Corporate Shenanigans
And the best new movies this week on streaming
If you follow media news you couldn't have missed that AT&T will be spinning off its Warner Media division (home to HBO Max) in a deal that would combine it with Discovery (home to Discovery+ and the reality tv shows I love to hate). It's consistently interesting to see how the players competing the streaming era of media entertainment are positioning themselves to come out on top and the massive amounts of money they are spending. AT&T officially acquired Time Warner back in 2018 and are already getting rid of it - presumably because the company took on so much debt pursuing a strategy of using a media business to juice their bread and butter (telecom) business. That seems to be a strategy only Amazon has been able to successfully pull off.
What does this mean for you? Nothing in the short term. But if I'm to speculate, it could mean that in the next year few years you'll see this new behemoth media company offer a "streaming bundle" that includes HBO Max and Discovery+ (and CNN?). Either that or they'll try to roll HBO Max and Discovery+ into one streaming service. Either way, we're likely to get better content after this deal (if it goes through) than with Warner being owned by AT&T. One can hope, anyway!
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Here are the best new movies available this week on streaming video
Plan B (2021)
Available Friday, May 28 on Hulu
Follows a straight-laced high school student and her slacker best friend who, after a regrettable first sexual encounter, have 24 hours to hunt down a Plan B pill in America's heartland.
Cruella (2021)
Available Friday, May 28 on Disney+
A live-action prequel feature film following a young Cruella de Vil.
$29.99 to stream at home. Also available in theaters this week.
Best foreign language films to watch this week on streaming video
Baggio: The Divine Ponytail
Available Wednesday, May 26 on Netflix
Biographical film about Italian footballer Roberto Baggio, a man who inspired entire generations to play football. A unique footballer, capable of thrilling fans all over the world.
Other movies available this week
Netflix
Blue Miracle (2021)
Home (2015)
Dog Gone Trouble (2019)
Hulu
The Vigil
HBO Max
Cinderella Man (2005)
Curious George (2016)
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