Hollywood Inc.
The fan-favorite studio show survives as part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s legal settlement with the NBA.
Like its integration of Hulu earlier this year, Disney has added an ESPN tile to its Disney+ homepage to encourage more bundle subscriptions and reduce churn.
Sports
Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss says he’s battling cancer and will be taking an extended leave from his role as an analyst on ESPN’s ‘NFL Sunday Countdown.’
Mike Greenberg, known for the sports-talk radio show ‘Mike & Mike,’ takes over for Sam Ponder as host of ESPN’s ‘Sunday NFL Countdown.’ Ponder was laid off.
ESPN is canceling ‘Around the Horn.’ The show, which often features Times columnist Bill Plaschke among its panel of journalists, will air its final episode next summer.
Disney pulled its channels from DirecTV and U-Verse on Sunday, just minutes before a highly anticipated USC-LSU college football game. DirecTV has offered credits to customers as the blackout reflects building tensions in the TV industry.
Disney and DirecTV agreed to a new distribution deal, restoring ESPN, ABC and other channels for more than 10 million DirecTV and U-Verse customers.
With everything going on at DirecTV, Disney and the industry at large, this is clearly not just any old carriage dispute.
The ABC and ESPN blackout on DirecTV — affecting nearly 11 million homes — comes during a busy sports calendar with college football, the NFL and the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
Van Pelt’s late-night show has become the post-game show for ESPN’s big live events, where viewers come for the interviews and stay for the ‘Bad Beats.’