☀️ NETFLIX dumps Basic tier in CANADA, why US could be next
What the World is Stealing - new Movie Piracy chart / Fmr CAA Agent ties to SBF & FTX / CUBS next MLB team to go DtoC Streaming
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY June 27, 2023.
Where uh… are ya’ll ok out there? I think there was more TV/Film news on Christmas Day last year.
But hey - that just means more time to wish you a Happy PARAMOUNT+ WITH SHOWTIME launch day! Although I don’t even wanna think about the skywriting promotional costs… 😬.
TO NOTE: PAR+ additionally purged Inside Amy Schumer and a bunch of NICK Series (and a couple of recent Original Movies) to mark the occasion.
AND: This NY Times read on former longtime CAA Agent Michael Kives and his tight new-ish venture capital business K5’s connections to FTX’s founder SBF is getting some 👀 this week, which includes details around how:
FTX’s bankruptcy lawyers are now suing to claw back at least some of the $700 Million investment that FTX made in Kives’ VC fund called K5…
$250 Million of which reportedly went right to Kives and his K5 partner Michael Baum.
In return, Kives served as a connector for SBF in celeb circles… although apparently not to Warren Buffett, even though Kives dropped his name on a few occasions only to have Warren publicly say “Nah brah…” (essentially).
ALSO: Kudos to Jon Hamm and Anna Osceola who reportedly got married this weekend at the Big Sur retreat featured in the Mad Men finale (where they initially met - Anna had a small role in the episode), according to TMZ.
PLUS: Last night LSU won its 2nd College Championship this year, defeating FLORIDA in the finals, and joining LSU Women’s Basketball in the 2023 collegiate winner’s circle. But hey - no pressure LSU Football.
OH: The Wakeup is coming to LA! Finally, I get to wake up at 445am like I dreamed of doing in college. Ari will be cool with letting me write from his morning sauna right?
I’ll be in town July 12 to 18 seeing some friends, meeting some folks who have previously gotten in touch, and… of course still doing this thing - but drop a note (seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com) if you’d like to get together IRL (always off the record of course)… so you too can walk away saying “Wow that Wakeup guy sure does talk with his hands a lot…” 🤌
🥷 WHAT THE WORLD IS STEALING
I’m launching a new Weekly Global Piracy chart feature in The Wakeup with the folks at MUSO, an industry leader in tracking illegal streaming and downloads across the globe, who also help their clients (including folks like DISNEY, CAA and AMAZON) discover new market and revenue opportunities globally.
i.e. if people are stealing your content in certain regions... perhaps there's an opportunity there for greater business 🤑.
Each week, MUSO tallies which Movies & TV Series are most-streamed on illegal sites, “stream-ripped” and downloaded across websites and torrents globally to show which are garnering the greatest share of the Piracy market… along with some other insights on specific markets which I’ll include where pertinent.
Although to note - the vast majority of piracy in 2023 is via Illegal Streaming. Downloads are so 2002 🙄.
Also very 2023 - NETFLIX is topping this chart too at the moment…