Character.AI removes Disney characters after receiving cease-and-desist letter
“Character.ai is freeriding off the goodwill of Disney’s famous marks and brands, and blatantly infringing Disney’s copyrights,” a Disney lawyer wrote.
Hollywood studios target AI image generator in copyright lawsuit
Multiple-studio complaint cites AI image outputs as evidence of “bottomless pit of plagiarism.”
Disney and Universal sue Midjourney, alleging AI-related copyright infringement
by Kyle Wiggers
The studios are seeking monetary damages, a jury trial, and an order barring Midjourney from further copyright infringement.
The empire strikes back with F-bombs: AI Darth Vader goes rogue with profanity, slurs
Fortnite AI voice trained on James Earl Jones spoke curse words and insults before patch.
DOJ reportedly probes Disney-FuboTV deal over competition concerns
by Aisha Malik
The U.S. Department of Justice is probing Disney’s deal to take a controlling stake in FuboTV, Bloomberg reports. Fubo is a live TV streaming service known for its extensive sports coverage. Officials are examining whether the deal would cre…
Nvidia and Google DeepMind will help power Disney’s cute robots
by Maxwell Zeff
Nvidia is collaborating with Disney Research and Google DeepMind to develop Newton, a physics engine to simulate robotic movements in real-world settings, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced at GTC 2025 on Tuesday. Disney will be among the first to use N…
Amazon buys Indian video streaming service MX Player
by Manish Singh
Amazon has agreed to acquire Indian video streaming service MX Player from the local media powerhouse Times Internet, the latest step by the e-commerce giant to make its services and brand popular in smaller cities and towns in the key overseas market….
A minor league baseball team trolls Disney with its ‘Steamboat Willie’ jerseys
I’ve seen enough: the prize for the best use of public domain Mickey Mouse goes to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.
For its public domain theme night, the minor league baseball team will wear jerseys made entirely of iconic images that are no longer prot…
Reliance-Disney India media merger to control 85% of streaming, half of TV audience
by Manish Singh
The merger of Indian media assets of Reliance, its portfolio Viacom18 and Disney will create an entity that captures 85% of the country’s on-demand streaming service audience and about half of the TV viewers, analysts said, posing bigger challeng…
Ambani’s Reliance and Disney merge India media assets to form $8.5B joint venture
by Manish Singh
Reliance, its portfolio Viacom18 and Disney are merging their media businesses in India, creating the largest media entity in the world’s most populous nation. Reliance, which will control the joint venture, directly owns 16.34% of the merged ent…
Epic Games and Disney partner up on a Fortnite ‘entertainment universe’
Lego Fortnite is only two months old, but Epic Games is already out with an even bigger collaboration.
Epic and Disney announced today that the companies will partner on an “all-new games and entertainment universe” that will bring characters from Disn…
Reliance-backed Viacom18 agrees to buy 60% of Disney’s India unit, report says
by Manish Singh
Reliance-backed Viacom18 has reached an agreement to buy 60% of Disney’s India unit, WSJ reported Thursday citing unnamed sources, creating a pathway for the Indian conglomerate to form a $10 billion media giant in the South Asian market. The dea…
Disney’s VR treadmill, OpenAI fixes ‘lazy’ GPT-4, and Apple rolls out stolen device protection
by Kyle Wiggers
Hey, folks, and welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter covering notable happenings in tech over the past few days. On the agenda for this edition is Disney’s innovative VR treadmill, OpenAI fixing its “lazy&#…
Disney offers an elegant solution to VR’s movement problem
by Brian Heater
Remember the Virtuix Omni? I’ll never forget trying out an early version of the virtual reality treadmill in a hotel suite many E3s ago. The system, which features a concave platform and slippery shoes, was clever enough to influence Ready Player One’s…
Sony tells Zee it’s terminating the $10 billion India merger
by Manish Singh
Sony called off the merger between its India unit and Zee Entertainment on Monday, ending a two-year acquisition deliberation that would have created a $10 billion media powerhouse in the South Asian market. Sony said in a statement that it has sent a …
As Disney pushes towards streaming profitability, Pixar to undergo layoffs in 2024
by Sarah Perez
Disney-owned animation studio Pixar is poised to undergo layoffs this year, TechCrunch has learned and the company confirmed. While sources at the company said the layoffs would be significant and as high as 20% — or reductions that would see Pix…
Public Domain Mickey Mouse is the first meme of 2024
The new year marks the nerdiest holiday you maybe didn’t know about: Public Domain Day. But this year’s celebration is extra special. After years of legal battles, “Steamboat Willie,” a 1928 Walt Disney short featuring Mickey Mo…
Early Mickey Mouse is now in the public domain—and AI is already on the case
by Benj Edwards
Enlarge / AI-generated results of a gangster Mickey Mouse, Eldritch Horror Mickey Mouse, and Basketball Mickey Mouse created by a model trained on 1928 public domain Mickey Mouse cartoons.
Schroedingercat, Kevin Elliott, David Binkowski
On January 1, t…
India and Australia World Cup final shatters streaming records on Hotstar
by Manish Singh
In India, few events garner as much attention as a cricket game. And there’s no match for a World Cup final.
The Sunday game, which began just half an hour ago, has already topped 54 million concurrent viewers, shattering a record that was set just ear…
India-New Zealand cricket clash sets new high for Disney’s Hotstar
by Manish Singh
A crucial knock-out cricket match between India and New Zealand shattered all previous on-demand video streaming records Wednesday, attracting over 49 million concurrent viewers to Disney’s Hotstar.
The milestone exceeded the prior record of 44 million…
Bob Iger says Disney would like to stay in India amid Hotstar’s subscriber dip
by Manish Singh
Bob Iger said Wednesday that Disney “would like to stay” in India and is considering its options in the world’s most populous country even as its crown jewel streamer Hotstar struggles to contain subscribers loss. Hotstar lost 2.8 mil…
Reliance nears deal to acquire Disney’s India business, report says
by Manish Singh
Reliance is nearing a deal to acquire Disney’s India business, according to a report, as Mukesh Ambani’s oil-to-telecom empire eyes broadening digital and television assets. Disney values its India business at about $10 billion, whereas Rel…
TikTok scores sizable Disney deal including a content hub and publisher partnership
by Sarah Perez
TikTok has landed Disney as its latest big-name publishing partner for its premium ad product, Pulse Premiere, announced earlier this year. The company will join other large publishers, including NBCU, Condé Nast, DotDash Meredith, BuzzFeed, and more, …
Netflix’s 6.5M India subscribers dwarfed by Prime Video and Disney, Bernstein says
by Manish Singh
Netflix has “not succeeded” in scaling up its business in India despite the global streaming giant consistently lowering the subscription costs in the country, analysts at AllianceBernstein wrote in a report to clients Thursday. The U.S. st…
Netflix’s 6.5M India subscribers dwarfed by Prime Video and Disney, Bernstein says
by Manish Singh
Netflix has “not succeeded” in scaling up its business in India despite the global streaming giant consistently lowering the subscription costs in the country, analysts at AllianceBernstein wrote in a report to clients Thursday. The U.S. st…
Recent Comments
No comments to show.