episodes over its stormy and expensive five-year run. Ask any executive at Paramount+ which back end they think will generate more long-term value. Assuming you can still find one who’s still assured of being employed, of course.
It is the success that BET has had that makes it so desirable to the likes of CC Capital, and when the most pressing needs of a new buyer are to find the business equivalent of loose change in the sofa cushions, it’s almost understandable that it’s been kinda isolated from its one-time more synergistic brethren. Given the track record that McCarthy in particular has had, that’s probably been to the benefit of those I know, and those I wish I did.
I kinda doubt at this point Mills could be coerced to stick around, though someone like Shell can be very persuasive. After all they’ve been through despite the positive results of both audience delivery and ROI, leaving this toxic family could be the best outcome for everyone involved, and it sure seems like that’s the path they’re determined to go down.
But the fact that high on that list of, in McCarthy’s words, “incredibly talented people at Paramount” who will soon no longer be part of what’s ahead are the folks that helped make BET one of the outlying success stories of recent years is a fate I suspect even more unfortunate and sobering that those who fall under the spell of The Higher One and the siren’s song of the Rakudushi. (That’s the plot line for RUTHLESS, and I confess I’m sticking around for at least the balance of this season, perhaps out of the same kind of perverse loyalty that those in the Raku exemplify).
One in seven of those “incredibly talented people”, many in areas I also personally know people, will soon be looking for work. I can only hope Mills and his team know this and perhaps send a few of them a lifeline.
And I’m sure many of them might also hope that someone like McCarthy might himself be identified as expendable by those scrutinizing what he’s “accomplished”.
I acknowledge that’s a tad harsh. But do remember, it’s a ruthless business.
Until next time…