OpenAI shuts Sora and drops Disney deal in AI reset Tech OpenAI has shut down Sora, its AI video app, less than two years after the tool made headlines for turning short text prompts into strikingly realistic video clips. The company is also winding down its content partnership with Disney, bringing an abrupt end to one of the most closely watched tie-ups between Hollywood and a [...]
Premier League +: Football following the Disney playbook with streaming platform Sport Business When the Premier League last week quietly confirmed that it will be launching its own streaming platform, Premier League +, in Singapore, it might have slipped under the radar for many. At first glance, it’s a new app in a new territory; a controlled test of in-housing distribution and cutting out the broadcasters. But this [...]
Less magic, more panic in Disney’s AI deal Media It was always going to happen, wasn’t it? The moment AI video tools became proficient enough to conjure something that looked vaguely like a princess, or a Jedi, Disney would ultimately have to choose: spend the next decade playing a game of Whac-A-Mole in court, or license its assets in-house. The House of Mouse, it [...]
Disney names new CEO as UK streaming shows early lift February 3, 2026 Walt Disney has ended its long-running succession drama by appointing parks chief Josh D’Amaro as its next chief executive, as the group begins to see tentative signs of recovery in its UK streaming business. D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, is to take over from Bob Iger at Disney’s annual meeting on 18 March. Iger, who [...]
Disney streaming gains momentum as Hollywood pressure builds February 2, 2026 Disney beat Wall Street expectations in its latest quarter, buoyed by an unexpected improvement in its streaming business, despite rising costs hitting the entertainment industry. The media giant reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.63 for its first fiscal quarter, ahead of estimates of around $1.56. Revenue rose five per cent year on year to [...]
London ad campaign boosts Abu Dhabi theme parks January 7, 2026 Visitors from the UK to Abu Dhabi’s theme parks surged by 40 per cent last year following the first advertising campaign for them in London which saw banners for Sea World, Warner Bros World and Ferrari World plastered on the walls of underground stations and at Canary Wharf. It was part of a diversification plan [...]
Mickey Mouse puts copyright woes to bed with Disney-OpenAI deal December 16, 2025 Disney’s $1bn investment in OpenAI, coupled with a three year licensing deal for over 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters on Sora, constitutes a seismic shift in how Hollywood thinks about content creation and copyright. Last week’s announcement, long anticipated since CEO Bog Iger hinted at AI plans, marks the first time a [...]
‘Luke Littler is the Tiger Woods of darts. He’s made the sport aspirational’ December 10, 2025 When Target Darts, which supplies and now manages Luke Littler, decided to test the sport’s popularity with younger audiences by exhibiting at the London Toy Fair for the first time earlier this year, the company hit a bullseye. “We made quite a bit of noise,” Target group CEO James Tattersall tells City AM. “We put [...]
The happiest race on earth? My Disney World half marathon December 4, 2025 I’m sweating in more places than I thought possible. I can feel warm, salty beads slither their way from the back of my head to the top of my arse. I’ve been running on a closed Florida highway for four miles since 5am and I’m ready to lie in the middle of the road and [...]
Trump’s film tariffs could be a real test for the UK’s creative economy September 30, 2025 The UK’s film and television sector is a significant component of the national economy, and its future is now a central topic in transatlantic trade talks. US President Donald Trump has proposed a 100 per cent tariff on films produced outside the United States, a move he says is aimed at reversing what he calls [...]