Mediagazer: Disney plans to replace the Star tile with Hulu on the international Disney+ service; Star was widely used and well-known across Latin America and Asia (Deadline)

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Disney says it is “fully integrating” Hulu into Disney+, plans to launch a “unified” Disney+ and Hulu app in 2026 and migrate Hulu's live TV subscribers to Fubo — Hulu will replace the Star brand on Disney+ internationally this fall

Deadline:

Disney plans to replace the Star tile with Hulu on the international Disney+ service; Star was widely used and well-known across Latin America and Asia — This marks the first major international expansion for Hulu and closely follows Disney buying Comcast out of the U.S. streamer last month.

Discussion: ESPN Press Room U.S., Streaming Better, Jesse Whittock on LinkedIn, Dexerto and Advanced Television

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

ESPN signs a deal to show the WWE's biggest live events, including WrestleMania, from 2026; sources say ESPN will pay $325M on average per year for five years — The WWE is coming to ESPN. — The Disney-controlled sports and entertainment business will pay an average of $325 million per year …

Wall Street Journal:

The NFL agrees to take a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN in exchange for control over NFL Network, RedZone, and more; analysts estimate ESPN is valued at $25B-$30B — The media giant will take ownership of NFL Network as part of swap valued in the neighborhood of $3 billion

Mike Florio / NBCSports.com:

The ESPN-NFL deal will require US regulatory approval, giving President Trump the kind of leverage he seemingly exercised in the 60 Minutes settlement — It was a footnote to the reporting regarding a deal being done. It could, in time, become a headline.

Discussion: @kennysmith.bsky.social, Benzinga and Front Office Sports

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Disney says it will no longer report paid subscribers or average revenue per unit for ESPN+ as of its Q4 2025 and for Disney+ and Hulu as of its Q1 2026 — Disney, following in the footsteps of Netflix and others, soon will no longer report the number of subscribers for its Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming services.

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, @tvgrimreaper, Daily Disney News, The Wrap, Associated Press, The Information, The Verge, The Streamable, That Park Place, Streaming Better, Broadband TV News, Media Play News and Business Insider

Discussion: TheDesk.net, Rolling Out, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, Reuters, Cord Cutters News, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Financial Times and Business Wire

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

NYT reports 11.88M subscribers in Q2, total revenue up 9.7% YoY to $685.9M, adjusted operating profit up 28% YoY to $133.8M, and subscription revenue of $481.4M — The company added 230,000 digital-only subscribers in the second quarter. It now has 11.88 million total subscribers.

Discussion: @jamunfer, @katie_robertson, Jaydon Peters on LinkedIn, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Wrap and TVNewsCheck

Lauren Aratani / The Guardian:

In its Q4 earnings report, News Corp warned President Trump that his books “are being consumed by AI engines which profit from his thoughts” — Company owned by Rupert Murdoch says president's books are ‘being consumed by AI engines which profit from his thoughts’

Discussion: Publishers Weekly, Deadline, Telegraph, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, Sydney Morning Herald and @coolhand.bsky.social

Discussion: Radio Ink, The Times, Reuters, Mumbrella, Crikey, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Yahoo Finance, News Corp and Sports Business Journal

Liz Reid / The Keyword:

Google says total organic click volume from Search to websites has been “relatively stable” YoY and it's sending “slightly more quality clicks” than a year ago — We continue to send billions of clicks to the web every day and are committed to prioritizing the web in our AI experiences in Search.

Discussion: The Verge, 9to5Google, @kasey__moore, @nickleroy, Scott Sinclair on LinkedIn, Debbie W. on LinkedIn, Lily Ray on LinkedIn, @btabke, @gaganghotra_, @ethanhays, @realtaylorkurtz, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, @glenngabe.bsky.social, Search Engine Roundtable and Digital Journal, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Resilience Media, which aims to be the defense tech industry's “publication of record”, adds several ex-TechCrunch staff, including Ingrid Lunden and Matt Burns — Former Techcrunch staffers have joined a new title covering the defence tech industry which has just expanded after a successful fundraising round.

Discussion: Resilience Media, FinSMEs, Silicon Canals and Tech.eu

Bloomberg:

Sources: Chinese streamer iQiyi is seeking to raise $300M in a Hong Kong IPO later in 2025; the Baidu-owned company went public in the US in 2018 — Takeaways by Bloomberg AI — Hide … Tell us how AI is shaping your news experience. Share your feedback

Ian Walker / Wall Street Journal:

The UK CMA clears Omnicom's $13B acquisition of rival Interpublic after launching an investigation into the deal on June 23; the FTC cleared the deal on June 25 — The watchdog had been considering whether the deal would lead to a substantial lessening of competition

Discussion: Reuters, campaignlive.com and campaignlive.co.uk

Clyde Haberman / New York Times:

Longtime WNYC radio talk-show host Leonard Lopate, who was fired in 2017 for inappropriate behavior that he vehemently denied, died on Tuesday at 84 — He mastered the art of the interview over 32 years on public radio, at WNYC. He was fired in 2017 amid allegations of sexual harassment, which he vehemently denied.

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:

Universal Pictures has started adding a legal warning at the end credits of its films stating that their titles “may not be used to train AI” — The studio is getting more aggressive about protecting its films from companies pirating them. — Universal Pictures is taking …

Discussion: @dookofurl.bsky.social