ESPN Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Tim Chan If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The country’s best lacrosse players hit the field today for the 2023 Premier Lacrosse League Championship Game, which pits the defending champion Waterdogs Lacrosse Club vs. the top-seeded Archers.

Endeavor has drop-kicked a newly created sports entity that is built for the future of both television and fandom. As of Sept. 12, that new entity has started trading on the NYSE under the feisty ticker symbol TKO.

The Colorado Buffaloes established their dominance both on and off the field with Saturday’s matchup against Colorado State.

Disney shares pulled back 2% in early trading after the media giant unveiled a comprehensive plan to double its investment in theme parks to $60 billion over the next 10 years.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. “The Masked Singer” has already been as whacky as ever since kicking off its 10th season last weekend. While the premiere was a special episode that came out on Sunday night, starting September 27 the rest of the season’s episodes will proceed in the usual time slot on Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

The power and popularity of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” which first famously appeared on TV in Season 1 of Michael Mann’s Miami Vice, has outlasted 30 years of screen appearances in everything from Risky Business to a Cadbury chocolate bar ad to a fictional Mike Tyson’s affinity for the tune in the original Hangover. Now, it’s been reinvented as the theme song for one of TV’s most popular shows.

ABC is bringing a ton of football programming to the network!

ABC is loading up on a slew of extra NFL games in a bid to bolster its fall schedule.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor “Monday Night Football” was for many years a staple of ABC’s Monday-night line-up before it moved to ESPN in 2006. This fall, it will be so again. ABC will air ten more “MNF” games than previously expected this season, simulcasting then with Disney TV sibling ESPN in a move that will help the broadcast network as the industry grapples with ongoing strikes by WGA and SAG-AFTRA.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor After an 11-week blackout, Nexstar and DirecTV agreed to restore more than 150 Nexstar-owned local TV stations to the satcaster’s lineup amid progress in contract negotiations. Nexstar and DirecTV released a joint statement early Sunday to disclose that the stations would begin returning to DirecTV’s channel menu, with a focus on NFL-heavy markets where Nexstar has CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates.

Is this the end of Sho-time? The superstar’s locker has been mostly cleared out at Angel Stadium, and the team said Friday night it woud explain why today.

Alex Rodriguez couldn’t keep from snitching when the s**t hit the fan! Sounds like fans were right to be on team Jennifer Lopez all along…

The MRKT Co. is branching off from Terry Hines & Associates and will operate as a stand-alone agency, new entity co-owners — Marcos Barron, Bree Bosselmann, Venessa Fraguio and Grant Nemirow — announced.

Disney CEO Bob Iger’s bombshell July comments that the linear TV business “may not be core” to the company brought a lot of anxiety for those working at any of the Disney’s linear networks.

In a first for the burgeoning realm of alternate live sports telecasts, an upcoming NFL game will be adapted in real time as a fully animated contest taking place in the Toy Story universe.

With the ink still drying on a closely tracked carriage renewal with Charter, Disney execs Dana Walden and Jimmy Pitaro told Deadline in an interview that the agreement’s details suit the current streaming/linear hybrid environment.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor After working for Walt Disney Co. for decades, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and their “Toy Story” friends have been given new jobs by the large entertainment conglomerate. Characters from the popular animated Pixar films will in October take part in the latest in a series of experiments aimed at getting young kids to watch live sports.

Aaron Rodgers is making his New York Jets debut tonight (September 11) at Met Life stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

UPDATED WITH details and company comment. Disney and Charter Communications have reached a carriage renewal, ending a 10-day impasse that drew intense scrutiny to the shifting economics of pay-TV in the streaming era.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Disney and Charter have decided to let ESPN sports take the field on traditional cable after all. The two media giants, battling for the past week over a renewal for carriage of Disney’s various cable networks on Charter’s major-market cable systems, have come to new terms, according to the companies.

Coco Gauff won the 2023 U.S. Open women’s singles title this afternoon, defeating Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. The win marks the 19-year-old Gauff’s first Grand Slam championship and she pulled it off with a huge rally after losing the first set . She becomes the 11th teenager to ever win a Grand Slam singles title and the first American teenager to win the U.S Open since Serena Williams won the tournament in 1999.

Hulu + Live TV revealed Friday that it has begun offering new and eligible returning subscribers to its service a discounted rate of $49.99 per month for three months.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney is dangling a new deal to get customers to sign up for Hulu + Live TV — before a price hike goes into effect next month. The temporary price drop for Hulu + Live TV also comes amid Disney’s ongoing contract dispute with Charter Communications, as the Mouse House has encouraged Charter’s Spectrum customers to switch to Hulu’s pay-TV package for access to ESPN and Disney’s other networks. Hulu is offering new and eligible returning subscribers Hulu (with ads) + Live TV at a discounted rate of $49.99/month for three months — that’s nearly 29% off the current $69.99/month price.

Kim Mulkey is going to be making a lot of money next season as she’s set to become the highest paid women’s basketball coach in history!

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The NFL 2023 season officially kicks off Thursday night when the reigning Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs take on the Detroit Lions. The game will air exclusively on NBC and Peacock, with kickoff scheduled for 8:20 p.m.

With its carriage fight with Charter about to enter its second week, Disney issued a statement blasting the Spectrum TV owner’s “indifference” to customers and a Wall Street investment bank predicted a compromise by the ESPN parent.

Charter CEO Chris Winfrey indicated that little progress has been made in the week-long carriage fight with Disney and he said a leaner, ESPN-free TV bundle “could stick” with price-sensitive Spectrum customers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Gambling is often full of risk, but it may also be the surest bet stressed executives in the frenzied media business these days can make. Disney earlier this month became the latest of the traditional media conglomerates to hook upwith purveyors of sports wagering. Under terms of a deal struck with Penn Entertainment, Disney’s ESPN stands to receive $2 billion in cash and warrants over10 years from the gambling purveyor.

The roller coaster of ESPN staffing news continued today, as NFL analyst Mina Kimes is set for what’s reported to be a massive new deal. The agreement is worth more than $1.7 million, according to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, and puts Kimes over seven figures for the first time.

In addition to disrupting tennis fans’ viewing experience, the ongoing carriage dispute between Disney and Charter Communications, which saw Disney linear networks, including ESPN, go dark on Charter’s Spectrum cable systems last Thursday, is wreaking havoc on players’ preparation for matches at the year’s final Grand Slam.