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In other news… Disney settles with Charter, college-educated workers fear AI automation, and sustainability hits the runway.
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ENTERTAINMENT
Mickey TV // Illustration by Kate Walker
Disney and Charter make cable a streaming hub
The Future. Disney and Charter settled their cable dispute that resulted in the blackouts of Disney-backed channels for nearly two weeks. While Charter was able to get ESPN and ABC back on the air, the transformative aspect of the deal is how much focus was put on giving Charter subscribers access to Disney’s streaming services. Although Hulu wasn’t directly a part of the contract, the deal points signal how embedded the platform has become in Disney’s overall strategy… which may boost the price the Mouse House has to pay for Comcast’s cut.
Cord frayed
Disney and Charter’s new deal highlights some major changes coming to cable.
Streaming is cable now. At least 9.5 million subscribers will now have access to the ad-supported version of Disney+ and ESPN+, highlighting how much streaming has upended pay-TV economics.
Sports is a stronghold. Those Charter customers will also get access to the full-freight ESPN streaming service when it becomes available, ensuring people who subscribe to cable for sports don’t cut the cord.
When it comes to brand identity, less is more. Charter isn’t picking up Freeform, Disney Junior, Nat Geo Mundo, Nat Geo Wild, FXM, and BabyTV, which, according to Disney execs, are basically just content pipelines for streaming.
It’s a win-win situation for both Disney and Charter. Disney gets to funnel more customers to its streaming platforms where all the Disney content already lives. In contrast, Charter gets a value-add proposition to its broadband services, which the company has signaled is its “most attractive offering” in the coming years.
All in all, cable lives on to fight another day.
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WORK
Cubicle rivals // Illustration by Kate Walker
College-educated workers have a “fear of becoming obsolete”
The Future. The rise of AI is generating a lot of anxiety among college-educated workers, with a new survey finding more and more people are starting to believe they could one day be replaced by the tech… which could make regulating it one of the big topics of the upcoming election cycle.
Struck by FOBO
Gallup found 22% of American workers now fear AI could replace them — up from 15% in 2021.
Breaking it down, Gallup says AI fears among workers without college degrees remained steady at just over 20%, while that of college-educated workers more than doubled from 8% to 20%.
That makes sense when McKinsey estimates up to 70% of worker hours are spent doing things that chatbots could theoretically do right now.
And according to Revelio Labs, a majority of the jobs that AI could displace are held by women.
While this may not seem like totally dire thinking — less than 25% of US workers are actually worried about being replaced by robots — both Pew and Gallup found that even though most workers weren’t concerned about being personally displaced, a vast majority were worried that others would be replaced.
In other words, workers’ AI fears look a little something like this.
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FASHION
Courtesy of Archive
Old clothes take center stage at New York Fashion Week
The Future. Although luxury brands usually push their new styles in September, over 35 brands at this year’s NYFW are making sustainability their trend of choice. That’s a big shift from the usual runway mindset… but it could be the beginning of changing the culture to treat vintage garments as heirloom pieces meant to be passed down and reworn rather than dropped off at consignment.
Vintage runway
A new movement called “Secondhand September” is fitting some stylish adherents at NYFW.
Diane von Furstenberg’s eponymous brand snubbed a traditional runway show, instead directing customers to her flagship store in Chelsea to buy secondhand pieces.
Designer Ulla Johnson opted to curate a line of vintage pieces for sale at her Bleecker Street shop.
Madewell, Banana Republic, and Reformation have all tied up official partnerships with secondhand platform thredUP.
Meanwhile, a platform called Archive has been updating the thrift store concept, letting partnering companies (like The North Face, Cuyana, and Oscar de la Renta) earn revenue from e-commerce sales of secondhand pieces. It’s already proving successful — workwear brand M.M.LaFleur saw sales grow by 3% after partnering with Archive.
Old clothes. New customers.
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Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
AI robots took to the stand at the Chargers vs. Dolphins NFL game at SoFi Stadium as part of the innovative marketing for 20th Century Studios’ upcoming release, The Creator. Read more → screenrant
The comeback of vinyl is reviving the “best of” album format, especially in country music. Read more → billboard
Former UTA agent Jed Baker is getting into family entertainment with the launch of podcast and audiobook venture Starglow Media. Read more → thr
Fashion & E-Commerce
Sarah Burton is stepping down as the Creative Director of Alexander McQueen after 13 years in the role, where she created pieces that were so influential that they’re now part of The Met’s permanent collection. Read more → highsnobiety
The US retail industry has a higher turnover rate than nearly every other industry. Read more → bof
Tech, Web3, & AI
Uber may be launching a TaskRabbit competitor called “Chore.” Read more → hypebeast
Apple is ensuring it cements its smartphone dominance by winning over those green-bubbled Androiders and dominating the teenage market (90% of American teens have iPhones). Read more → nyt
US consumer spending will likely hit the skids early next year as people run out of savings that helped carry them through recent price hikes. Read more → bloomberg
Creator Economy
Beauty brands like Florence by Mills, Tree Hut, and Kylie Cosmetics are turning ephemeral TikTok virality into real-world sales growth. Read more → bof
With Instagram seemingly releasing an AI-generated panorama feature, influencers will have new ways to make people think they’re always on vacation. Read more → theverge
Creative Juice is expanding into influencer education, starting a creator career advice blog called Pulse. Read more → tubefilter
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Copy edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.