☀️ HBO Gets ’90s Courtroom Drama, New Bill Lawrence Comedy

SONY’s down, up Q2 / NETFLIX, ‘Adolescence’ director re-team / DISNEY exits A+E JV

Jul 31, 2026

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Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Friday, July 31, 2026.

Where hopefully my SoCal readers are finding creative ways to keep cool in the heatwave this week — and residents of Japan can relate!

They coined a new word this summer: kokushobi, or “cruel heat day.” Well described. Now, don’t get too jealous of our 87-degree high here in the tri-state area on the East Coast — we now have a new term in Jersey, too! It’s called “July tornado season.” #goodtimes

Amen, Bill. Fire up the 3rd movie in the Jersey suburbs. Via Giphy

WELL: According to DISNEY, over 150k comments were filed with the FCC about its examination of revoking the broadcast licenses at the O&Os, with 95% in support of DISNEY. I’m sure Brendan Carr will choose to highlight some from the 5% to be “balanced” in his response once the period to send comments ends Aug. 5.

YAH: ANTHROPIC joined the chorus of, “Our bots inadvertently got out and hacked other companies on their own” trend. They cited 3 incidents going back to April where this happened, although in these cases the testing environment’s configuration had internet access, unlike OPENAI’s.

Either way, can’t wait for ANTHROPIC’s rogue bots to meet OPENAI’s out in the wilds of the internet and see the gang warfare that ensues. The big screen adaptation’s gonna be killer in 2034.

ALSO: AI-music generator SUNO lost a copyright case in Germany with a royalty-collecting society called GEMA, which accused SUNO of training its product on unlicensed music. SONY and UNIVERSAL MUSIC are both in active litigation with the company.

Financial damages have not yet been set in Germany.

PLUS: Larry Ellison’s bets on the AI economy (and the accompanying debt) get the NYT Magazine deep-dive treatment.

SO: While not quite state AGs vs. PSKY lawsuit level, NY state is now suing KALSHI over operating in the state without a Gaming Commission license . . . potentially opening up some fireworks in that business.

YES: In a shock to no one — LeBron is in talks with ESPN about doing a docuseries about his final career stop in Philly, for everyone out there waiting to give their “Yeah, this is nowhere as good as The Last Dance” hot take on yet another sports docuseries project.

YEAH: Looks like Gianni Infantino’s money grab attempt with a new for-profit arm of FIFA (that he would then segue to lead) is hitting a brick wall in Europe, with all 55 FIFA members there saying they’d boycott the World Cup if the effort moved forward (or essentially, 🖕).

CONCACAF (North American / Central American and Caribbean teams) also “rejected” the proposal, although they didn’t say they would boycott, and the ASIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION also supported the moves of UEFA and CONCACAF, but did not offer an official boycott of FIFA events.
Infantino called UEFA’s bluff this morning, saying FIFA would still move forward with the plan.
So, enjoy a potential 2030 World Cup without the major European countries. This won’t affect the ongoing TV rights bidding process for that tournament . . . right?

OH: Add the NBA’s MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES to the group of NYC teams moving their local streaming rights to DAZN this season. The T’WOLVES will also make 15 games free to watch on the app, but pricing details still await as they do in NYC.

LO AND BEHOLD: Hospital ERs are now seeing a significant uptick in uninsured people who can’t pay their bills after the Trump administration’s changes to the Obamacare program, which resulted in a loss of about 3 million people from the enrollment. Eh, I’m sure the hospital system will totally eat the costs and not ultimately pass it along to the rest of Americans who pay insurance premiums.

KEEP IN MIND: 31% of people who made hardship withdrawals from their 401(k) plans in 2025 did so to pay medical bills, second only to avoiding foreclosure/eviction (36%), according to VANGUARD.
The number of participants in 401(k) plans making such withdrawals also went from 5% to 6% in 2025. Any bets on 2026?

FINALLY: Spider-Man: Brand New Day had the 3rd highest-grossing Thursday ever at $50M (only behind Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Force Awakens).