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Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon medley of Puck’s best
new reporting.

First up today, Matt Belloni offers a fascinating snapshot of Netflix’s relentless march to replace much of the global cable TV business—and the implications for the smaller streaming players. To wit: Is it time for Brian Roberts’s Peacock to start considering M&A activity if it wants to stay at the big kids table? 

Plus, below the fold: John Ourand reveals what ESPN’s nine-year, $240 million-ish extension with the ACC portends for the sports rights market. Lauren Sherman digs into the fresh union drama consuming New York magazine and, in an Inner Circle exclusive, provides a deep dive on LVMH’s luxury mindshare dilemma. Then, Tara Palmeri convenes with lobbyist Shanti Stanton
for a 360-degree review of how the White House’s infamous O.M.B. memo is playing on K Street.

Meanwhile, on the pods: MSNBC’s Chris Hayes joins Dylan Byers on The Grill Room to marvel at Trump’s mastery of the attention economy. On Impolitic, John Heilemann and Senator Brian Schatz debate whether “millions could die” if R.F.K. Jr.
is confirmed as H.H.S. secretary. On Fashion People, Lauren rings up Renggli founder Morgan Stewart McGraw to discuss what luxury brands are getting wrong these days. And on The Powers That Be, Bill Cohan joins Peter Hamby to consider whether Elon Musk can remake D.C. in Silicon Valley’s image.

HOLLYWOOD

Netflix’s newly revealed global 2025 slate is placing renewed pressure on its rivals, and specifically Peacock, as
the best-of-the-rest streamers struggle for scale. On Comcast’s Q4 earnings call, for instance, executives had hoped to focus attention on their SpinCo plans. Instead, investors wanted to talk about Peacock, which is still bleeding money and facing an increasingly uncertain future. As Netflix surges ahead, can Brian Roberts make Peacock more competitive—or is it just another asset waiting to be sold?

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SPORTS

After weeks of talks with ACC conference commissioner Jim Phillips, ESPN decided to exercise the option to extend its
deal with the conference for nine more years at the same rate the conference agreed to back in 2016. ESPN had all the leverage, of course. Bristol not only had the option to extend, but it also owns and operates the ACC Network—a complexifier that would make a partnership inconvenient and less attractive to another potential bidder. And yet, as John notes, this extension all but solidifies the ACC’s stability, ensuring the league avoids the same fate as the Pac-12, and keeps powerhouse
programs like Clemson and Florida State in the fold. But the lack of a major price hike signals that the sports media rights market isn’t a gold rush for everyone.

Read Now

FASHION

Yesterday afternoon, about 97 percent of New York magazine’s union said it would stage a walkout unless
“management agrees to a fair contract.” This is the first time that this union, which is separate from Vox Media’s union, has threatened a work stoppage. As Lauren notes, unlike Condé Nast, where everyone seems to resent or distrust one another, the union members are proud to work at New York. And since the union’s formation in 2018, it has been able to negotiate successfully with management. But while their demands seem reasonable—over salary, health insurance, and, of course,
concerns about A.I.—this is one of those unfortunate situations where the structural challenges of the parentco might preclude a tidy ending.

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WASHINGTON

Donald Trump’s supposedly tightly run ship capsized Tuesday when the White House essentially paralyzed the government
by mistake, with a poorly executed directive that called for freezing all $3 trillion of federal grants and loans that conflicted with Trump’s views. Meanwhile, there was a concurrent meltdown on K Street, as lobbyists scrambled to explain to their private-sector and nonprofit clients how previously approved programs, loans, and grants would be honored. To clarify matters, Tara called Oxford Strategies consultant and lobbyist Shanti Stanton to reveal how the situation shook out in D.C.—and how
the lobbying industrial complex is fighting back.

Read Now

FASHION

There’s been a creeping sense of malaise surrounding LVMH, the $375 billion fashion conglomerate. Sure, last week’s
earnings outperformed expectations—but they were far from spectacular, which signaled, among other things, that luxury’s road to recovery might be longer than expected. Then came the announcement that the group was selling its stake in Stella McCartney back to the founder, which caused merely a blip in the news cycle. And yet, the most telling sign of the group’s relevance crisis was the fact that Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior Couture show created zero conversation in fashion circles.
Instead, the buzz centered around Chanel, Schiaparelli, Lanvin, and other non-LVMH players. As Lauren points out, irrelevance—not financials—is the company’s real threat, as well as the problem the Arnaults will need to solve this year if they want the other ones to disappear.

Read
Now

WASHINGTON

John is joined by Brian Schatz, the senior U.S. senator from Hawaii, to discuss the second week of Trump 2.0 and
where Democrats go from here. Schatz pulls no punches in describing Trump’s attempt to blame the tragic midair collision over the Potomac on D.E.I. initiatives as “disgusting,” and in arguing that “millions could die” if R.F.K. Jr. is confirmed as H.H.S. secretary. But he also warns fellow Democrats against reflexively taking Trump’s bait and letting themselves lose sight of what matters to the real lives of real people. Schatz also opines on the Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel nominations, Trump’s
aborted attempt to freeze federal spending, and what it’s like to have attended the same high school as Barack Obama and Michelle Wie.

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MEDIA

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes joins Dylan for a thrilling and sobering deep dive into how social media and smartphones hijacked
our brains, how attention became the single most powerful currency in the political economy, and why Donald Trump is singularly effective at commanding it.

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FASHION

Today on the pod, Lauren is joined by Morgan Stewart McGraw, founder of the fashion line Renggli. She’s also a
Beverly Hills native, major shopper, and former star of the well-loved reality television series Rich Kids of Beverly Hills. They discuss Morgan’s experience growing up in the Los Angeles metropolitan statistical area, how the fashion at the Polo Lounge has evolved over the years, what luxury brands are getting wrong these days, and why she started selling cashmere. Lauren also dips into all the big Line Sheet news, from Rhode’s move into Sephora, to the rise of shoe brand Larroudé, to
changes at Celine and LVMH.

Listen Now

WALL STREET

Bill Cohan joins Peter to unpack the Wall Street chaos triggered by DeepSeek, a low-cost ChatGPT alternative that
sent the Nasdaq tumbling and wiped $600 billion off Nvidia’s value in a single day. Then, the duo explore Elon Musk’s bold push to inject startup culture into Washington—and why that attempt is ultimately destined to fall flat.

Listen
Now

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