The strategy to license Yellowstone and other major properties to rival streaming services like Peacock and HBO Max, which Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish has called “unfortunate,” is out the window, according to CFO Naveen Chopra.“We’re no longer licensing big, franchise IP to third parties.
Back in the day when Paramount didn’t have its own streaming service, that was the best way to monetize content,” Chopra said during an appearance today at MoffettNathanson’s 9th annual Media and Communications Summit. “Today, that doesn’t necessarily make sense.
As some of those things come up, we’ll keep them for our owned and operated platform.”Moderator Michael Nathanson cited heavy viewing on Netflix of Paramount shows like NCIS, wondering if that would persuade the company to continue selling off those rights.
In answering, Chopra didn’t bring up any specific shows. He joined the company, then known as ViacomCBS, in August 2020, after a large licensing deal was made with NBCUniversal for Yellowstone, and another one for South Park on HBO Max.
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