Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026.

Where November is your month if your only complaint about Heated Rivalry is that it wasn’t easy enough to watch with strangers.

Season 1 will be in about 675 movie theaters in November starting on Nov. 6 — so go live your best life!

WELL: I’m not sure if Peter Rice is moving this fast at NETFLIX . . . but Misty Green, the Chris Rock movie Rice produced at A24 that whiffed at the box office, will now premiere on NETFLIX Nov. 9 — just one month after its theatrical release date (and seemingly forgoing a PVOD window — or at least doing it in conjunction with NETFLIX perhaps; it’s listed as “coming soon” on the APPLE TV store).

• A24 has a Pay1 deal at HBO MAX, which is seemingly letting NETFLIX have this one (and to presumably pay the 💰 for that Pay1 window), given Rock has his stand-up home there. See? SKYD and NETFLIX can play nice!

HEY: Things just keep getting better at CBS NEWS under the Ellison era! Enjoy your CBS local TV station election night coverage sponsored by . . . DRAFTKINGS, according to Status — yes, even at stations in states where the app is, um, not legal. #FFS

• Can’t wait to see what marketing ideas Elon brings to the table if he becomes a large investor in SKYDANCE, per John Malone’s prediction.

YEAH: Not terribly promising L.A. on-location shoot day data for Q3 from FILMLA:

• Total on-location shoot days: -5% YoY
• Films were up 2%, but commercials were down 15%.
• AGAIN: This only reflects on-location shooting, not soundstage shooting.
• AND: 40% of the scripted days were from productions with tax incentives, 2x the amount a year ago, with TV productions getting the biggest boost.

OH: Bianna Golodryga is the next name to leave CNN. She’s departing after 9 years at the network.

AH: CBS SPORTS made it official — JJ Watt is its new NFL lead analyst, taking over Tony Romo’s old slot.

GOOD NEWS: META will cover any California tax 💰 increases for entry-level employee Mark Zuckerberg if the billionaire tax is passed. Phew . . . would hate to hear any resulting delays on his Hawaii end-of-world bunker construction! #Cheap

• BUT HEY: At least it’s not as bad as the $25B lawsuit judgment META got against it in New Mexico related to the Cambridge Analytica privacy violation data scandal. It’ll likely appeal . . . but certainly (and finally) an impressive fine against #bigtech laid out in America. The Social Reckoning came out a month too early!

OH: According to a new GOLDMAN SACHS survey — 73% of American small businesses spend less than $100 a month on AI, with many using it to produce Marketing materials.

WAKEUP Box Office Prediction

WB/DC’s Clayface’s predictions are more malleable than his face going into the weekend. Some have very low $20Ms to perhaps $28M; others see upside into the low $30M.

You Can See Everything is also going up to 2,600 screens, about a 3x leap . . . so we’ll see how that pans out for the 3-hour doc. It’s already added another $8M from Monday-Wednesday.

• But, I’m going to go with optimism for DC on this one — while the ads creep the F outta me . . . that can often be a good thing for the box office, so count me in for $25M to $29M.

THANKS!: To the folks at BLEECKER STREET for the invite to check out the NYC premiere of A Talent For Murder.

A much more fun movie than I expected — well-directed, with great performances, and another movie “we don’t make anymore” that’s enjoyable to see (twisty, but no dumb or outrageous plot turns), and a great choice for a date night this weekend.

AS ALWAYS:

Connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com.

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📉 Earnings Season

NBCU a bright spot (mostly) as COMCAST prepares layoffs ahead of split

Well, so much for “the cable company” being COMCAST’s good story. Frankly, the way these numbers are going — NBCU is quite fortunate that it’s leaving this company next summer.

I mean, COMCAST still provides most of the profitability ($7.6B for the cable biz vs. $1.8B for NBCU in Q3), and the company is still throwing off $3.45B in Net Profit in Q3 as a result . . . but these business trends are oof.

So, let’s dive into the key takeaways in the NBCU Q3 numbers:

• How the World Cup made PEACOCK’s whole year (and definitely NBCU’s Q3, along with The Odyssey). Too bad there likely won’t be another one in its future.
  • And yes, PEACOCK turned another profit — don’t get used to it.
• The Movie biz saved the studio’s butt in Q3 (sorry, TV).
• NBCU Theme Park biz clouds came in fast . . . and are not going anywhere.
• A linear TV revenue check-in (you can’t spell NBCU without NBC!)

Then, over in the cable biz:

• For everyone out there saying the cable TV bundle melting is getting “less worse” — COMCAST didn’t start Q3 well.
• Broadband can’t find growth with both hands, but Mobile growth continues to help . . . just nowhere near enough.
• Thus, who wants a huge impending write-off? Q4’s gonna be fun in Philly.

So, let’s kick off with the topline takeaways, then I’ll break out how each business area did across NBCU and COMCAST in Q3 2026 — oh right, the split is still on target for summer 2027.