1) Apple has lost an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice in a ruling that found Apple to have colluded with five major book publishers in an effort to raise e-book prices. To summarize Apple’s actions, they helped push the e-book publishing market from a “wholesale” model to an “agency” model, “where publishers set the price and Apple got a fixed percentage of the sale price.” This was all part of Apple’s attempts at undercutting Amazon, who have dominated the e-book sales, having once held 90% of the market. A hearing has been set for August 9 to discuss remedies/damages, but Apple says it is already planning an appeal.

2) Just what is happening at Hulu? After weeks of buyer speculation, with recent reports claiming a final group of four buyers (including DirecTV and Time Warner) were making moves to finalize a deal, the sale was called off entirely. The current owners, 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal, and Disney, claimed the final offers didn’t meet their expectations and have come to a unified strategy. However, reports claim the three owners are considered bringing in more partners, with Time Warner Cable being a potential front runner. Who knows what will happen, as Hulu has been placed on and taken off the auction block before.

3) Speaking of Time Warner, they have some bigger issues at hand as their deal with CBS for retransmission ended in June, and the #1 network is asking for a huge increase in fees. The behind-the-scenes negotiations have spilled out into public threats by CBS to pull the plug, using the threat of blackouts to pressure Time Warner into giving in, claiming in a new ad blitz that Time Warner is, “threatening to hold your favorite TV shows hostage and drop CBS.” While currently nothing has been done, public outcry of blocking a free-to-broadcast channel could lead to FCC or Congressional action.

4) After recently deciding to cut ties with Warner Bros. after eight years, Legendary Pictures has come to a new distribution (and co-financing/marketing) deal with NBCUniversal. The new five-year deal will begin in 2014, following Legendary’s focus on tentpole action films which they hope to leverage with Universal’s theme parks and other cross-promotional opportunities.

5) The announcement and reveal of Rolling Stone’s August issue generated massive controversy, as the cover depicts alleged Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and has drawn comparisons to the similar style of framing as their celebrity-laden covers. The cover and the surrounding controversy has led to multiple retailers refusing to carry the issue including Kmart, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and some 7-Eleven stores. The city of Boston has responded as well, with college bookstores taking varying degrees of bans/display and mayor Thomas Menino writing to Rolling Stone’s publisher bemoaning the cover that “rewards a terrorist with celebrity treatment” rather than focus on the survivors.

6) Following last week’s news of the departure of President of Interactive Entertainment Don Mattrick, Microsoft has now detailed a organizational realignment which sees Julie Larson-Green, formerly the head of Windows, becoming the head of a new entertainment-focused group that includes all hardware development, games, music, and video. This shift comes at a crucial time for Microsoft with the release of the XBox One later this year, stuttering Surface tablet sales, and the PR snafu of the new XBox policies and their subsequent reversal.

7) Following the lead of News Corp. and Time Warner, Tribune has announced plans to separate its publishing and broadcasting divisions that will see the Tribune Publishing Co. take control of its eight newspaper holdings, while Tribune Co. will retain the local TV stations, WGN America, and stakes in Food Network, digital and real estate assets. The spin off is meant to allow both companies to retain greater focus and tailor operational strategies to better suit their mediums. Some are wondering if this means a potential selling of either new company in the future, as Tribune is not publicly traded.

8) Although Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, and other advertising network managers recently unveiled a set of voluntary “best practices” to help fight copyright infringement, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) does not think it is enough. The anti-piracy plan calls for the networks to respond to copyright holder complaints with a dedicated contact person. The ad network would then lead an investigation to decide whether to contact the site, deny ad placement, or simply remove the site from the network. MPAA chairman Chris Dodd claims this only addresses a small part of the problem while placing too much burden on the rights holders… like the people in the MPAA.

9) In a follow-up to reports a few weeks back regarding the shutting down and then reopening (a less-staffed) Greece public broadcasting station, the Greek government has now launched a new network, Greek Public Television (EDT), to take over for the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT). ERT’s staff is now opposing the new channel, demanding a re-opening of the original broadcaster.

10) Aereo has won again at the courts, as a U.S. appeals court has declined to rehear the case brought by major broadcasters like Disney’s ABC and Comcast’s NBC. The broadcasters claim Aereo (an online television start-up that retransmits over-the-air networks) infringes copyright, but courts refused to shut down Aereo at a hearing back in April. The larger cases (CBS Broadcasting Inc et al v. AEREO Inc and WNET et al v. AEREO Inc) are still being decided, but for now, Aereo will stay on the… online.

1) Rupert Murdoch has had an eventful few weeks following the announcement of his divorce. First the good news, as the splitting of News Corp. into publishing and entertainment arms has led to big business for the newly named 21st Century Fox, which will hold onto the film and television studios as well as their cable channels. The immediate result was 21st Century Fox getting one of the highest valuations over Disney and Viacom with a growth in shares over 2%.

2) Now for Murdoch’s bad news, as reports this past week allege Murdoch was caught on a secret audio recording admitting to bribery of police officials, stemming from the investigations into News Corp. tabloids hacking into phones in Britain. Murdoch belittles police and the hacking inquiry, while giving support to his staff for their known behaviors. Scotland Yard has already requested access to the tapes, while Parliament member and Labour Party politician Chris Bryant has requested the FBI take action and press corporate corruption charges against News Corp.

3) Major shake-ups in Warner Bros. executive management structure, starting with the ousting of Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov.   Rather than simply replace Robinov, Warner Bros. instead has created a new three-person team to lead the division, made up of Greg Silverman, Sue Kroll, and Toby Emmerich, all promoted from within. However, the three will all be reporting directly to Warner CEO Kevin Tsujihara, giving him more direct power over the film studio, in addition to his increased control of the television side.

4) Sticking with Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures is officially no longer tied to Warner, with talks ending and Legendary’s Thomas Tullmoving onto talks with others studios, such as Fox and NBCUniversal, with the latter seeming the most promising.

5) One more story for Warner Bros., as the studio has clashed with The Weinstein Co. over the title of TWC’s upcoming film “The Butler.” Warner won an arbitration over the title after asserting their rights to the title due to a 1916 comedy short of the same name (Of course!). TWC’s attorney David Boies plans to appeal and possibly file a lawsuit challenging the MPAA’s ruling, citing the claim of a confusion over the films as having “no plausible basis.” Warner Bros. responded, citing past TWC “rules violations.” This should move fast, as the film (Whatever it will be named) is currently scheduled for an August 16 release in the U.S.

6) Jim Carrey has come out against the violence in “Kick-Ass 2,” the upcoming sequel that Carrey himself co-stars in and features heavy violence involving an 11-year hold vigilante. A tweet referencing Sandy Hook had Carrey saying he couldn’t support the level of violence in the film. Executive producer and original comic writer Mark Millar responded with surprise, noting how Carrey approached them about appearing in the sequel after enjoying the original.

7) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Academy Awards folks) has extended an invitation to 276 film professionals to join the Academy, an unusually large number. The list of names is markedly younger than in years past, as well as more diverse with several invitations to Latinos and an expansion of the documentary branch.

8) Just months after he helped reveal the XBox One, Microsoft’s president of Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick has left the company to become CEO of social gaming giant Zynga, best known for Facebook games like Farmville. Mattrick was lured away with a compensation package from Zynga of over $50 million in cash and stock.

9) Two of the largest book publishers in the world have merged, with the newly formed Penguin-Random House becoming the undisputed king in publishing and a possible competition to Amazon. Penguin-Random House now controls about 30% of trade book sales.

10) Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail will not have its official retail release until tomorrow, but after partnering with Samsung that saw the company purchase one million copies for its smartphone and tablet users to download via a free app, the album will likely be certified platinum immediately upon its release. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) changed their rules for certification to allow those pre-release digital sales to Samsung to count towards its total immediately, rather than waiting the normal 30 days for digital sales. Billboard, however, will not count the one million Samsung sales towards its total for ranking on its Billboard 200 chart. So… we may never know if Jay-Z’s new record is actually popular.