Disney Headlines for August 10th, 2025
This past week, Disney bet on WWE, dropped the façade on Hulu, and proved that Universal Studios is no threat.
We’ve had quite an eventful week of Disney Headlines. Let’s cover the highlights.
From the Top Rope!
Source: postwrestling.com
We could quibble over the biggest Headline of the week, as there were quite a few.
I’ll lead with the most surprising one, although it’s easy to connect the dots after the fact.
TKO Wrestling
For years now, World Wrestling Entertainment has bounced from broadcaster to broadcaster.
WWE goes to whoever pays the most money, which has led to shows on Fox, USA Network, and The CW.
Photo: WWE
More recently, Peacock paid $180 million annually for the rights to show every WWE PLE.
A PLE is what we used to call a pay-per-view but is now a Premium Live Event.
Well, Peacock’s licensing deal for those PLEs was up for renewal, and that’s a problem.
Right now, Peacock is pretty much the last streaming service to be losing money, which it did during the most recent quarter.
Image Credit: Peacock
Money has been so tight that Peacock dropped its other most popular license, Hallmark Channel movies.
Yes, that’s Peacock in a nutshell. Its two biggest draws over the past few years were Hallmark and WWE fans.
Photo: WWE
With an odd couple like that, you can understand why Peacock has struggled.
Anyway, Peacock also had the option to pay WWE to extend its contract but passed.
Photo: Wikipedia
Then, Disney came off the top rope with a $325 million annual contract offer for the same content.
Notably, Peacock possessed the right to match this offer but refused, the second time something like this has happened recently.
Peacock
Warner Bros. Discovery could have matched Peacock’s offer for NBA rights but passed.
So, Peacock has chosen the NBA over the combination of Hallmark and WWE.
Disney’s Other Big Streaming Move
ESPN
Meanwhile, Disney has created a fascinating hybrid business model here.
The upcoming ESPN app can stream this content, while ESPN’s linear channels have a new selling point.
ESPN
People who stay on cable –or sign up for it if anybody still does that – can watch WrestleMania for free now.
That’s the kind of incentive that maintains Disney’s negotiating power with cable companies.
ESPN
They’ll need ESPN now more than ever due to the other big deal of the week, the acquisition of NFL Media.
All those NFL games assure ESPN’s importance, but the WWE PLEs are like the cherry on top.
Photo: ESPN
This was a nice piece of business, although I understand why Peacock balked at $325 million annually.
Make no mistake on the point. There’s a downside to this business decision if the Disney/WWE fit proves awkward.
(AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
And from a political bent perspective, these two parties definitely reside on opposite sides of the aisle.
Disney already fired one of the Paul brothers a few years ago. It’d be awkward to ask for the other’s dismissal.
Photo: NFL
Anyway, the point is that Disney has discovered a delicate tightrope it can walk.
The company is making moves that secure its digital future but also strengthen its Linear Networks.
Credit: Disney
Is Disney trying to have it both ways? Absolutely. Could the strategy work? Definitely. Is it a certainty? Not even a little bit.
So, stay tuned to find out what happens next now that Disney has added the NFL and WWE to its roster.
Disney+ logo
I’m just bitter that Disney+ won’t be adding Hallmark movies, too.
Let’s Talk Hulu
Photo: Getty
I’ve discussed this one a lot recently, including in some articles you may not have read yet.
The gist is that Disney just completed a nearly decade-long plan this past week. That’s the Headline.
Roughly ten years ago, CEO Bob Iger envisioned a Netflix competitor, a Disney streaming service.
Iger wanted to provide Disney with a soft landing as its Linear Networks division withered and died.
(Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)
We’re almost to the latter point now, which suggests Iger pretty much nailed the timeline.
In 2019, Disney acquired Fox’s media assets in anticipation of strengthening its upcoming app, Disney+.
Hulu
However, Disney wound up populating most of Fox’s content on Hulu, which was a better fit for the more adult entertainment.
Since then, Disney has switched to a multi-pronged streaming approach, leading to the Disney Bundle.
Forbes
Now, streaming subscribers notice little difference between Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+.
That’s because we watch most of the content on the Disney+ app, rendering the other two moot.
Photo: English Jargon
So, Disney can save itself a lot of money by collapsing the Hulu app into Disney+, a process started in late 2023.
The idea had been formulated since 2017, though. Now that it’s finally here, Disney can just kill Hulu.
Photo: Disney+
Media analysts expect that to happen locally, but something interesting has happened overseas.
Disney just announced that Hulu will replace the Star tile in virtually every other country except India.
Families Streaming Disney+
That doesn’t sound like something a company would do with a product it was killing, right?
Well, that’s the complexity of streaming businesses right now…and it’s a misdirect anyway.
Photo:Disneycoupon.jpg
Disney is really swapping Hulu to the Disney+ app to save billions of dollars.
I’m not joking when I say that this one move could pay for a LOT of theme park expansion. Speaking of which…
A Fake Competition
Photo: Deadline
Disney CFO Hugh Johnston appeared on CNBC the other day, and he was the calmest person in the room.
The other CNBC executives were losing their minds over tariff-related speculation.
Photo: PepsiCo
Meanwhile, Johnston was strutting around like he owned the place, and I couldn’t even blame him.
Since Johnston joined Disney a couple of years ago, all he’s heard is that Disney’s theme park empire is in trouble.
Photo: Universal
According to doomsayers, the looming threat of Universal Epic Universe would undo Walt Disney World.
In the process, Disney’s entire revenue model would struggle without all the theme park money.
Photo: Universal
That’s a real argument that a LOT of seemingly smart people have been making for a while now.
And this nonsense led to a hysterical batch of Headlines wherein everyone wondered what happened.
Photo: PepsiCo
Johnston happily relayed details of Disney Experiences’ fiscal quarter, including one hilarious tidbit.
Walt Disney World enjoyed its best fiscal third quarter EVER. And yes, Epic Universe opened during said quarter.
Photo: Universal
In other words, the ballyhooed struggle between theme park titans wasn’t even a blip on Disney’s radar.
Walt Disney World performed as well as it ever has, even as Epic Universe claimed all the Headlines.
Meanwhile, NBC is running an Epic Universe special in primetime next week to drum up more interest in that park.
A lot of Walt Disney World/Epic Universe predictions aged like milk. Disney’s just fine, folks.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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