☀️ NETFLIX Starts WB Deal Recon, CHARTER’s Big #CordCutting Reversal
NLC setting more ‘Conjuring’ / HULU enlists Danes, McGregor / ROKU finds profit!
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 Friday, October 31, 2025.
Where CHIPOTLE and SHAKE SHACK are the 2 latest companies to note a pullback in consumer spending — especially among folks earning under $100k and younger demos who are being hit by higher unemployment, student loan repayment and low-wage issues.
CHIPOTLE’s CEO described said twenty-somethings/early thirty-somethings as a “particularly challenged cohort.” Ah, Gen Z loves it when you call them a cohort.
Eh, no worries for you, Hollywood — chances are they’re using a friend’s or parent’s streaming password anyway!
SHOCKINGLY: DISNEY’s TV network carriage negotiations with YOUTUBE TV, which are led by the person who used to handle DISNEY’s TV network carriage negotiations, are not going well. Enjoy your weekend ABC/ESPN blackout, YOUTUBE TV subs!
Joe Flint at the WSJ had a good overview of the issues and increasing leverage YT TV has in the marketplace.
AH: NETFLIX is looking to set up shop in D.C.! 👀 There’s a proposal to establish a 14k sq. ft office space with a sizable reception area and screening room — which is nice, since I heard D.C. just lost one. It would also include a public/street-facing presence, ya know, just to let people know what’s up in the windows.
THEN: Yes, add Kim Kardashian to the list of moon landing deniers. And yes, for the record, she cited things she saw on TIKTOK. And I think the trailer to Fly Me To The Moon.
YUP: The world’s biggest music label, UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, has made its 2nd deal with an AI music company this week.
OH: Here’s GOOGLE’s first (mostly) AI/VEO generated ad — again with these kinds of proclamations, remember this isn’t someone just saying “Hey VEO, give me a GOOGLE travel ad with a fuzzy chicken” and hitting output. A lot of prompt and post work went into this — and I’m gonna say GOOGLE paid whichever humans hold Bill Withers’ music rights a nice check.
HMM: Gayle King may or . . . may not be leaving CBS Mornings when her contract is up in May. Gotta love the dual PENSKE reporting!
ALSO: Gotta love some good earnings season gambling prediction markets trolling — COINBASE’s CEO literally looked at the wagers out there about words people were betting that he would say on the earnings call, and then reeled them off. Well done, sir. ⛳️👏
Yeah, just gonna guess that “someone” who dropped it in the chat totally had money riding on the outcome. Thanks, boss!
AND: If you wanna own a lot more NETFLIX stock in November — buy some shares before Nov. 10, as the company is doing a 10 to 1 stock split, as its current price is around $1,100 a share.
So, for every share of NFLX you own on Nov. 10, you’ll have 9 more shares at the end of the trading day on Fri. Nov 14. (each valued at 10% of the current stock price).
OH: That AI bot training company that was hiring former investment bankers to train bots on how to do financial modeling is now coming for the consulting business — hiring several ex MCKINSEY, BAIN and BOSTON CONSULTING to show a bot how to replace their former co-workers more efficiently for a sweet . . . $110 an hour. 🤑
THE AI CAPEX REPORT: Today’s entries:
AMAZON: $34B in Q3 in capital expenditures, and raised its target to $125B for the year in 2025.
At the start of the year, the expectation was $105B.
In 2024, it was $78B.
It will be greater than $125B in 2026.
APPLE: Is having none of this. Its FY25 wrapped at the end of September, with CapEx just over $12B for the year.
AND: FACEBOOK is joining OPENAI in the brand campaign push on good ol TV. So, you’ll soon see these somewhat holiday-themed ads with the “Hey, you remember FACEBOOK?” gist (that is not the tagline META went with).
The first ads center on reconnecting with friends and family over the holidays . . . where curiously not one person is on their phones when hanging around each other at bars or parties! Huh. Can I live in this fantasy land?
PHEW: It’s a good thing Trump and his Project 2025 mastermind, Russell Vought, essentially gutted and dismembered the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), so now companies trying to bilk people out of their money by picking up old 2nd mortgages that were previously canceled years ago, and telling folks that they now owe 💰 on them . . . basically have no one to prosecute or investigate them.
PLUS: This NIELSEN chart was kinda fun for Halloween. M3GAN 2.0 is #1 on the first week of October chart this year (Oct. 1 to Oct. 7).
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
I’ll go in the middle on KPop Demon Hunters on an . . . unenthusiastic weekend for the movie business.
NEW POD
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
