Good morning and welcome to Cynopsis — the media industry’s essential morning read. Today:
· Nexstar Pushes to Loosen Tegna Merger Restrictions
· MRC Sets AI Ground Rules for Media Measurement
· Levi’s Turns FIFA Ban Into Viral Sensation |
 IN THE NEWS |
Nexstar is asking the courts to let more of its Tegna acquisition move forward, arguing the current nationwide restrictions are broader than necessary and are delaying investment in local TV.
· DirecTV and attorneys general from eight states, led by California and New York, continue to argue the merger would reduce competition, raise consumer costs, weaken local news, and increase programming blackouts.
· While the FCC approved the acquisition in March, the court later ordered Nexstar and Tegna to operate largely as separate companies while the antitrust case proceeds.
· In a reply brief, Nexstar has asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to narrow the nationwide “hold separate” order that has largely prevented integration of its $6.2 billion acquisition, calling the lawsuit “rooted in an outdated view of the media landscape,” and arguing the injunction is limiting investment in local stations while allowing streaming competitors to grow unchecked.
· Why it matters: The case has become a key test of whether traditional TV broadcasters can consolidate to compete with streaming giants. The outcome could influence not only Nexstar’s ability to realize cost savings and invest in local stations, but also how future broadcast and media mergers are reviewed, integrated and challenged after receiving regulatory approval.
Netflix dominated the U.S. streaming market in Q2 2026, while Apple TV+ emerged as the quarter’s biggest growth story, according to the latest report from JustWatch. Analyzing more than 45 million streaming interactions on its U.S. app and website across more than 320 SVOD services, JustWatch found that Netflix expanded its market share lead, gaining one percentage point to reach 20%.
· Apple TV+ gained one percentage point in Q2 to become the fourth-largest SVOD platform in the U.S., surpassing Hulu and HBO Max. The service also posted the strongest annual growth, up five percentage points year over year.
· Peacock continued its steady climb, gaining two percentage points annually while holding flat quarter over quarter.
· Hulu held its 11% share to move ahead of HBO Max, which fell two percentage points to 10%, marking the first time Hulu has ranked above HBO Max this year.
· The Takeaway: While Netflix remains the streaming leader, the latest rankings show a more competitive middle tier, where growth, content momentum and subscriber engagement are reshaping the SVOD pecking order. |
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 Levi’s turned a FIFA branding restriction into a viral marketing score. The denim giant’s white tarp covering its logo at Levi’s Stadium — required under FIFA rules — became the brand’s most-viewed social campaign ever, generating more than 1 billion impressions. Levi’s is now selling limited-edition T-shirts featuring the redacted logo. |
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| NEW & RETURNING SHOWS |
| Season 2 of “The Gentleman” premieres Thursday, Sept. 3 on Netflix. New cast members include Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”). |
 Also set to return for a sophomore run is “MobLand,” kicking off Friday, Sept. 18 on Paramount+. Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren return to reprise their roles in the crime drama’s next chapter.
“Decades in Sports,” the newest installment in CNN’s “Decades” franchise, premieres with two episodes on Sunday, Aug. 2 starting at 9 p.m. The series explores the defining moments, athletes and cultural shifts that shaped sports over the past six decades.
ITV Studios format “Come Dine With Me” is heading to the Philippines with a new celebrity adaptation. Since its UK debut in 2005, the format has been adapted in 50 international territories. “Come Dine With Me: Celebrity Philippines” will premiere exclusively on HBO Max on Thursday, July 23.
“House” joins the Great American Television lineup starting Monday, July 13 at 9 p.m. The medical drama ran on Fox from 2004 to 2012. |
Today’s Premiere
BritBox: Escape to the Country
HGTV: House Hunters: Grand Alaska at 10 p.m.
Saturday’s Premiere
Netflix: The Apartment Job
Sunday’s Premiere
MGM+: The Westies at 9 p.m. |
| THE DOWNLOAD |
| “Life In The W,” a six-part ESPN series offering an inside look at three of the WNBA’s most influential players, premieres Friday, July 24, on ESPN2, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the WNBA All-Star weekend. |
 Netflix is teeing up brand partnerships for Will Ferrell’s golf comedy series “The Hawk” ahead of its July 16 premiere, teaming with Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Genesis on separate campaigns inspired by the show’s offbeat humor. Mike’s Hard Lemonade spotlights Luke Wilson’s fictional golf rival Golden Fisk in a campaign tied to the brand’s relaunch, supported by in-store promotions, co-branded merchandise and a consumer sweepstakes. Meanwhile, Genesis leans into comedy for the first time, featuring Jimmy Tatro as Lance Hawkins to highlight the luxury automaker’s GV80 SUV. Both campaigns were developed with Ferrell’s creative team.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is releasing its Redefining Media Types (RMT) Standard for public comment, aiming to create a common language for today’s fragmented digital video ecosystem. Developed with IAB Tech Lab, the framework provides standardized definitions for video environments including Connected TV, online video, social video, FAST, video podcasts, and retail video. The standard addresses longstanding confusion caused by legacy media classifications that often fail to reflect how consumers actually experience video. It introduces a two-layer system:
· Macro viewing categories based on consumer experience, including lean-back viewing, personal screen viewing, and passive/communal viewing.
· Impression-level attributes such as sound state, skippability, full-screen presentation, addressability, measurability, device, and ad format.
· Why it matters: As video consumption continues shifting across screens and platforms, IAB says consistent definitions will help buyers, sellers, publishers, and ad tech providers better align investments, improve interoperability, and support more accurate measurement.
Vevo is adding a nostalgia-based targeting capability to its Vevo Evolve advertising platform, giving brands a new way to align with emotionally resonant music video moments.
· The new purchasing layer is backed by Vevo’s “Then is Now” research, which found that nostalgia has become a form of cultural curation and identity-building, particularly among younger audiences.
· The company also noted that artists are increasingly incorporating retro-inspired visuals, fashion, and styling into new music videos, providing additional opportunities for advertisers to tap into nostalgic cues.
· The Opportunity: As brands look for deeper emotional connections with audiences, nostalgia is emerging as a powerful targeting strategy — turning past cultural moments into new opportunities for engagement.
The Media Rating Council (MRC) released interim guidance outlining nine principles for using AI in media measurement as it continues a broader review of its standards amid the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The framework calls for:
· Explainability: AI models and outputs must be understandable and validated.
· Compliance: Systems must align with MRC standards and guidelines.
· Fairness: Providers should assess bias and ensure fair representation.
· Transparency: Users should understand how AI models generate results.
· Security: Data, systems and algorithms must be protected.
· Data Protection: AI must follow data rights and confidentiality requirements.
· Reliability: Models should deliver consistent, accurate results.
· Accountability: Providers must document inputs, processes, limitations and assumptions.
· Adaptability: Models must evolve with technology and changing media behavior.
· The Takeaway: The MRC’s guidance underscores that as AI becomes more central to measurement, transparency, accountability and bias mitigation will be key to maintaining industry trust. |
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| PRODUCTION |
| Netflix is teaming with Connor Hines (“Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette”) for drama “Jupiter Island,” set in the privileged world of professional golfers and their wives. Produced in collaboration with A24, it’s the first series in a new creative partnership between Hines and Netflix. Julie Gardner from Bad Wolf executive produces.
Done deal: Banijay Group and RedBird IMI have completed the merger of Banijay Entertainment and All3Media, creating the world’s largest independent production-distribution company. Jointly owned by Banijay Group and RedBird IMI with 50% stakes each, the company will operate under the Banijay Entertainment name and be consolidated by Banijay Group. Jeff Zucker will serve as Chairman, Marco Bassetti as CEO, and Jane Turton as Deputy CEO.
Amazon MGM Studios UK is developing the new drama series “Capital,” co-created and written by Guy Ritchie and Rob Williams. Ritchie will also direct and produce the project, with VICE Studios serving as producer. Ivan Atkinson, Dhana Rivera Gilbert and Marc Resteghini of Jack Tar Pictures will executive produce, reuniting the team currently working with Ritchie on season two of “Young Sherlock.” |
| SPORTS REPORT |
| Fanzo, the sports bar finder, unveiled a city-by-city guide to the best places to watch FIFA World Cup 2026. The list was built by analyzing search and engagement data from more than 20,000 venues across the United States, surfacing the bars and sports venues that fans are actively discovering and choosing to watch in. (For New Yorkers — it’s Carragher’s.)
All Sports Productions announced the launch of “Invisible: Pulling the Strings,” a new original interview series that explores the business of sports. Production is underway for a fall launch.
Yahoo Sports is tapping into the growing popularity of college football with the launch of a new season-long college fantasy football game. The new offering includes players from the Power 4 conferences and Notre Dame. Yahoo Sports is partnering exclusively with Publicis Groupe’s Publicis Sports to create first-look branding opportunities within the fantasy experience for its clients.
DAZN is continuing its investment in boxing with a deal with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC). First up: Errol Spence Jr. takes on Australian superstar Tim Tszyu on Saturday, July 25.
FloSports and the USA South Athletic Conference struck an exclusive media rights deal that will bring comprehensive coverage of USA South athletics to the FloCollege platform beginning with the 2026–27 athletic year. |
| THINK FAST |
| It’s been hard to gain access to local news and content if you’re a streaming-only customer. FreeCast launched FreeCast Cities. The direct-to-consumer streaming platform now in beta delivers localized streaming experiences across all 210 U.S. designated market areas (DMAs). Designed as a one-stop destination for local viewing, the platform combines participating local broadcast stations, hundreds of FAST channels, ad-supported movies and TV, optional premium streaming services and unified subscription management across connected TVs, mobile devices and computers. |
| RATINGS |
| Holiday baseball delivered a ratings home run for FOX. “Fox Saturday Baseball” on July 4 drew 3.34 million viewers for a two-game slate, led by the Cardinals victory over the Cubs. The telecast ranked as the most-watched regular season game on any network since 2021’s MLB at Field of Dreams Game on Fox, and was up 70% vs. last year’s “Fox Saturday Baseball” average.
Another FIFA World Cup game, another record broken. Fox’s Mexico vs. England match on Sunday drew 21.74 million viewers, for the most-watched non-U.S. Men’s National Team World Cup telecast in English-language history.
With 61 billion total minutes consumed across Telemundo, Universo, Peacock, and Telemundo streaming platforms to date, the World Cup has already surpassed the combined 43.2 billion total minutes consumed for the entire 2018 and 2022 Men’s World Cup tournaments in Spanish by +41%.
On Saturday, Fox News delivered its highest-rated July 4th in network history, averaging 3.5 million viewers and 357,000 among 25-54 during primetime and 2.3 million viewers and 262,000 in the demo across total day.
Disney Entertainment Television’s 24-hour programming block for the nation’s 250th anniversary reached 49.6 million Total Viewers. “Disney Celebrates America,” aired across ABC, Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, National Geographic, Freeform, FX and ABC News Live.
Basic Cable Top 10 Primetime for the Week of June 29
P2+ AA (000)
Fox News 2,480
MS NOW 927
Fox Sports 651
HGTV 637
CNN 566
Hallmark Channel 498
TBS 486
History 433
TLC 425
Food Network 385
Source: Nielsen Live+ Same Day Big Data + Panel
Broadcast Top 10 Primetime for the Week of June 29
P2+ AA (000)
Fox 11,877
Telemundo 4,506
ABC 2,719
NBC 2,429
CBS 2,131
Univision 856
MeTV 572
ION 441
CW 429
Grit 314
Source: Nielsen Live + Same Day Big Data + Panel |
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Friday Fun Fact
Don’t read this if you suffer from cherophobia — it’s the fear of having fun.
Today’s Trivia Question
For which miniseries were Louis Gossett Jr. and Olivia Cole nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress Emmys? (Email answers to trivia@cynopsis.com and include your name, company and city. Answers limited to four per time zone.)
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Nick Bakay left which late-night talker to serve as announcer on “The Dennis Miller Show” (1992)? Answer: “Night After Night With Allan Havey” (1989-92).
Congrats to: Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Matt Marini-Paramount/NYC; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Rosemary Cunningham-MeTV/Chicago |
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