Transcript: Tubi Puts Hollywood on Edge

How FAST services are upending the Streaming Wars

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Sean McNulty (00:04):

Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty of The Wakeup newsletter here at The Ankler, here on the Jersey Shore on Thursday, August 15th. I'm joined in Los Angeles by Elaine Low. Sadly, Richard Rushfield had to go see about a baguette or something in Europe. Elaine, am I getting that right?

Elaine Low (00:21):

I expect to see his food blog launch shortly. Yes.

Sean McNulty (00:24):

Yeah, I'm expecting full chorizo reports next time he's on the pod or something.

David Lidsky (00:28):

An undisclosed country, I think would be…

Sean McNulty (00:31):

Yeah. Didn't ask any questions beyond that. Yeah, exactly. His food tour. That is, of course, David Lidsky, who's joining us back for the festivities this week. Nice to see you, David.

David Lidsky (00:39):

Nice to see you. Thank you.

Sean McNulty (00:40):

Nice to see you not on an earnings call this month for once.

David Lidsky (00:45):

Yeah, we have a brief respite.

Sean McNulty (00:47):

A brief respite? Hey, we got a few months for the next ones. Come on, now. That trauma is out of our August. We're in a different mode anyway, but a bit of a quiet week I think here, Elaine. People are on vacation. A lot of your reporting calls from people's vacation homes this week, or I dunno, slowing down a little bit here.

Elaine Low (01:03):

Yeah, you're going to give them a lot of straight to voicemail this week. Straight to-

Sean McNulty (01:05):

Voicemails. Okay.

Elaine Low (01:09):

“Reporter, no thank you. Not when I'm out at the beach.”

Sean McNulty (01:13):

Yeah, a lot of Hamptons and Malibu area codes coming up on your caller IDs. Exactly. Yeah. So mid-August malaise, I guess we'll call it. It's funny, having done this for a few years now, a few of them cycles August traditionally, David, and the business has been... the quiet month. By mid-month it gets pretty quiet, but the past two years, last year, the strikes were going on, so there was no quiet going on there. And the year before that was kind of, well, the fears of recession and advertising collapse was starting kind of in the fall of 2022, so this year feels like it's kind of so far the ones we used to recognize, David, I think.

David Lidsky (01:48):

Yeah. Well, I wouldn't be upset if things-

Sean McNulty (01:50):

Oh, I'm not complaining. To be clear-

David Lidsky (01:51):

We don't need that kind of drama right now, I would say.

Sean McNulty (01:55):

Totally fine if it stays this way.

Elaine Low (01:57):

It feels exceptionally quiet this summer. Yes, because last summer maybe perhaps my perception is skewed because I was covering the picket lines so often, but also it just feels like it's quiet in a way where people aren't satisfied or secure with where they are, but everybody is still out on vacation.

Sean McNulty (02:15):

To be clear, there was movement on Paramount. Elaine, probably lead with this of course, the $500 million of "cost savings," where the final s is definitely not saved for you, was heading at Paramount. The initial round here of 2000ish layoffs coming in the U.S. alone, about 15 percent of the U.S. workforce at Paramount started rolling out this week. About 1,800 of those will be happening in the next six weeks or so by the end of September, they said. And then the rest of the 10 percent will be... through the end of the year, always fun for that environment to be happening. God, I love that environment of, let's just see if we cut too much in this department or can we still get a few more in this area, thinking coming through there, but where are things starting here at Paramount this week and the big job cuts?