Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY March 16, 2023.

Where sure, real estate flipping is a nice celebrity side hustle… but how many Mobile phone service companies do you own bro?

Ryan Reynolds reminded everyone who’s the biggest A-List actor / entrepreneur in town yesterday… as MINT MOBILE sold for up to $1.35 Billion to T-MOBILE (exact price depends on future business targets, mix of 39% cash, 61% stock).

Ryan is thought to have 25% equity in MINT according to Bloomberg, so… yeah you don’t need me to do the math there. He’ll also still stay on as the pitchman for the brand.

Something he still also does for AVIATION GIN, which of course sold for $330 Million in 2020 to DIAGEO (a deal was worth up to $610 Mil depending on performance, and Ryan was a co-owner there too… although I can’t find his exact % stake). So, let’s just say Ryan isn’t sweating a Hollywood Strike right now.

PLUS: MARCH MADNESS kicks off today at noon 🥳. But if you’re not paying for a Cable TV bundle… yeah good luck.

You can stream the CBS games (who also has the FINAL FOUR and Championship game) on PAR+’s $10 tier… but all the games on WBD’s T-Nets (TBS, TNT, TRUTV) are in the bundle.
Your cheapest Streaming option is to subscribe to DISH’s SLING TV for $40 (the price per month), where you get all 4 networks airing games.
If you watch on your computer SLING now allows you to break out the stream to exist on your desktop while you do other things on your computer.
There is also a MARCH MADNESS app you can download… but it typically limits your free viewing to 3 hours total for the whole tournament (otherwise again - need to be a Cable TV bundle subscriber), but it’s good for any T-Nets games you may want to specifically see.

LOOKING AHEAD: MARCH MADNESS will be in the bundle (and CBS/PAR+) until 2032 according to the existing deal 🤯. Eh I mean, it’s not like College Basketball has a young demo or something right?

In terms of what CBS & WBD are paying, it’s just under $900 Million this year (they’re projected to bring in about $1.2 Billion in Ad Revenue for this year’s tourney), and it goes up to $1 Billion in 2025 (the T-Nets pay 70% of the rights fee as they have most of the games).

TODAY ON THE CLIFF: CA’s FIRST REPUBLIC BANK is considering its options, from finding new investment to… a sale, no doubt at a good price. At least the Swiss government stepped in to save CREDIT SUISSE yesterday. Yeah. This isn’t over.

The Fed meets next week to decide whether to rate hike in March… or not, but hey at least the price of US oil is back to where it was before the UKRAINE invasion.

CORRECTION from yesterday: StudioCanal is behind the upcoming Andrew Garfield / Florence Pugh pic We Live In Time, not Film Nation. My apologies for the error.

IN TODAY’S EDITION:

Del Toro sets tentative cast for next live-action pic… also at NETFLIX.
BUZZFEED wants more stories from their writers.
Former TIKTOK US Product head says creator monetization is not in the business model at social platforms.
PAR reteams Farrellys & Jack Black for holiday + Satan pic.
PEACOCK doubles (triples?) down on mystery with new Monk pic, and soaps with 2 more years of Days #DOOL.
CHINA adds Titanic re-release to US Spring film barrage.
DIS+ cancels another series and more.

OH: The US Gov’t is looking to make ~~CHINA~~ BYTEDANCE sell TIKTOK US or face a ban. Which is basically what happened 3 years ago already so… we’ll see how Part II shakes out. Nice to see the US Gov’t jumping in on theatrical’s month of sequels theme.

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