ESPN Chief Pitaro’s Executive Shuffle Puts Burke Magnus Over Content, Rosalyn Durant Over Sports Rights

Paul Grant has died at the age of 56, his family has confirmed.The actor, who famously played an Ewok in the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi alongside Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, had been found collapsed outside King's Cross Station in London on Thursday afternoon.The father of three, who also had a turn as a goblin in the Harry Potter film series, was pronounced brain dead after being rushed to hospital. His family has since confirmed that his life support machine was switched off on Sunday 19 March. His daughter Sophia Jayne Grant, 28, paid tribute to her father, saying she was "devastated" by the news.

Martin Luther King Jr. would be stunned by the rollback of voting rights in this country and efforts to suppress the teaching of the struggle for civil rights, according to his eldest son, Martin Luther King III.

Naman Ramachandran Writer, producer and script editor Cassandra Johnson-Bekoe has joined U.K. independent production company DARE Pictures in the newly created position of head of scripted development. Johnson-Bekoe was previously senior development executive at Daniel Kaluuya’s production outfit 59%, overseeing the company’s slate and generating new IP across international and regional markets. Prior to this she worked in scripted development and her credits include “Ted Lasso” season 2 (WarnerBros/Apple+), “Riches” (Greenacre Films for ITV), “Secret Invasion” (Marvel Studios) and “The Chemistry of Death” (Cuba Pictures Ltd, for Paramount+). Reporting into DARE CEO Derren Lawford, Johnson-Bekoe will focus on developing the company’s scripted slate, as well bringing with her an original slate of IP and working on new drama and film projects with a view to taking them from pitch to commission with a particular emphasis on the U.S. and African markets. She will identify and develop relationships with emerging and established storytelling talent.

Cheryl Burke is keeping her options open.The former pro opened up about her love life and how close she actually came to becoming with ET's Cassie DiLaura at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Oscars viewing party for the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday.On a recent March episode of Chris Harrison's podcast, , Harrison and Burke discussed the moment when she was seriously being considered to be the Bachelorette. «Chris Harrison, I knew this interview was gonna get me in trouble!» Burke exclaimed when ET asked about the revelation. The 38-year-old dancer and TV personality, who divorced actor Matthew Lawrence in 2022, elaborated on those behind-the-scenes conversations, sharing that she had «meetings» and hinted that they were seemingly close to the finish line. «Like, we we were about to do this thing,» Burke said.«I don't know if Chris had the final word,» she further explained.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Pablo Torre is about to become a creature of two worlds. The veteran ESPN writer and on-air personality is leaving the Disney sports-media giant — and he’s staying, too. Torre is joining Meadowlark Media, the content company founded by former ESPN chief John Skipper and the sports commentator Dan Le Batard. And yet, Torre is expected to remain a regular contributor to “Around The Horn” and “Pardon The Interruption,” two of the mainstay programs on the ESPN daytime schedule. “They are looking to build another show directly out of ‘The Dan LeBatard Show,’ which is a monster,” Torre says of Meadowlark in an interview. Torre envisions a digital program with audio and video components that will allow him to “tell original stories, do a bit of journalism and figure out how to make that show a home that can fit all of the things I aspire to do creatively.” Torre will also contribute to Meadowlark’s unscripted efforts.

Disney is promoting HR exec Sonia Coleman to Senior EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer, effective April 8 and reporting to CEO Bob Iger.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief CJ ENM is putting an emphasis on TV content over feature film at the upcoming FilMart rights market in Hong Kong. The South Korean behemoth, which operates multiple studios and the TVing streaming platform, is touting at least six shows and formats. Sebastian Kim, the group’s director of international content sales and acquisition, will also be taking part in a Monday morning seminar “Spotlight Conversation: The Asian Wave in 2023 and Beyond” at FilMart. His lineup is headed by “The Heavenly Idol,” a fantasy, romance series which sees a priest from a different era transported to the present day as a pop idol. His training makes him a hopeless celebrity, but he has to learn to adapt. Starring Kim Min-gue and Go Bo-gyeol, the 12-part series began airing mind-February on tvN.

The annual Cape Town Pride Parade took to the streets of the Mother City to celebrate the LGBTIQ+ community and the freedom to be our authentic selves.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Dick’s Sporting Goods is getting ready to play a new game with the NCAA. The Pittsburgh company has been named the college-sports league’s official sporting-goods retailer, a new partnership that will become quickly visible during the NCAA’s “March Madness” basketball tournament and is part of a multi-million dollar deal that will give Dick’s on-court signage and exclusive access to select fan events. Commercials purchased in game inventory from CBS Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, which televise the March Madness games, are a strong element of the deal. Dick’s also plans to have a presence at NCAA women’s Final Four Open Practices, which has not had an active on-site sponsor in the past. Dick’s plans to invest in media around the women’s basketball tournament on Disney’s ESPN.

13D and 13G reports. For those outside of the inside-baseball world of corporate finance: Forty-five days out from the end of the year, companies are required to have filed 13D and 13G disclosure forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are required for investors who amass 5% or more of a company’s total stock issue. Starting with this primer on how to monitor big-dollar investment bets, Variety will offer a quarterly survey of how the media and entertainment sector is faring among the world’s most sophisticated stock pickers.

Indian streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar has confirmed that it will no longer carry HBO content from March 31, in a move that was reported by Deadline last month. 

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery, which is struggling with billions of dollars in debt, is willing to pay more money to executives who might be able to help reduce it. The owner of HBO, Discovery Channel and Food Network said Monday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it would pay out new rewards to CEO David Zaslav, six senior staffers and an unspecified group of others if they could meet certain goals of new generation of free cash flow. “The changes to the Warner Bros. Discovery executive compensation program are designed to further incentivize Company employees, including members of its leadership team and others whose efforts are critical to achieving the key near-term financial objectives of increased free cash flow and reduced leverage,” said WBD board chairman Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr. in a prepared statement.“The WBD board is confident that these additional incentives offer a more competitive package against the backdrop of ongoing industry-wide transformation and economic headwinds, and better position the company to advance core drivers of shareholder value.”

shared a not-so-fairytale moment with Hasan Minhaj on a March 2 visit to The Daily Show. “I took a photo in a secret bathroom inside Disneyland, which is illegal,” Wilson said. Disneyland’s commitment to keeping the magic alive makes it the happiest place on earth, and the bathrooms are no exception.

It’s the Happiest Place On Earth — until you f**k up!

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire) has joined the cast of director Josh Webber’s holiday pic Athena Saves Christmas, with Christina Cooper coming aboard as producer.

With today’s “urgent reminder” directed to its membership, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences again is doing its damnedest to get out the vote. The Oscar event is still a battlefield of “gold, sweat and tears” as portrayed in Oscar Wars, Michael Schulman’s new book, despite the ominous industry challenges.

Harry Potter actor Evanna Lynch has addressed J.K. Rowling’s trans controversy, describing her as an author who advocates for “the most vulnerable members of society”.In recent years, Rowling has generated uproar with a number of remarks that many have perceived as transphobic. In 2020, Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint defended transgender women and men after Rowling questioned the phrase “people who menstruate” on Twitter.“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction,” Rowling wrote in a Twitter thread at the time.

MUBI today shared a first-look image of Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott in the upcoming drama Bring Them Down, the debut feature from writer-director Chris Andrews.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor “Night Court,” the NBC sitcom that was recently rebooted, enjoyed its heyday after its debut on NBC’s Thursday-night schedule in 1984. But NBCUniversal is hoping the retooled comedy will lead Madison Avenue into the future. When the original program launched, built around star Harry Anderson as a non-traditional metropolitan judge, NBC sold ads against the debut broadcast of each episode as well as a rerun later in the season. Now, says Mark Marshall, the executive recently given wider oversight over NBCUniversal’s national ad sales, the company is selling broad-reach ads attached to the linear debut of each episode as well as targeted advertising that appears adjacent to the series when it streams on Peacock.

The symbolic show of support for Cape Town Pride has been dubbed “disgraceful” by a religious group (Photo: Cape Town Pride/Facebook)