☀️WBD Stiff Arms PSKY Again — What's Ahead
NETFLIX's muted 'Dead Man' debut / Huge WBD exec 💰 ahead / UNI ditches 'Soulm8te'
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 Wednesday, December 17, 2025.
Where yeah, I know it’s only the NBA Cup — but New York’s men’s sports teams haven’t won anything in a long while . . . so a kudos to the KNICKS for at least bringing home a trophy in 2025!
I’m sure the players will all enjoy their $530,000 — here’s how they plan to spend it . . . from uh, buying watches, to supporting kids in the Dominican Republic, to paying one’s rent . . . depending on one’s usual salary.
YUP: Clear your plans for Jan. 30! Hear Melania talk more in 1 minute than you’ve heard her speak in 2 years publicly outside of a podium speech. Thanks, AMAZON!
AH: FIFA is now making about 1,000 tickets for each men’s World Cup ⚽️ match priced at $60 each available to club supporters for every game (about 500 per team). The other, say, 70k to 80k seats that are not in the top 4 rows of the stadium will be $3,000.
Ok, the $3,000 part is a 🤏 joke, but the top 4 rows thing . . . may not be far off. Tickets for the 2026 men’s World Cup are running about 5x the price of what they were in Qatar in 2022.
THEN: Here are all of your Oscars shortlists across 12 categories, including international film, casting, documentary, song, cinematography and others . . . and more importantly — here is what Katey & Chris have to say about them in a brand new Prestige Junkie podcast.
OH: The 3 FCC Committee members are going before the Senate today . . . and I’m guessing it’s not for FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s thoughts on the CFP games this weekend (keeping my eye out for the TIKTOK video).
So, look forward to the Ted Cruz fireworks, with an Ana Navarro assist, Olivia Trusty likely enjoying a 🍿 and a 🤌 Jimmy Kimmel monologue tonight.
While NEXSTAR and TEGNA stations may not be airing the proceedings, I’m sure they’ll be on at the respective executive offices.
You can tune in to C-SPAN 3 (3??) this morning if inclined.
PLUS: The CBS Erika Kirk/Bari Weiss special got 1.9M viewers on Saturday night, with a 3.5M lead-in from the post-game on the ARMY/NAVY 🏈 game (7.3M).
Roughly 1.6M of those viewers were 55+.
The 1.9M was +63% from the previous Saturday on CBS . . . which probably says more about the success of that programming — a broadcast of an animated movie called Reindeer in Here (🤷♂️) which did 1.2M.
Programming anything on Saturday at 8 p.m. outside of sports in 2025 is a bit of a fool’s errand, much less with someone who was already all over FOX NEWS last week (arguably the core demo for the guest) . . . so, moving on.
We’ll see how many takers Trump finds for an hour-long address across the broadcast networks tonight at 9 p.m., talking about how great the country is doing.
AND: Yeah, that AI snake has to be almost out of tail by now . . . OPENAI is in talks with AMAZON about a $10B investment, and to use some of its chips to power its servers, according to The Information.
OPENAI already committed to spending $38B over 7 years on AWS services . . . as our flywheel o’ spending continues in AI.
GOOD NEWS: You have more ways to lose your money in gambling predictions markets — ROBINHOOD is expanding its markets offering to include thousands more cultural, political, sports and economy bets markets.
It’s also giving you a
gambling addict buddyAI assistant called Cortex (yikes) to help inform your “predictions” that will totally win that money you need to make your mortgage payment next month after the NINERS didn’t cover the spread last week.
ALSO: NETFLIX is enlisting NBCU’s unofficial spokesman, Snoop Dogg, for its NFL halftime festivities on Christmas Day. He’ll perform at the half of the LIONS vs. VIKINGS game in Minneapolis.
SEND YOUR THOUGHTS!
Is there something you’d like to hear me get all worked up about on the year-end Ankler Agenda pod? (I’m due for a good rant.)
Email Agenda pod host Elaine Low at elaine@theankler.com with your 2026 questions/predictions that you’d love to hear Elaine, Natalie and I dive into (off the record/no in-pod attribution is fine).
WBD outlook, Theatrical Movies in 2026, Creator Economy predictions, what’s gonna be on CBS Mondays at 8 p.m. next fall — all questions and topics are welcome!
#ProTip: It’s even more entertaining to watch the pod on YOUTUBE as my hands get even more animated than usual when I begin predicting things.
FINALLY:
If, like me, you could use a little laughter therapy this week — this Roy Wood Jr. HULU special was pretty great, with a nice through-thread about connection in our age of increasing disconnect.
WBD AUCTION — Kushner out, WBD officially passes on $30 a share
Well, that was fast. On both counts.
Here’s what’s afoot — including apparently a PSKY payday for Zaz put on the table, increased “synergies” and other new details — plus more importantly the timeline and events ahead.
Well, even more importantly — a look at the huge paydays WBD execs will be getting in golden parachutes, including over half a billion for David Zaslav, and over nine-figures for other C-suite members. Each. Not bad for 4 years of work.