ESPN Will Be Fully Available on Disney+ Next Year - 1

ESPN Will Be Fully Available on Disney+ Next Year

  • Written by Shipra Sanganeria Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
  • Fact-Checked by

Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the eagerly awaited ESPN standalone streaming service will be added to Disney+ in the fall of 2025. The announcement was made in a CNBC interview on Thursday. The service, which was first announced in 2023 , will give viewers access to “the full suite” of the ESPN network.

The new standalone offering is expected to be much bigger than the 2024 joint sports streaming venture of Disney-ESPN, FOX, and Warner Brothers-Discovery.

According to Iger, the new sports offering is “a one‐stop sports destination unlike anything available in the marketplace today.” The standalone service will cover live sports events and studio programming from the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, FIFA, PGA Tour, UFC, and college sports.

With the new app-based service, viewers would be able to enjoy a more “user-friendly, immersive, and personalized” experience. They would have access to ESPN Bet and fantasy sports, in addition to shopping and detailed sports stats.

Disney already offers ESPN+ as an alternative to the traditional cable package. With the existing service, viewers can stream live games but not the network’s live TV channels. There was no announcement from Disney regarding the continuation or cessation of ESPN+ after the 2025 launch of its standalone sports streaming service.

Meta Now Requires Mandatory Age Confirmation on Quest Headsets - 2

Meta Now Requires Mandatory Age Confirmation on Quest Headsets

  • Written by Elijah Ugoh Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
  • Fact-Checked by

Quest 2 and 3 users must now confirm their age by reentering their birthdays on the Quest platform. Meta announced this update on April 2, stating that it aims to provide the “right experience, settings, and protections for teens and preteens.”

TechCrunch reported earlier in January that Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, had “argued that mobile app store providers like Apple and Google should be the ones to implement parental controls for social media” instead of relying on app developers to deal with the issue.

Meta is now using its Quest Virtual Reality (VR) store to demonstrate Zuckerberg’s argument about how app stores should handle age verification and parental control.

The company says users will be prompted within the next few days to verify their ages, and they have a 30-day window to re-enter their birthdates. Otherwise, their Quest accounts may be temporarily suspended. Meta intends to use 3 age groups to categorize users and ensure everyone gets age-appropriate content.

The new age tier specifications are:

  • Adults (18+) : Adult users will have the option to choose between private or public profiles, exercise control over the visibility of their activity, and manage interactions with followers.
  • Teens (13-17) : Teenage users will have a private profile by default, granting them authority over follower requests and activity visibility. Additionally, parental supervision tools will be made available to ensure enhanced safety.
  • Preteens (10-12) : Preteen users will necessitate parental approval for account setup, accompanied by strict privacy settings and parental control over app access.

Users can rectify previously incorrect birthdates through online verification, either by submitting government-issued ID documents or their credit card details. Meta’s ID acceptance guidelines also allow users to physically cover any non-essential information on their ID before they take a photo of the document.

“On our app store, we want to make it easier for developers to better understand the ages of people who use their apps so they can provide age-appropriate experiences for preteens, teens, and adults. Parents, in turn, can trust that apps are providing the most age-appropriate experience and protections the app offers for their child’s age,” says Meta in the announcement .