Transcript: Netflix's New Sports Playbook

The streamer enters the ring, Bob Iger exerts creative control and the Oscars

Elaine Low (00:04):

Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. It's Thursday, March 7th, and I'm Elaine Low, taking the reins this week because Sean McNulty is ... Well, he's actually out here in LA with us, but California Sean is a busy man. The benefit of being here is that he gets to wake up at the crack of dawn to write The Wakeup newsletter every day, instead of at a reasonable hour. Isn't that right, Sean?

Sean McNulty (00:23):

Yeah. California Sean does not host podcasts. He's a guest only. That's part of my contract here, so it's the way it goes.

Elaine Low (00:29):

Of course, we're also joined by Richard Rushfield, who will be attending The Oscars this week. Richard, I want to be the first reporter to ask you this. But Sunday, who are you wearing?

Richard Rushfield (00:37):

Who am I wearing? Well I'll tell you, I forget who they're renting me. Maybe different designers within one tux. The one tux I ever bought, I bought many, many, many years ago so it's not remotely appropriate for me. I went to rent my tux and I asked them, because I've had to do this a few times in the last few years, I said, "How much is it to just buy it?" They said to me, "Well you know, the reason people rent tuxes is because they're size fluctuates a lot and they want to be prepared for that." I let them know I will not be fluctuating.

Sean McNulty (01:17):

Not a problem.

Elaine Low (01:17):

How dare they insinuate that?

Sean McNulty (01:19):

Exactly.

Richard Rushfield (01:20):

But probably right that I should stick with renting rather than buying.

Elaine Low (01:24):

Okay. Well, I look forward to your #outfitoftheday on Instagram, Richard.

Richard Rushfield (01:28):

Yes.

Elaine Low (01:28):

All right. We're going to talk more about The Oscars shortly. But first, a quick reminder that The Ankler team is now regularly contributing to LAist, which some of you may know as KPCC, Southern California Public Radio's flagship radio station and digital news site. You can hear folks like Sean, Richard, Peter Kiefer, Janice Min and myself, every Entertainment Thursday on Morning Edition, Air Talk and All Things Considered.

(01:51):

Today, we're going to get into Netflix's live sports ambitions, Bob Iger's comments about killing a few Disney films, and other highlights from the Morgan Stanley media conference, as well as Richard's thoughts on hopeful spots in Hollywood's future, and of course, a little Oscar's previous.

(02:06):

Let's get started with Netflix. I was, as you guys know because I can't stop talking about it, in Vegas last week for the Netflix Slam, which was their big tennis exhibition match between living legend Raphael Nadal and the next gen superstar Carlos Alcaraz. It was a very big to-do. Co-CEO Greg Peters was there, a bunch of Netflix execs. It was a sellout crowd of nearly 10,000 people at Mandalay Bay. This was a big presumably expensive undertaking for Netflix, a company that continually asserts that there's not an interest in participating in live sports in the way that it's broadcast and streaming brethren do. But it clearly does have some interest in it, because it just announced this week that it will host a special boxing event between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, on July 20th at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

(02:52):

Sean, what do you make of this?

Sean McNulty (02:53):

Is the F1 involved in this one, in the boxing match? Is this a racing boxing match, or is this just boxing only?

Elaine Low (03:00):

I think this is just boxing. I don't think they're going to play golf, and then run over and hop into a cart, and then start duking it out.

Sean McNulty (03:06):

Yeah. I wrote about it in The Wakeup this morning. Yeah, it's the Netflix punch card of, "We're not in sports, but." Now we've hit tennis, we've hit golf, and now we've hit boxing. I'm curious to see what is left. The bowling tournament should be a lot of fun.

Elaine Low (03:20):

Nine sports, you get your 10th sport free. Is that what the deal is now you think?

Sean McNulty (03:22):

Yeah, I think so. I'm curious to see what happens. Then they get a real deal. Then they get an actual license from a league.

(03:28):

Yeah, the hits keep coming, Elaine. WWE clock is ticking. Obviously, January 1, they're going weekly with the WWE Raw. They have the Netflix is a Joke happening in May, so probably some more live streaming there. Not sports, but again, this-

Elaine Low (03:42):

They live streamed the SAG Awards the other week.

Sean McNulty (03:44):

Right, that was exactly. This about, almost a once-a-month cadence here, Elaine, of a live event on Netflix. Which if you were to say that two years ago, you'd have been, "What are you talking about?" They're moving fast.

Elaine Low (03:55):

Do we feel like these are all one-off tests, just to make sure that the live programming is running okay? Is this a lead up to making sure viewers expect a weekly thing once WWE launches in 2025?