Weekly Roundup – May 13th, 2025

"ESPN’s all-access streaming service will simply be called ESPN, sources told CNBC.
Pricing for the service will be announced next week. CNBC has previously reported the price is expected to be either $25 or $30 a month.
ESPN executives decided to name the streaming application “ESPN” to simplify what has become a confusing streaming landscape, filled with different product names and prices.
ESPN+ will continue to exist after the launch of ESPN’s more robust streaming product this fall."

"At a time when plenty of NCAA rules have fallen, another one could be going.
Pat Forde of SI.com reports that “[m]omentum is building” toward the NCAA lifting its ban on gambling on professional sports.
The Division I Board of Directors took initial steps in that direction last month. It’s pending before the Division I Council, which is scheduled to discuss it this week.
Current rules prevent athletes, coaches, and staff from betting on pro sports that are played at the NCAA level, including football.
It’s a stark difference from the manner in which the rules-obsessed NCAA used to operate. Perhaps after a series of antitrust losses in court, the governing body for college sports is running scared."

"Google reigns supreme as the world’s most visited website, with 136 billion monthly visits in November 2024.
Ranking in second is YouTube. The video streaming site has an average time per visit of nearly 25 minutes.
Overall, ChatGPT stands in ninth place globally, with 4.8 billion monthly visits."

"After being announced recently, the YouTube app for TVs is widely rolling out a few changes including a dedicated Shorts feed that lives at the top of the subscriptions page.
There’s been a heavy emphasis on Shorts over the past couple of years, and that includes within the TV experience. Recently, YouTube announced that Shorts would be getting a dedicated row in the subscriptions feed on the TV app, a change that’s now widely rolling out.
This new feed appears right at the top of the subscriptions page at all times and refreshes with new content as it becomes available. The only Shorts that appear here are from the channels you actively subscribe to."

"In the wake of their loss to now-President Donald Trump, Democrats are increasingly seeking out answers from prominent figures in the media.
Last week, Axios reported that New York Times columnist and popular podcaster Ezra Klein was going to brief Democratic senators off the record at their annual retreat as the party seeks a path forward. Klein’s new book, Abundance — a policy manifesto that argues how restrictive governance has failed to improve infrastructure and reduce inequality — has become essential reading for Democrats as they grapple with their 2024 postmortem.
It wasn’t the first time since Trump’s victory that Democrats have turned to left-leaning pundits in the media for answers. At a donor retreat earlier this year hosted by the Democratic group American Bridge, a group of media figures mixed with donors, pollsters, historians, and political strategists to discuss the path forward."