The night before Disney released its third-quarter earnings, the company confirmed it had struck a deal with its longtime partner in sports, the National Football League, an asset and equity swap that sees the NFL getting a 10% stake in Disney’s ESPN division and ESPN/Disney acquiring several streaming assets from the NFL. The NFL’s 10% stake in ESPN is valued between $2 billion and $3 billion, per estimates from Octagon.

ESPN will gain the rights to three additional NFL games per season, previously broadcast by the NFL’s own networks, meaning more of America’s highest-rated TV shows, live football broadcasts, will be Disney’s as the company fortifies its streaming war chest. Disney has been reconstructing ESPN to survive the decline of linear TV with the launch of a stand-alone streaming service, and it will now plug in content beloved by football fanatics: the NFL Network, NFL RedZone distribution rights, and NFL Fantasy Football. In streaming, Netflix and Amazon have each acquired more NFL rights over recent years, so Disney’s move shows it’s playing defense and some offense, too, on this front.

Disney also announced an expanded agreement with the WWE, another recent Netflix partner, which subsequently emerged as a $1.6 billion deal that will make Disney the home of the marquee event, WrestleMania. Iger said on the earnings call that ESPN “will be the exclusive home for WWE Premium Live Events, further expanding ESPN’s rights portfolio.” On Disney’s plans in this area, Iger added Disney is “building ESPN into the preeminent digital sports platform with our highly anticipated direct-to-consumer sports offering.”

Disney revealed in its earnings that the sports division, anchored by ESPN, saw revenue fall 5% to $4.3 billion, mainly because of higher NBA and college-sports rights fees. Segment profit, however, soared 29% to $1 billion as a merger in its Indian unit took some losses off its balance sheet.

Streaming profitable amid linear TV, movie studio decline

Overall, third-quarter earnings showed resilience in key business segments for Disney such as streaming and theme parks, even as its traditional TV and film studio divisions showed fatigue. Total revenue for the quarter ended June 28 rose 2% year over year to $23.7 billion, just under Wall Street forecasts, while adjusted earnings per share climbed 16% to $1.61, surpassing analyst expectations of $1.47. Net income before taxes rose 4% to $3.2 billion.

A headline achievement for Disney was the solid performance of its streaming business, which posted a 6% revenue increase to $6.2 billion and achieved operating profit of $346 million—a substantial turnaround from a $19 million loss reported in the same quarter last year.

Subscriber metrics reflected steady gains, with Disney+ ticking up 1% quarter over quarter for a total of 128 million and Hulu by the same margin to 55.5 million subscribers. The combined Disney+ and Hulu subscriber base climbed to 183 million, up 2.6 million versus the previous quarter. Disney also finalized its acquisition of the remaining stake in Hulu from Comcast NBCUniversal in June, setting the stage for a tighter integration of its streaming brands later this year.

Meanwhile, Disney’s studio entertainment segment saw more modest 1% revenue growth to $10.7 billion, weighed down by a 15% drop in operating income to $1 billion. Theatrical releases, including original animated and live-action remakes, underperformed compared with last year’s strong box-office showing with Inside Out 2. Additionally, Disney’s linear TV networks, including ABC and Disney Channel, recorded a 15% year-over-year decline in revenue to $2.3 billion, underscoring ongoing challenges from cord-cutting and lower international results following the Star India deal.

Looking ahead, Disney expects total subscriptions for Disney+ and Hulu to rise by over 10 million in the next quarter, driven in part by an expanded agreement with Charter Communications.

Theme parks and experiences shine

Disney’s “Experiences” segment—which covers theme parks, cruise lines, and consumer products—delivered robust numbers, outstripping earlier forecasts. Third-quarter revenue increased 8% year over year to $9.1 billion, fueled by a 22% surge in operating income at domestic parks and experiences to $1.7 billion. Disney pointed to strong guest spending and higher occupancy rates at its parks and cruise lines, especially at Walt Disney World, despite the highly anticipated opening of competitor Universal’s Epic Universe in Orlando. Executives emphasized the “continued resilience” of Disney’s park business in the face of new competition.

Guidance raised, optimism for 2025

Notably, Disney raised its guidance for fiscal 2025, projecting adjusted earnings of $5.85 per share—an 18% increase over the prior year. The company also anticipates double-digit segment operating income growth in entertainment and sports, with an 8% gain in experiences for the full year. CEO Bob Iger affirmed Disney’s commitment to global expansion, noting more active park expansions than at any time in Disney’s history and highlighting ongoing strategic investments in streaming, theme parks, and sports as drivers for future growth.

“Disney is not done building, and we are excited for the future,” Iger said, following the earnings release.

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. 

It has been a particularly rough few months at Paramount-owned CBS, where the settlement of a lawsuit regarding “60 Minutes” and announced end of Stephen Colbert’s late-night show has led critics to suggest corporate leaders were bowing to President Donald Trump.

Following the Federal Communications Commission approval Thursday, one of the triumvirate of current Paramount leaders, Chris McCarthy, said that he would be leaving the company. McCarthy has been in charge of fading cable properties like MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, expected to bear the brunt of an estimated $2 billion in cost cuts identified by Skydance leaders.

Skydance head David Ellison is expected to head the new company, and he has identified former NBC Universal executive Jeff Shell as the incoming president.

CBS News’ trajectory will be scrutinized

After the merger’s Aug. 7 closing date, the new leaders will be watched most closely for how they deal with CBS News, particularly given the $16 million paid in a settlement of Trump’s complaint that last fall’s “60 Minutes” interview was edited to make opponent Kamala Harris look good. Two news executives — News CEO Wendy McMahon and “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens — resigned due to their opposition to the deal.

The appointment of respected insider Tanya Simon to replace Owens this week was seen as a positive sign by people at “60 Minutes.”

Days before the FCC’s vote, Paramount agreed to hire an ombudsman at CBS News with the mission of investigating complaints of political bias. “In all respects, Skydance will ensure that CBS’s reporting is fair, unbiased, and fact-based,” Skydance said in a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

The role of an ombudsman, or public editor, who examines a news outlet’s work is often positive — if they are given independence, said Kelly McBride, an ethics expert who has had that role at NPR for five years. “You really want the person to have loyalty only to their own judgment and the journalistic mission of the organization,” she said.

Having the sole mission of examining bias could be problematic, however. To be fair, a journalist’s work should be closely studied before making that determination, not judged on the basis of one report or passage, she said.

Carr, in an interview with CNBC on Friday, said the role “should go a long way toward restoring America’s trust in media.” Anna Gomez, an FCC commissioner who voted to reject the deal on Thursday, interpreted the arrangement as a way for the government to control journalists.

“They want the news media to report on them in a positive light or in the light that they want,” Gomez told MSNBC. “So they don’t want the media to do their job, which is to hold government to account without fear or favor.”

How the merger could ripple out across Paramount properties

According to published reports, Ellison has explored purchasing The Free Press, a flourishing news site founded by Bari Weiss perhaps best known for a former NPR editor’s study of liberal bias in public broadcasting. An Ellison spokeswoman did not return a message seeking comment on Friday.

Colbert’s slow-motion firing — he’ll work until the end of his contract next May — was described by CBS as a financial decision given late-night television’s collapsing economics. Colbert’s relentless lampooning of Trump, and his criticism of the “60 Minutes” settlement, led to suspicion of those motives.

“Was this really financial?” comic Jon Stewart wondered. “Or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger was killing a show that you know rankled a fragile and vengeful president?”

Stewart’s profane criticism on his own Paramount-owned show may provide its own test for Skydance. “The Daily Show” is one of the few original programs left on Comedy Central, and his contract ends later this year.

In an odd way, Comedy Central’s “South Park” buttresses CBS’ claim that the Colbert decision was financial, not political. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone delivered an episode this week that depicted a naked Trump in bed with the devil. Paramount just signed Parker and Stone to a new $1.5 billion deal that Skydance executives surely cleared; it makes the entire “South Park” library available for streaming on Paramount+. a platform where Colbert’s show doesn’t do nearly as well.

Figuring out what to do with others at Paramount’s cable networks, or even the networks as a whole, will be an early decision for Ellison, son of multibillionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

“There is a clear opportunity to improve Paramount’s growth profile by letting those assets go,” analyst Doug Creutz of TD Securities told investors Friday. “On the other hand, we suspect the Ellisons did not purchase Paramount in order to break it up for parts.”

The merger also brings together the Paramount movie studio with one of its most regular partners. David Ellison has been one of the industry’s top investors and producers since founding Skydance in 2006.

Ellison has a challenge here, too: Years of uncertainty over its future and modest investment in its movie pipeline has shrunk Paramount’s market share to last among the major studios. The Paramount+ streaming service has been a money-loser.

To revive Paramount, Ellison will look to revamp its streaming operations, leverage its franchises and try to bolster family content.

___

AP Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP.

Reynolds’ Marvel Studios smash “Deadpool & Wolverine” remained the top movie in North American theaters for the third straight week with $54.2 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday. Worldwide, it’s now surpassed $1 billion. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” though, was closely followed by “It Ends With Us,” the romance drama starring Lively, which surpassed expectations with a stellar $50 million debut.

Together, the films created a kind of family edition of “Barbenheimer,” in which a pair of very different movies thrived in part due to counterprogramming. Only this time, the opposite movies were fronted by one of Hollywood’s most famous couples. The films’ one-two punch wasn’t entirely unprecedented. In 1990, Bruce Willis’ “Die Hard 2” led the box office while Demi Moore’s “Ghost” came in second.

The weekend also featured a high-priced flop. “Borderlands,” the long-delayed $120-million videogame adaptation directed by Eli Roth, launched with a paltry $8.8 million for Lionsgate. The film, starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jack Black, was shot all the way back in 2021. After delays and reshoots, it finally landed in theaters effectively dead-on-arrival; it scored just 10% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and seems likely contend for one of the worst movies of the year.

Meanwhile, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which co-stars Hugh Jackman, continued its march through box-office records. The film, directed by Shawn Levy, is only the second R-rated movie to reach $1 billion, following 2019’s “Joker.” In three weeks, it’s already one of the most lucrative Marvel releases and trails only Disney’s other 2024 smash, “Inside Out” ($1.6 billion worldwide) among movies released this year.

Lively makes a cameo in “Deadpool & Wolverine” but she both stars in and produced “It Ends With Us.” Adapted from the bestselling romance novel by Colleen Hoover, Lively stars as Lily Bloom, a Boston florist torn between two men, one from her present life (Justin Baldoni, who also directed the film) and another who was her first love (Brandon Sklenar).

“It Ends With Us” cost a modest $25 million to produce, so it will turn a significant profit for co-financers Columbia Pictures and Wayfarer Studios. Like another female-skewing summer-release book adaptation from Sony, “Where the Crawdads Sing,” “It Ends With Us” could hold well through the typically slower August box-office period. Audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore.

Reynolds and Lively occasionally played up the convergence of their movies. Earlier this week, Reynolds posted a video of himself posing junket questions to Sklenar. The timing paid off especially for Lively, whose film doubled earlier opening-weekend forecasts.

Neon’s “Cuckoo,” a German Alps-set horror film by filmmaker Tilman Singer, opened with $3 million on 1,503 screens. It stars Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” $54.2 million.

2. “It Ends With Us,” $50 million.

3. “Twisters,” $15 million.

4. “Borderlands,” $8.8 million.

5. “Despicable Me 4,” $8 million.

6. “Trap,” $6.7 million.

7. “Inside Out 2,” $5 million.

8. “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” $3.1 million.

9. “Cuckoo,” $3 million.

10. “Longlegs,” $2 million.

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But what most surprised her at the outset of her trip was seeing so many people decked out in salmon pink and apple green, Louis told Fortune. Thousands of Alpha Kappa Alpha members from all over the world had congregated at the nation’s capital for the organization’s centennial celebration. Even the White House donned pink and green banners, the official colors of the first Black college Greek-letter sorority for educated women.

Louis remembers stopping at a Starbucks and running into some AKA ladies who gave her the spiel about the organization, which has now recently entered the spotlight thanks to one of its most high-profile members, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who said being an AKA changed her life.

“They told me what each of their careers were and what drew them to the organization,” said Louis, a doctor of education and director of advancement for Community Partners of South Florida. “I was in love from that moment. That was July 12, 2008. I’ll never forget the date.”

Like Louis, AKA sorority members take pride in the moment they first learned about the organization—and when they knew they were meant to join. Many of the whopping 360,000 initiated members across the world are legacy, meaning a relative had also been a member of the organization before them. 

Lori Sloan has been an AKA member for 37 years, inspired by the membership of her late aunt. Her aunt “was a very active member” until she died in her 90s, “so I knew that it was something that was a lifelong commitment,” Sloan told Fortune. Sloan joined AKA as a member of Purdue University’s chapter. 

Now, the 116-year-old organization has more than 1,000 chapters in 11 countries and all 50 U.S. states. But it all started at Howard University with its alpha chapter, back in 1908.

At the time of its origination, the organization’s founders were among the fewer than 1,000 Black Americans enrolled at higher education institutions. And since its founding, AKA has been dedicated to civil-rights causes and five basic tenets: high scholastic and ethical standards, unity and friendship, social stature of girls and women, a “progressive interest in college life,” and being of “service to all mankind.”

How to become a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha

Alpha Kappa Alpha members can join the organization either as an undergraduate student or become a part of a graduate chapter if they’ve already earned a bachelor’s or an advanced degree from an accredited four-year college or university. They have to be invited to join the chapter, and it’s dissimilar from panhellenic sorority recruitment popularized in recent years on social media. Membership in AKA goes far beyond sporting pink, green, and pearls, and stepping and strolling. It’s a lifelong commitment to leadership and service.

Prospective AKA members must demonstrate the tenets of the sisterhood—and many are campus leaders even before joining the chapter. Academic excellence is also crucial for membership: Individual chapters typically have GPA or other scholastic-related benchmarks in place to assess the prospective member’s success. 

“We are looking for women of high scholastic and ethical standards [and have a] litmus for who we accept as members,” Deidra Davis, graduate adviser of the AKA chapter at Howard, told Fortune. “It’s no wonder why many are so impressed by women that they see on campus.”

Davis has been an AKA member for 37 years and was in Howard’s chapter at the same time as Vice President Harris. Davis joined AKA the year after Harris had been initiated, and had admired her and the other women who had joined the organization before her. Davis was “really taken by the level of excellence and the level of leadership” Harris exuded during her time at Howard and in AKA.

“Many of the AKAs, including Kamala at the time, just had a presence on campus and were always actively involved in serving others and leading things on the university campus,” Davis said. “That’s what drew me and piqued my interest in being a part of that same group.”

That sentiment still resonates with current members at Howard, including Imani Smith, who currently serves as president of the chapter.

“Coming in as a freshman, my first interactions with student leaders were ladies of the alpha chapter,” Smith told Fortune. “It’s really just inspiring seeing the level of service that we exude in the commitment that we make to it.”

A history of and commitment to service

Alpha Kappa Alpha’s commitment to service became increasingly important in the 1930s, during the time The New Deal was enacted. The group expanded its mission to ensure Black Americans benefited from New Deal jobs and entitlement programs such as Social Security, and also worked to abolish requirements for federal-government jobs that required a photograph of the applicant. This was a practice that led to racial discrimination in hiring. 

The organization also successfully lobbied for admission of Black women into the U.S. Navy during World War II and established the American Council on Human Rights in June 1948, although the organization is officially non-partisan. AKA, through the American Council on Human Rights, also worked to ensure fair employment and wages, advance Black voting rights, and demand access to decent, non-segregated housing. 

“As a long-time activist and organizer, I was looking for a sisterhood that really resonated with who I am as a person. And Alpha Kappa Alpha is exactly that,” Nupol Kiazolu, who was initiated into AKA’s chapter at Hampton University in 2021, told Fortune. “We have a longstanding track record of service and empowerment to the Black community, and not just the Black community, but the American community, and the communities all across the globe.”

Although all founding members of AKA exuded a commitment to service, one sticks out for Kiazolu: Norma Elizabeth Boyd, who in 1938 founded the National Nonpartisan Council of Public Affairs—the first Black congressional lobby—which laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement before its height in the 1960s. Boyd also happens to be Harris’ favorite AKA founder. 

“Our sisterhood was also founded, as we know, in the face of profound challenges in our country,” Harris said in a July 2024 address to AKA. “And yet, despite all of this, and perhaps because of it, our founders believed in the power of sisterhood and service. And our founders believed in the promise of America—a promise of freedom, opportunity, and equality not for some but for all.”

Sisterhood, leadership, and excellence

Even after years—or decades—away from college, AKA sisters continue to support each other in a variety of ways. These bonds are part of what makes the organization so strong.

Take Louis, for example, who knew she wanted to pursue a career in mental health and education, and was supported by mentorship from her AKA sisters. But what she didn’t expect was the outpouring of support to pursue a master’s degree. One day at a chapter meeting, the president explained to members the importance of Louis and a few other members continuing their education. That day, Louis and four other AKA members left the meeting with a $25,000 check, which took care of Louis’ entire master’s program.

The support didn’t stop there. When Louis decided to go for her Ph.D., she was given a check from AKA “of a significant amount” to earn her degree.

Louis said she felt “like I had the power of this entire organization behind me, propelling me through this process.” But beyond schooling, she has been supported by her sisters in numerous ways—including the delivery of her first child last year. One of Louis’ AKA sisters was her OB-GYN, and made sure she was taken care of “given all the health care disparities with Black maternal health,” Louis said. “She made sure every step of the way I had every comfort and luxury available to me.”

AKA also instills in women leadership qualities that extend well beyond their years on campus. They are taught how to interview for jobs, how to dress, and how to conduct meetings, Sloan said. These are all important qualities whether you’re an organizational leader or in the running to be the next president of the United States.

And being a member of AKA also has networking perks—especially if you can identify members by the colors and jewelry indicative of sorority membership. 

“The sisterhood continues post graduation from college,” Sloan said. “You go on a job interview, you get a job, you discover you have sisters there, and they take you under their wing. You have an insight to learn the company, the ins and outs, because the sisterhood never goes away. And that’s the comfort and support that you continuously have.”