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

First up today, Dylan Byers takes the temperature inside CBS News now that the Skydance-Paramount merger has been blessed by Trump’s F.C.C. Interestingly, while the welter of events preceding last week’s announcement—the 60 Minutes settlement, the Colbert cancellation, the South Park premiere, etcetera—have consumed plenty of media oxygen, many insiders seem more concerned with how the Ellison regime will buoy CBS’s diminishing ratings. “It’s still a last-place network,” one source told Dylan. “No one watches Evening News. No one watches the morning show…”

Plus, below the fold: Bill Cohan uncovers how a crusading FOIA battle with the F.B.I. could unseal the Epstein files. Leigh Ann Caldwell digs into the House G.O.P. defections undermining Speaker Mike Johnson’s own Epstein strategy. Marion Maneker previews the high-level auctions and exhibitions coinciding with Art Basel Paris this fall. Julie Davich charts the rising market for the late American ceramicist George Ohr. And Sarah Shapiro reveals how mall staple Claire’s whiffed its retail moment.

Meanwhile, on the pods: Matt Belloni reunites with Lucas Shaw on The Town to debate how the Paramount deal will change the studio’s output. On The Varsity, John Ourand and ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. diagnose the dysfunction rocking the NFL Players Association. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Jon Kelly chew over the latest media M&A moves and ESPN’s potential acquisition of NFL Media.

MEDIA

While the media universe overanalyzes the free speech implications of the tediously drawn out Paramount-Skydance merger—the Colbert-Carr-South Park of it all—CBS rank and file are pondering a simpler question: Who’s gonna fix the evening news?

Read Now

WALL STREET

While Republicans have fled Washington for the summer in the hopes that the Epstein scandal goes away, attorney Dan Novack’s FOIA battle with the F.B.I. has been wending its way through the courts. This fall, we may finally get some answers.

Read Now

WASHINGTON

The House speaker’s strategy to bury the Epstein drama by sending Congress home for the summer has only delayed a reckoning that Trump himself set into motion. The defection of a few key Republican members shows the problem isn’t going away.

Read Now

ART

The French art world is checked out for the summer, and its attention has already turned toward the fall, where Paris has a lineup of exhibitions—from George Condo to Richter—and a new home for the Fondation Cartier in time for October’s Art Basel.

Read Now

ART

Unheralded during his lifetime, ceramicist George Ohr later drew praise from museum curators (and Warhol and Johns) for his abstract expressionist teapots and vases. This week, several of his works from the Donald Hecht collection are up for auction.

Read Now

FASHION

The nostalgic mall brand had every advantage to capitalize on the exploding tchotchke market and maintain its ear piercing dominance. Instead, it’s teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

Read Now

HOLLYWOOD

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss the possible changes coming to Paramount now that Skydance and its C.E.O., David Ellison, are officially taking over. Just how much will the new media mogul influence the movies, shows, and news under the Paramount umbrella?

Listen Now

SPORTS

ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. joins the pod to break down the widespread dysfunction rocking the NFLPA—from sexual harassment claims to collusion accusations and more—that led to the abrupt resignation of executive director Lloyd Howell Jr., and explore the myriad implications for the future of one of the most powerful labor organizations in sports.

Listen Now

MEDIA

Jon Kelly reunites with Peter to chew over the Trump administration’s official blessing of the Skydance-Paramount merger—and the controversial South Park broadside that almost blew it all up. Then they explore ESPN’s potential acquisition of NFL Media, and what it could mean for RedZone diehards and the future of football on Sundays.

Listen Now

Need help? Review our FAQ page or contact us for assistance. For brand partnerships, email ads@puck.news.

You received this email because you signed up to receive emails from Puck, or as part of your Puck account associated with {{customer.email}}. To stop receiving this newsletter and/or manage all your email preferences, click here.

Puck is published by Heat Media LLC. 107 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10006