David Ellison just got some bad news: his $111 billion merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery has been put on hold.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) after a coalition of 12 states sued to block the deal. The 14-day pause kills Paramount Skydance’s plan to close in July.

“The Court ultimately finds the public interest favors their requested TRO to stay the merger in the interim,” Martínez-Olguín wrote in the order.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called it a “critical first win,” saying the megamerger would lead to fewer opportunities, worse products, and less competition in a market that touches millions of Americans’ lives. He said they’re fighting for a free and fair film and TV industry that actually serves creators and audiences.

Paramount fired back fast. The company said it’s “confident the evidence will demonstrate that the State AGs’ antitrust arguments are without merit” and that the states’ claimed markets and anticompetitive effects don’t line up with modern realities.

“This merger is lawful, pro-competitive, and will benefit consumers, creators, workers, and the entertainment industry,” Paramount added. “We will continue to vigorously defend the transaction and look forward to the hearings on the substance of the State AGs’ action.”

Over the last few weeks Paramount has been promising that the combined company would bring more job stability and opportunities across the board. The states, on the other hand, argue the deal would give the new entity roughly 27% of the wide-release theatrical distribution market — a concentration the judge said lets them “presume the proposed merger is likely to violate antitrust laws.”

The judge also noted that once operations start combining, sharing sensitive info, and moving people around, unwinding the whole thing would be extremely difficult if the merger gets approved and later struck down. Paramount even admitted a short delay wouldn’t really hurt them.

A hearing on whether to issue a longer preliminary injunction is set for August 3. That date matters a lot — after September 30, Warner Bros. shareholders start racking up big breakup-style fees (around $650 million per quarter).

This one’s far from over. The merger’s still alive but now it’s stuck in legal limbo while both sides gear up for the next round. I’ll keep watching it — these Hollywood power plays rarely stay quiet for long.

Ruthie Craft is an extremely talented singer/songwriter who grew up in Washington State and moved to Austin, Texas during the pandemic.

Craft auditions for American Idol in 2018 and competed on the 2019 season on ABC. She stunned the audience and her elimination was not taken kindly by the fans of the show.

Since her American Idol days, she has proven that you don’t need a major label behind you to make it work.

Outside of having an amazing and soulful voice and graceful guitar and ukelele playing, Craft also starred in Total Wine and More’s commercials.

For those reasons, Ruthie Craft is this week’s Artist of the Week.

Check out Ruthie Craft on Instagram and her music video for Make Believe below!

Major Networks Are Skipping Trump’s Primetime Speech Tonight

Later this evening, President Donald Trump is addressing the nation in a primetime speech, but ABC and NBC won’t be carrying it on their terrestrial stations. CNN is also passing entirely.

While ABC and NBC will stream the speech, CNN is sitting it out completely.

An ABC News spokesperson said, “ABC News will run President Trump’s speech on ABC News Live and ABC News Radio with comprehensive, anchored coverage. We will also cover the speech in our regular network newscasts and, as always, our Special Report team is fully prepared to break into network programming to deliver live updates and reporting should significant developments occur.”

A CNN rep said the network “will cover the President’s speech as a news event, and monitor it for news developments, providing analysis and commentary from CNN experts who cover elections, intelligence and the FBI.” They added that a live feed will be available on the website.

Details of the speech are still unknown, but it’s been speculated that Trump will hit on election integrity and possibly even touch on the upcoming midterms.

ABC and NBC have been a recent focus of the President when it comes to their broadcast licenses.

_{SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter}

Nickelback is on a tear with new music.

First. Bones for the Crows came out a few months back. And now, Rattle The Cage is out and it will melt your face.

States Just Dropped a Bomb on the Massive Paramount-Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery Merger

This video breaks down a pretty wild antitrust fight going on right now in the media world. A group of 12 state attorneys general, led by California, just filed a lawsuit to block the proposed $110 billion merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery.

The lawsuit, which dropped in July 2026, claims the whole deal is unlawful and would screw over consumers. The states say combining these giants would kill competition in the film industry, leading to higher ticket prices and lower-quality movies and TV shows for everyone.

What makes this interesting is the push and pull between federal and state levels. The U.S. Department of Justice had already given the deal a green light, but now these states are stepping in and creating a serious roadblock that could delay or even kill the merger timeline.

California officials are pointing out that the combined company would control about 27% of the wide-release movie distribution market. They argue that kind of concentration is straight-up anti-competitive.

It doesn’t stop at the U.S. border either. The deal is also getting extra regulatory eyes in the UK and Europe. There’s even some chatter about Paramount possibly moving out of California if things go south, but right now everyone’s focused on whether the merger itself is even legal.

As of mid-July 2026, the deal is under heavy legal pressure even though the feds signed off earlier. Paramount says they won’t close anything before July 22 while this plays out in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

This one’s still heating up. Big media mergers always come with drama, but this state-level challenge adds a whole new layer. I’ll keep an eye on it and update when things move.

What do you think? Is it good for consumers or just another media consolidation power grab?

Drop your take below.

Lindsey Graham has died at the age of 71. He died of a “sudden illness” after visiting Ukraine.

Lindsey Graham, the longtime Republican senator from South Carolina, passed away at the age of 71.

He had been in the Senate since 2003, after four terms in the House starting back in 1994. Graham was known for his strong support of the military and his hawkish takes on foreign policy. He was also tight with the late John McCain for years.

Back in the 90s, he got elected to Congress and stayed there for decades. Graham grew up in Central, South Carolina, served in the Air Force as a judge advocate, and then went into politics full time.

Even in his later years, he remained active on defense and national security stuff, often weighing in on big issues. He passed away earlier this week.

He is survived by his sister Darline and other family members. Services will be held in South Carolina.

This is a developing story.

Billionaire Mark Cuban is suing the new ownership group behind the Dallas Mavericks, the team he used to own the majority of. He’s accusing them of cutting him out of business decisions involving the team.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Cuban is calling out “adversarial business practices” as the new owners try to move the team about 10 miles away to a new arena on the old Dallas mall site. He’s specifically going after Patrick Dumont, who now serves as the governor of the Mavericks.

Back in 2023, Cuban sold the majority stake to the families of Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law, Dumont. Part of the agreement was that Cuban would stay in charge of basketball operations. Instead, Dumont handed full control over to Nico Harrison, the former general manager.

Cuban also says he wasn’t told or consulted about the trade that sent star Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. He only found out after it was already done and too late to do anything about it.

Even though Cuban sold the majority, he still owns 27% of the team. Dumont has the option to buy another 20% of Cuban’s remaining shares.

The Mavericks just signed a deal to buy the 104 acres where the old Mall of Dallas used to sit. They’re planning a new arena there that’s supposed to open in 2031. Right now the team plays at the American Airlines Center, but that lease runs out the same year.

Cuban says he was contractually supposed to be involved in the arena move, but he got completely shut out.

This is still developing.

_{Source: New York Post}

Meta has rolled out its first AI image generator, and it’s automatically pulling in public Instagram accounts. That means anyone can use your photos to make AI images unless you turn the feature off.

The tool is called Muse Image and it comes from Meta’s Superintelligence Labs. It’s built to compete with image generators from OpenAI and Google. They’ve folded it straight into Instagram, and every public account is opted in by default. So if someone tags your username in a prompt, Muse Image can pull from your posts, Reels, and videos to generate new images based on your likeness.

Instagram won’t notify you when someone creates something with your content. Your photos and videos could get remixed into whatever without you ever knowing about it.

If you want to stop it, you’ve got two easy options. Switch your account to private — private accounts aren’t included at all. Or keep it public but turn the feature off in the settings.

Make sure your Instagram app is updated first. Then go to your profile, tap the three lines in the top right for the menu, scroll down to “How others can interact with you,” and tap “Sharing and reuse.” Toggle off the option that says something like “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta.” That’s it.

Turning it off or going private only blocks new images from being made. Anything already generated with your stuff stays out there.

Muse Image is rolling out in the US first. Meta is pitching it as a handy tool for stuff like designing event invites, mocking up creative ideas, or making personalized graphics. They’ve given examples like putting your pet in a famous painting or mixing a selfie with a vacation photo to create a custom postcard.

The company didn’t explain why they defaulted to opting everyone in automatically.

This is happening while AI image tools are facing serious pushback over deepfakes. Elon Musk’s Grok just got hit with a class-action lawsuit and an EU privacy investigation after its image feature let people create “nudify” versions of real women and kids on X. Apple reportedly even threatened to pull Grok from the App Store over it.

_{Source: New York Post.}

Disney is making some big moves over at Fubo, the streaming platform the company owns 70% of. The Mouse House has installed Alisa Bowen, a longtime Disney executive, as CEO of Fubo.

Fubo was co-founded by David Gandler, who had been serving as CEO. Bowen is a 10-year veteran at Disney and most recently served as President of Disney+.

Disney’s increased control over Fubo came out of a 2025 settlement. That happened after Disney tried to team up with Discovery and Fox to launch Venu, a sports streamer that never got off the ground. Reports indicated Gandler and Disney didn’t mesh, and the quick CEO changeover makes it pretty clear they weren’t a match made in heaven.

Disney now has Hulu, Disney+, and Fubo under its streaming umbrella. Deadline reports that Hulu + Live TV and Fubo together have 6.2 million subscribers. It’s a solid number, but still far from the top in live TV streaming. YouTube holds the lead with 10 million subs.

Industry insiders will be watching closely to see what Bowen does with Fubo next.

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MultiMediaMouth.com is back!

It’s been a while since this website has had some life to it. Long story short, it’s been around for more than a decade. In fact, it’s been about 17 years that MultiMediaMouth has been a thing.

Last year our server crashed and caused a data loss that honestly broke my heart. Fifteen years of work, just gone.

I just didn’t have the heart to start over.

Monetization was impossible, but the viewership stayed strong. People kept visiting the curated site in the hundreds, if not thousands, every month.

So a few months back I decided to relaunch this website through Substack. It’s free, no ads, just with the hope that one day I’ll have an audience that follows my work even more than before.

Moving forward, MultiMediaMouth will be a home for podcasts, writing, and random videos. I’m really looking forward to diving back in and creating new stuff to share.

I hope you enjoy the ride.