NBC wraps upfront. Can ‘Elysium’ be a slump buster?

After the coffee. Before saying goodbye to July.

The Skinny: You know you need a vacation when you wake up and don’t know what day it is. I did get a chance to get to Dodger Stadium last night, but unfortunately the Yankees lost. Wednesday’s headlines include a look at “Elysium” and Comcast’s first-quarter results.

Daily Dose: Mandalay Sports Media, which creates sports-related content and is headed by Hollywood player Peter Guber and Mike Tollin, said private equity firms Columbia Capital and Rho Ventures have bought a stake in the company and will be represented on its board of directors.

Slow finish. Normally, the big broadcast networks have wrapped up selling commercial inventory for the fall TV season around the July 4 holiday. But this time around, there is a lot of haggling going on between some of the networks and Madison Avenue. On Tuesday, NBC indicated it was finally done selling ads. The slow pace paid off for the Peacock network, which sold $2.1 billion in advertisements and got rate increases between 7% and 8%. ABC, meanwhile, is still negotiating with advertisers. More on NBC’s upfront from the Los Angeles Times and Advertising Age.

PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments

Slump buster? Big-budget movies laden with special effects have not fared well at the box office this summer. Disappointments include “The Lone Ranger,” “Pacific Rim” and “After Earth.” Now comes Sony’s “Elysium,” which is from Neill Blomkamp, director of the surprise hit “District 9,” and promises to be more than big explosions and lots of wreckage. There also isn’t a glut of producers weighing in on the product. The New York Times on whether “Elysium” can break the summer slump.

Breaking news. Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns and operates over 100 local television stations, wants to get into the cable news business. As part of its acquisition of Allbritton Communications, Sinclair now owns NewsChannel 8, a Washington, D.C.-based regional cable news channel and wants to take it national. With a Washington base, and news operations around the country from its local stations, Sinclair may have plenty of content. What will be interesting is whether the often-conservative views of the company’s news operations will also be part of a cable channel. Coverage from Baltimore Business Journal.

Strong quarter. Cable and entertainment giant Comcast Corp. had a profit of $1.7 billion for the second quarter on revenue of $16.3 billion. Helping boost numbers was the strong performance of “Fast and Furious 6” and NBC’s “The Voice.” Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times on the numbers.

PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times

Another first. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, a former head of publicity for Paramount Pictures, has become the new president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. She is the first woman to run the Academy in 30 years and the first African-American ever. She defeated Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairman Rob Friedman. Variety on Isaacs’ win.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: Radio personality Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo, who resigned under a cloud, may have problems jump-starting his career. The NFL is going long with its digital strategy.

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