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| Wednesday, August 12, 2026 |
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Happy hump day, readers! Today’s issue includes:
- Paramount CEO David Ellison Prepares To Move
- Will Lionsgate Be The Next Big Acquisition Deal?
- The “Monster” Anthology Series Teases Its First Female Protagonist
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In The News
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Paramount Skydance’s threats to leave California are becoming more real. As first reported by Puck, CEO David Ellison held an internal meeting last Wednesday to confirm that he plans to move the company out of state if Attorney General Rob Bonta does not negotiate to settle the current antitrust lawsuit against the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition deal.
- According to sources who attended the meeting, Ellison suggested that he would wait until October 1, the date that Paramount will begin owing a $7 million-a-day “ticking fee” to WBD. If the suit is not settled by then, he will begin by relocating the company’s headquarters to Tennessee (where his father, Larry Ellison, moved Oracle’s offices), Texas or Georgia, regardless of the lawsuit’s outcome.
- Rumors that Ellison might be considering this move first surfaced not long after it became clear that California would take actions to block the deal. (In fact, Tennessee Deputy Governor Stuart McWhorter had already started courting Paramount with a letter to Ellison before California filed its lawsuit.)
- In a post on X, Bonta called the move “another attempt to blackmail the state into letting an illegal deal through.”
- “Paramount and Warner Bros. see the writing on the wall: that they will lose in a court of law. So instead, they are resorting to the court of public opinion,” Bonta also wrote for Deadline earlier this week, likely in response to Ellison’s own op-ed in the New York Times.
- The Takeaway: Threatening to move tens of thousands of jobs – and possibly devastating the current entertainment industry in the process – would be a bold move for Ellison, who by all accounts does not seem keen to relocate himself. Whether or not he actually goes through with it, though, is anybody’s guess at this point.
The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking records pertaining to the FCC’s early review of ABC’s broadcast licenses, according to a Freedom of Information Act request the organization filed on Tuesday. According to the request, the ACLU believes that the early renewal is “pretext for punishing ABC” on behalf of the Trump administration, and that demonstrates an attempt “to chill protected speech.”
Sell, baby, sell? Activist investors from Anson Funds are pressuring Lionsgate to either figure out its post-AI business model or sell itself to a company that will, reports Semafor.
- For the uninitiated, “activist investors” aren’t necessarily aligned with political causes. The term merely refers to shareholders who use their equity stakes in a company to force management to take particular actions, such as mergers or divestitures.
- In a July letter to Lionsgate’s board, Anson Funds portfolio manager Sagar Gupta wrote that the company stock “has reacted sharply—and negatively—to the release of new AI video models,” and that Lionsgate must do a better job of positioning the IP licensing of its massive library.
- The TV side of Lionsgate’s business has struggled in recent years. During the last quarter, TV revenue dropped 34%, although the company believes the second half of the year will improve thanks to a recent licensing deal with Netflix.
- Speaking of which, Netflix also recently shot down rumors that it was interested in acquiring the studio. But if Lionsgate were to begin courting buyers in earnest, it’s entirely possible that another streaming service might bite, if only for a shot at that aforementioned IP library.
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| Partner content |
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This Is the Last Chance to Nominate a Top Woman in Media.
The 2026 Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards close August 14. This is it — the final opportunity to ensure the women driving media, entertainment and advertising forward receive the recognition they deserve. Self-nominations are welcome.
Submit Today
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New & Returning Series
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For sneak peeks, check out Cynopsis Trailer Park.
Apple TV debuted the trailer for Australian thriller series “Last Seen,” starring Gotham Award-winning actor Patrick Brammall and produced by 60Forty Films. The drama is executive produced and directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Christian Schwochow. The series, which is filmed in Victoria, Australia, will debut globally on September 9.
Continuing the true crime trailer-fest, Netflix also released the first trailer for “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story,” starring Ella Beatty as the titular axe-wielding murderer. Premiering on September 17, it is the fourth season in Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s anthology series – but the first to feature a female lead.
OWN’s “Love & Marriage: Huntsville” will return for a 12th season on September 12. The show was recently awarded by the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) for Outstanding Scripted Series.
HGTV’s “Scariest House in America,” hosted by comedian Retta (“Good Girls”), will switch from a half-hour to a one-hour format when its third season premieres on September 18.
TODAY’S PREMIERES
Apple TV: “Women In Blue (Las Azules)” Season 2
Crunchyroll: “Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World” Season 4
Netflix: “Conversations With a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes”
Prime Video: “Reacher” Season 4
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| Partner content |
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Tech News You Can Use
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The IAB Tech Lab announced several updates of its Privacy Standards Portfolio on Tuesday, which will make consumer data deletion requests easier to implement and help digital advertisers (including those in cross-platform CTV and streaming video formats) mitigate risk with their data usage policies.
PHYND, a gaming platform for smart TVs founded by advertising veteran André Swanston, is rolling out a beta test of its service on Amazon Fire TVs. Fire TV and Ember TV device owners can download the app directly onto their smart TVs to access a catalog of free-to-play games. The cloud-based and ad-supported app also launched in beta on LG and Samsung devices earlier this year as PHYND joins the ever-growing list of gaming companies trying to capitalize on connected TV.
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Sport Report
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Sinclair announced “Pittsburgh Sports Tonight,” a live, locally produced sports program airing regional sports events covering Sinclair’s three-station TV network across Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia. The program premieres August 31.
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Distribution
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“Why’d They Wear That,” a pop culture and fashion commentary YouTube series by “What Not to Wear” hosts Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, will now be syndicated on LG FAST channels. New episodes will premiere on Thursdays starting August 18.
Google TV Freeplay now hosts on-demand videos in addition to free, ad-supported streaming channels.
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Ratings
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Formula One might grab all the headlines these days, but NASCAR has still got some juice left in the tank. The CW Network reports that more than one million total viewers watched the Hy-Vee PERKS 250 as part of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday, according to Nielsen’s panel-only data.
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Executive Moves
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NBC News hires Tammy Fine as vice president of talent development. Fine has already spent 30 years at NBC as both a producer on “Today” and a talent consultant, and also serves as an adjunct professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University.
Disney appoints Joss Hastings as senior vice president of marketing for Disney Consumer Products, the company’s retail and licensing subsidiary for merchandise.
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Former “American Idol” finalist Anoop Desai plays what supernatural creature in FX’s “What We Do In The Shadows” (2019-2024)?
(Email answers to trivia@Cynopsis.com and include your name, company and city. Answers limited to four per time zone.)
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Yesterday’s Trivia Answer
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During which season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (2005-) did Mac (Rob Mac) gain over 50 pounds? Season 7.
Congrats to: Kayla Moriarty-Fallon/NYC; Ben Cavins-Paramount/NYC; Kerry Mulvey-AFC Urgent Care/PA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA.
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