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Biss criticizes government inertia in NU Political Union town hall
Former Mayor Daniel Biss, the Democratic nominee for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, criticized governmental stagnation in a town hall hosted by the Northwestern Political Union on Wednesday. Days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Biss told audience members that lawmakers must move beyond performatively asserting their political stances and instead shift toward passing realistic legislation...
GUEST COLUMN: Rebecca Bextel’s baseball bat has no place in Wyoming politics
Last week, I attended Rebecca Bextel’s town hall meeting in Lovell with a fairly simple purpose: I was there to listen, take a few notes and write an article for
Omaha business owner pushes mayor for earlier path to trades
Mayor John Ewing Jr. held a town hall Monday night, updating residents on public safety, affordable housing and small business opportunities.
The connection between diabetes, cardio-kidney-metabolic health
University Health specialists will discuss how heart, kidney and metabolic conditions are connected and how coordinated care can help at the next KSAT Community Town Hall
Live updates: Trump to rally for Byron Donalds in Florida
Annie Andrews, South Carolina’s Democratic Senate nominee, will hold a town hall this afternoon as she attempts to defeat Republican Sen. Darline Graham.
Faster to Science: A Letter to the Science Community
NASA Science wants to deliver science faster, so we’re changing how we compete and select missions. On Monday, October 26, we will host a virtual NASA Science Town Hall.
Jackson museum to hold ribbon cutting
JACKSON — The Jackson Historical Society will hold a ribbon cutting Saturday at 10 a.m. for its Town Hall relocation, renovation and restoration project, with an open house from 10
Rogers argues El-Sayed is vulnerable with 2 traditionally Democratic blocs as Obama heads to Michigan
Mike Rogers argues Abdul El-Sayed may lose Black and Jewish voters in Michigan's Senate race during a Sean Hannity town hall on key demographics.
Vance faces tough questions on Iran war, immigration and more in CBS town hall
The string of sharp queries, some from voters who said they had supported him and President Donald Trump, previewed the rocky path Vance may face trying to answer for the administration’s record if he runs for president himself in 2028.
Top takeaways from JD Vance town hall: Costly gas, DC corruption, immigration hot takes and the war
JD Vance defended Trump administration policies on gas prices, Iran's nuclear program, and H-1B visas while blasting Abdul El-Sayed at a CBS town hall.
Abdul El-Sayed disavows Muslim Brotherhood and criticizes implications that he has ‘dual loyalty’
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Saturday disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political movement, during a heated exchange at a town hall.
7 highlights from JD Vance's CBS News town hall: Iran, immigration, corruption and 2028 plans
'A very serious health concern': Opponents to Ahwatukee data center share worries at town hall
Dozens of metro Phoenix residents shared concerns about data centers with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes at a town hall in Mesa.
Talarico refutes skeptics at CNN Town Hall
Jeff Zeleny breaks down Texas Democrat James Talarico’s performance at a CNN Town Hall, where voters questioned him on religion, abortion and more.
Ubisoft plans cuts at German studios, adding to wave of workforce reductions
Ubisoft is planning to reduce its workforce in Germany, where it operates a trio of studios, by about 100 workers, Game File has learned. The company wants to offer employees buyouts to, should enough people accept, avoid having to lay anyone off. “In Germany, we initiated discussions with the Works Council last week regarding a proposed voluntary departure plan across Ubisoft Dusseldorf, Ubisoft Berlin & Ubisoft Mainz,” a company rep told Game File. A “works council” is a union-like group representing employees. “The voluntary plan is the primary measure being proposed to support the intended organizational changes,” the Ubisoft rep added. The company declined to confirm the scale of the potential headcount cut. Of the impacted studios, Mainz might be the best known to the public. It leads development of the Anno series and shipped the well-reviewed strategy game Anno 117: Pax Romana in November 2025. Berlin and Dusseldorf operate as support studios within Ubisoft’s creative network. Berlin recently supported the development of Rainbow Six Siege and the Rayman Legends Retold remake. Dusseldorf also contributed to those projects, as well as The Settlers and Ubisoft-branded escape rooms. Dusseldorf is the biggest of the three studios, with some 400+ workers, compared to just over 100 at the other two, a source familiar with the reductions and the teams told Game File. More than half of these new reductions of about 100 people are expected to happen at Dusseldorf. The planned cuts were announced at a town hall for the German studios on Tuesday of last week. In an email follow-up, the studio group’s managing director, Benedikt Grindel, said the cuts were intended to “best position our German studios for the future... with a clearer focus on their role, capabilities and organizational setup needed for the work ahead.” The email was an echo of the past. In January 2025, Grindel had emailed the Ubisoft developers in his region (or studio “zone”) to explain that a round of 185 cuts at the time, including about 65 at Dusseldorf, were “essential to improve our operational efficiency and ensure the long-term sustainability of our studios, the zone and the company.” A half-decade of continued job cuts Ubisoft has been aggressively cutting its headcount for years. At the end of September 2022, it had 20,729 workers. By the end of March 2026, that total was down to 16,590. Studio management is trying to trim costs as it grapples with a changing industry and a drought of releases, let alone hits. The company announced earlier this year that it had reduced its costs since 2022 by “nearly €325 million” ($362m) and planned to lower them through 2028 by another €180 million ($200m). In June the company said it was closing down its Winnipeg and Belgrade studios and cutting roles in its Barcelona team. Even commercial and creative success hasn’t spared studios from this ongoing company-wide contraction. As Game File was nailing down details around the proposed cuts in Germany, Ubisoft management was informing workers of cuts in its Singapore studio, which shipped a hit remake of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag this past July. Some 70 positions in Singapore are being eliminated “to align the studio with upcoming production needs,” per a company rep’s statement to Game File. In early 2024, a large team in the Singapore studio launched the multiplayer pirate game Skull & Bones. It performed poorly but has been supported with regular content updates since. Many of Ubisoft’s studios around the world are heavily subsidized via regional grants and tax breaks. Singapore had been among them for years, but received no such local assistance in the 12 months ending this past March. News of the Singapore cuts broke today alongside word that Ubisoft is also proposing the closure of RedLynx, pending negotiations with officials. The Finnish studio behind the motorbike series Trials was founded in 2000 and sold to Ubisoft in 2011. As reported by VGC (and corroborated by Game File), Ubisoft management told employees it could not come up with a new, sustainable assignment for RedLynx. The 2025 workforce at Ubisoft Dusseldorf were straight-up cuts. This time, Ubisoft is hoping the reductions at its trio of German studios will largely come from workers taking a payout to leave. The company offered such voluntary dismissals at its Massive Entertainment studio (The Division) a year ago. For the German studios’ buyouts this time around, Ubisoft and the Works Council had discussed a formula that’d pay a worker’s monthly salary multiplied by 1.5 and by the number of years they’ve worked at the company, according to Game File sources. The formula is still subject to negotiations with the Works Council and has not yet been part of an official offer to workers. It could be adjusted up or down, and it could be supplemented with additional bonuses. Asked about the floated payout formula, a Ubisoft rep told Game File, “The terms of a potential voluntary departure program remain subject to negotiation with employee representatives. No final agreement has been reached, and we won’t comment on specific proposals while discussions are ongoing.” Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: Epic’s AI adventures Epic Games (Fortnite, the Unreal engine) is all-in on using AI to try to transform the way it makes video games and game-making tools. It’s leaders appear to be undeterred by any resistance among gamers and some game developers around generative AI—and instead emboldened by advances, particularly in AI-assisted programming. A recap of the last three days: On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Epic management told workers last week that development of an upcoming game combining Star Wars and Marvel characters would be “AI first.” Employees would be expected to use AI models such as Claude to code the game. A manager told Epic’s developers there would be “[n]o more hand-written code” and that art for the game would be “generated with full AI workflows,” per the outlet. Just ahead of that story running, Epic founder Tim Sweeney tweeted: “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration. The aim isn’t to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal.” In a follow-up, Sweeney predicted that most game development processes would be at least three times faster a year from now than they were in January 2026, thanks to AI. To a person on X who told him he was failing to read the room, Sweeney said: “Much of the room wants it to be 2016 again, but it’s not. Our job, as the provider of tools and technology to much of the industry, is to design for the present that is and the future that will soon be.” On Wednesday, Epic announced it was releasing a faster launcher for its Epic Games Store marketplace. It did so by stating in a blog post as clear as could be that the launcher is an AI-enabled, vibe-coded project: Programming is hard. So, instead of doing that, we vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher that’s way faster and more responsive than the current one, and has a new look. Programming is hard? That was unexpected phrasing from a company founded by a legendarily great programmer. Back in 2011, Sweeney told me that he’d picked up programming quickly as a kid and rejoiced at the power it gave him. “I could look at any program that anybody else had written and, with enough effort, build something cooler.” Item 3: The Xbox Labs experiment (and one of the people behind it) Microsoft’s Xbox division, which is flooding the zone with announcements lately, yesterday revealed a new internal tech-tinkering team called Xbox Labs. In the words of Xbox boss Asha Sharma Labs is “a small group of game makers, engineers and scientists whose job is to turn emerging ideas into things our players and developers can experience.” Conventional wisdom coming out of the announcement is that Labs is a team that’ll focus on ideas driven by generative AI. In her announcement, Sharma cited some of the dizzying achievements in tech and gaming over the past month as AI agents and other AI tools have been deployed to swiftly figure out how popular games work, then rebuild them and mix them up. She mentioned seeing ”games rapidly decompiled and rebuilt to run on hardware they were never originally designed to support” and said “[p]erhaps more surprisingly, we’ve seen many of the biggest games in the world have been remixed into the source code of another.” (Minecraft plus Elden Ring, for example, or Fortnite + Super Monkey Ball + Overwatch + Diablo + others.) Sharma also cited the work of Windows PC games being ported to run in browsers, a seeming reference to a recent AI-assisted fan port of Halo. Or perhaps Call of Duty or GTA. Sharma didn’t use the specific term “AI” in her memo, but she came close, citing AI “agents” and their potential for game-making tools that Labs could help craft: I think XBOX has an important role to play here. Coding became the first major workload for agents because they can write, run, and test software. Games share many of those same properties, and people spend more than 72 billion hours a year playing XBOX games, roughly five times the estimated time spent writing code worldwide. We’ve spent 25 years learning how to make great games, and I want our game makers to help shape what these new technologies make possible. As we learn, we’ll share the tools we build with developers across the industry, just as we always have. When I asked an Xbox rep if Labs was an AI-centric team, they said genAI was not the focus, describing it as having a broader mandate for using new tech in new ways in gaming. As an example, they pointed to Xbox’s recently launched disc-to-digital gaming usage rights program. Microsoft didn’t specifically name anyone involved full-time in Xbox Labs yesterday, but on social media and LinkedIn, I spotted Adrian Mato IDing himself as leading the creatio of tools at Labs and talking up the launch. Mato first caught my attention in late September, when he said on X that he was “starting to build a new team at Xbox focused on products and tools for how games get built and distributed as agentic tools become more capable.” At the time, he framed AI-based tools as a supplement to traditional game dev tools. “I don’t think we need to replace them,” he said. Since then, he’s publicly shown interest in AI and in games. He’s recently spent some of his X feed marveling at the power of AI agents and praising the lighting in the latest Gears of War. Following the Labs announcement yesterday, he enthused about the Xbox Labs’ stylish landing page. He wrote: “We built some fun tools to art-direct shaders in real time, experimented with interactive ASCII art, and sprinkled in lots of tiny details. “Move your mouse to leave a colorful trail that reveals the original footage, or interact with the video to trigger bursts of particles. “A lot of love went into making it all feel just right. “More to come”
What to watch in the CNN & Jubilee town hall with James Talarico
James Talarico’s bid to become the first Democrat in a generation to win statewide in Texas after three decades of disappointments is in its final stretch.
Xbox 'Won’t Survive' Without New IP, CEO Says
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said in a town hall that the division needs to focus on new IP after divesting from many of its studios that made new IP.
Republicans want Abdul El-Sayed to be the main character of the midterms. He's happy to oblige
Abdul El-Sayed, holding a handheld mic, slowly shook his head as a woman at his town hall described how she burned through her savings after undergoing emergency brain surgery.
Medicaid changes discussed by health experts on Staten Island at NAACP town hall event
“My nurses now have to call patients who are going to the emergency department because they’re no longer being seen by their PCP...” said Zakiyah Allen, a registered nurse and clinical manager.
Terms limits could help to stem the divisiveness in American politics [letter]
Tom Tillett’s Oct. 3 LNP | LancasterOnline column on town hall meetings was right to the point (“Town halls have become a casualty of the Trump era’s divisive politics”).
El-Sayed talks corporate money, healthcare, artificial intelligence at Lansing town hall
Corporate influence in politics and its ripple effects on issues ranging from data centers to healthcare, was the focus of a town hall Friday in downtown Lansing hosted by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who was joined by End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller.
El-Sayed talks corporate money, healthcare, artificial intelligence at Lansing town hall
Corporate influence in politics and its ripple effects on issues ranging from data centers to healthcare, was the focus of a town hall Friday in downtown Lansing hosted by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who was joined by End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller.
Sacramento business owners share concerns on parking, safety, and homelessness at town hall
Business owners in Sacramento voiced frustrations over parking costs, public safety, and homelessness during a town hall hosted by Mayor Kevin McCarty, seeking solutions to challenges affecting their businesses.
Inside Microsoft's plan to boost Xbox, Battle.net on PC — "Right now, it is simply very hard to work with Xbox," said Asha Sharma, with plans to fix it
Microsoft has long identified Battle.net as a key part of its Activision-Blizzard acquisition, and at yesterday's Town Hall with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, we got more hints about the future.
Asha Sharma reportedly informs staff that Xbox has "started to return to growth" during internal town hall
"We're making the right decisions to reinvest in the business," says Sharma as Xbox continues to undergo major restructuring
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma speaks at internal town hall — Discussing Xbox Series X|S as 'core,' Helix as a family of devices, boosting Game Pass, and more
EXCLUSIVE: In a recent town hall with Microsoft gaming staffers, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma described how Xbox was in "free fall" declines before this year's big restructure.
Fall Preview with Entertainment Correspondent Mike Marra
Airdate: October 5th, 2026 Leoni Township Update with Administrator Mike JesterOctober 5, 2026City Treasurer Hosting Town Hall Meeting SeriesOctober 5, 2026Tecumseh Appleumpkin Festival This WeekendOctober 5, 2026Fall Preview with Entertainment Correspondent Mike MarraOctober 5, 2026Disney’s Frozen Premieres Thursday at The SaukOctober 5, 2026Alison McGlynn & Lilly Hayworth, The Annex Collective SalonOctober 5, 2026John Spink, Nite…
Send us your questions for Texas Senate candidate James Talarico
Calling all Texas Republicans, Democrats, and Independents! Are you a registered voter in Texas? Then submit questions for CNN & Jubilee’s Town Hall with James Talarico on Wednesday, October 14 and engage in a direct conversation with the Texas Democratic Senate candidate on the issues that matter most to you.
El-Sayed stops in Flint, discusses economic pressures and failures
U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed made a stop in Flint Saturday as a part of his 'It shouldn't be this hard' town hall tour.
Editorial: Public input should come before approval
A recent Reno town hall revealed tensions between developer Jacobs Entertainment and residents regarding urban design and public engagement.
How loud is too loud? Dubuque County weighs health risks of data center hum
Under the county’s moratorium timeline adopted in July, supervisors plan to complete town hall sessions in October and release an initial public draft of the data center ordinance by early November.
Disney star Dove Cameron marries Italian rock star Damiano David
On Thursday, 30-year-old Dove Cameron married 27-year-old Damiano David in a civil ceremony at the town hall in Montalcino, Italy.
Dove Cameron marries Måneskin frontman Damiano David in intimate Italian ceremony
Friends and family gathered for the ceremony at the Montalcino Town Hall in Tuscany, Italy.
Opinion | A first responder’s response: Riverhead officials twisted my words for political gain
A retired FDNY firefighter who lost 12 members of his firehouse on 9/11 shares his perspective on a Riverhead Town Hall clash and calls for ethical local leadership.
Health officials holding virtual town hall on Legionnaires' disease cluster in South Bronx
Saginaw town hall tackles voting questions ahead of midterms
A Saginaw voting rights town hall brought together state and local election officials to answer residents’ questions about how the election system works, with organizers emphasizing ballot deadlines, absentee voting
Abdul El-Sayed takes on economy, affordability in Saginaw stop
At a town hall in Saginaw, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said Mid-Michigan’s job security and economy require major public investment in manufacturing, education, health care and small
Angle Health Raises $600M to Grow Employer Health Benefits Platform
Angle Health's funding round was led by Vitruvian Partners, with participation from Town Hall Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Portage Ventures, PruVen Capital and Y Combinator.
Man who sprayed Rep. Ilhan Omar with vinegar sentenced to 14 months in prison
The man who sprayed vinegar at Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar during a Minneapolis town hall was sentenced Thursday to 14 months in prison after reaching a deal with prosecutors.
Benson, James discuss tariffs, taxes and business growth at Detroit Economic Club town hall
DOH holds in-person town hall on Bronx Legionnaires' cases
"Remember, there are 24 total cooling towers in this area that we are concerned about," New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin said.
Steuben Players plan Revolutionary War comedy
Steuben Playeres will present a Revolutionary War dinner theater Oct. 23-25 at Steuben Town Hall, with a roast pork dinner included in admission.
NYC health officials to hold town hall on deadly Legionnaires' disease cluster
Children's Hospital Colorado hosting virtual town hall on youth mental health
Children's Hospital Colorado is hosting a virtual town hall Monday focusing on youth mental health. The event is from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and is free to the public.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, raise concerns about corruption in Springfield townhall
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle held a “stop the corruption” town hall in Springfield Thursday. The town hall was a part of a tour focusing on concerns about corruption in politics.
Local scientists air concerns about federal funding losses in Arlington town hall
Researchers at a Massachusetts science town hall said funding instability is pushing scientists out of academia and threatening the pipeline that feeds the state’s research and technological economy
Concerned Scientists Air Their Concerns to Rep Clark
Researchers at a Massachusetts science town hall said funding instability is pushing scientists out of academia and threatening the pipeline that feeds the state’s research and technological economy
Creators Mean Business: Why This Growing Buyer Community Matters and What Exhibitors Need to Know
In this Exhibitor Town Hall, members of the NAB Show Creator Council share firsthand insights into how creators discover and evaluate technology.
Sinclair's Criminally Obsessed to Present "Maternal Mental Health: How the Lindsay Clancy Trial Could Change Treatment" National Town Hall to Air on September 9
BALTIMORE – September 8, 2026 – Sinclair today announced a national town hall examining maternal mental health and the questions surrounding diagnosis, treatment and intervention that have been brought into focus by the Lindsay Clancy trial. Maternal Mental Health: How the Lindsay Clancy Trial Could Change Treatment will stream September 9 across Sinclair’s television station...
Media Advisory: Stand Up for Science Hosting 'Empty Chair' Town Hall in Dayton on September 2
Public event will connect Stand Up for Science with science advocates and constituents in Mike Turner’s OH-10 district to hear their concerns.
Minnesota politicians take their campaigns to the ‘ultimate town hall’
Amy Klobuchar, Lisa Demuth and Peggy Flanagan grew up attending the Minnesota State Fair. They returned Thursday as they campaign for statewide office.
Forest Health and Wildfire Risk Town Hall on Aug. 27
Join Nevada County agencies and organizations on Aug. 27 to explore forest management tools and strategies for reducing wildfire risk.
Community Invited to Forest Health and Wildfire Risk Town Hall on Aug. 27
Nevada County community members are invited to attend the “Hard Choices in the Woods: Forests, Fire and Herbicide” Town Hall on forest health and vegetation management tools used to reduce
Healthcare horror stories punctuate Wyden town hall in Salem
For two hours, dozens of Oregonians told Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Andrea Salinas stories about the horrors they face accessing proper care.
Community Invited to Participate in the Forest Health and Wildfire Risk Survey
Nevada County community members are invited to attend the “Hard Choices in the Woods: Forests, Fire and Herbicide” informational Town Hall on forest health and vegetation management tools
Ask the Doc Town Hall to spotlight Breastfeeding Awareness Month and women's health
Wake County Public Health is hosting a free Aug. 13 town hall at the Southeast Regional Library to provide expert guidance on breastfeeding, maternal wellness and women’s health during Breastfeeding Awareness Month.
MrBeast Sales Slow, Angel Stock Falls, MUBI and Neon Look for Hits, and Will an NBA Franchise Set a Sales Record?
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) You probably remember egg prices spiking a few years ago. This led to a lot of debate between the pro-market/pro-competition/antitrust/Neo-Brandesian crowd and the center/center-right/center-left/abundance/libertarian crowd over the cause, whether it was the avian flu outbreak or whether industry consolidation led to price fixing, using avian flu as a convenient cover. Basel Musharbash wrote a whole investigation at BIG looking at it. Well, two years later, we have our answer: it was price fixing. The Justice Department found proof, via emails, of price fixing. Indeed, just the threat of an investigation brought prices down two years ago: I bring this up because at least half a dozen of my favorite political writers and pundits, who were skeptical about price fixing at the time, haven’t written any mea culpas on this issue. It’s really dispiriting and makes it much, much harder to trust their work on other issues. If you take a hard stand on an issue, then you get it wrong, you need to explain how and why you got it wrong. Or update your priors. This is how epistemological bubbles are formed! All of which is to say, it’s time for another installment of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. Last issue, I mostly focused on the “wrong” side of the equation, so today’s is a bit more balanced, but with one big mea culpa (though I still stand by my original concerns). Let’s dive right in! Subscribe CORRECTION: UFC Didn’t Release Subscriber Data (But Seems to Have Bragged About It Internally) In my analysis of the viewership of UFC Freedom 250, I wrote... “Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers.” Well, that datecdote did not come from a PR rep, but from great reporting from James Faris at Business Insider. The actual quote was this: “Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about a million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC event, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow told employees in a town hall on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the meeting told Business Insider.“ This wasn’t the biggest goof in the world; even Faris emphasized to me that this is more a “clarification” than a correction. Still, it sounds like, internally, the folks at Paramount were very happy about this result—and I’m guessing they were happy with this news getting out—even though the gains didn’t last through the quarter, dropping to 700K adds. RIGHT: MrBeast’s Struggles Continue... I’m very skeptical about MrBeast’s burgeoning media “empire” and, in particular, its $5 billion valuation, as I wrote earlier this year and last year. Sure enough, according to Business Insider, regarding its “booming” consumer products division_:_ “US sales volume grew 13% year-over-year in 2025, following a 33% leap the previous year, according to a presentation deck dated May 2026....A February 2025 investor deck viewed by Business Insider showed Feastables’ net revenue more than doubled in 2024 from 2023, to $215 million, and was forecast to grow 74% in 2025, to $375 million.” [Emphasis mine.] If you told investors that you projected 74% growth but delivered 13%,1 that’s not ideal. But it’s not just MrBeast. Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime had sales drop in half for their energy drinks. It’s one thing to build a successful entertainment company and an entirely different thing to succeed in the heavily-consolidated-but-also-very-competitive consumer packaged goods space! CPGs are dominated by a few firms with very wide moats compared to YouTube, which has few barriers to entry. These businesses require different skill sets and have completely different business environments. WRONG: Does the NBA Have an $8 Billion Bidder? Almost as soon as I published my article about the NBA’s finances, casting skepticism on NBA expansion, I saw this Front Office Sports headline: One group “claims to have already raised $8 billion” for the Vegas expansion team. I mean, wow. That’s just $2 billion less than what the Los Angeles Lakers were valued at when they were sold just last year. And they’re arguably the most popular team in the NBA. (Side note: the new owner is now under an investigation for fraud in how he went about financing the Lakers and the Dodgers purchases.) So much for the “dried up” language I used in that article. (This is why I usually stick to my “Entertainment Nuance Guy” tone in articles...) I went off old information—from April, when I read/heard about the NBA downplaying expansion efforts—instead of doing a quick double-check for new news. That said...if you read the article, the market for Seattle is “slow”, with just one reported bidder. So I wasn’t entirely off. This goof has annoyed me since I first published it, mainly because it undercut that article’s real point, which I stand by: NBA franchises are really overvalued right now. Now, I get why NBA teams are overvalued. When it comes to owning sports teams, it’s basically never wrong to assume that some rich person somewhere will care more about owning a team (or just being part of a group since they’re so expensive) than the actual financials. There are only so many teams to own, and opportunities to buy in preferred markets don’t come along very often. This explains why the teams sell for such high multiples (usually above a 10 to 12.5 revenue multiple, which is very high). You only need one person to overpay! Beyond the ultra-wealthy luxury good explanation, I worry NBA teams are becoming speculative assets. More and more private equity investors are buying into NBA teams. But the value, in owning a team, comes from selling it later, not any meaningful relationship to revenue or profit growth. In other words, the newer NBA owners are increasingly expecting someone later to buy their inflated asset. That’s not sound economics; that’s the “greater fool” theory at work.2 At some point, actually making money has to matter. Especially since revenue growth is now below the growth of the stock market. (And this matters because the NBA doesn’t have easy levers to pull to drastically lower their costs—half of their revenue has to go to players and then you actually have to run a team, including coaching, training, travel, media expenses, and more—or raise revenues aside from one-off expansions in America and overseas.) I just don’t see how investors make their money back buying NBA teams, except for selling at a higher price later on down the line. But if revenue/profit growth continues to slow, at some point, someone will be left holding the bag. RIGHT: Baseball and Basketball are about equally popular. Related to the above, I wanted to cite two quick pieces of evidence for one of my other theories: that the NBA and MLB are about as popular as each other, but the NBA gets much, much better media coverage. One YouGov survey has that fans prefer basketball to baseball by 52% to 48%, which I’m guessing is within the margin of error for that poll. That’s virtually even, meaning they’re about the same popularity. Over on NBC, a recent Red Sox-Yankees game averaged 4 million viewers, higher than Sunday Night Basketball’s average of 3.4 million on the same network. A Yankees-Dodgers game averaged 3.9 million two weeks ago. Not every game averages this much, but it shows you that baseball isn’t far off from basketball, depending on the matchup. Altogether, the NBA is just slightly more popular than baseball, but NBC is paying MLB a fraction of what they pay the NBA, a point I’ve made before. RIGHT: Angel, MUBI and Neon Updates... I’ve long been skeptical about many of Hollywood’s buzziest startups/smaller indie studios. It’s not that they don’t make great movies—films like Anora and Everything Everywhere All at Once are amazing—or that they’re not (rightfully) pushing the majors to make better films, but...they get a ton of hype, and that hype often doesn’t live up to the reality or difficulty in scaling up. Starting with MUBI, well, The Wall Street Journal wrote a feature on MUBI’s struggles last April, best summarized by the subheader “After Sequoia valued Mubi at $1 billion, a left-wing revolt sent the indie film company into a tailspin”. MUBI lost $7.3 million on $200 million in revenue in Q4 2025, but reportedly hit a record 1.7 million subscribers at the end of Q1. As for Neon, Department M purchased a “significant stake” in the company earlier this year. How much is that “stake” worth? According to Deadline, “No financial figures for the Neon-Department M deal were disclosed.” So...that’s not great! If it was a big valuation, we’d hear about. Also, I found this curious: “Both Neon and Department M already have separate partnerships with Qatar. The Qatar Film Committee has a slate deal in place with the former, and a biopic production pact with the latter.” Color me skeptical about much Middle Eastern investment dollars. See: LIV Golf. Finally, as for Angel (formerly Angel Studios), their stock very, very slightly popped last month after Young Washington ($20 million budget) which made $45 million in the US, but their stock is still way down from its opening. Smaller Updates RIGHT: The WGA should focus on antitrust concerns! I’ve been on this for years. Post-WGA/AMTPT deal in 2023, I wrote an article for the Ankler calling on the WGA to focus and organize against industry consolidation. Sure enough, the WGA filed a lawsuit against the Paramount-WBD merger, and people are organizing around this issue now. I wish this energy had coalesced earlier (specifically to lobby Washington much earlier), but better late than never! WRONG: Actually, the chip shortage might be due to market manipulation. In my last “Long Reads for the Long Summer” article, I shared an article about how LLMs are causing memory chip prices to spike, which will make all electronics more expensive. Well, turns out, three RAM manufacturers control 90% of the market, and now a private lawsuit accuses them of price-fixing. So yeah. WRONG/UPDATE: The Odyssey will hold! Two weeks ago, I wrote, “As of this moment, we haven’t had a super-blockbuster, though The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday could all cross the $500 million mark. (At this point, The Odyssey would need a very strong hold to get there.)” Well, it’s safe to say it’s going to have that hold! It only dropped 30% in weekend two and IMAX screenings are sold out all month. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is also off to a great start. RIGHT: People are rushing to get shows out yearly. I’ve long been bullish on yearly, weekly-released shows, and Leslie Goldberg at The Ankler wrote about how many people in town are now listening. WRONG: Mark Carney reverses Canada’s stance on homegrown production. After writing about Canada installing domestic production quotas, Canada has backed off. WRONG: I don’t trust Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s online “views”. When I originally wrote about the latest Spider-Man film’s record-breaking trailer, I thought this was just YouTube views, but after watching this Corridor Crew video and doing more research, well, it’s all social views of the trailer globally. Really? That stat includes TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts views. Basically, I don’t trust it anymore. (This film will probably set record, but I trust the pre-sales data more.) RIGHT: Celebrity Production companies are still struggling. I’ve written about this for years, but the company that I didn’t track was Kevin Hart’s HartBeat, which was valued at $650 million but is struggling now and might just end soon, especially after Kevin Hart pulled his endorsement deals. And Bad Robot is moving to NYC. CORRECTION: SpongeBob is a “second run” title. In my 2025 recap article, I had _SpongeBob SquarePants_labelled as a “library” title, when it is still a “second run” show, with new episodes still coming out on Nickelodeon. CORRECTION: In my last “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong” update, I offered a correction from Doug Creutz and misspelled TD Cowen. Thanks, Grammarly! 1 Though he could have increased prices to make up for the gap, he couldn’t have increased them that much. 2 There’s a theory, which I think that Daryl Morey created and Bill Simmons popularized, that, to be successful building your team, you only need a handful of bad GMs in the league to take advantage of. To be clear, Daryl Morey’s theory was also for signing bad contracts, that you could always get out of bad contracts. Basically, there’s always someone who will make a bad trade. It’s not the same exact thing, but similar enough to the Greater Fool Theory that I really like it.
Doubled water bills turn politics in Dove Creek, the Pinto Bean Capital of the World, up to high
Fight over the basic water and sewer cost led to council and staff resignations and now town hall is closed to the public
#paramount #streaming #entertainment
Paramount Skydance isn't waiting around for its planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery to bolster its flagship streaming service. Paramount's streaming leaders have told employees that they're planning major upgrades to Paramount+ in the coming weeks. An internal presentation, which was unveiled during a streaming town hall this week and viewed by Business Insider, shows "Product Priority Highlights" for Paramount's streaming business this quarter. These initiatives are part of Paramount CEO David Ellison's plan to improve the tech of a 114-year-old media company that trails Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney in streaming subscribers. Buying WBD would help Paramount catch up quickly and give it over 200 million streaming customers, the company has said. Read more about Paramount’s streaming projects on Business Insider: https://lnkd.in/eKfn9wyH (Credit: Getty Images) #paramount #streaming #entertainment
RELEASE: Gottheimer Hosts Telephone Town Hall to Discuss Health Care Costs, Medicare, Social Security, Utility Prices, Affordability in Jersey
Above: Gottheimer conducts a Telephone Town Hall with North Jersey families. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last night, July 22, 2026, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) hosted a Telephone Town Hall with thousands of North Jersey residents to discuss his bipartisan efforts to lower health care and prescription drug costs, protect Social Security and Medicare, cut taxes, lower […]
Virtual town hall confronts high healthcare costs in SB
In response to the affordable health care crisis, Health Access, along with a coalition of health, consumer, patient, labor, and small business partners,
SF Supervisor Jackie Fielder holds first town hall after mental health leave
San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder attended her first town hall meeting in three months following a leave of absence.
Racine County Residents Pack Town Hall to Discuss Affordability, Healthcare, & Gun Violence
Left to right: Reps. Delia C. Ramirez, Pramila Jayapal, Jim McGovern, Mark Pocan, and Gwen Moore.
Zuckerberg says AI agent development going slower than expected
Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told an internal town hall on Thursday that AI agent development over the last four months has not "accelerated in the way we expected," according to a recording heard by Reuters.
The Best Politics Are Local
As America turns 250, the celebrations in Washington and Philadelphia will naturally take center stage. But equally important is what goes on in every town hall, county seat and school board, where the triumph of...
Jane Fonda calls on entertainment industry leaders to defend 'right to free expression'
Jane Fonda made a passionate speech at the Rise Up, Sing Out concert held at The Town Hall in New York City on Sunday night.
Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts fields questions on Iran, women’s sports during tele-town hall
Nebraska U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts was asked about the Iran War, social programs, women's sports, and the SAVE Act.
Platner calls Fetterman ‘a--hole’ at town hall as Democratic feud heats up
Graham Platner calls Sen. John Fetterman "an a--hole" at a Maine town hall days before the Democratic Senate primary election against rivals.
Platner holds town hall in Portland as he looks to steady Senate campaign
Graham Platner was met by an enthusiastic and supportive crowd Sunday at a town hall-style event in Maine as the Democrat moves to stabilize his Senate campaign after new reports about his past treatment of women.
Graham Platner takes questions from Maine voters as he looks to stabilize Senate campaign
U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner is holding a town hall-style event where he is taking questions from voters in Maine
Graham Platner gets a lift from friendly Maine crowd after week of damage control in Senate campaign
Graham Platner has been met by an enthusiastic and supportive crowd at a town hall-style event in Maine | KNX News 1070 AM
Graham Platner to take questions from Maine voters as he looks to stabilize Senate campaign
U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner is set to take questions from voters at a town hall-style event in Maine.
Entertainment Workers Oppose Paramount-WBD Merger in Town Hall
Writers, actors, crew members and small business owners expressed their opposition to the $111 billion transaction in Beverly Hills on Saturday: “It may be the final domino that knocks everything down.”
Webster Town Board votes to remove Pride flag raised at town hall this week
The board says the American flag and the New York state flag will be the only ones displayed on properties owned by the town of Webster.
Dua Lipa and Callum Turner Get Married in Intimate London Ceremony
Dua Lipa and Callum Turner are married. The couple tied the knot in an intimate ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London on Sunday, May 31.
Protesters deliver petitions to demand Sen. Roger Marshall meet with Kansans
Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, hasn’t hosted a town hall open to the public since March of last year. On May 29, protesters delivered 3,800 signed petitions from Kansans across the state to Marshall’s Overland Park office.
Pete Buttigieg visits Butte to discuss removing corporate money from Montana politics
BUTTE, Mont. — Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to Butte on Sunday for a town hall focused on Initiative 194, also known as the Montana Plan.
Pete Buttigieg visits Butte to discuss removing corporate money from Montana politics
BUTTE, Mont. — Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to Butte on Sunday for a town hall focused on Initiative 194, also known as the Montana Plan.
New Orleans leaders talk strategy for Louisiana redistricting at town hall: ‘We’ve got to fight together’
New Orleans leaders on Monday night expressed outrage, disappointment, and hope for fighting back against a Supreme Court decision that removes a second majority-minority congressional district from Louisiana, calling it a suppression of the local Black electorate's power.
Man who sprayed vinegar at Rep. Omar during town hall pleads guilty to assault
Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, is awaiting sentencing
What a modest town hall explains about rural America’s political gap
Ten strangers — a mix of conservative and liberal — gathered for a discussion about the rural-urban divide. They came together on a surprising solution.
BCE to announce 2026 Business Plan Competition winners on May 8
MEDIA RELEASE__The Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce will host its monthly breakfast meeting on Friday, May 8, 2026. The meeting will be held on the third floor of the Town Hall.
Subramanyam Talks Mental Health with Loudoun’s Firefighters
In a small-town hall Saturday morning, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA-10) heard concerns surrounding available resources to address mental health injuries from Loudoun firefighters and shared legislation that he is working
Bend residents weigh in on push for universal health care in Oregon
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Health care reform took center stage at Trinity Episcopal Church this week, where Central Oregon residents gathered for a town hall focused on the future of universal coverage in the state. The discussion, hosted by Health Care for All Oregon, comes as lawmakers and advocates explore ways to make care more
Community Engagement & Town Hall – Southern Humboldt Business Improvement District
“We appreciate the community’s patience as we move through this process. This is new territory for Southern Humboldt, and as a Steering Committee, we are committed to learning the process and…
Tim Cook Calls Apple Maps Launch His 'First Really Big Mistake' as CEO
Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook has named the botched 2012 launch of Apple Maps as his "first really big mistake" in the role, according to a Bloomberg report covering the town hall meeting that was held Tuesday with his recently announced successor, John Ternus. The Maps app launched with mislabeled landmarks, faulty directions, and a user experience that fell well short of Google Maps at the time.
Monroe County hosting another town hall Wednesday on SNAP work-rule changes
Wednesday's town hall is happening at the Edgerton R-Center on Backus Street from 5 - 6:30 p.m.
Lancaster Democratic candidates to host public town hall
Democratic legislative candidates Nancy Mannion, James Malone and Chad Gleissl will host a town hall Thursday in Manheim Borough to answer voter questions.
Scottish election 2026: Party leaders to go head-to-head in debate
The leaders of six political parties face questions from a live studio audience at Paisley Town Hall.
Las Cruces police to host El Paseo business alliance town hall Tuesday at City Hall
Las Cruces police and city leaders are inviting business owners in the El Paseo District to a town hall meeting Tuesday focused on safety and long-term planning
FSU leaders highlight health, research and technology at RISE Together Showcase and town hall
Florida State University’s Information Technology Services highlighted strategy, innovation and partnerships April 7 during the 2026 ITS Spring Town Hall