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Currently only Netflix is profitable, e.g. Disney lost more than a billion on Disney+. Not sure how they can keep this up if people keep moving to piracy.

draugadrotten 2y ago
Hollywood accounting makes it very hard to trust tales of "losses". The money has just been siphoned away to a tax haven somewhere through overpaying for e.g. renting a property or licensing some IP. The money wasn't really "lost", it was just not taxed.
- CoastalCoder 2y ago
  Are you certain of this? I know Hollywood Accounting is a thing for movie production, but I haven't heard any evidence that it's being used for streaming services. If nothing else, I'd expect a risk of this being treated as securities fraud if streaming service P&L is broken out in public-company reports.
  - exe34 2y ago
    I'll believe the poor rich people who are struggling to buy their third yacht when they open up their accounts books and show where all the money comes from and where it goes to. As long as they keep it secret, I'll assume it's because they don't like paying taxes.
  - c0wb0yc0d3r 2y ago
    This article[0] indicates that Disney removed shows to write them off. [0]: https://gizmodo.com/disney-streaming-cuts-tax-writeoffs-1850502594 https://gizmodo.com/disney-streaming-cuts-tax-writeoffs-1850...
- Mindwipe 2y ago
  > Hollywood accounting makes it very hard to trust tales of "losses". Hollywood accounting applies to individual titles. It doesn't apply to entire services - why would you tell your shareholders that you are making a loss to depress the stock price?
- HDThoreaun 2y ago
  This applies to individual titles, but the not the service as a whole. The streamers are all losing money as seen in their earnings reports.
TeMPOraL 2y ago
Apparently Paramount+ failed so spectacularly that it ended up dragging the company down financially, and now they're cancelling Star Trek shows.
- Kye 2y ago
  They keep chasing the Paramount channel and it keeps failing. You'd think sooner or later they would accept they do best in syndication.

draugadrotten 2y ago

Hollywood accounting makes it very hard to trust tales of "losses". The money has just been siphoned away to a tax haven somewhere through overpaying for e.g. renting a property or licensing some IP. The money wasn't really "lost", it was just not taxed.

CoastalCoder 2y ago
Are you certain of this? I know Hollywood Accounting is a thing for movie production, but I haven't heard any evidence that it's being used for streaming services. If nothing else, I'd expect a risk of this being treated as securities fraud if streaming service P&L is broken out in public-company reports.
- exe34 2y ago
  I'll believe the poor rich people who are struggling to buy their third yacht when they open up their accounts books and show where all the money comes from and where it goes to. As long as they keep it secret, I'll assume it's because they don't like paying taxes.
- c0wb0yc0d3r 2y ago
  This article[0] indicates that Disney removed shows to write them off. [0]: https://gizmodo.com/disney-streaming-cuts-tax-writeoffs-1850502594 https://gizmodo.com/disney-streaming-cuts-tax-writeoffs-1850...
Mindwipe 2y ago
> Hollywood accounting makes it very hard to trust tales of "losses". Hollywood accounting applies to individual titles. It doesn't apply to entire services - why would you tell your shareholders that you are making a loss to depress the stock price?
HDThoreaun 2y ago
This applies to individual titles, but the not the service as a whole. The streamers are all losing money as seen in their earnings reports.

TeMPOraL 2y ago

Apparently Paramount+ failed so spectacularly that it ended up dragging the company down financially, and now they're cancelling Star Trek shows.

Kye 2y ago
They keep chasing the Paramount channel and it keeps failing. You'd think sooner or later they would accept they do best in syndication.