☀️PAR Eyes LEGENDARY Next In Deal Shopping Spree
YT, NFLX’s new NIELSEN records / NEXSTAR’s $6.2B TV deal / AMAZON sets Costner, Gyllenhaal pic
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 Tuesday, August 19, 2025.
Where I gotta say I did not have MICROSOFT’s MS coming out on top over NBC in the . . . 30-year battle for the name of a cable TV news network. Hopefully, things will now finally start taking off for Bill Gates, too.
So, enjoy your MS NOW channel, America (unrelated to MS WORD or MS EXCEL), and the rest of you can add MSNBC merch to what’s lining up to be a pretty killer Ankler Halloween 2026 dead media brand logo party (you’ll be able to spot the real hipsters, as they’ll be wearing PARAMOUNT T-shirts with “A VIACOM Company” underneath the mountain logo).
Ah, wait, sorry — I mean enjoy the, uh, My Source for News, Opinion, and the World channel (A VERSANT Joint). . . a name that got a “Seriously, bro?” from fellow VERSANT network, the Consumer News and Business Channel.
AND: Your MTV VMA performers will include Sabrina Carpenter, sombr, Alex Warren and J Balvin — plus career recognition awards for Busta Rhymes and Ricky Martin . . . aka the only people most CBS viewers will recognize, outside of host LL Cool J, naturally (Honey, why is the the NCIS guy hosting a music show?). See you after the NFL on Sunday, Sept. 7.
THEN: The NY COMEDY FEST added 100+ new shows to its November lineup, including Hannibal Buress, Chris Gethard and Matteo Lane.
OH: The WWE is going back into movie theaters for its next event — you can buy tix now for the Clash in Paris on Sun. August 31 at 2 p.m. The WWE also did this for SummerSlam earlier this month, although I didn’t see any box office data out there anecdotally or otherwise.
ALSO: Yeah, broadcast TV has had better months — here is your NIELSEN Gauge for July 2025, with streaming hitting a new share high of 47.3% (Cable & Broadcast was 40.6% — is it NFL season yet?).
YOUTUBE hit a new high as well at 13.4%.
Note that nothing on YOUTUBE individually makes the Top 10 most-streamed series/shows list (which NETFLIX dominates).
Also, remember that the YOUTUBE number includes the streaming of music, podcasts, how-to videos, Daily Show / John Oliver videos, etc.
NETFLIX (8.8%) #SquidGame and ROKU CHANNEL (2.8%) also hit all-time high monthly shares.
Note that HBO MAX, PEACOCK and PAR+ viewing done by people who subscribe to / access those services through ROKU gets counted in the ROKU number.
WOW: CHATGPT really does learn fast — OPENAI is offering a far lower-priced version in India called “CHATGPT GO” that’s about $4.60 a month. Huh, wonder where it got the “GO” branding idea from . . . #ItsNotTVItsHBO.
The $20 a month CHATGPT Premium product (with more features) will still be available in the market as well.
PLUS: Private members club SOHO HOUSE is keeping it on brand and . . . going private after a 4-year run as a public company.
The buyers are a group led by MCR HOTELS, which operates some HILTON and MARRIOTT properties, as well as the Gramercy Park Hotel, TWA Hotel and Royalton in NYC. The company is going private at a $9 a share valuation.
The company made $1.2B of revenue in 2024, and had -$163M in net loss for the year. Those numbers were somewhat similar in 2023 ($1.14B / -$118M), and not great in 2022 either ($972M / -$220M).
FINALLY: The talented Ashley Cullins of the Dealmakers column at The Ankler has a new book out today! A tale of how the Scream phenomenon came to be . . . and came back again to rule the horror roost here in the 2020s, woven through detailed interviews with all of the key players.
Ashley has assured me that it’s totally safe, even for people like me who frequently close their eyes during horror movies. Buy here on AMAZON, or if you like buying your books elsewhere — PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE has all the links here in one handy spot.
IN THIS EDITION:
As PAR / LEGENDARY deal talk heats up, don’t forget about that other deal LEGENDARY was also considering this summer . . . and how that could potentially play in the mix here — plus take a look at the overall state of the LEGENDARY slate ahead.
Take one final dive into the NETFLIX H1 25 view numbers to see how the international films growth stacked up to the U.S. pics in H1 . . . as well as some WWE int’l view data that I haven’t seen out there to this point (with some comps to the RAW data I’ve reported on here this year).
This new NEXSTAR deal is creating a local TV behemoth (that The CW’s owner is counting on FCC changes to accommodate) — the reach numbers here are pretty 🤯 if it goes through, with a lot of ramifications for your local TV news ahead.
Plus, AMAZON and APPLE are still buying away in movies, more creator-world series coming your way, NETFLIX keeps the renewal stamp freshly inked and much more in the day in TV and movie news.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
