Media Stocks Tumble Following Disney-Charter Dispute

While spawning a sequel, the original ‘Percy Jackson’ film, released in 2010, wasn’t the massive hit people were expecting. Aiming to be another ‘Harry Potter,’ the original film just didn’t strike a chord with critics or fans, despite being based on a massively popular series of YA books.

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.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The Disney and Pixar film “Elemental” had a strong start on Disney+, with the film pulling in 26.4 million views in its first five days of streaming availability. Per Disney, that makes “Elemental” the most-watched movie premiere of the year on the service and among the top 10 movie premieres they have ever had. For context, Disney defines a view as total stream time divided by runtime, just like Netflix recently started doing.

Look for the bear necessities, the simple bear necessities — like shutting down rides and attractions at Walt Disney World when there’s an ursine interloper in the park.

Ink (★★★☆☆), co-produced by Round House and Olney, combines a talented cast with titillating text for a thorough chronicle of Rupert Murdoch’s typically rude 1969 takeover of British tabloid The Sun.Cody Nickell, portraying the paper’s exacting editor Larry Lamb, supplies the steady, galvanizing force that drives the story of how Lamb, handpicked by Australian media baron Murdoch (Andrew Rein), assembled a ragtag squad of Fleet Street vets who would carry out Rupe’s directive to create a paper for the people. Its first act structured as a countdown to The Sun‘s unlikely launch, the production gathers steam as Lamb gathers his A-team.Yet, there’s one workhorse in this production who often upstages D.C.

Archer‘s 14th and final season had just premiered the night before on FXX when on Aug. 31 all Disney cable networks, as well as the ABC owned-and-operated stations, went dark on Charter’s Spectrum cable system. Ten days and one new episode of Archer later, the bitter carriage dispute was resolved but FXX was not restored on Spectrum.

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.

for posting a heartfelt Instagram message Saturday, two days after his arrest for interfering with a traffic stop on his security guard, who was speeding in an SUV.“You are not your highs you are not your lows,” Bryan wrote. “Just floating around in the middle.”The post, which features images from Bryan’s personal and performance life, has sarcastic commenters poking fun at the “I Remember Everything” singer. “You can call yourself outlaw country now since you spent 3 hours in jail,” snarked one user, referring to the 27-year-old’s Thursday encounter with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.“Lol he seems to have hit a low this week,” giggled a second user.

bitter financial squabble between Charter Communications and Walt Disney Co.“So now that the Jets have a hopeful team we’re in danger of not seeing opening night game because of the dispute between Disney and Spectrum?” NYC-based psychotherapist Michael Leiman raged on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Couldn’t they’ve had this fight when the Jets sucked & were never on Monday night?”Chris Santarelli, a Jets fan from the Upper East Side, was planning to watch the game — kickoff is at 8:15 — with his 3-week-old son Jack.“It’s a huge bummer for lifelong fans who’ve been looking forward to this game all summer,” said Santarelli, 34.

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.

Charter is locked in a distribution battle with Disney as the second-largest US cable company negotiates with the media conglomerate over how much its channels are worth and how to package them.“I apologize that our consumers have been put in the middle here, but we felt it was worth it,” Winfrey said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology conference. “It was the right time and that we had to say ‘enough is enough’ or else we’re going to have to move on to a different model.”ESPN, ABC and other Disney channels disappeared from Charter’s Spectrum cable service on Aug.

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.

BreAnna Bell Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media Group has signed an exclusive unscripted deal with Sean Perry’s recently launched 2500 Media production company. As part of the deal, 2500 Media will immediately plug into the worldwide development and production staff at Pilgrim and the agreement includes a first-look scripted component with Lionsgate Television “When I looked around at ways to super charge my new company 2500 Media and deliver high quality production at a reasonable cost, it was clear that locking arms with Lionsgate and Pilgrim was the best and fastest way to accomplish our goals,” said Perry.

Goosebumps, Disney+’s live-action series based on R.L. Stine’s bestselling Scholastic book series, is set to premiere on both Disney+ and Hulu on Friday, October 13. The 10-part series from Disney Branded Television and Sony TV, will drop the first five episodes as part of Disney+’s “Hallowstream” and Hulu’s “Huluween” celebrations, with subsequent new episodes streaming weekly. Additionally, the series’ first two episodes will air on Freeform on October 13th, as part of its “31 Nights of Halloween” programming.

Sean Perry, the former WME non-scripted packaging agent and partner, has teamed up with one of his former clients after the launch of his own production company.

EXCLUSIVE: Disney has seen a 60% jump in Hulu + Live TV subscriptions relative to internal expectations since a carriage impasse with Charter began, according to figures provided to Deadline by a Disney spokesperson.

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.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Russian tennis pro Daniil Medvedev is as frustrated as Charter Communications’ millions of cable TV customers that he can’t watch ESPN’s U.S. Open coverage because of the operator’s carriage fight with Disney. Medvedev, one of the sport’s top-ranked players, revealed that he had resorted to piracy to watch the U.S.

Just as this summer’s New York City wildfire smoke, LA hurricane and sneaker-melting heat have brought home the reality of climate change, the Disney-Charter carriage battle is foregrounding the fragility of the pay-TV bundle.