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Disney CEO Bob Chapek over the weekend reiterated his company's plan to keep ESPN and said he hopes to grow the business with sports betting. And Dan Loeb of activist hedge fund Third Point, which has a roughly $1 billion stake in Disney, tweeted his support. 

Why it matters: Chapek's statements over the weekend, and Loeb's response, show that the two sides are now aligned when it comes to ESPN. That truce strikes one point of contention off of the list of complaints Loeb recently sent to Disney and its board. 

Driving the news: Chapek gave several press interviews at Disney's D23 Expo in Anaheim. When asked about ESPN, he said he had received at least 100 inquiries for it. 

"If you have a house that you're gonna put up for sale and you have a hundred buyers, you probably got a pretty cool house," Chapek told Bloomberg. 

Details: In a Twitter thread, Loeb said that he looked forward to ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro "execut[ing] on the growth and innovation plans, generating considerable synergies."

As to what those plans are, Chapek was vague. "When the rest of the world knows what our plans are they will be as confident about that proposition as we are," he told the FT. 

But there was one glimpse at the future. Chapek told Bloomberg that Disney is "working very hard on" developing an ESPN sports-betting app. 

The intrigue: Loeb had pointed to the value in sports betting as a reason for Disney to sell ESPN — if it was choosing not to invest in the sector.

"ESPN would have greater flexibility to pursue business initiatives that may be more difficult as part of Disney, such as sports betting," Loeb wrote in the letter tied to his new stake. 

Meanwhile: Another grievance from Loeb was Disney not yet buying out Comcast's stake in Hulu. Chapek said Disney has talked with Comcast about the matter. 

"If that were in the cards we would love to do that, but it takes two to tango," Chapek told the FT. 

Disney CEO Bob Chapek defends ESPN as key part of portfolio

1 big thing: ESPN free from ire of Dan Loeb

Illustration of a man standing resolutely on top of a stack of poker chips.

Netflix tapped Ubisoft for help growing its mobile gaming business. Three mobile games based on Ubisoft's own games will release next year. 

Why it's the BFD: Netflix has bet gaming will be an area of growth, attracting new subscribers and more engagement. That's crucial after it reported its first-ever quarterly loss of subscribers earlier this year. 

Details: The three games will be based on Valiant Hearts, Mighty Quest and Assassin's Creed universes, per Netflix's press release.

They will be available for free to Netflix subscribers and have no ads or in-app purchases.  

The Netflix deal was announced as part of Ubisoft Forward, an event in Paris where Axios Gaming author Stephen Totilo was in person and able to preview some of the new games. 

2. The BFD: Netflix partners with Ubisoft

Illustration of an 8-bit video game screen with a Netflix logo.

Data: Bookies.com; Table: Kavya Beheraj/Axios

The average cost for a family of four to attend an NFL game this season is $536.77, according to a review by Bookies.com, Axios Closer co-author Nathan Bomey writes.

That includes four tickets at the lowest average price over the course of the season, as well as a parking spot, two beers, two sodas and four hot dogs.

Yes, but: The price varies widely depending on the market, with the San Francisco 49ers averaging a wallet-crushing $1,028, while the Arizona Cardinals register a more-affordable $228.

💭 Kerry's thought bubble: Watching Tom Brady IRL is priceless. 

3. Charted: 🏈 NFL ticket prices 

Mysten Labs, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based web3 infrastructure company, raised $300m in Series B funding. FTX Ventures led, and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz's a16z crypto, Jump Crypto, Apollo, Binance Labs, Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sino Global, Dentsu Ventures, Greenoaks Capital and O'Leary Ventures. https://axios.link/3D7tyG3 

Revolving Games, a web3 blockchain game developer, raised $25m from Pantera Capital, Animoca Brands, Polygon, Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser, Dapper Labs, Kenetic Capital, Sarmayacar and DWeb3 Capital. https://axios.link/3B50xsb

Arena Club, a non-NFT sports card collecting platform co-founded by Brian Lee and Derek Jeter, raised $9m from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Defy.vc and BAM Ventures. https://axios.link/3B6NRke 

Zynga, a unit of Take-Two Interactive, acquired Storemaven, an Israeli provider of mobile growth and app store optimization solutions whose backers have included 500 Startups and Kima Ventures. https://axios.link/3U0KRyB

Digital World Acquisition Corp. exercised an option whereby its sponsor will pay over $2.8m to get a three-month extension on closing its acquisition of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social. As Dan Primack wrote, this comes after DWAC failed to win a shareholder vote on a one-year extension. https://axios.link/3L4igVb

Britannica Group, publisher of Merriam-Webster dictionaries, is considering a 2023 IPO, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3BtKaXo 

Cineworld was granted access to up to $785m in financing by a U.S. bankruptcy court for the "first day" relief related to its Chapter 11 proceeding. https://axios.link/3BtCdS0

MX Player, an Indian AVOD platform, signed a multiyear partnership with Lionsgate for access to its films. https://axios.link/3xgsfRw

4. Deal flow

AMC Networks promoted Kim Kelleher to chief commercial officer. Josh Reader, president of distribution and development since 2019, is leaving. https://axios.link/3qptzxJ

Atlas Artists promoted talent manager Nicholas Todisco to partner. https://axios.link/3etedW4

APA hired former ICM Partners agent Justin Ongert as SVP, alternative and factual programming. https://axios.link/3RyGRDY

Bloomberg Media announced its global head of TV and radio Al Mayers is retiring. https://axios.link/3Bb600z

Madison Square Garden Sports announced president and CEO Andrew Lustgarten is stepping down at the end of the year and will join its board. The company named David Hopkinson president and COO. https://axios.link/3RZ5sBQ

Rumble hired Glenn Greenwald to host a daily live hourlong news show for its video platform, per WSJ. https://axios.link/3ByCkvH

Brian Stelter is headed to Harvard Kennedy School as the Fall 2022 Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow, Mike Allen writes. https://axios.link/3BxDzer

5. Movin' on up (or out)

"The music today is driven by teenage girls," the Rolling Stone magazine founder told Maureen Dowd. "Today's music, hip-hop, pop music, I don't listen to as much, and I don't think it is as culturally relevant as it used to be, nor is it musically as good. But I think some of it, particularly hip-hop, is very strong and tough."

Over 500 U.S. Condé Nast employees unionize (Axios)

"With the new agreement, every Condé Nast publication is now unionized with the NewsGuild of New York," Sara Fischer writes.

TIFF: Excited filmmakers, party hosts embrace film fest in-person return (THR)

"You cannot launch a festival film digitally. You need to build up hype in person. You need to meet people in person to be able to forge relationships to launch your film," Markhor Pictures producer Shehrezade Mian told Etan Vlessing. 

Twitter calls Musk's new argument for terminating merger "invalid" (Axios)

"Twitter on Monday rejected a new argument made in a letter sent by Elon Musk's lawyers to the social giant on Friday that alleged it violated its merger agreement by paying $7.75 million in severance costs to its former security chief," Sara writes.

6. Channel surfing

Illustration of a remote control in the shape of a surfboard leaning against a VW bus.

🏆 Situational awareness: The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards are on NBC and Peacock tonight, hosted by Kenan Thompson. HBO's "Succession" leads in nominations. 

@kerrymflynn: "Elvis" on HBO Max. This is the one big film I didn't see in theaters this summer. 

✏️ Thanks to Michael Flaherty for editing and Katie Lewis for copy editing this newsletter. 

Thank you for reading Axios Pro Media Deals! Please ask your friends, colleagues and D23 attendees to sign up.

September 12, 2022

1 big thing: ESPN free from ire of Dan Loeb