Fubo CEO Rips Disney-WBD-Fox Sports Streaming Venture: Media Companies’ Practices Are ‘Borderline Racketeering’ by a ‘Cartel’

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney was handed a setback in its boardroom fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz after proxy-advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that shareholders vote him onto the Mouse House’s board. ISS, whose recommendations are influential among institutional investors, cited Disney’s “failed” succession planning in the CEO role in its report backing Peltz, whose Trian Partners.

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly’s relationship has been the source of much speculation. The pair were first linked in 2020, getting engaged shortly after. Then rumors of an infidelity began to swirl the two, with many speculating that they’d broken their engagement and had then reunited.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney‘s current strategic direction under CEO Bob Iger got the thumbs-up from independent proxy voting and corporate governance advisory firm Glass Lewis, amid a campaign launched by two activist investor groups to win seats on the Mouse House’s board. Glass Lewis, in a March 18 report, recommended Disney shareholders vote for the Disney-selected 12 director nominees — and reject those put forward by Nelson Peltz‘s Trian Partners and another firm, Blackwells Capital — at the company’s annual meeting on April 3.

The upcoming sports streaming service from ESPN, Fox & Warner Bros. Discovery has found its boss.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney+ is officially in its Taylor Swift era. With the launch of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)” on Disney+ on March 14 at 6 p.m. PT, the megastar is getting a homepage takeover on the streamer.

Saturday’s Golden Raspberry Awards, better known as the Razzies, scoring prizes for Worst Screenplay; Worst Director; Worst Screen Couple; Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel; and overall Worst Picture.“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” earned 3% among critics and 50% among audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. The Post’s film critic, Johnny Oleksinski, called it a demented and sicko indie horror film.Other Razzie champions include Oscar winner Jon Voight, 85, for his “Lucky Charms leprechaun” Irish accent in the 2023 crime thriller “Mercy.”Megan Fox, 37, took home a pair of trophies, for Worst Actress (“Johnny & Clyde”) and Worst Supporting Actress (“Expend4bles”), a rare Razzie feat.Sylvester Stallone received yet another Razzie, for Worst Supporting Actor (“Expend4bles”).

Ethan Shanfeld The infamous Razzie Awards are back, (dis)honoring the year’s worst in film. While Sunday’s Academy Awards will celebrate Christopher Nolan’s landmark drama “Oppenheimer” and Greta Gerwig’s $1.4 billion blockbuster “Barbie,” the 44th annual Razzies are focusing on lesser-seen fare, like the fourth “Expendables” movie and “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey,” a horror adaptation that won five undesired awards.

Rupert Murdoch is looking to get married once again!

Joe Leydon Film Critic For audiences of a certain age, it might be amusing, or maybe even disappointing, when, early in “The Ballad of Davy Crockett,” the eponymous hero skins a raccoon to fashion a bandage for a serious leg wound, rather than to make a hat of the sort famously worn by Fess Parker when he played the character in enduringly popular Disney miniseries and movie spin-offs. Maybe this is writer-director Derek Estlin Purvis’ way of winking at the audience.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor With American lawmakers sounding the alarm again over TikTok‘s ties to China’s communist regime, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce committee unanimously voted to approve a bill that would give China’s ByteDance 165 days to divest its ownership of TikTok — or effectively face a U.S. ban.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Vince McMahon, the founder of WWE who resigned from the board of TKO Group earlier this year amid sexual assault allegations against him, filed to sell $411.95 million worth of TKO stock, according to a regulatory filing. McMahon’s sale comprised 5.35 million shares of TKO, per an SEC filing Monday. That came after he sold 8.4 million shares of Class A common stock in TKO — in sale worth $670.3 million — last November.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney CEO Bob Iger acknowledged that the company is behind Netflix in terms of technical capabilities — and that the Mouse House is in the process of catching up. “We need to be at their level” of technical capability, in order to reduce marketing expenses and cut churn rates, Iger said about Netflix, speaking Tuesday at the 2024 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. Iger reiterated that Disney is on track to achieve profitability in the streaming business — which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — by the fiscal quarter that ends September 2024.

The forthcoming sports streaming venture backed by Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery will reach 5 million subscribers in its first five years, according to a projection shared Monday by Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch.

Ellise Shafer UPDATE: Actor turned right-wing political activist Laurence Fox‘s misogynistic rant on episode of “Dan Wootton Tonight” on U.K. channel GB News has fallen afoul of media regulator Ofcom. Comments made during the program by Fox targeting female political journalist, Ava Evans, prompted 8,867 complaints to Ofcom with viewers expressing concerns that his remarks were sexist, misogynistic and offensive.

Fubo CEO David Gandler blasted a planned sports bundle backed by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, calling the companies a “sports cartel” engaging in “borderline racketeering.”

Jim Reeve, the British film and TV financier, has died aged 64.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The descendants of Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney have weighed in on the bid by two activist investment firms to win seats on the board of the Walt Disney Co. Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who runs hedge fund Trian Partners, is waging a proxy-fight battle to install himself and ex-Disney CFO Jay Rasulo as directors; Peltz’s stated aim is to drive up the price of Disney’s stock.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish derided a planned streaming venture backed by Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery for having “only a subset of sports.”

Nexstar President and COO Mike Biard says there has been “significant misinterpretation and market overreaction” to the sports streaming bundle announced by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Fox Corp. streaming service Tubi has updated its brand identity, with a new logo whose letters are designed to echo the company’s invitation to viewers to “find your rabbit hole.”