☀️Cable TV is Now Basically Down to 5 Networks
NETFLIX orders more 'Peaky' / Nikki Glaser goes HULU / 'Kill Bill' gets theatrical event
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Thursday, October 2, 2025.
Where for anyone eagerly waiting for the revamp of the APPLE Vision Pro in . . . 2027 (cue the sound of scrolling right past this item), I’m afraid APPLE has shifted the internal resources to try and make APPLE smart glasses a thing (we going with iGlass on this one? 🤔).
Between this and OPENAI starting its own SORA AI slop video platform after META announced its effort (Vibes) — Zuck is really becoming a Silicon Valley original idea trendsetter! 20 years later.
BTW: Much like your GOOGLE searches, META will now use whatever you tell your META AI bot to sell you ads, in case you thought your conversations with your new BFF were somehow even remotely not constantly being mined and listened to.
Zuck shared in May that META AI had 1B+ in monthly users globally.
AH: Welcome to the world, HULU! It’s finally getting the call up to the big leagues and replacing the STAR brand in DIS+ internationally on October 8, coming with a new DISNEY UI refresh as well.
C’E POSTA PER LE: Italian tech company BENDING SPOONS, which recently made a deal to take VIMEO private, is in talks to buy AOL from YAHOO for $1.4B (and yes, that’s You’ve Got Mail in Italian).
AND: Elon apparently just was told about and definitely did not watch found an animated series from . . . 2023 on NETFLIX that features a trans character, and is now telling people to cancel their NETFLIX, uh, 2 years later. Ya know, uh, before any damage to our youth really takes hold. Well, the “Hey, just focus on running TESLA” thing had a good run.
This just as TESLA sales had their 🤏 first monthly increase of the entire year in September in countries like France and Denmark, and an overall +7% bump in Q3 sales globally (Trump’s ending of the U.S. electric credit this week likely helped nudge sales in the U.S.). Ah man, so close!
FINALLY: A rest in peace goes out Jane Goodall — someone who dedicated her life to doing a lot of good for a lot of people and animals, and helping us all learn a lot more about this planet we’re on and its inhabitants.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
#DoublePollDay!
The Taylor Swift Showgirl event seems to be tracking anywhere from $30M to $40M-ish. As of yesterday, there were already $20M of pre-sales for the weekend, and again, remember that all tickets are $12.
A24’s Smashing Machine has seen quite a dip from earlier tracking out there, now looking more like $8M to $12M.
But A24 has been buying the hell outta TV sports ad breaks — will the UFC and WWE fans show up (along with the Safdie crowd which . . . would probably make for a fun photo), and what size does that look like?
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
Cable TV 2025 is a sad, sad place
The folks at NIELSEN are releasing some new weekly reports with their new BIG DATA + PANEL metrics 👏.
And, ok, yes — this isn’t breaking news — but looking at where things stand for the average linear TV audiences on cable TV networks in the final week of September 2025 . . . wow.
The cable bundle has really meaningfully become, as predicted, just sports and news.
More accurately — the cable TV bundle is just ESPN, 3 cable news networks and one lifestyle network on a given evening.
Elsewhere, primetime audience viewership numbers are more brutal than I expected — across the board. Let’s dive in.