Today, A minute agoRichard LawlerKathleen Kennedy is reportedly planning to leave Lucasfilm.Puck reports that Kennedy, who has steered franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, has informed the studio and others that she will step down by the end of 2025.In 2023, Kennedy announced three new Star Wars films before murkier reports appeared last year about a new trilogy, and we just saw a new trailer for Andor season two. If there is a change at the top, then it could come with some clarity about the series future on big and small screens alike.Dec 25, 2024Richard LawlerThe NBA subs in Mickey Mouse and Daffy Duck to help take on the NFL.As the NFLs Netflix broadcasts threaten to dominate Christmas and people fret over ratings drops, todays slate of NBA games includes a Dunk the Halls simulcast similar to other overlay broadcasts weve seen recently available on Disney Plus.Instead of Jalen Brunson and the Knicks vs. Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, its their cartoon avatars, with occasional drop-ins from recognizable characters. Are any of you watching this instead of Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson?Nov 15, 2024Emma RothESPN is testing a generative AI avatar called FACTSImage: ESPNESPN is testing an AI-generated avatar with the Saturday college football show SEC Nation. Dubbed FACTS, its going to be ...promoting education and fun around sports analytics with information drawn from ESPN Analytics, which includes data like the Football Power Index (FPI), player and team statistics, and game schedules. We havent seen the avatar in action, but it sounds like a bot-ified version of stats encyclopedia Howie Schwab, who was ESPNs first statistician and eventually the star of a mid-2000s game show, Stump the Schwab.ESPN has already brought generative AI to its website with AI-written game recaps. FACTS is still in development, and theres no word on when it could make its first appearance on the network.Read Article >Nov 14, 2024Emma RothDisneys streaming business is finally finding its footingImage: Nick Barclay / The VergeDisney made money off its streaming business for the second time in a row. During Q4 2024, profit from Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus soared to $321 million, up from $47 million last quarter.During an earnings call on Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Iger said around 60 percent of all new subscribers are choosing Disney Plus ad-supported plan. Meanwhile, 37 percent of total subscribers in the US are currently subscribed to the option, which has become a major revenue driver for streaming services.Read Article >Nov 12, 2024Jay PetersHes in the game.Disney is searching for potential CEO candidates outside of the company, and one person being considered is EA CEO Andrew Wilson, Variety and The Wall Street Journal report. The company plans to announce Bob Igers successor in early 2026.Disney Expands CEO Search to Outside Candidates Including EAs Andrew Wilson[Variety]Oct 21, 2024Emma RothDisneys still looking for a new CEO but not this year or next yearImage: The VergeDisney will announce a replacement for CEO Bob Iger in early 2026, according to an update from the company on Monday.The entertainment giant has been on the hunt for a new leader since Igers return to Disney in 2022. Last year Iger extended his contract with Disney until December 31st, 2026, and, as The New York Times notes, delayed retirement four times during his previous run as the companys CEO before eventually handing control over to Bob Chapek in 2020.Read Article >Oct 7, 2024Richard LawlerShams Charania takes over for Adrian Wojnarowski as ESPNs senior NBA insider.Theres white smoke from ESPNs HQ in Bristol, CT, today, as Shams Charania broke the news of his own free agent signing, saying:I am honored to join ESPN as the companys Senior NBA Insider.He will take over the spot from his one-time mentor and longtime rival, Wojnarowski, who announced his retirement last month.Image: Shams Charania (Threads)May 8, 2024Emma RothA Disney, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle is on the wayIllustration by Nick Barclay / The VergeTheres a new streaming bundle coming to town. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are teaming up to offer Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max in a bundle that will become available in the US this summer.The new bundle will include both ad-supported and ad-free options, but theres still no word on how much it will cost. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery say they will share additional details about the bundle in the coming months. Once available, youll be able to purchase the bundle from Disney Plus, Hulu, or Maxs website.Read Article >May 7, 2024Emma RothDisneys streaming business gets closer to becoming profitableIllustration by Alex Castro / The VergeDisney Plus and Hulu posted a profit for the first time today. In Disneys earnings report released on Tuesday, the company revealed that both streaming services made $47 million combined this past quarter a huge turnaround from the $587 million loss reported at the same time last year.But Disneys streaming business wasnt entirely profitable. ESPN Plus still lost $65 million, dragging its combined streaming earnings $18 million in the red. Despite this, the narrowing losses mark a huge milestone for Disney as it continues to invest more in streaming. The entertainment company says it expects its streaming business to become profitable in the fourth quarter of this year.Read Article >Apr 26, 2024Richard LawlerAmazon reportedly has a framework of a deal to stream NBA games.Following a report by Pucks John Ourand that ESPN has carved out a piece of the new NBA media landscape, The Athletic added an Amazon rumor:It is expected that Prime Videos package will include significant regular season and postseason games, perhaps even some conference finals. The anticipation is that the final contract will be for at least a decade and begin the 2025-2026 season.If the deals go through, this might add streaming NBA games on Thursdays when Amazons NFL games arent on.Amazon Prime has framework deal for NBA broadcast rights[The Athletic]Apr 25, 2024Richard LawlerThe NBAs next media rights deal is up for grabs.According to the WSJ, Amazon, YouTube, and Peacock are all in the mix alongside incumbents Warner and Disney, with the possibility of snagging global streaming rights for some games.When these deals kick in after 2024-2025, theyll exist alongside the three-headed effort from Disney, Fox, and WBD, standalone ESPN, Netflix and the WWE, the NBAs FAST channel and who knows what else.Amazon, YouTube Vie for NBA Streaming Rights as Leagues Media Talks Heat Up[WSJ]Apr 18, 2024Nilay PatelThe clock is ticking on Disneys streaming strategy.Todays episode of Decoder is all about Disney, the massive activist investor revolt it just fought off, and what happens next in the world of streaming. Earlier this month, Disney survived an attempted board takeover from businessman Nelson Peltz. While investors overwhelmingly sided with Disney and CEO Bob Iger, the boardroom showdown made something very clear: Disney needs to figure out streaming and get its creative direction back on track. To help me better understand whats happening here, I brought on my friend Julia Alexander, who is VP of strategy at Parrot Analytics, a Puck News news contributor, and, most importantly, a former Verge reporter. Shes a leading expert on all things Disney, and I always learn something important about the state of the entertainment business when I talk to her.Apr 15, 2024Emma RothDisney reportedly wants to bring always-on channels to Disney PlusImage: Nick Barclay / The VergeThe revamped Disney Plus app could soon feature always-on channels dedicated to Star Wars and Marvel shows, according to a report from The Information. The channels, which are reportedly similar to those on free ad-supported streaming services like Pluto or Tubi, could take away the choice when it comes to picking out what to watch next.In addition to Star Wars and Marvel series, Disneys lineup of channels could feature stations that continuously stream Disneys classic animated films or movies from Pixar, The Information reports. Even though viewers would need a Disney Plus subscription to tune in to the channels, they will likely still contain ads just like traditional television.Read Article >Apr 4, 2024Emma RothThe Disney Plus password-sharing crackdown starts in JuneIllustration by Alex Castro / The VergeDisney Plus already has rules in place to prevent subscribers from sharing their passwords but now we have an idea when it will start making users pay to share them. In an interview on CNBC, Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company plans on launching our first real foray into password sharing in June.Iger says the rollout will start in just a few countries in a few markets before expanding to all subscribers in September. Disneys anti-password sharing rules initially went into effect for new subscribers on January 25th and were rolled out to existing members on March 14th. Netflix became the first streaming service to crack down on password sharing in 2023, as it began charging users an extra $7.99 per month to add an extra viewer outside their household.Read Article >Apr 4, 2024Emma RothNo one has the breadth of what Disney has when it comes to streaming.Following a drawn-out proxy fight, CEO Bob Iger gave investors a pep talk about the future of Disney, including its goals of launching a streaming-only version of ESPN in 2025:This will give consumers the ability to stream their favorite live games and studio programming, and take advantage of an immersive, customizable sports experience that includes betting, fantasy sports, e-commerce, and more.Iger also mentioned ESPNs joint venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, while adding that Disneys suite of streaming services will reach profitability by the end of this fiscal year.Disney CEO Bob Iger Delivers Message of Renewed Strength at Annual Shareholders Meeting[The Walt Disney Company]Mar 27, 2024David PierceDisney Plus officially unveils its very green new logoSame Disney Plus, new logo. Image: DisneyDisney has been hinting at some big changes in the Disney Plus branding. In recent days, lots of users checked their TV, tablet, or phone to find the streaming app had a new logo the iconic Disney blue replaced by a glowing green background. The new logo has been controversial: some people see it as a needless simplification of a familiar design; some people appreciate that it doesnt look like every other streaming service; some people find themselves wondering if the color really changed or if theyve just been looking at their TV wrong all this time.Well, it did change. Permanently. That new green color is called Aurora, both in tribute to the aurora borealis and the protagonist of Sleeping Beauty. (I dont remember much of this green color in that movie, but whatever.) Its meant to be a mix of Disney blue and Hulu green heres a really fun deep dive into the exact alchemy of said mix as Hulu becomes a part Disney Plus.Read Article >Mar 27, 2024David PierceThe Disney Plus-Hulu merger is way more than a streaming bundleIts Hulu. In Disney Plus. Image: DisneyAs of today, Hulu is part of Disney Plus. Hulu still exists it still even has its own app but its also being bundled into Disneys primary streaming service alongside all the companys other content. Even the Disney Plus logo changed to integrate that iconic green Hulu hue. From a product perspective, the Hulu integration is roughly what youd imagine. Hulu is now a tile inside the app, next to Marvel and Pixar and National Geographic and the rest. The price hasnt changed; its still US-only, and the apps not going away. Hulu shows and movies will also show up in search results and recommendations; if youre subscribed to Hulu, youll get everything seamlessly, and if youre not, the app will try to convince you to sign up. Disney has been beta-testing this for months, and it works fine it can be somewhat confusing to figure out whats a Hulu thing, whereas a Pixar thing is much easier to define, but theres nothing shockingly new or confusing here. Its just Hulu inside of Disney Plus.Read Article >Mar 5, 2024Quentyn KennemerIf you build it great, they will come.At the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco, Disney CEO Bob Iger summarized his gameplan for Marvel and Disney movies to get more butts into theater seats, as reported by Deadline:A lot of people think its audience [superhero] fatigue. Its not audience fatigue. They want great films. And if you build it great, they will come, he said. He noted that has made nearly $30 billion from 33 films. We got to return to something akin to that. And I actually am confident that we will.A string of bad superhero movies certainly isnt helping, though, even if they arent all from Disney.Disney Has Killed A Few Projects Amid Studio Overhaul, Says Bob Iger; Weve Not Been That Public About It[Deadline]Feb 14, 2024Charles Pulliam-MooreMarvel has found its Fantastic FourImage: Marvel StudiosHow Marvel plans to introduce the Fantastic Four to the MCU is still unclear, but when Reed Richards shows up, hes going to look a lot like Pedro Pascal.Along with an announcement about its Thunderbolts movie being bumped to May 2nd, 2025, Marvel revealed today that it has finally found the stars who will portray the Fantastic Four. Though John Krasinski has already portrayed one incarnation of Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Pascal is set to portray the character in the Fantastic Four, where hell be joined by Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm / the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / the Thing.Read Article >Feb 7, 2024Richard LawlerThe real standalone ESPN streaming channel will launch in the fall of 2025.Disney CEO Bob Iger had previously targeted next year for the launch of a streaming version of ESPNs main channel (no watered-down ESPN Plus, just ESPN).Now that the deal for a sports streaming Voltron with Warner Bros. and Fox is sewed up, Iger said to CNBCs Julia Boorstin that direct-to-consumer ESPN could launch in late August 2025, and confirmed to investors that it will be available in a bundle with Hulu and Disney Plus.Feb 7, 2024Andrew WebsterDisney invests $1.5 billion in Epic to create persistent universe tied to FortniteDisney and Fortnite maker Epic Games are teaming up to build whats being described as an expansive and open games and entertainment universe. As part of the announcement, Disney revealed that it is investing $1.5 billion in an equity stake in Epic.Details on what this metaverse-like project will look like are sparse, but heres how Disney explains it:Read Article >Feb 6, 2024Emma RothESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. are putting together a juggernaut sports streaming appPhoto by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesWarner Bros. Discovery is preparing to launch a streaming service in partnership with ESPN / Disney and Fox Sports, as reported earlier by CNBC and Sports Business Journal. All three companies have agreed in principle to launch an as-yet-unnamed standalone app, of which they all share one-third ownership, this fall that streams a range of leagues and sports.It is poised to have sports networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNews, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, and truTV. The new service will air games from the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL), along with NASCAR, PGA Tour Golf, Grand Slam Tennis, and more. Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max users will also get the option to bundle the new service.Read Article >Feb 6, 2024Charles Pulliam-MooreDisney Plus restrictions on password sharing are now rolling out to US subscribersIllustration by Alex Castro / The VergeThe writings been on the wall for months now, but Disney Plus is finally implementing measures to keep US subscribers from sharing their passwords with people who arent paying for the service.Today, Disney Plus began sending out emails informing subscribers about new changes to its terms of service that will, among other things, make it harder for people to access the service using log-in credentials that arent actually theirs. The updated terms come a few months after Disney Plus implemented similar measures for its Canadian subscribers and just days after Hulu sent out similar notices to users about changes to its own TOS and its plans to stop password sharing in the coming weeks. Read Article >Jan 16, 2024Wes DavisApple Vision Pro will launch with 3D movies from Disney PlusDisney Plus on Apple Vision Pro. Image: AppleApple and Disney announced that the Vision Pro will have 3D content from Disney Plus at launch, while Disney Plus subscribers will get special animated screening environments to accompany them. Other apps announced with Vision Pro support include ESPN, MLB, PGA Tour, Max, Discovery Plus, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus, Peacock, Pluto TV, Tubi, Fubo, Crunchyroll, Red Bull TV, IMAX, TikTok, and MUBI. A notable omission from the list is Netflix; however, executives have previously said that the existing app will work unmodified on Apples new headset.The announcement lists some of the movies that will be in 3D, and naturally, Avatar: The Way of Water is among them. But Vision Pro owners will also get 3D versions of movies like Avengers: Endgame, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Encanto. Read Article >Nov 29, 2023Alex CranzBob Iger thinks he knows why The Marvels failed at the box office.Speaking during the NYT DealBook Summit 2023, he did not blame the actors strike and lack of publicity for the films performance. Nor did he blame the weird hatred of the film driven by sexism coming from a small and vocal cadre of Marvel fans upset over a film helmed by three women.He did blame the sheer volume of content being created for making it more difficult to maintain quality and said, The Marvels was shot during Covid, and there wasnt enough supervision on set from executives.But given that overreliance on executive creative control is one of the things that have driven the Marvel brand to its current nadir... thats certainly an interesting assessment.