ESPN Shoves Barstool Aside to Strike Sports Betting Pact

ESPN is teaming up with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake!

It has been an anxious summer in Burbank, Bristol and the rest of the Disney-ESPN empire thanks to ongoing cutbacks, movie box office disappointments and strategic uncertainties. Disney stock recently sank to a nine-year low.

The Late Late Show with James Corden showrunner Ben Winston has revealed how unexpected impacts of the labor strikes cost his production company an unscripted series greenlight.

“I’ve been doing this a long time where, look, I don’t want to do that forever,” Scott Van Pelt said in June of his perch at SportsCenter. “At some point you just gotta step aside and let somebody else have it.”

With sports now a “golden goose” begetting streaming progress for Apple, it would be a “no-brainer” for the tech giant to partner with or even fully acquire ESPN.

A post shared by Sage Steele (@sagesteele)It all began when Sage was a guest on a September 2021 episode of the "Uncut With Jay Cutler" podcast. She said she'd just been vaccinated against the coronavirus but called ESPN and parent company The Walt Disney Co.'s corporate vaccine mandate "sick" and "scary to me in many ways."She also shared on the podcast that she felt late TV journalist Barbara Walters had belittled her for identifying as biracial. (Sage's father is Gary Steele, the first Black football player at U.S.

UPDATED, 7:30 AM: Longtime SportsCenter co-anchor Sage Steele has decided to leave ESPN after settling her lawsuit against ESPN/Disney.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Sage Steele, the veteran ESPN sportscaster who became better known in recent years for her stances on hot topics like coronavirus vaccinations, has left the Disney sports giant. Steele, who joined ESPN in 2007, said on social media that she had recently settled a lawsuit with her employer after she was suspended in 2021 for comments she made on an outside podcast about getting vaccinated, how women dress and former President Barack Obama’s lineage.

Pep Guardiola's half-time dressing down of Erling Haaland was prompted by the Manchester City striker's reaction to not being played in by Bernardo Silva.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Bleacher Report has a new type of game to analyze. Surf on over to the sports-commentary site that has been part of the Warner Bros. Discovery stable since 2012, and you’ll see the usual stuff: a ranking of the best superstar duos in the NBA; speculation over whether the Atlanta Hawks will trade for the Toronto Raptors’ Shams Chanria; and an aggregation of a story about the Kansas City Chiefs and defensive tackle Chris Jones.

ESPN today pushed its chips into the center of the sports gambling table.

Swimsuit Edition this past May — and why the response from fans was “encouraging.”“I [only] had two months to get ready,” Stewart admitted during a panel appearance in Las Vegas Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “So let’s just say I’m now an avid pilates fan.”The CBD entrepreneur was the oldest woman to ever pose for the cover of the legendary swimsuit edition of the magazine, and she said that she felt like people were inspired by the decision.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor A tough advertising market sent dollars toward Disney’s sports and streaming properties, the company said Tuesday, but not flocking at the same rate to its traditional TV networks. “Overall revenue and volume commitments made in the Upfront are in line with the prior year,” the company said in a statement.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox Corp. relied more heavily on its ability to drive revenue from the transmission of the Fox broadcast network and its Fox stations, as it grappled with downturns in advertising during its fiscal fourth quarter. The owner of Fox News, Fox Sports and the Fox broadcast network said it generated profit of $375 million, or 74 cents per share, compared with $306 million, or 55 per share in the year-earlier period.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery appears to have bigger digital plans for Charles Barkley and Anderson Cooper. Warner Bros.

UPDATED with Mark Jackson news: Longtime ESPN NBA announcer Mark Jackson has joined the ranks of on air talent laid off of late by the network. Almost exactly a month ago, Jackson’s broadcast partner (and former coach) Jeff Van Gundy was among the 20-odd boldfaced names let go by the network. See the list below. Since then, speculation has abounded about Jackson’s fate. That speculation came to an end today.

“Mama, there goes that man!”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, two former high-ranking Disney execs, are working for the Mouse House again — in a consulting capacity. The duo, who are the co-CEOs of media-rollup play Candle Media, have been retained by Disney to help analyze and develop strategic options for ESPN, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement. Staggs, formerly Disney’s chief operating officer, and Mayer, previously chairman of Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer and International and briefly CEO of TikTok, will work with Jimmy Pitaro, chairman, ESPN and Sports Content, on developing a plan for what Disney will do with ESPN going forward.

Fox Corp. and Flutter Entertainment are shuttering sports betting platform Fox Bet in a phased closure between July 31 and August 31.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Two of the nation’s biggest purveyors of primetime television are relying more heavily on other kinds of video inventory to fuel their advertising flows for 2023 and 202r, Fox Corp. and Paramount Global are both near the end of their processes in TV’s annual “upfront” ad sales market, and both expect to see some volume gains in specific areas of their portfolio.