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☀️2024 L.A. Production #s Show Exodus is Very Real

FOX gets LIV / AMAZON brings back Tom Green / NBA & NHL ratings slide continues

Sean McNulty

Jan 16

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Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY, January 16, 2024.

Where Main Street will be free of cars at Sundance this year, so Richard — leave the PRADA loafers at home and please wear sensible footwear!

But wait, how are we supposed to know who the important people are?

I guess look for the robes 🤷‍♂️. Via Giphy

AND: TUBI is getting the Super Bowl! Well, it’s still on FOX — but it’ll also stream for free on TUBI (and air on TELEMUNDO).

ALSO: Here are your WGA Award nominees. Winners to be announced on Feb. 15 (as of now).

HMM: Nearly 100M of the 202M songs available on popular music streaming services were listened to less than 10 times in 2024 according to LUMINATE.

WELL: One of the 15+ advertisers waiting for a slot in the Super Bowl got a break — STATE FARM will no longer be advertising in the big game this year. The company has been dropping home insurance policies in California over time, including 1,600 in the Pacific Palisades in July alone.

THEN: Gotta love that TIKTOK’s CEO Shou Chew will be hobnobbing on the dais at the Inauguration on Monday along with Elon, Zuck, Jeff, and Sam. Can’t wait to see what dance they all do together!

AND: It seems Tim Cook somehow found a last-minute flight to D.C. as well (enjoy that layover in Minneapolis).

YUP: MICROSOFT and GOOGLE are “changing the ways” they charge for AI according to The Information (Hollywood — have you considered this term as a swap for #PriceHikes?).

MICROSOFT is a bit broader, in that it’s giving options to corporate customers to pay by tool usage essentially vs. a flat fee.
GOOGLE is taking a bit more of a . . . blunt approach, making AI a default feature of its corporate Workspace product instead of an expensive add-on — and then charging more for that Workspace product.
- Basically — the cable TV model (everyone pays even though not everyone uses it) and that seemed to work out great, right? Wait, why are you all laughing at me?

PHEW: Don’t worry everybody, major U.S. banks are doing great! But yeah . . . those Biden years were really terrible for business folk, huh? Ahem. 🙄

MEANWHILE: On the, uh, other side of the country’s economic spectrum — (mostly) lower-income Americans paid $39B in “junk fees” in 2024 alone on payday loans.

These are fees on top of the interest they pay on the loans. Don’t worry, capitalism is working out just fine — no regulation needed here, folks.

OH BOY: Deaths in the U.S. are expected to surpass births by 2033 according to a new CBO report. Yeah, that’s not good.

A year ago, it projected that would happen by 2040 . . . but, uh, upcoming changes in the ‘immigration situation’ seem to be changing that thinking.

BUT: Good news — Red No. 3 coloring is finally being banned for use in food by the FDA due to cancer-causing concerns. Er, well, it’ll be banned in 2 years . . . so eat up while ya can folks!

It’s been banned in cosmetics for 30 years due to cancer concerns, but ya know — cosmetics only go on your skin. Ingesting it is of course is a much safer activity.
- It’s present in everything from candy corn to heartburn pills to BETTY CROCKER sprinkles — and yes, all it does is make something red.
- By category in grocery stores, it’s present in:
  - 26% of baking decorations and dessert toppings
  - 16% of chewing gum and mints
  - 13% of candy
  - 11% of cookies and biscuits
#FunFact: Natural replacements would include crushed bugs or beet juice.

THEN: CVS, CIGNA and good ol’ UNITED HEALTHCARE jacked up the price of medications to the tune of $7.3B over 5 years according to a new FTC report (including those for cancer and HIV). Can’t wait for the PR retort trying to convince folks that no, these middlemen companies are actually saving you money . . . a sentiment I’m sure every American would agree with.

FINALLY: I found some good advice in these 35 simple physical & mental health tips from medical and academic professionals in the NYT about things they incorporate in their daily lives, so I figured I’d share here as well (the thing about teeth brushing is 100% a smart habit to change!).