Netflix’s NFL Gambit, 10th-Ave Frieze Out, The Great Re-Bundling

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

First up today, Dylan Byers gut-checks the enduring media fantasy that Jeff Zucker might return from the wilderness to buy CNN. Is it merely a narrative-friendly fever dream, or is there a twinkle of logic to the notion?

Plus, below the fold: William D. Cohan reveals David Zaslav’s potential spoils from the Paramount mess. Marion Maneker captures the pall over New York’s bustling May art market. On The Town, Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw divine the fate of the forthcoming Disney+-Hulu-Max rollup. And on The Powers That Be, Jon Kelly joins Peter Hamby to discuss the Netflix-NFL Christmas Day experiment before turning to the latest CNN murmurs.

DYLAN BYERS

The endurance of the “Will Jeff buy CNN?” fantasy, which was stoked again this week, highlights the uncertain state of the media industry, and a few enduring truths about Zucker, too. He may have reinvented himself as an investor, but he remains an operator at heart. And, if given the opportunity, he’d probably be back in the control room in a heartbeat.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

Could the Paramount mess actually provide an unexpected benefit to David Zaslav and Warner Bros. Discovery?

MARION MANEKER

News and notes on all the shows around New York, what everyone is saying, and not saying, too.

MATTHEW BELLONI

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss the new bundle starting this summer that will combine Disney+, Hulu, and Max. They pick winners and losers of the deal, and wonder who might be the next to join in on the Great Re-Bundling.