☀️ "Sports Cartel" in Crosshairs as Cord-Cutting Surges in Q4
NETFLIX enters medical procedural biz / VERVE drama goes up a notch / More DIS India JV scale context
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKED-IN if ya like) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY, Mar. 1, 2024.
Will I see you at the wedding party this weekend? If you have to ask which one . . . well, we run in different circles my dear reader.
I’m talking, of course, about the pre-wedding event for the 28-year-old son of Asia’s richest person and new (soon-to-be) 67% owner of DISNEY’s India business, Mukesh Ambani.
Zuck, Gates, Pichai and the chairman of Saudi’s oil business Yasir Al Rumayyan will all be doing shots of Jamo at the bar (maybe Tim is going to attend via Vision Pro?), and James Murdoch, Stephen Schwarzman and . . . Ivanka Trump are also at least on the invite list. Plus, enjoy some tricks illusions by David Blaine, and a RiRi performance to get down to on the dance floor.
The groom-to-be, Anant, is one of Mukesh’s three children, all of whom are on the board of his company, so HBO — get that Succession: Mumbai writers room going soon (although, uh, to note — the actual wedding isn’t for another 4+ months, which I’m sure will be in Vegas).
OH: Elon is suing OPEN AI for abandoning its principals. Ya know, I’m just gonna leave that one there . . . although he says he’d give any monetary award to charity (insert your own ideas here), which indicates the motives may be to have to make OPENAI show in court the “research” that has created the product.
AND: IOWA’s Caitlin Clark confirmed she will enter the WNBA draft after this season (she had one more year of eligibility due to Covid-era changes if she wanted it). So women’s March Madness definitely went up a small notch.
ALSO: META is not going to renew news publisher deals in the U.S. and Australia in case, um, anyone still had any ideas to the contrary.
META says use of the dedicated News tab declined 80% last year, and hey, it’s not like there’s any major news event going on this year that people will be constantly posting about to people they went to high school with, right?🤔
THEN: 21 YANKEES games will stream on AMAZON PRIME this season (or about 13% of the total — gotta love the MLB’s ‘robust’ game schedule). The list of games is here. AMAZON has about a 15% stake in the team’s YES NETWORK RSN.
PLUS: Just sharing a little new do-good from the INEVITABLE FOUNDATION, as it’s launching a grants program for any disabled 18-25 year olds in the LA area pursuing careers in screenwriting and filmmaking and experiencing financial hardship.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL RESULTS
I’m going with the close to $90 Mil crowd, but a lotta bulls this weekend for sure.
IN THIS EDITION
As DISH and FUBO report Q4 results, a look at just how much that cable bundle melted in Q4 vs. a year ago #notgreatbob.
NETFLIX enters yet another new genre.
The VERVE agency drama deepens
Some additional numbers on just how much the DISNEY-RELIANCE India JV will dominate the market, plus more casting and TV project news, a look at the new things to stream and watch this weekend, and more.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
