- Companies are scooping up major Hollywood players in deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars to bolster their original streaming content.
- Netflix landed "American Horror Story" creator Ryan Murphy in an estimated $300 million deal, while WarnerMedia attracted J.J. Abrams, who will create content for its streaming competitor HBO Max.
- Former HBO CEO Richard Plepler is in talks to join Apple TV Plus, The Wall Street Journal first reported last week, which would give Apple's streaming efforts a big boost.
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From "Friends" (WarnerMedia's HBO Max) to "The Office" (NBCUniversal's Peacock) to "Seinfeld" (Netflix), companies are dropping huge sums of money on valuable assets to boost their streaming efforts.
But as the streaming war accelerates, it's not just nostalgic sitcoms attracting mega deals, but some of Hollywood's most high-profile producers and executives, as well.
The latest potential example is Richard Plepler, the former HBO CEO who is in talks to join Apple TV Plus, multiple outlets reported last week. A deal "could be finalized within the next few weeks," a person with knowledge of the talks told The Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report the news.
Apple is a newcomer to original TV and movies, so it will need someone with Plepler's experience if it wants to compete against the likes of Netflix and Disney, which debuted its own service, Disney Plus, last week and gained 10 million sign-ups a day after launching.
Netflix landed superstar producers Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes last year, and WarnerMedia nabbed J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production company in September.
"The more crowded field has driven higher demand for content against a more limited supply of production and talent, resulting in cost inflation (particularly for marquee programs and show runners)," analysts at UBS wrote in a report distributed Tuesday.
Here's a rundown of the top mega-deals to happen as the streaming war has intensified:
