Disney Headlines for November 11th, 2025
In this week’s Disney Headlines, we discuss how Disney won in Anaheim.
But we must also talk about the loss with ESPN Bet and the Google slap fight.
Even by Disney’s recent standards, November is off to a very strange start.
An Essential Victory
Walt Disney Company
Unless you live in Southern California or REALLY keep up with the news, you probably don’t know about Disney’s crucial victory.
The company deftly defended its turf at Disneyland Resort and saved you money in the process.
Anaheim.net
In September, Natalie Rubalcava, an Anaheim City Council member, proposed a new tax.
This one was hard to view as anything other than a Disneyland tax because that’s what it was.
Photo: Moneycrashers.com
Rubalcava sought to improve Anaheim’s revenue stream by making tourists foot the bill.
According to her, this tax would have helped with “affordable housing, parks, senior services, first responders, and other community programs.
Photo: PNG Tree
That’s what all politicians say about taxes, though the funds rarely get distributed that way.
Anyway, the move earned Rubalcava plenty of attention as a politician.
Anaheim.net
She appeared like someone who wasn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with Disney when needed.
That’s really the point of this exercise, as the proposal had little chance of advancing.
Photos: Voice of OC
In the 2010s, Disney learned a valuable lesson about local Anaheim politics.
An unfriendly City Council composition led to Disney losing more than a quarter-billion in tax benefits.
Photo: Disney
Disney ostensibly gave up those deals willingly, but that’s not what happened.
No, Disney got smart instead, carefully evaluating various candidates for City Council.
Photo: LA Times
Disney donated freely to the campaigns of the ones friendly to Disneyland’s aspirations.
Not coincidentally, this proposal never reached the ballot, where it would have had a chance of passing.
Photo: Spectrum news
Disney’s allies on the City Council made sure to table the legislation before then.
In the process, Disney avoided a three percent tax on admission and ten percent on parking.
Photo: OC Register
That’s another $5 or so that tourists would have paid daily to visit Disneyland.
So, let me be clear. You are THRILLED that Disney played political hardball here.
Speaking of Hardball
The Walt Disney Company
Proponents of the philosophy that we live in the stupidest timeline got more ammo for their argument last week.
Disney’s feud with Google escalated in some hilariously petty ways.
Photo: Variety
In case you missed last week’s Disney Headlines, Disney’s channels went dark on YouTube TV.
Unless you’re one of the ten million people who subscribe to YouTube TV, you couldn’t care less.
Photo: YouTube
For those of you who do subscribe, this has been utterly ridiculous in every way, shape, and form.
Google poached a Disney executive just for this negotiation, which led to an obvious outcome.
As I said on my podcast, Streaming into the Void, if you want a great enemy, pick a friend.
They really know how to hurt you, and that’s what Google did…and brilliantly at that.
Google selected someone who had previously handled carriage renewals like this one for ESPN.
Now, that individual is working for Google and has recommended some ridiculousness.
YouTube
First, in protest over the YouTube TV blackout, Disney removed its content from the Google Store.
Seriously, if you try to buy Moana on Google Play right now, you literally cannot.
Walt Disney Company
Disney revoked Google’s ability to sell any Mouse-related digital content, which is oh so childish.
Google responded by ending its participation in Movies Anywhere.
Forbes
You probably don’t even know what that is, but it’s a Disney-owned digital locker union.
Various digital retailers such as Apple, Amazon, Fandango at Home, and Disney participate.
NPR
Google had until the stroke of midnight on November 1st, pulling out just to hurt Disney.
These two moves are the equivalent of purple nurples, not anything grown-ups would do.
The current state of Disney and Google is the equivalent of two young siblings acting like this:
Disney Makes a New Bet
Families Streaming Disney+
Two years ago, I wrote this in the wake of Disney making a deal with Penn Entertainment.
At the time, Disney replaced Barstool Sports as the name brand for Penn’s betting app.
Walt Disney
For its part, Disney faithfully honored the contract as much as legally required.
Anything beyond that proved insincere at best as everyone quickly realized the deal didn’t work.
Photo: ESPN
No matter how much Disney mentioned ESPN Bet on-air, bettors didn’t care.
By this point, the sports community has settled on DraftKings and FanDuel as the apps of choice.
Photo: ESPN
Since the sports gambling business is a top-heavy oligopoly, Penn has fought an uphill battle.
The writing has been on the wall that Disney would get out of this deal as soon as possible.
Sure enough, Disney has announced the end of the business arrangement before it’s technically even over.
Disney must stay with Penn until December, at which point it will switch to Draft Kings.
Photo: ESPN
Before we get to the business side, let’s appreciate the uncomfortable hilarity of the announcement.
First, Disney is dropping a business partner after barely two years. Second, it’s a gambling deal.
ESPN
When YouTube TV still had ESPN, we watched in fascination one morning when this happened:
Yes, ESPN was covering a huge NBA gambling scandal involving online betting while advertising online gambling. Oops!
Even Steven
There’s a reason why CEO Bob Iger had resisted the temptation of gambling revenue.
Roughly two years after he finally agreed, this ridiculousness happened.
Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images)
Iger doesn’t care, though, as Penn still owes Disney another fat check for nearly $50 million.
That’s convenient for Disney, as the YouTube TV blackout reportedly costs the company $5 million a day.
Photo: Getty
While that’s exceptionally fuzzy math, it’s interesting that Disney won’t miss the money.
Draft Kings will start paying Disney immediately in December, making this whole thing a wash.
That’s the how and why of corporations playing hardball with one another.
The smartest and best companies have built-in protections during negotiations.
The Walt Disney Company
The only people who lose are the customers. And who cares about us, right?
Photo: MickeyBlog
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