Russia’s Ruble Paradox, Strike Tea Leaves, Shari’s BET Auction

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon dispatch of Puck’s best new reporting.

Today, we lead with Julia Alexander’s inspired analysis of how soccer star Lionel Messi’s megadeal with Apple and the MLS could alter the fortunes of Tim Cook’s premium but poorly marketed streaming service.

Plus, below the fold: Teddy Schleifer eulogizes a promising political startup caught in S.B.F.’s blast radius. Julia Ioffe reveals Russia’s surprising war boom. On The Powers That Be, Eriq Gardner and Peter Hamby break down the weird legal dispute gripping the Oher family, while Bill Cohan and Ben Landy discuss Shari’s BET auction. And on The Town, Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw predict Hollywood’s September surprises.

JULIA ALEXANDER

Is a streamer’s money better spent on live sports or on creating new TV series and films? For Apple, it may be a unique value prop.

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FYC | Emmy® Nominated LAST FLIGHT HOME: Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking

TEDDY SCHLEIFER

How a Democratic startup, Deck, got trapped in M&A purgatory between FTX, Zuckerberg, Rory Gates, and the billionaire philanthropy-industrial complex.

JULIA IOFFE

Inside Moscow, the war economy is booming: restaurants are packed, businesses have pivoted to Asia, and, somehow, elites are richer than ever. But with prices rising and the ruble plummeting, insiders worry the good times are a mirage.

PETER HAMBY, ERIQ GARDNER, BILL COHAN and BEN LANDY

Eriq Gardner joins Peter Hamby to break down the weird and sad legal dispute gripping the Oher family. And then Bill Cohan and Ben Landy discuss Shari Redstone’s BET auction.