Top News:
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
Discussion:
MediaPost, Screen Rant, TVLine, Business Insider, The Streamable, Gizmodo, Comic Book, KIII-TV, New Jersey Online, Engadget, How-To Geek, The Verge, Pocket-lint, Tom's Guide, Decider, PCWorld, JJ Sawyer on LinkedIn, Android Authority, Cord Cutters News, Bleeding Cool News, Consequence, TechRadar, CBS News, 9to5Mac and Just Jared, more at Techmeme »
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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 …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, ESPN Press Room U.S., Comic Book, New York Post, TODAY.com, Sherwood News, South Shore Press, Front Office Sports, TVNewsCheck, Puck, al.com, The Streamable, The Information, Sports Business Journal, Variety, Sports Media Watch, Bleeding Cool News, Wall Street Journal, City A.M., Deadline, NewsMax.com and WPXI-TV, more at Techmeme »
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:
Front Office Sports and Benzinga
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
Discussion:
CNN, Axios, TV Tech, Sportico, The Streamable, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, Business Insider, MediaPost, Associated Press, The Hollywood Reporter, Yahoo Finance, ESPN Press Room U.S., Joe.My.God., Florida Politics, CNBC, New York Times, WORLD SCREEN, Rolling Out, Newser, Mediaweek, Fox Business, That Park Place, @matthewberrytmr, Proactive, Benzinga, @drewdisneydude, Blockchain.News, Sports Business Journal, @adamschefter, Decode TV, New York Post, Media Play News, TVNewsCheck, The Hill, Front Office Sports, Bloomberg, Bleeding Cool News, Sports Media Watch, Daily Disney News, @kennysmith.bsky.social, Financial Times, Cord Cutters News, Deadline, Bloomberg, Sportico, NBCSports.com, Los Angeles Times, ESPN, The Japan Times, The Wrap, Variety and NPR
Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
Disney reports Q3 revenue up 2% YoY to $23.7B, operating income up 8% YoY to $4.6B, streaming revenue of $6.2B, profit of $346M; Disney+ and Hulu hit 183M subs — In an early look at the numbers, Evercore ISI analyst Kutgun Maral called it a “healthy quarter with upside where it matters most, theme parks & DTC profitability.”
Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Disney plans to launch its new flagship sports streaming service ESPN on August 21 for $29.99 per month or $35.99 per month when bundled with Disney+ and Hulu — ESPN will launch its new flagship streaming service — also named ESPN — on August 21. — Disney's ESPN has been working …
Discussion:
CNN, TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter, ESPN Press Room U.S., Awful Announcing, Engadget, TVNewsCheck, Thurrott, PCWorld, Orlando Sentinel, One America News Network, Yahoo Finance, ABC7, 9to5Google, The Information, The Wrap, Android Headlines, How-To Geek, Variety, Reuters, KTFT, The Verge, Streaming Better, The Streamable, 9to5Mac, NBC News and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
Jesse Whittock / 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:
Advanced Television, The Wrap, Dexerto, GamesRadar, Streaming Better, The Streamable and Business Insider
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 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
Discussion:
Adweek, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, That Park Place, Associated Press, The Verge, Streaming Better, Broadband TV News and Media Play News
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:
Deadline, Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, @coolhand.bsky.social and Reuters
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Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:
News Corp reports Q4 revenue up 1% YoY to $2.11B, vs. $2.1B est., and WSJ subscriptions up 7% YoY to 4.5M+ on average, 4.1M+ of which were digital-only
News Corp reports Q4 revenue up 1% YoY to $2.11B, vs. $2.1B est., and WSJ subscriptions up 7% YoY to 4.5M+ on average, 4.1M+ of which were digital-only
Discussion:
Radio Ink, The Times, Reuters, Mumbrella, Crikey, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Yahoo Finance, News Corp and Sports Business Journal
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 and campaignlive.co.uk
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
A June ranking of the top 25 local public radio/TV websites in the US based on traffic shows MPR at the top, followed by LAist and Oregon Public Broadcasting — They may have been born on the airwaves, but these public media stations compete on the web as well.
