Post-Licht Panic, Coogler’s Copyright Coup, McConnell’s Last Hurrah

Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon refresher of Puck’s latest reporting.

Today, we lead with John Ourand’s pre-Super Bowl dispatch revealing the profound industry-wide anxieties, jilted partners, and existential questions surrounding the WBD-Fox-Disney sports mega-streamer.

Plus, below the fold: Lauren Sherman mulls Zac Posen’s inexplicable appointment at Old Navy. Matt Belloni digs into Ryan Coogler’s movie rights coup. Tara Palmeri details Ronna’s R.N.C. replacement game theory and McConnell’s last hurrah. On The Town, Matt and media analyst Rich Greenfield interrogate Disney’s latest quarterly earnings report. And on The Powers That Be, scoop machine Teddy Schleifer joins Peter Hamby to discuss R.F.K. Jr.’s veep fantasy, while Ben Landy and Dylan Byers examine the fresh anxieties percolating through CNN.

JOHN OURAND

Here in Vegas, on the protracted eve of the Super Bowl, everyone is talking about the Disney-Fox-WBD deal and what it means. Is this a cable killer? An experiment? And who is really in charge? The only consensus is that everyone is pissed that they weren’t looped in sooner.

LAUREN SHERMAN

The innumerable thoughts and open questions surrounding Zac Posen’s inexplicable appointment at Old Navy.

MATTHEW BELLONI

Is the ‘Black Panther’ director’s new deal with Warner Bros.—wherein the copyright for his next project, with Michael B. Jordan, will revert back to him after 25 years—part of a new ownership trend in Hollywood? Or did Coolger just pitch the right executives at the right time?

TARA PALMERI

After Ronna Romney McDaniel’s defenestration, the trial balloons, lobbying, and guessing games for Trump’s new R.N.C. chairperson have truly begun. Welcome back to 2016 again. Plus, some notes on McConnell’s future.