As a transformative summer in the media industry winds down, Puck partners Matthew Belloni and Bill Cohan exchanged notes on the most impactful storylines they’re tracking this fall: whether Netflix and Disney+’s forthcoming ad-supported tiers will actually juice revenue and subs; how David Zaslav’s controversial WBD maneuvers are reverberating through Wall Street and Hollywood; and whether Brian Roberts’s low-key Q2 foreshadows any big plays at Comcast. That and more in the following conversation, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Matt Belloni: Happy Labor Day, Bill, I’m betting Nantucket is slightly less scorching hot than L.A. Anyway, the debate in entertainment this fall—well, besides whether Black Panther 2 will outgross Avatar 2—will be whether Netflix and Disney+ can successfully launch an ad-supported model. Both will likely offer the ad tier with a price point in the $8 range, much less than the no-ads service. So both Disney’s Bob Chapek and Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos are hoping that the loss of that subscription revenue can be made up with juiced subscriber numbers and all that ad cash. What’s the current thinking on Wall Street about whether that feat is possible?