ProSieben has now officially announced that it will bring the US blockbusters back to prime time on Sunday. However, own show formats should continue to run in the popular slot.
In the summer of 2022, ProSieben surprisingly announced that it would no longer show blockbuster films at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday evenings. A few difficult months later, the German TV broadcaster is now – at least partially – taking a backwards roll. After wanting to place self-produced content and shows in the time slot, the company will return to the proven Hollywood blockbuster films in the future – but only from summer 2023. Until then, viewers can look forward to an old friend, but also a new format.
Turbulent months for blockbusters at ProSieben
Until the announcement last summer, the channel’s hard-fought Sunday primetime slot was reserved for big blockbuster films. ProSieben was often the first German TV station to show the premieres of major Hollywood titles – and that at prime time. However, that should change in favor of their own show formats, as TECHBOOK reported. Broadcaster boss Daniel Rosemann said at the time that although they did not want to finally part with the major US content at ProSieben, the Sunday evening slot would now be given to someone else.
Instead of the films, for example, “Local Hero” was broadcast in the fall, but it was far from the ratings the Hollywood blockbuster approached ProSieben. These in turn were then mostly broadcast by the provider Sat.1, which belongs to the same broadcasting group. In fact, the ratings for “Local Hero” were even lower than those of ProSieben Maxx, which broadcast the regular season games of the NFL (National Football League) at the same time, or from 9 p.m. These were then brought to the main station ProSieben for the rest of the season.
On the one hand, that was probably due to the odds, which, by the way, were expected to be good, especially for the Super Bowl. On the other hand, the changing rights situation from the coming season should also have played a role. So far, NFL games have only been shown on German free TV on ProSieben stations; From the 2023/24 season, however, the rights will be held by RTL.
MGM deal gave first hints
Speaking of RTL – in January 2023 there was another change of rights on German television, this time in favor of ProSiebenSat.1. The broadcasting group was able to negotiate a new deal with the large film studio MGM. MGM includes the “James Bond” films, but also other well-known titles such as “Rocky” or “Terminator”. The rights had previously been held by RTL for ten years. Reason enough for speculation that ProSieben could bring back the blockbuster on Sunday evening. This was also supported by the fact that on February 5th, the only non-NFL Sunday in recent weeks, another feature film was shown with “Deadpool”.
However, the broadcaster initially denied plans in this direction. A spokesman told TECHBOOK on January 13: “ProSieben will announce in good time what ProSieben will show after Super Bowl LVII on Sunday from February 19. However, as has been announced for a long time, there will be no films.” Broadcasting boss Rosemann has now officially announced that the blockbusters will return to the primetime slot on Sunday. At the same time, you probably want to continue pursuing the strategy with your own shows.
Blockbuster at ProSieben – so it goes on
Under the “Big Sunday” label, ProSieben is not only continuing with feature films on Sundays this year. First of all, a new season of the successful own format “Who steals the show from me?” (WSMDS for short) with Joko Winterscheidt is running. Afterwards, the new show “The Unbeatables – Who Beats the Stars?” gets a chance at prime time. And then, from the summer of 2023, Hollywood blockbusters will run again on Sundays at prime time on ProSieben, but initially only for eleven weeks.
Rosemann justifies the current announcement by saying that a good mix between the well-known and the new must now be found. And in this concept, the blockbuster on Sunday evening seems to be a fixture again.