Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to Puck’s best new reporting. Here’s what you need to know… and stick around for more on the Paramount–WBD limbo.

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Meanwhile, on the pods…

And now, a little more on Bonta’s old-school tactics…

HOLLYWOOD

The first thing that stands out about the complaint California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other states filed Monday against the Paramount–WBD merger, Eriq writes, is how thoroughly old-school it all feels. Despite all the political overtones, there’s no talk of Ellison family lobbying, or Trump influence over the D.O.J., or the looming consolidation of CNN and CBS News that’s spooked the media class. Instead, it’s a conventional antitrust challenge built around competitive harms: fewer films, canceled projects, higher cable bills, etcetera.

The strategy, Eriq notes, is defined as much by what it avoids as what it embraces. To wit, it essentially ignores streaming, while fabricating a new “tentpole” film market category that Paramount’s defense will surely attack. The complaint appears built to survive judicial scrutiny rather than dominate a news cycle, which Eriq attributes to the wise influence of Bonta’s outside counsel. Meanwhile, both sides are already posturing for a potential road to the Supreme Court…

Click here to read Eriq’s full story.

A.I.

The polling says artificial intelligence isn’t a top-tier issue for voters… yet. But beneath the affordability crisis, Washington’s top political strategists are picking up early signals of an anti-tech populist revolt.

SPORTS

Fanatics Fest has evolved from a collectibles convention into the closest thing sports has to Comic-Con, with enough gravitational pull to drag the ESPYs—and much of the industry—to New York this week.

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ART

A brilliant survey of the artist’s work at the Jewish Museum, including drawings inspired by his Nazi harassment, makes the case for his stature among modern artists. It also makes a courageous statement about the return of authoritarianism today.

FASHION

The latest ShopMy data shows that affiliate dollars are flowing through the vacation wardrobe—linen skirts, scarf tops, and raffia minis—wrapped around it.

SPORTS

Puck’s legal expert Eriq Gardner joins John to work through a docket’s worth of sports media legal battles, from the looming challenges to the Paramount–WBD merger to the NFL’s ongoing antitrust case. Plus, a long-simmering dispute between the Chicago Cubs and nearby rooftop owners over sightlines into Wrigley.

A.I.

Ian Krietzberg joins Peter to break down Apple’s shocking lawsuit against OpenAI, which accuses Sam Altman’s company of running a sweeping corporate espionage campaign to steal trade secrets from Cupertino. Then Ian gets into the politics of A.I. this midterm season—and why voter anxiety about A.I. and data centers hasn’t quite caught fire at the ballot box yet.

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