Disney | The Verge

Disney’s first CTO is Character.AI’s former CEO

2026-09-18T14:54:39-04:00

You would think that a multimedia conglomerate as large as Disney would have a few chief technology officers by now, but the company has just appointed someone to the position for the very first time.

Today, Disney announced that Karandeep Anand is joining the company as its new CTO. Anand will report directly to recently appointed CEO Josh D'Amaro, and he will head up the company's infrastructure, product, engineering, and data / AI platforms teams. Anand comes to Disney from chatbot startup Character.AI, where he served as CEO for just over a year and oversaw the company's push into microdramas.

Anand jumping ship to Disney comes as a …

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Google needs Hollywood more than the studios need AI

2026-09-01T18:50:29-04:00

Google has reportedly been reaching out to a number of Hollywood's biggest studios, hoping to strike licensing agreements that would allow it to train its AI models on copyrighted material in exchange for massive piles of cash. In theory, these deals would be a win-win: a huge financial boon to the studios that would also give Google a significant advantage in its race to outpace other AI companies. But while there's little downside for Google, these deals pose a distinct set of risks to each of the studios that might be thinking about going all-in on AI. Getting into bed with Google this way might benefit Hollywood in the short term, but …

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ESPN streaming plans are getting more expensive

2026-08-24T11:06:24-04:00

ESPN is hiking the price of its subscription on September 17th, a change that will also impact its bundles with Disney Plus. In a support page spotted earlier by Sports Media Watch, ESPN says its ad-supported Select membership will cost $13.99 instead of $12.99 / month, while its Unlimited plan will rise to $31.99 from $29.99 / month.

The annual ESPN Select plan is also going to $139.99 from $129.99 / year, and the annual Unlimited tier is increasing to $319.99 from $299.99 / year. Meanwhile, Disney Plus bundles with ESPN Select are going up in price as well. Here's a rundown of the changes:

Disney Plus (with ads), Hulu (with ads), and ES …

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ABC sues the FCC over Trump and Carr’s campaign of threats

2026-08-18T12:50:46-04:00

ABC is suing the Federal Communications Commission over claims the agency "waged a retaliatory campaign" against its networks over the content they broadcast. In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday, ABC and its parent company Disney accuse the FCC of "punishing ABC for its speech" by threatening its broadcast licenses.

It's the latest escalation in the dispute between ABC and the Trump administration, which has been critical of the network's political coverage - especially by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and The View. The FCC opened an investigation into The View's airtime of political candidates in February and ordered ABC stations …

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Disney D23 2026: Everything announced for Star Wars, Marvel, and more

2026-08-17T06:13:46-04:00

Shawn Levy, Ryan Gosling | Image: The Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA

The annual Disney fan event showed off the cast of Marvel’s X-Men movie, plus a new trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, and our first look at the VisionQuest TV show for Disney Plus. For Star Wars fans, there was a teaser trailer for season 2 of Ahsoka, plus a special look at Star Wars: Starfighter with an appearance from Ryan Gosling.

Other new announcements included a few updates about Pixar, The Simpsons, Bluey, and others you can find below.

Disney Plus tries a new AI-powered search

2026-08-07T13:53:44-04:00

Disney’s AI tools for Disney Plus and ESPN.

Disney is testing a new AI-powered tool for Disney Plus that uses a natural language search, a voice query, or a suggested prompt to create a customized row of show and movie recommendations.

Disney Plus, like other streaming services, can recommend shows to watch based on your viewing history. But the company says this new tool, which is "a limited beta experiment" that's in testing with a "small group of select subscribers," is intended to recommend content that "fits the moment."

Sorry this is grainy; I grabbed it from a GIF. | Image: Disney" data-portal-copyright="Image: Disney">

The feature is the latest in a broader push to offer AI-powered recommendation tools that help you find something to watch among massive catalogs of streaming …

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Disney says it’s ‘exploring’ adding a free tier to Disney Plus

2026-08-05T09:52:11-04:00

Disney is looking into launching a free streaming option. When asked about Disney's plans for free, ad-supported streaming during an earnings call on Wednesday, Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro confirmed the company is "exploring a free product for consumers."

D'Amaro added that a free tier will help drive growth and expand the streaming service's reach "to a customer segment that's more price sensitive." Though D'Amaro said that there's "nothing specific to announce today," he noted that a free tier is "definitely something that we're considering."

In July, Business Insider reported that Disney's chief product and technology officer, Adam Smith, b …

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Disney gives TikTok creators official access to Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar characters

2026-08-05T07:38:49-04:00

Disney is introducing fan-created TikTok content to its Disney Plus app in its latest attempt to break into short-form creator videos. The Walt Disney Company announced today that it's partnering with TikTok to bring "an expansive collection of thoughtfully curated Disney-centric fan-created content" to the Verts video feed it launched on Disney Plus earlier this year, providing creators with access to assets from "hundreds" of movies and TV shows.

The partnership will be piloted in the US "in the coming months," according to Disney, with plans to launch in other markets later. Videos from TikTok creators who opt-in to the program will be h …

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ABC demands FCC drop its ‘punitive’ early license renewal of its stations

2026-07-30T13:08:14-04:00

ABC filed its formal opposition to the Federal Communications Commission's effort to force it to submit to an early renewal of its broadcast station licenses, calling it an effort to chill the speech of broadcasters across the country.

In a new filing with the FCC, ABC charges that the agency's willingness to pursue the early renewal of eight of its licenses far before they expire is "extraordinary and unprecedented." The company alleges the FCC "has spent the last 18 months searching for some pretext for revoking the Stations' licenses," but charges that the agency's real motivations for pursuing these licenses are clear: "Each is owned by …

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Disney Plus is reportedly looking into a free streaming tier

2026-07-10T11:33:58-04:00

Disney Plus is considering making some of its content free to watch, according to a report from Business Insider. A source tells the outlet that Adam Smith, Disney's chief product and technology officer, mentioned a free streaming tier during the company's town hall on Thursday.

It's not clear which shows or movies the purported free streaming tier involves, or when Disney would consider rolling it out, but Business Insider reports that it's "part of an ongoing discussion about concepts to better serve fans." Disney didn't immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment.

With YouTube taking up a large portion of viewers' time in fro …

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