By Dawn Chmielewski
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Paramount Global unveiled plans on Wednesday to retain and develop its stalwart entertainment brands Nickelodeon, MTV, and BET, while sharply increasing feature film production following its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
"We're thinking about ... the cable networks, not as declining linear assets that we need to spin off or deal with somehow," said President Jeff Shell. "We're thinking of those brands that we have to redefine."
Shell joined Chairman
and CEO David Ellison and the rest of the executive team at a media gathering on Wednesday on the Paramount Pictures lot, where they discussed strategy for their film, television, and streaming businesses - as well as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
The press event was held a week after Paramount completed its merger with Skydance Media, installing new leadership at the media company.
Television Media Chair George Cheeks acknowledged the decline of cable television - "there's no question it's a super challenging business" - but added that the company's cable networks have created iconic franchises that may well thrive in the world of streaming video.
Shell singled out BET, a network focused on Black culture that Paramount previously explored selling, as an important building block of the company's streaming strategy.
Paramount's plans to develop its legacy cable networks come at a time when other media companies are shedding fading cable networks. Warner Bros Discovery and Comcast have announced plans to separate their cable businesses from their studios and streaming operations.
Josh Greenstein, co-chair of Paramount Pictures, said the studio plans to raise annual output, from eight this year to 15 movies "very quickly," with the ultimate goal of releasing 20 films a year.
The coming slate will include new installments of familiar franchises, such as "Star Trek" or "Transformers," as well as original movies, like the newly acquired James Mangold film project, "High Side," starring Timothée Chalamet.
The studio also will seek out family fare, in the vein of "A Night at the Museum" or "The Goonies."
"We love these movies. We all grew up on these movies, and we don't feel like many people are making them," said Dana Goldberg, co-chair of Paramount Pictures.
Ellison said his goal is to transform Paramount into a haven for the most talented filmmakers and sees emerging technologies like artificial intelligence providing a tool to enhance storytelling.
"I also think we have to acknowledge that this is a technology that is evolving, I think, faster than everyone in Hollywood really thinks it is," said Ellison, who is the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. "When you start putting that in a filmmaker's hands, I think you're seeing another moment that'll be as transformative as when John Lasseter and Steve Jobs built Pixar."
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
