It is not uncommon for companies seeking to deflect from upcoming unpleasant earnings reports to unleash upon the airwaves a set of positive news—a bright light set to distract the moths of Wall Street. Disney, with the finesse appropriate to its astronomical size, elected to hurl fireballs. Ahead of announcing a fall 2025 launch date for the long-awaited EPSN D2C, the House of Mouse said it will partner with rivals WBD and Fox to offer a joint sports streaming service (see separate story in this issue) and will also be investing some $1.5 billion into Fortnite-maker Epic Games. Eight years after shuttering its Disney Interactive Studios gaming publisher and licensing its IP to third-party developers like Electronic Arts or rival…