The Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix happens tonight on the Las Vegas Strip. It’s F1’s glitziest, costliest event of the year — it also looks destined to be its biggest disappointment. 

Driving the news: Like countless Vegas visitors, F1 owner Liberty Group miscalculated a risky bet. The company lowered its profit expectations after ticket sales severely missed expectations, despite being the most expensive of any Grand Prix race this season. 

Like us signing up for beer league hockey, Netflix is dipping its toes into sports just to see how things play out.  

What happened: If you flipped on Netflix last night, you probably noticed a live broadcast of something called The Netflix Cup, the streamer’s first-ever live sporting event. 

After a year of unforced errors and double faults, Canadian tennis is on the come-up. 

Driving the news: Over the weekend, Team Canada brought home its first-ever Billie Jean King Cup title. The squad conquered the most prestigious team tournament in women’s tennis on the back of 21-year-old phenom Leylah Fernandez, who finished undefeated. 

The opera world, worried that audiences have become disenchanted with burly men in funny costume singing very loudly, is trying out new strategies to get butts back in theatre seats.

Driving the news: Eighty-five opera companies across Canada and the U.S. have joined a discount program run by industry group Opera America, in which a subscription to one of the participating companies will also grant you the same perks at every participating company.

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of keyboards clacking, pens scribbling, and overpriced latte orders echoing across the Sunset Strip... which can only mean Hollywood writers are back. 

What happened: After 148 days on the picket line, Hollywood writers are returning to the word factory today after board members of the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement with studios and streamers.

Usually, when we talk about Tiff’s troubles, it’s about Tiff Macklem’s ongoing battle with Canadian inflation. Today, however, we’re looking at a different TIFF: The Toronto International Film Festival. 

What happened: Over 200 actors, directors, and other entertainment industry professionals signed an open letter to TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey asking for the festival to drop RBC as a sponsor due to what they claim is the bank’s “colossal” funding of the oil and gas industry. 

For artists who don’t change the economic outlook of a city with a couple of concerts, some extra money from a new royalty deal could go a long way. 

Driving the news: Universal Music—the world’s largest record company—has cut a deal with French streaming service Deezer to change the way royalties are paid to artists, a move that could be the first domino to fall in the reshaping of music streaming’s business model. 

As the Hollywood writers’ strike hits its 100-day mark, a resolution is still a long way away. 

Catch-up: The Writers Guild of America (WGA), the union representing about 11,500 scribes behind American film and TV, has been on strike since May 2 after failing to reach a new deal with the AMPTP, the body representing the studios and streamers. 

Two of the year’s biggest films, Oppenheimer (about the father of the atomic bomb) and Barbie (about, well, Barbie), are out in theatres and making for an unlikely double feature.

Driving the news: Cineplex reported that, as of Wednesday, 60,000 Canadians had bought advanced tickets for both films, with 65% of buyers planning to watch them on the same day.  

Hollywood is in the midst of its first industry-wide stoppage in over 60 years, and it’s all thanks to the unprecedented advances of AI and streaming. 

What happened: Some 160,000 Hollywood actors are on strike as of this morning, after failing to reach a new labour agreement with the body representing studios and streamers.