07:22 PST 27/01/2021
by
Etan Vlessing
“It was a daring and aggressive swing,” Stankey told analysts after the telco and media giant chose to move its legacy theater business with HBO Max to the streaming space.
John Stankey, CEO of AT&T Inc., defended the actions of the telecommunications and media giant to shift his legacy from the theater business to the streaming space with HBO Max amid the pandemic.
“It was a bold and aggressive swing; it was done with a lot of reflection on what needs to be done in the subscriber space and the balance of value in our franchises between our theater and streaming businesses,” Stankey told analysts during a morning call. following the announcement of AT & T’s financial results in the fourth quarter.
In December 2020, Warner Bros. and WarnerMedia announced that they would seriously disrupt the theater window and send the entire 2021 film roll to the HBO Max streaming service, with titles on the same day as they would open in theaters that customers could allow. , pandemic closures that allow. Stankey reiterated that WarnerMedia has placed a focus on HBO Max as market conditions in 2021 determine future distribution plans.
“I would say the data points came in and are very much in line with the set of assumptions we had up front,” he added, pointing to rival studios that followed his studio’s lead and shifted their own tent pole releases to later in 2021 and 2022.
Stankey predicted a ‘very busy stage’ for the end of 2021 and early 2022, which he said is unlikely to dramatically increase the number of consumers flocking to the local multiplex. Prior to the long-term recovery forecast for the theater business, AT&T recorded approximately $ 780 million in impairment costs for its production and other content inventory at WarnerMedia as part of its fourth quarter results, with $ 520 million due to the continued closure of theaters during the pandemic . and leads the hybrid distribution model for the studio’s 2021 film.
“As we indicated by making the write-off, we felt we were spoiling a little bit here that needed to be shifted and applied more efficiently, and that was the right economic call,” Stankey said. He added that the decision to minimize bad cash returns and build up the HBO Max subscriber base during the pandemic allows us to spread options and use the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the pandemic for an opportunity to make lemonade from lemons. the right call in this case. “
It seems that Stankey also touched on the setback of film owners, Hollywood directors and A-list talent to suddenly see films that were originally intended for theaters appear in the streaming space. ‘There were a few things on the edge that we might have done a little differently, but at the end of the day it’s going to come down to people being fairly compensated and well treated, and I think we know how to to do. that, ‘he argued.