The March report begins with Netflix which withdrew from its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), refusing to outbid Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion offer. Paramount, led by Ellison family, aims to merge WBD’s studios, HBO Max, CNN, and CBS with its existing Skydance and Paramount assets, creating a global media powerhouse rivalling Netflix and Disney. In addition, in South Africa, Canal+ decided to shut down the streaming platform Showmax following its $2 billion acquisition of MultiChoice. Despite acclaimed original productions, Showmax faced persistent losses, and the move seeks to prioritize financial sustainability. In Europe, the European Union (EU) is considering classifying the video-gaming service Roblox as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act (DSA), potentially subjecting it to strict child protection rules. Meanwhile, the European Audiovisual Observatory reports that most theatrical films released in 2022 later appeared on TV or Video-on-Demand (VOD) services, highlighting the complementary role of streaming and broadcast in film distribution. Finally, Hollywood studios remain concerned about artificial intelligence (AI)-driven copyright infringement, with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) criticizing ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 for unauthorized use of films and celebrity likenesses, calling for stronger safeguards.
On the occasion of this final international watch, the IFCCD would like to thank Antonios Vlassis, the author, Gilbert Gagné, Publication Director, as well as the entire team at the Centre d’études sur l’intégration et la mondialisation (CEIM) and the Groupe de recherche sur l’intégration continentale (GRIC), whose support made the production of these 62 international watches since 2020 possible.