What's news: Byron Allen wants to buy CNN, Harvey Weinstein's new troubles, The Crown will get a sixth season, a Wonder Years reboot, new 7 PM hosts at MSNBC and CNBC, SAG-AFTRA L.A. board votes no on TV/theatrical deal, CBS All Access snags soccer rights, animated film and TV creators aim for change beyond casting. Plus: Oprah Winfrey developing 1619 Project for film and TV, Batwoman casts its new hero. --Alex Weprin

 Byron Allen's Big Plans

►Byron Allen on his plans for media domination: The comic turned mogul has played the long game since he was a kid, acquiring assets like The Weather Channel and taking a racial equality dispute with Comcast all the way to the Supreme Court.

--"'I'm close to the same age when Rupert Murdoch came here to America,' Allen tells Seth Abramovitch. 'He was in his 50s. I'm 59. What you see today will be 10,000 times bigger.' Press him on what would make the ultimate jewel in his crown and, without hesitation, he replies, 'I'd love to own CNN. But I have to buy AT&T to do that. And I will. Believe me, I think about it every day.'"

--"You know how you can sum up Byron is his chess game," Eddie Murphy says. "Byron played a lot of chess back in the early days. There was a group of people in town, like Berry Gordy and Jim Brown, who would fly in good players. I played Byron a lot. I'm a much better chess player than Byron. Like, nobody beats me. If I had played Byron on the clock, I would have killed Byron. But we didn't play on the clock — we just played. And that's Byron's game. He's super patient. He takes a long time between every move. He does it until you get frustrated — and then you do something stupid, and then all he needs is a little tiny crack. Just a pawn, any type of advantage, and he had you. That is Byron in a nutshell." The story.

►Harvey Weinstein resolves major lawsuit, but more expensive legal battles loom. The convicted producer, serving a 23-year sentence in Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, N.Y., is spending what's left of his fortune to finance his next fights, Tatiana Siegel reports.

--"Weinstein, who is housed in the medical unit and is not with the general population, has hired Craig Rothfeld as his executive assistant, and Rothfeld is serving as a go-between between Weinstein and his legal team. Although Weinstein tested positive for coronavirus, he never developed any symptoms. But his medical issues continue. Weinstein had angioplasty surgery and now has a stent. [His publicist Juda] Engelmayer notes: “He doesn’t have a comfort level that things are going to get better.” The story.

+Related: If a certain number of women who accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct prior to 2005 opt out of a proposed class action settlement the whole deal could be voided — and lawyers for the class are asking the court to keep that number secret so no one tries to obstruct the deal in favor of obtaining more money. The story.

►SAG-AFTRA L.A. board disapproves TV/theatrical deal in non-binding sign of fractious union. The board of SAG-AFTRA’s largest local on Tuesday voted 69 percent to 31 percent against the new TV/theatrical deal approved by the national board, THR's Jonathan Handel has learned, in a videoconference meeting that resulted in a symbolic show of force signaling tumultuous times ahead for entertainment’s largest union.

--The 29 to 13 non-binding vote by the Los Angeles board was “essentially along party lines” one board member said, speaking on condition on anonymity. The local board is controlled by the Membership First faction, while the national board is controlled by a group called Unite for Strength. The story.

 Rethinking Animated Stories

►Animated film, TV creators aim for change beyond casting: "It's not just about including Black characters." Amid a flurry of recastings, more "accurate and truthful" portrayals are beginning to be sought in a business that can boil down to "somebody knows someone," Carolyn Giardina reports.

--"There are long, long chains of relationships. And it's hard to sometimes become a part of those networks if you're coming in from outside and you're just a fresh new face." Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse filmmaker Peter Ramsey says. The story.

►Just in: The Crown to be extended to six seasons on Netflix. The hit drama was originally due to end after season five following an announcement earlier this year, but the streamer and its creator Peter Morgan have now confirmed this has been extended to six. The story.

In other TV news...

►The Wonder Years reboot featuring Black family a go at ABC. Lee Daniels will exec produce the comedy from Big Bang Theory writer Saladin Patterson, with original series co-creator Neal Marlens and star Fred Savage also attached. The goal, sources tell Lesley Goldberg, is for the new Wonder Years to be developed for the 2021-22 television season. The story.

►Oprah Winfrey to adapt New York Times' 1619 Project for film, TV. The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones will see her landmark magazine issue that re-examined American history through the lens of slavery turned into content for a global audience via Lionsgate. More.

+Batwoman taps Javicia Leslie to take over title role. Javicia Leslie will take over the title role in The CW series' second season, following the departure of star Ruby Rose at the end of season one. She'll play a character named Ryan Wilder, becoming the first Black actress to play Batwoman in a live-action TV or film production. More.

+Younger creator Darren Star inks ViacomCBS overall deal. The Younger creator has signed an expansive overall deal with the media conglomerate. The deal is Star's second with Viacom after he previously inked a pact with TV Land back in 2016. More.

+Jane Lynch to host Weakest Link reboot at NBC. The network has ordered 13 episodes of the show, which is based on a British format. BBC Studios and Universal Television Alternative Studio are producing. More.

+Lena Horne limited series in the works at Showtime. Jenny Lumet will write and executive produce Blackbird: Lena Horne and America, which will span 60 years of Horne's life, beginning in her teenage years as a Cotton Club dancer. More.

+Tyler Perry is officially saying goodbye to Madea. BET+, the streaming service from ViacomCBS' BET and Tyler Perry Studios, will stream Madea's Farewell Play starting Aug. 27. The play is the 21st and final one in the Madea series, which helped launch Perry toward becoming the mogul he is today. More.

+Also: Amazon is teaming with actor-producer Daniel Dae Kim to develop Tether, a genre-bending take on the classic ghost story... Life simulation video game The Sims is at the center of a new reality competition series for TBS called The Sims Spark'd... MTV's Catfish is going virtual for its ninth season. The series is set to return on Aug. 5, about five months after the wrap of season eight, with a run of episodes produced remotely... Netflix announced Wednesday that Archie-verse drama The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will end when it returns later this year for "par four."...

NBCUniversal's two cable news channels are getting new 7 PM hosts...



►Joy Reid to take over Chris Matthews' MSNBC time slot. Reid will host The ReidOut, which will start July 20 and originate from Washington D.C. She currently hosts the weekend morning show AM Joy and has been with the channel since 2011. She had previously hosted an afternoon program called The Reid Report. The story.

►Former Fox News anchor Shepard Smith to host evening newscast on CNBC. The one-hour newscast, The News with Shepard Smith, will air Monday-Friday at 7 p.m. Smith will also become CNBC’s chief general news anchor and chief breaking general news anchor. Smith joins CNBC after spending 23 years at Fox News, where he was most recently the chief news anchor and host of the dayside program Shepard Smith Reporting. The story.

►Filming in Los Angeles a near-total loss amid pandemic, report finds. Overall production declined 97.8 percent to just 194 shoot days, says FilmLA — making the last quarter the lowest filming levels on record. Of course, state and county orders mandated that production remained shut down from March 20 to June 15. The story.

►Blumhouse's Forever Purge and Halloween Kills delay release to 2021 amid pandemic. Halloween Ends is also being delayed by a year, Pamela McClintock reports. Separately, the Jordan Peele-produced Candyman is relocating from September to October of this year. The story.

 CBS All Access Snags Soccer Rights

►CBS All Access to stream UEFA matches in expanded ViacomCBS deal. As part of the pact, all games will stream live on CBS All Access, with some high-profile matches also airing on CBS networks. The deal expands on a pre-existing licensing agreement between ViacomCBS and UEFA that was set to kick off in 2021. Turner previously had a three-year deal with the league that would have run through the end of the 2020 season, but it walked away from the relationship early after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the current season. The story.

+After a $2.6 billion hit, TV races to bring back live sports. With the NBA and MLB returning in late July, ESPN, Turner and Fox hope for a "glass half-full" advertising market. “They both need each other,” says media consultant Brad Adgate. “The networks are paying a boatload of money for the rights fees, and advertisers need the audience to reach them, and are willing to pay.” The story.

►Netflix's unscripted chief reveals release strategy, Love Is Blind plans and Dave Chappelle's 8:46 backstory. Brandon Riegg, who oversees nonfiction series and comedy specials, also discusses the streamer's reality hot streak, comedy specials during COVID-19 and flexible release patterns: "We're not afraid to experiment." The interview.

►Major fall film festivals commit to cooperate, not compete amid pandemic. The Toronto, New York, Telluride and Venice film festivals, knocked sideways in their planning by the coronavirus pandemic, have unveiled a joint statement that commits the long-time rivals to cooperate and not compete for film titles and awards-season bragging rights in the fall. More.

 Eminem's publisher sues Harry Fox Agency, alleging it conspired with Spotify to skimp on royalties. Eight Mile Style alleges Spotify and HFA conspired to conceal copyright infringement by backdating Notices of Intention to obtain compulsory mechanical licenses and falsifying royalty documents. More.

+The band Lady A files lawsuit against singer Anita 'Lady A' White. The Grammy-winning vocal group filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in federal court after negotiations with Anita White broke down in recent weeks. According to the lawsuit, the band is seeking a ruling that their use of the trademark "Lady A" does not infringe on White's alleged trademark rights of the same name. The band is not seeking monetary damages. More.

►Glee star Naya Rivera reported missing after a boat ride in a California lake. Authorities are searching for the actress as of Wednesday night after her 4-year-old son was found floating alone on a rented boat in Lake Piru. More.

►Critic's notebook: Can Emmy voters look beyond The Simpsons and Family Guy in the animation race? After Adventure Time, BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth earned their first animated program noms last year, new shows including Central Park, Tuca & Bertie and Undone offer voters the opportunity to clear the remaining cobwebs off the category this year, Inkoo Kang writes. The column.

+Also: Which Emmy contenders will get lost in the quarantine time blur? Orange Is the New Black, Baskets, Mindhunter and On Becoming a God in Central Florida are among releases from early in this year's Emmy eligibility period that may be overlooked due to the way confinement has warped our sense of "then" and "now," Daniel Fienberg writes. The column.

►Dukes of Hazzard stars John Schneider and Tom Wopat respond to renewed controversy over car's Confederate flag. "The whole politically correct generation has gotten way out of hand," says Schneider, while Wopat notes that "the situation in the country has obviously changed in the last 40 years, but the car is innocent." More.

►Billy Crystal pays tribute to "unassuming superstar" Carl Reiner. The comedian reflects on how Reiner, who died June 29 at age 98, welcomed everyone with "open arms" and created a family: "He became like an uncle to me." The column.

Obituary: Ronald Schwary, the Oscar-winning producer of Ordinary People who guided other acclaimed films including A Soldier's Story, Absence of Malice, Scent of a Woman and Tootsie, has died. He was 76...

►TV ratings: Despite airing a rerun, America's Got Talent still led the broadcast networks in the adults 18-49 demographic on Tuesday night, and NBC managed to keep its hold on the top of the network standings in the key ad demo. Univision tied for the top spot. The numbers.

►TV review: Robyn Bahr reviews the HBO Max docuseries Expecting Amy, writing "warm, thoughtful and intimate, the doc is no ordinary celebrity vanity project or insider's peak reality series." The review.

+Also: Daniel Fienberg reviews Netflix's Down to Earth with Zac Efron, writing that "Efron has unquestionable curiosity about the advancements he and Olien are learning about, but it's a curiosity that remains at an introductory level, and the show seems to assume that the fans Efron attracts will be coming from a similar perspective." The review.

Correction: In yesterday's newsletter I wrote that this week's excellent THR magazine cover story was written by Tatiana Siegel and Rebecca Keegan, it was actually written by Pamela McClintock and Rebecca Keegan. Sorry Pam!

In other news...

--Universal has tapped the team behind box office hit Invisible Man to take on its latest monster movie, Wolfman. Director Leigh Whannell is in talks to helm the feature that is set to star Ryan Gosling, with Jason Blum's Blumhouse on board to produce.

--With the growing interest surrounding virtual production techniques — made all the more notable amid COVID-19 —Bron Media Corp. announced the launch of Bron Digital, a virtual production and service company that will develop and produce animation for series television, short-form content and motion pictures.

--Comcast-owned European pay TV giant Sky has received planning permission for a proposed 32-acre TV and film studio with 14 soundstages at Elstree, England, just north of London.

--Demi Moore is lending her voice to a new audio drama. The actress is set to star in and executive produce fiction podcast Dirty Diana, which hails from studio QCODE. The first episode of the six-episode series drops July 13. 

--GLAAD announced today that its combining its two planned Media Award ceremonies, one in New York (March 19) and the other in Los Angeles (April 16), into one virtual event scheduled for July 30 and set to stream on GLAAD’s Facebook and YouTube accounts.

--Surviving R. Kelly producer dream Hampton has signed with CAA.

--Isha Sesay and Idris Elba have launched The Survivors Solidarity Fund to raise money for survivors of sexual assault in Sierra Leone.

--Tyler Perry has offered to pay the funeral expenses for an 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot in Atlanta over the weekend, a representative for the actor and filmmaker confirmed Wednesday.

--Newly formed video game entertainment and news network VENN is set to launch in August with a lineup of original programming.

--Independent game company Manticore Games on Wednesday unveiled a $1 million pilot program to pay developers through its free video game creation platform, Core, which launched in open alpha mode in March.

What else we're reading...

--"Upfront negotiations in ‘holding pattern’ as Covid-19 cases surge" [AdWeek]

--"Ninja played Fortnite on YouTube, and the gaming world lost its mind" [NY Times]

--"Rudy Giuliani called the NYPD on Sacha Baron Cohen over prank interview" [Page Six]

--"Nielsen surprises with out-of-home delay" [Sports Business Daily]

--"Barry Diller has no time for talk of a world changed by pandemic" [Bloomberg]

Today's birthdays: Fred Savage, 44, Tom Hanks, 64, O.J. Simpson, 73, Courtney Love, 56, Donald Rumsfeld, 88.