NEW YORK—Late night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel has announced that he will be streaming his Sept. 10 interview with James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas, on YouTube rather than showing it on TV because of potential regulatory issues.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has previously threatened ABC affiliate station licenses over comments made by Kimmel.

The FCC has also issued guidance that network late night programming and talk-shows are subject to political equal time rules and launched investigations into both ABC’s “The View” talk show and the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned stations, which have been required to go through an early renewal process.

“Tomorrow night, I'll be interviewing James Talarico tomorrow under unusual circumstances,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue on Sept. 9, adding that the interview would appear on YouTube rather than TV..

“You know, for a lot of years, for the whole 20-plus years of our show, in fact, I've been interviewing Americans who are running for office with no problem at all, just like Letterman did, Leno did, Arsenio, et cetera, et cetera,” he added. “I've interviewed a lot of political candidates, from Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz, to Donald Trump himself. I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015, and at that time, when he was the one sitting next to me, he seemed to have no problem with the idea of talk show hosts interviewing candidates. In fact, he was very eager to come back for another interview, which he did just before he became the nominee in 2016.”

But “[s]omething has changed now that he's president,” Kimmel said. “His FCC is threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations based on simple traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings…[S]o out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas, who would have to deal with this nonsense, my interview tomorrow with James Talarico will not air on television. It will be posted on YouTube instead. It will not be on TV.”

“So if you want to learn about a candidate for the Senate tomorrow, you will have to go to the Jimmy Kimmel YouTube channel, where you will see it in its entirety,” he concluded. “And thank goodness we have that, because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do.”

In response, FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez once again condemned the FCC’s attempt to enforce political equal times rules on talk shows and late night programming as an example of “just how far this Administration’s campaign of censorship and control has gone. This is now the second time in a matter of months that a late-night host has disclosed they had to bury an interview because of FCC intimidation, and there is no way to know how many other editorial decisions across the country have quietly been shaped by this same pressure.”

“No host, local affiliate, or network should have to weigh federal retaliation before booking a guest for a newsworthy interview,” she added. “Any attempt to pressure broadcasters into self-censorship undermines both press freedom and the public’s right to hear from candidates in their communities seeking public office.”

Gomez also repeated her longstanding arguments that “[t]he FCC has no lawful authority to threaten broadcast licenses over guest bookings or editorial decisions. Unlike other broadcasters who have quietly capitulated, Disney’s ABC has continued to fight this unlawful coercion in court, and episodes like this one only strengthen that case…I urge broadcasters everywhere to keep resisting this pressure, and I hope courts will soon make clear that the FCC has no place dictating editorial choices or what viewers are allowed to see.”

The Walt Disney Co. and Optimum have renewed a multiyear carriage agreement for ABC-owned TV stations, ESPN, NFL Network, NFL RedZone, Disney’s kids and family channels, Freeform, FX Networks and the National Geographic channels in a distribution deal that will also expand access to the ESPN Unlimited and Disney+ streaming services.

No financial details were provided and the two companies did not name specific channels.

Disney and Optimum said certain eligible Optimum TV customers will soon be given free access to streaming service ESPN Unlimited.

The agreement provides for “expanded rights to make Disney’s streaming services available to Optimum TV and internet customers for purchase.”

Optimum provides cable and broadband service to more than 4 million customers in 21 states, with operations in the New York City tri-state area, as well as smaller clusters in the South and Midwest.

WASHINGTON—In response to ABC’s lawsuit seeking to block the FCC’s early license renewal proceedings for ABC-owned stations, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has blasted the lawsuit as “a meritless case based on their own campaign of disinformation,” and insisted that “the FCC will follow the facts and the law wherever they go.”

In a post on X, which Carr regularly uses to make policy pronouncements, the agency’s Chair once again insisted that FCC rules regarding the public interest requirements of broadcast licenses give the agency authority to regulate programming.

“All broadcasters have an obligation to operate in the public interest—even Disney,” he posted. “Indeed, broadcasters made a deal with the American public—in exchange for free access to a valuable public resource (the airwaves) they agreed to meet their public interest obligations. This sets them apart from cable channels or podcasts or newspapers.”

In a video accompanying the post, he also stressed that the FCC has not made an official decision on its DEI investigation but added that the investigation must have unsettled Disney.

"We have made no decision, but now Disney has rushed to court to try to stop the FCC from moving forward," he said. "And apparently, I guess Disney must be very concerned and worried about that production."

[The video is available if you click on "see more" of the X post pasted below.]

On August 18, ABC filed a blistering First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, asking a federal court in the nation's capital to stop the controversial early broadcast license renewal proceedings ordered by the regulator.

The FCC instituted the proceeding as part of its investigation into DEI policies at the Disney and the ABC-owned stations in April, a decision that has drawn widespread condemnation from broadcasters, former FCC officials and others.

WASHINGTON—ABC has filed a blistering First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, asking a federal court in the nation's capital to stop the controversial early broadcast license renewal proceedings ordered by the regulator.

The FCC instituted the proceeding as part of its investigation into DEI policies at the Disney and the ABC-owned stations in April, a decision that has drawn widespread condemnation from broadcasters, including the NAB, the FCC’s lone Democrat Commissioner Anna Gomez, free speech advocates, 13 former FCC officials, some conservative groups and the public. Around 95% of 153,318 comments filed in the proceeding have been in support of the license renewals.

“All broadcasters have a legal obligation to operate in the public interest—even Disney. The FCC has been examining claims that Disney engaged in illegal DEI discrimination for over a year,” an FCC spokesperson told TheWrap. “Disney is obviously very concerned about the FCC’s proceeding, as evidenced by their ongoing campaign of disinformation as well as their decision to ask a court to stop the FCC from further pursuing matters. The FCC will continue to follow the facts and law wherever they lead.”

As part of the lawsuit, which was filed with U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit (Case #26-cv-2902), ABC also filed a motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction on August 18.

In the motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction, ABC said that “This case boils down to a simple question: can the Administration use its control over the federal regulatory apparatus to punish a media organization for editorial decisions and news coverage it dislikes? Because the First Amendment provides a clear answer—of course not—this Court’s intervention is necessary to stop the Federal Communications Commission’s extraordinary assault on free speech.”

In the full complaint, ABC stressed that “Government censorship is deeply un-American. That fundamental principle predates the Republic, with our Founders recognizing that “the freedom of the press is one of the great[est] bulwarks of liberty.’ And it is no less true today, as the Supreme Court unanimously reaffirmed only two years ago: the government may not `use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression.’ This case concerns the Administration’s sustained effort to do just that. Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.”

Citing social media posts from President Donald Trump and a long list of comments by the president and FCC Chair Brendan Carr, the complaint also alleges that the retaliatory campaign “began in this Administration’s earliest days and has only intensified since. Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC’s speech—the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air. Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech.”

“Facing this existential threat, Plaintiffs have no choice but to seek redress from the judicial branch for the Administration’s blatant retaliation for their First Amendment speech,” the complaint said. “Plaintiffs come to this Court reluctantly with no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the Administration’s demands.”

The Complaint also detailed how the FCC’s actions created “irreparable harm,” both to the company and the media industry.

“The pressure exerted by the Administration’s mounting campaign of retaliation against ABC has been deeply felt throughout the company,” the complaint said. “The campaign is also calculated to operate in terrorem upon the rest of the industry: ABC is the visible target and suffers the most immediate harm, but the message is addressed to every broadcaster in the country, and the ultimate cost is borne by the press as a whole.”

In addition, “the FCC’s demand for early renewal applications reveals its intent to either hold a hearing to deny the applications or simply to subject Plaintiffs to months—and likely years—of onerous litigation and regulatory uncertainty. Either way, the agency succeeds at continuing to punish Plaintiffs.”

In a separate motion, ABC argued that the “Court should grant Plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order preventing the Commission from taking any further action with respect to its retaliatory early renewal application order and enter a preliminary injunction that halts the early renewals proceedings—and associated threats of revocation in response to ABC’s protected editorial discretion—pending the resolution of this case.”

In response to the complaint, Commissioner Gomez said in a statement that “for months, the FCC has waged a campaign of censorship and control against Disney’s ABC stations, using the threat of broadcast license revocations to punish a company for speech this administration doesn’t like. I have long called on companies to push back against this kind of government intimidation, and I’m glad Disney has shown courage and stepped up. This should be a welcome sign for every broadcaster who has felt the weight of this overreaching government pressure in silence.”

“I am hopeful that this will mark the beginning of the end of this administration’s disregard for the Constitution and the law, and that the coming months will bring the costly legal defeat this agency has been asking for since it started down this path,” she added. “It is time this administration understands that the Constitution does not bend to political convenience, and that the First Amendment protects the news and commentary Americans see on their screens even when those in power wish it didn’t.”

Freedom of the Press Foundation chief of advocacy Seth Stern said, "t’s about time for someone to take Carr and his FCC to court over their endless campaign of intimidation and retaliation against journalism that displeases Carr’s thin-skinned boss. No matter what pretexts he asserts, Carr’s modus operandi is clear: to serve as Trump’s censorship czar and abuse his office to repeatedly and exclusively target Trump’s perceived adversaries in the media, whether through sham proceedings or threatening letters and X posts. Carr knows the FCC is not the journalism police and said so regularly himself before he decided to throw away any integrity he once had to kiss up to Trump. Countless others whose First Amendment rights have been chilled by Carr’s antics should follow Disney’s lead.”

David Inserra, a fellow for free expression and technology at the Cato Institute said in a statement that "the current FCC has repeatedly used its power over broadcast speech to jawbone, punish, and threaten censorship of its political opponents. Today's lawsuit by ABC Disney against the FCC directly challenges the broad and abusive powers that Congress and prior court decisions gave the FCC. No government agency should ever be empowered to restrict free expression based on what it thinks is fair, equal, or in the best interest of the public. In a world where the American people and press can speak through print, broadcast, cable, satellite, internet, and other forms of media, there is no justification for the FCC to continue to wield such significant power over broadcast speech."

[More comments will be added as they come in.]

WASHINGTON—The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request with the Federal Communications Commission for records pertaining to the decision by the regulator to require select ABC-owned stations to renew their broadcast licenses early.

In the filing, the ACLU questioned the regulator’s motives for requiring the early renewal and argued that it was part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to chill news coverage that is critical of the administration.

“Although the FCC is purportedly requiring 8 ABC stations to renew their licenses early because they potentially violated the FCC’s rules against unlawful discrimination, the context and timing of the renewal calls into question the FCC’s true motives, the FOIA request said. “We believe that the FCC’s stated basis for requiring the early license renewal is mere pretext for punishing ABC because the Trump Administration disliked what ABC’s on-air talent had to say. We also believe the FCC and the Trump Administration are trying to send a message to other broadcasters that if they air content the Administration doesn’t like, they could face similar penalties.”

In the August 11 filing, the ACLU also referenced controversies over content on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and “The View” that prompted President Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr to threaten to remove station licenses.

“The Trump FCC’s abuse of power to investigate, threaten, or regulate other broadcasters after President Trump has taken issue with their coverage also indicates that the FCC required Disney-owned ABC stations to renew their licenses early to punish them for their speech,” the ACLU noted. “For example, the FCC sent broadcasters a ‘reminder’ that their licenses were a “privilege” dependent on operating in the public interest.11 Prior to the ‘reminder’, the President had repeatedly called for the revocation of broadcast licenses for broadcasters that he thinks cover him unfairly.”

As previously reported, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), the Future of Free Speech, and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University made similar arguments in an earlier filing urging the FCC to renew the ABC station licenses.

The filing also referred to FCC probes into NPR, PBS and CBS and Trump’s calls for other broadcasters to lose their licenses as examples of a larger "vendetta against broadcasters".

“Given the FCC’s apparent vendetta against broadcasters who say things the President doesn’t like – the public must know the truth about the FCC’s reasons for requiring 8 ABC stations to renew their broadcast licenses years early,” the ACLU argued. “To provide the American public with information about whether the FCC is using its authority to illegally retaliate against broadcasters’ speech, and attempting to chill protected speech, the ACLU seeks information about the FCC’s motivation for requiring ABC stations to renew their broadcast licenses early through this Request.”

The FOIA request seeks:

• The decision to require Disney-owned ABC stations to renew their broadcast licenses early.
• All communications to, from, or among FCC employees or Commissioners since January 20, 2025 discussing Disney, ABC, a Disney-owned ABC affiliate, any official of Disney or ABC, Jimmy Kimmel, or staff of Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
• All communications to, from, or among FCC employees or Commissioners since January 20, 2025 discussing complaints from President Trump, Melania Trump, JD Vance, Usha Vance, Susie Wiles, Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller, James Blair, Taylor Budowich, Vince Haley, David Warrington, Steven Cheung, Karoline Leavitt, Robin Colwell, Paige Willey or Ryan Baasch about what was said during an ABC broadcast or referencing a broadcast license.

The full filing is available here.

Comcast and Disney have reached a new carriage agreement for the NFL Network and the NFL RedZone channel that gives Xfinity customers access to the services in the run-up to the start of the NFL season.

The services were removed from the Comcast Xfinity lineup when the blackout began in late April. It was the first carriage dispute since Disney’s ESPN acquisition of the NFL Network was completed in early February.

No formal announcement was made about the agreement and financial terms were not disclosed.

“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with The Walt Disney Company to bring NFL Network to our customers in time for the start of the preseason games and to offer NFL RedZone Channel at the beginning of the regular season,” Comcast said in a statement to NBC Sports.

The Walt Disney Co. and TikTok have struck what they call a first-of-its-kind global content-sharing deal that allows users of the social media platform to create content utilizing memorable scenes and moments from Disney movies and shows.

The agreement, which will pilot in the U.S. in the coming months with plans for other markets to follow, will bring a collection of what the two companies describe as “thoughtfully curated Disney-centric fan-created content” from TikTok to the Disney+ app.

At launch, short-form videos from participating creators will be live on both TikTok and Verts on Disney+, and will feature characters and stories from across Disney’s brands including Pixar, Marvel, “Star Wars,” FX and others.

The deal comes as content companies are scrambling to expand their offerings of vertical and short-form video content, which dominate viewing on social media. It also represents a notable embrace of fan-created content by Disney, which has a long history of protecting its brands from unauthorized use by creators, and a push by Disney to expand its connections to the creator economy.

As part of the deal, TikTok will offer participating creators access to assets related to hundreds of films and series from Disney’s library of franchises. Videos created through the program will be refreshed regularly on the Disney+ Verts feed, providing subscribers with another means of discovering Disney-related content.

“The best storytellers are fans first,” Asad Ayaz, Disney chief marketing and brand officer. “That has always been true at Disney, and today, fans are celebrating our stories in entirely new ways. This collaboration creates a new bridge between the stories we tell and the creativity they inspire, giving creators a bigger stage to share what they’ve made, and audiences more to discover on Disney+ every day.”

Added TikTok Global Head of Entertainment Dawn Yang: “Creators are at the heart of everything we do at TikTok. Their creativity extends the life of films and shows into conversations that fans discover and share. Together with Disney, we’re bringing the authentic creator expression of the TikTok community to Disney+, inviting audiences to experience the shared creativity that makes fandom so powerful.”

Through the jointly run Disney Creator Ambassador Program, Disney and TikTok will also help creators unlock special rewards and provide increased visibility, access to exclusive events and career development pathways, the companies said.

Disney said that this tiered program reflects its commitment to building relationships with the next generation of creative talent in partnership with TikTok.

In announcing the deal, Disney noted that fan-created content continues to play an increasingly important role in how audiences discover, engage and celebrate entertainment.

According to internal TikTok data, fans shared an average of 6.5 million film and TV-related posts on the platform each day last year. Nearly half of users said they went on to watch a movie or TV show on a streaming service or television after discovering it on TikTok, according to the platform.

NEW YORK—Hearst has announced a deal with subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company to acquire Disney’s 50% interest in A+E Global Media for approximately $1.2 billion in cash.

The transaction is expected to close in September, at which point A+E Global Media will become a wholly owned Hearst business within its Entertainment group.

A+E Global Media, launched as A&E (the Arts & Entertainment Network) in 1984, today reaches more than 414 million households across 200 territories in 40 languages. It's brands include A&E, Lifetime, The History Channel, LMN, FYI and Vice TV.

The deal reduces Disney's exposure to the declining cable network sector, which has been buffeted by cord cutting and will give Hearst greater control over A+E, which in recent years has been working to diversify its revenue streams.

“We thank our Disney colleagues for decades of successful partnership,” said Steven R. Swartz, president and CEO of Hearst. “We look forward to supporting Paul Buccieri and A+E Global Media’s leadership team as they continue to make must-see programs and innovate around the great History, Lifetime and A&E brands.”

Paul Buccieri, president and chairman of A+E Global Media will continue to run A+E.

“In a media environment defined by fragmentation, A+E Global Media's advantage is the strength and versatility of our brands, our strong partnerships and our vast library of owned assets,” Buccieri said. “As we continue extending our storytelling globally across all platforms with IP that travels to every screen and form-factor, we believe we are well suited for whatever opportunities may come next. I also want to express my deepest thanks to Hearst, The Walt Disney Company and to our board members — both recent and past — for their guidance and support over the years.”

A+E Global Media, launched as A&E (the Arts & Entertainment Network) in 1984, today reaches more than 414 million households across 200 territories in 40 languages, and its well-known brands include A&E, Lifetime, The HISTORY Channel, LMN, FYI and VICE TV.

Hearst’s minority stake in ESPN is unaffected by the deal.

It also owns 35 television stations; 30 daily and 50 weekly newspapers; digital services businesses; and more than 200 magazine editions around the world.

The deal reduces Disney's exposure to the declining cable network sector, which has been buffeted by cord cutting and will give Hearst greater control over A+E, which in recent years has been working to diversify its revenue streams.

WASHINGTON—In a new filing, the ABC-owned stations continued their blistering critique of the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to order eight stations to undergo an early license renewal process.

In a July 29 filing, the station group blasted the agency for attempting to censor news coverage critical of the Trump administration and for being part of a larger effort by the administration to create “a media industry too fearful of official reprisal to report the news freely”

In the filing, ABC calls on the FCC to “deny the Petitions to Deny, or alternatively, dismiss these early renewal proceedings as untimely and unwarranted.”

The filing also noted widespread public support for the stations, with around 95% of 153,318 comments filed backing the stations. Those included approximately 375 community organizations supporting the license renewals, and 236 elected officials in 81 letters of support.

The lawyers signing the July 29 filing also indicated that Disney continues to bulk up its legal team as it prepares to take the issue to the courts if the FCC takes action against the stations.

Beth Wilkinson as a signatory in this filing alongside Paul Clement and Jennifer Tatel. The legal team is led by Horacio Gutierrez, senior executive vice president, chief legal and global affairs officer of The Walt Disney Company.

“For the first time in history, the Federal Communications Commission has ordered an entire group of local television stations commonly owned with a broadcast network to undergo simultaneous license renewal proceedings well before their current licenses expire,” the filing complained. “That makes these proceedings extraordinary and unprecedented. There is no question why the Commission is singling out these eight stations: Each is owned by ABC, and the Administration has openly and repeatedly called for the revocation of ABC’s licenses, because it dislikes the content and viewpoints expressed on ABC network programs.”

The filing also stressed that the “outpouring of support for the Stations has been unprecedented for a license renewal proceeding [with]...over 95% support [for] the Stations” and noted that more than 275 community organizations and advocacy groups have filed in support of ABC’s broadcast license renewals or urging the FCC to preserve the routine process, compared to around five or six groups opposing the renewals.

The filing also devoted considerable space showing that “these Stations have established deep connections with their local communities—New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham [N.C.] and Fresno [Calif.]—and serve millions of viewers with award-winning original journalism, life-saving coverage during emergencies, local news stories, and locally tailored programming…Seven of the eight Stations rank first in viewership in their local markets for local news, and WABC has consistently been the most-watched local television station in the country.”

It also complained that the early license renewal is part of an effort by the FCC to crack down on content critical of the Trump Administration.

“[T]he FCC has spent the last 18 months searching for some pretext for revoking the Stations’ licenses,” it said. “The Commission has found none, because the Stations easily meet the standard for license renewal—which under the law means that the Commission cannot revoke their licenses or order a hearing on their renewal applications.”

“The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country: accommodate the Administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price,” the filing said. “Across the government, regulatory and contracting carrots and sticks have been trained on other disfavored speakers. The tools vary; the objective does not: a media industry too fearful of official reprisal to report the news freely.”

It also stressed that denying the licenses for violations of FCC rules is an “extreme sanction.”

“Even if any violation were ever substantiated, the Commission has a graduated set of well-established remedies far short of the corporate death penalty of license non-renewal,” the stations complained. “That the agency reached first for the most extreme sanction in its arsenal, before making any finding at all, reveals its true objective: to chill not only ABC, but every broadcaster watching.”

In separate comments, Demciratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez also noted the widespread public support for the stations. As previously reported, more than 150,000 comments were received in the docket, with more than 100,000 in the last 30 days.

“When given the chance to weigh in on whether to allow the FCC to continue its campaign of censorship and control, the American public showed up in a big way, and the vast majority who spoke up delivered the same message," Gomez said. "They believe in the value of their local news, they trust those who cover their communities, and they understand that the FCC has no business deciding who is a journalist and what counts as real news. A small number of partisan voices tried to hijack this process into a referendum on a network they dislike, but the public refuses to let local stations become collateral damage in the FCC's political games. The FCC has no authority to police the ideological balance of the airwaves, and no matter what this Commission does next, the record now makes clear that this was never a genuine search for the public interest.”

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commissions’ controversial decision to order an early review of broadcast stations licenses owned by Disney’s ABC broadcast network has now attracted more than 150,000 comments, with more than 100,000 being received in the last 30 days.

At 1 p.m. ET, July 29, 151,523 comments had been received, with 100,801 received in the 30 days before July 29.

That made proceeding number 26-131 by far the most active docket in the FCC’s electronic filing system during the last 30 days.

The second most active proceeding in the last 30 days was the FCC's probe into whether ABC’s “The View” talk show counted as a Bona Fide News Interview Program and thus is exempt from equal time rules. This proceeding, 26-124, has attracted 78,720 comments with 19,053 received in the last 30 days.

By way of contrast, the third most active docket in the last 30 days had only 385 comments.

A large number of comments in the license renewal proceeding were in favor of renewing the licenses, as were the comments relating to “The View.”

The unusually high volume of comments, something not seen since the 21.7 million comments filed with the FCC during the controversy over net neutrality, was largely triggered by ABC's decision to air ads on "The View" urging viewers to defend the program and the stations.

Filings by the NAB, the NRB and other broadcasters have generally been in favor of the ABC station renewals and opposed to the early renewal process. A number of former high-level FCC officials have also attacked the FCC's order triggering an early renewal investigation.

While a host of progressive groups have weighed in on the issue by attacking the FCC for attempting to censor content critical of the Trump administration, some conservative groups have also been critical.

Recently, Fox News reported that “Center for Individual Freedom, Citizens Against Government Waste and Americans for Tax Reform, penned a letter to [FCC Chair] Carr…urging the chairman to avoid setting a precedent that could hurt non-liberal organizations in the future.”

"Our concern is that establishing precedents of non-routine renewal creates a powerful lever that future FCCs — including ones hostile to conservative, religious, or otherwise disfavored broadcasters — would be all too willing to pull," the letter said according to Fox News.

WASHINGTON—In response to the Federal Communications Commission’s ongoing investigation of whether the ABC-owned broadcast stations should lose their licenses, a number of former high-ranking FCC officials filed comments with the regulator attacking the probe as an unconstitutional attempt to quash news coverage critical of the Trump administration.

The filing by 13 former officials accuses FCC Chair Brendan Carr of using the early renewal proceeding as a pretense to punish ABC and Disney for broadcasting speech the Trump administration doesn’t like, calling it “a grave violation of both the Communications Act and the Constitution.”

“This early renewal proceeding follows a sustained campaign by Chairman Carr and the Trump administration of threatening legal sanctions against licensees whose speech President Trump dislikes,” the filing continued. “… [It] is in fact an assault on free speech disguised as regulatory process.”

The filing was signed by Kathryn C. Brown, Rachelle B. Chong, Mark S. Fowler, Jerald N. Fritz, Rosemary Harold, William T. Lake, Ruth Milkman, Dennis R. Patrick, Peter Pitsch, Alfred C. Sikes, Gloria Tristani, Thomas E. Wheeler, and Christopher J. Wright. They include former FCC chairs, commissioners, and senior staff who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Some of the petitioners were part of a group that issued similar criticisms of the agency in November of 2025 in a filing asking the agency to rescind it’s so-called “news distortion” policy.

That petition was dismissed in June on procedural grounds.

The filing stems from a controversial push by the FCC to regulate content based on the public interest standards of broadcast station licenses.

That has led to investigations into ABC programs like “The View,” and statements by President Trump and Carr threatening the licenses of stations airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”. In April, the FCC issued an order requiring ABC to apply for early renewal of its owned stations.

The virtually unprecedented order calls for the review of licenses that are not up for renewal until 2028 at the earliest. Last week, Carr suggested ABC’s editorial decision to stream, rather than broadcast, Trump’s election lie speech could also be penalized.

“Chairman Carr seems to be laboring under the ill-conceived notion that broadcasters have only partial rights to free speech under the First Amendment,” said Mark Fowler, a Republican who served as Chairman of the FCC from 1981 to 1987. “Just because the FCC issues licenses doesn’t make it the speech police. With this senseless early renewal proceeding, Carr is demonstrating that he has completely lost touch not just with the role of the FCC, but also with his own job description.”

“This proceeding is an effort to punish ABC and Disney for poorly disguised political reasons," said Rachelle Chong, a Republican who served as Commissioner of the FCC from 1994 to 1997. “The early review and the allegations are unusual in a typical FCC license review which suggests it is more about a desire to silence speech.”

In November, a number of former officials from this coalition filed a petition with the FCC to consider rescinding the news distortion policy, a tool Chairman Carr has abused to chill free speech in the press. The petitioners are represented by counsel at Protect Democracy and TechFreedom, as well as Andrew Jay Schwartzman and Gigi Sohn.

The full filing is available here.

WASHINGTON—In the wake of ABC's efforts to combat an Federal Communications Commission probe into whether “The View” deserves a “news exemption” from equal political time rules, fan have been flooding the regulator with comments. The agency's website had 27,885 of them, mostly in support of the show, as of 6 p.m. ET June 23.

ABC reported that most of those came in following ABC’s public push to mobilize fans to defend the show. During the Monday June 22 episode of "The View" ABC began airing an ad calling for viewers to file comments with the FCC. The ad encourages viewers to scan a QR code which directs them to the FCC site where they can file comments.

The case stems from a wider policy by the agency to enforce public interest rules on broadcasters deemed to be airing biased news coverage. That has led to ongoing investigations by the FCC into coverage of President Trump by stations owned by ABC, CBS and NBC.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr has repeatedly defended the agency’s authority to sanction stations and possibly even yank their licences for violating public interest standards even though a number of former FCC commissioners and staffers have called the policy “unconstitutional.”

Separately, the Media Bureau issued an advisory in January casting doubt on the 20-year-old exemption classifying late-night programming and talk shows as news programs, which means that they are not subject to equal time rules. The advisory said that stations airing `partisan' talk shows and late night programs must comply with equal time rules.

In May, the FCC’s media bureau issued a public notice asking for comments on whether ABC’s “The View” is a “bona fide news interview program” exempt from its equal time rules.

The FCC is also investigating Disney’s ABC for its DEI practices and has also ordered the ABC- owned stations to file for early renewal of their licenses. ABC blasted the early renewal demand as “unconstitutional retaliation” for news coverage that has been critical of the Trump administration.

So far the public comments to the FCC’s inquiry into `The View’ indicated significant opposition to Chairman Carr’s policies across the ideological spectrum, including free speech advocates, civil rights groups, conservative groups, journalism organizations, and consumer advocates. Many warned that revisiting the FCC's longstanding precedent amounted to an attack on free speech, with implications far beyond a single TV show.

ACLU, Center for Democracy & Technology, Future of Free Speech, National Coalition Against Censorship argued that the Commission is abandoning 40 years of precedent and that “this proceeding violates the constitutional rights of all our nation’s broadcasters, as well as the public who relies upon them for their access to news and information.”

Likewise, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) noted that “no living former FCC Commissioner has endorsed Chairman Carr’s current view of his regulatory authority, while a bipartisan group of former Chairmen and Commissioners, along with other high-level staff, have condemned it.”

Free Press complained that the “Commission’s actions have poisoned the well, depriving KTRK of a fair enforcement process, and depriving ABC of fair administration of Section 315(a) as it pertains to The View. Carr’s agency’s actions have been capricious, selective, and corrupt. The Commission is targeting KTRK and ABC with punitive action for its lawful speech, in order to chill ABC’s and other broadcaster’s First Amendment-protected speech.”

The group also stressed that while “Carr claims that he’s simply looking out for the public’s interest, and not carrying out a politically motivated vendetta against ABC and the President’s enemies…this claim quickly falls apart when considering Carr’s explicit efforts here to exclude right-wing talk radio broadcast programs from his review of the equal opportunities rule.”

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission has set dates for filings in the early renewal of licenses for eight ABC-owned stations.

The FCC has set deadlines for comments filed in its MB Docket No. 26-131, with petitions to deny due on June 29, opposition on July 29 and replies due Aug. 5.

On April 28, the Video Division of the Media Bureau issued an order directing The Walt Disney Co., ABC and its subsidiaries to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations.

On May 28, Disney’s ABC filed renewal applications for its eight television licenses along with comments saying the “Commission had not demanded early renewal in over five decades. And it has never before demanded simultaneous license renewal applications from a group of stations commonly owned with a network as it has here.”

“The Order is inconsistent with a legitimate exercise of investigative authority and is plainly incompatible with the First Amendment,” the letter said. “Worse, the Order opens the door to an assault on the Station’s license, while the Commission searches for a legal pretext to achieve its desired goal. This effort to suppress speech under the guise of bureaucratic process must not prevail. WABC files this application without waiving any rights, and calls on the Commission to rescind the Order.”

In the filing setting deadlines for comments, the FCC noted that generally broadcast TV stations are given eight-year licenses and none of Disney’s ABC licenses would ordinarily be due for renewal until 2028 at the earliest.

In its order demanding the early renewals, the agency noted that “the FCC has been investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination.”

“Specifically, the FCC has been investigating whether Disney’s ABC engaged in prohibited practices by hiring, promoting, compensating, and/or providing workplace opportunities to people based on race, gender, or other protected characteristics in violation of federal nondiscrimination laws,” the FCC said in the June 1 filing setting deadlines for comments. “In the course of conducting that investigation, the FCC determined that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal was necessary to the proper conduct of that ongoing investigation.”

“Calling the licenses in now for early renewal also provides the FCC the opportunity to determine whether the ABC Stations have been operating in the public interest, as required by their FCC licenses,” the regulator added.

The decision to investigate the stations for possible violations of public interest standards, including the airing of“biased news coverage,” has drawn criticism. Democratic FCC commissioner Anna Gomez, broadcasters, the National Association of Broadcasters, former FCC members and staff and public-interest groups have said the investigation is outside the agency's authority and is an unconstitutional attack on free speech.

The licenses up for renewal are:

• KFSN-TV, Fresno, Calif.
• KABC-TV, Los Angeles, Calif.
• KGO-TV, San Francisco, Calif.
• WLS-TV, Chicago, Ill.
• WABC-TV, New York, N.Y.
• WTVD, Durham, N.C.
• WPVI-TV, Philadelphia, Pa.
• KTRK-TV, Houston, Texas

The FCC document setting filing procedures in this case is available here.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s push to enforce political equal time rules on late-night TV and network talk shows deemed to be airing “biased” news content has moved into a more formal phase, as its Media Bureau hgas issued a public notice asking for comments on whether ABC’s “The View” is a “bona fide news interview program” exempt from its equal time rules.

The FCC announced the move in response to a Petition for Declaratory Ruling by KRTK-TV Houston and its parent company, Disney’s ABC, asking it to give the daytime TV talk show “The View” an exemption from the rules requiring equal time for political candidates as a news program.

“By this Public Notice, the FCC’s Media Bureau seeks comment on the Petition,” the FCC noted. “Does The View qualify as a bona fide news interview program? Does the federal equal opportunities statute pass relevant constitutional scrutiny, either as a general matter or as applied here? Are the relevant decisions on ‘The View,’ including on format and participants, based on newsworthiness or on an attempt to oppose or support particular candidates within the meaning of FCC precedent? We welcome comment on these and any other relevant points.”

FCC Chair Brendan Carr had previously acknowledged that the FCC was investigating “The View” for violating equal time rules. The agency has separate ongoing investigations into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and has made the highly unusual move to require Disney’s ABC to file for early renewal of the licenses for its owned-stations.

The case stems from an advisory by the FCC’s Media Bureau in January casting doubt on the 20-year-old exemption classifying late-night programming and talk shows as news programs, which are not subject to equal time rules.

“Late-night programming and daytime talk shows have been exempt from that [equal time for political candidates] requirement since 2006, when an exemption was given to Jay Leno because he was conducting bona fide news interviews,” the FCC noted in its latest guidance. “Importantly, the FCC has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late-night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption…Moreover, a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under longstanding FCC precedent. Any program or station that wishes to obtain formal assurance that the equal opportunities requirement does not apply (in whole or in part) is encouraged to promptly file a petition for declaratory ruling that satisfies the statutory requirements for a bona fide news exemption.”

Critics have complained that this is an attempt to regulate broadcast news content and accused the FCC of selectively applying its standards for bias because it has not opened a similar campaign against conservative talk shows that are widely aired on radio.

FCC Commmissioner Anna Gomez responded:

“The FCC is once again targeting an administration critic by mob rule," she said.
"Let's not pretend this FCC hasn't already made up its mind. All they want is for their pro-censorship partisan allies to nod in agreement.

"My message to Disney: Don't flinch. Fight,” she concluded.

In late January, at the FCC’s monthly press conference, Carr responded to a question about why the agency wasn’t using the same standard to investigate bias in radio by saying “there wasn’t a relevant precedent that we saw that was being misconstrued on the radio side.”

In terms of “The View,” the FCC opened its investigation into possible violations of equal time rules after it aired an interview with Democratic Texas State Rep. James Talarico, now a nominee for U.S. Senate.

This revised guidance on equal time rules also led to a controversial incident in which Stephen Colbert, the former host of CBS’ “The Late Show,” said he was told by the network not to air an interview with Talarico. CBS has denied it issued such an order.

The full Public Notice seeking comments is available here.

WASHINGTON—In what may be the strongest pushback by any broadcast network against attempts by the FCC and the Trump administration to regulate broadcast content, The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC has filed a sternly worded petition arguing that the “Commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to ‘The View’ and more broadly.”

The network made the filing on behalf of KTRK Television, Inc. and American Broadcasting Companies in response to an Federal Communications Commission probe into ‘The View’ for potential violations of equal time rules for political candidates. KRTK-TV is the ABC-owned station in Houston; daytime talk show ‘The View’ had aired an interview with Democratic Texas State Rep. James Talarico, now a nominee for U.S. Senate.

In January, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued new guidance telling broadcast stations airing certain late-night and daytime talk shows that they are required to give equal time to rival candidates and that programs "motivated by partisan purposes" would not be given a news exemption, as they had beeen for the past two decades.

“Late-night programming and daytime talk shows have been exempt from that [equal time for political candidates] requirement since 2006 when an exemption was given to Jay Leno because he was conducting bona fide news interviews,” the FCC's Media Bureau noted in the new guidance. “Importantly, the FCC has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late-night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption…Moreover, a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under longstanding FCC precedent. Any program or station that wishes to obtain formal assurance that the equal opportunities requirement does not apply (in whole or in part) is encouraged to promptly file a petition for declaratory ruling that satisfies the statutory requirements for a bona fide news exemption.”

This revised guidance on equal time rules quickly led to a controversial incident in which Stephen Colbert said he was told by CBS not to air an interview with James Talarico, who was running in the Democratic party primary for the Texas Senate. CBS has denied it issued such an order and Colbert ended up running the interview on YouTube, where it racked up more than 9.4 million views.

Subsequently, Carr announced that the FCC had opened an investigation into ‘The View' for running an interview with Talarico.

The petition for declaratory judgment with the FCC complains that “narrowing the Commission’s long-established approach to bona fide news exemptions, however, would risk restricting political discourse exactly when it is needed most. While candidates are always able to connect with voters on cable, podcasts, and social media, specifically requiring broadcast airtime for all qualified candidates does not expand speech; rather, it makes coverage infeasible, which ultimately reduces it.”

“The government does not get to decide `what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion,’” the filing argued. “Or which `ideas and beliefs [are] deserving of expression [and] consideration.’ The danger is that the government will simply decide which perspectives to regulate and which to leave undisturbed. In fact, while the Commission now questions The View’s decades-long exemption, it has not expressed any inclination to apply a similar interpretation of the equal opportunities rule to other broadcasters, including the many voices—conservative and liberal—on broadcast radio. And as a broad array of voices, including many conservatives, have recognized, if the government is allowed to discriminate on the basis of viewpoint in a Republican administration, there is little preventing it from doing so when the Democrats are in charge.”

“Until now, it has never been disputed that The View qualifies as a bona fide news interview program,” the petition noted. “In 2002, ABC requested and obtained a Declaratory Ruling from the Mass Media Bureau confirming that status. That Declaratory Ruling remains in full force and effect. The Commission has taken no action over the last two decades to modify or overturn the Declaratory Ruling and there is no basis for doing so now. Given that KTRK Television acted in good faith reliance on the Declaratory Ruling and the consistent guidance provided by the Commission for decades, the Commission cannot find now that KTRK Television violated any of the Commission’s rules with respect to appearances by legally qualified candidates on The View.”

The filing also noted that at the end of March, the Media Bureau ordered KTRK Television to file another petition for declaratory ruling regarding The View’s status as a bona fide news interview program. In parallel, on April 28, the Media Bureau issued an extraordinary order demanding the early filing of all of ABC’s license-renewal applications, including for KTRK-TV.

“Combined with the Commission’s other recent actions, including publicly announcing its investigation concerning ‘The View’ and presaging an outcome, this suggests that the Commission is implementing major shifts in policy and practice, including how the Commission intends to apply the equal opportunities requirements. Such an abrupt and substantial change in long-established policy requires the action of the full Commission and the oversight of the courts.”

The filing also included a statement from the show’s executive producer saying, “I do not select potential interview subjects with the intent to advance or harm any individual’s candidacy for any office or any other partisan purpose.”

Brian Teta, executive producer of “The View,” also stressed that “interview subjects are not given any option to edit or otherwise influence or control the broadcast of the interview, and do not see the final interview until it airs.”

Teta said after U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a candidate in the Texas Democratic primary for Senate, appeared on ‘The View’ Jan. 6, co-hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin and Whoopi Goldberg suggested to him that Talarico should be a potential interview guest. Talarico eventually defeated Crockett in that primary.

“In deciding whether to invite Mr. Talarico to appear on ‘The View,’ I considered the facts that, at that time, Talarico’s campaign had been receiving national attention and that Talarico had gained a significant following on social media,” he added. “These factors, along with the newsworthiness of the Texas senate primary elections and potential audience interest in Mr. Talarico, informed my judgment that Mr. Talarico was a newsworthy subject. My decision to invite Mr. Talarico to appear on the program was not motivated by any intent to advance or harm any individual’s candidacy.”

In response, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said:

The full ABC filing is available here.

WASHINGTON—A key group of Democratic senators has sent a stern letter to the Federal Communications Commission calling its investigation into The Walt Disney Co. and its recent order requiring early license renewals for its eight ABC-owned television stations “an egregious abuse of power and a clear violation of the First Amendment.”

“The campaign against Disney and its editorial decision-making, culminating in last week’s early-renewal order, is an egregious abuse of power and a clear violation of the First Amendment,” the letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr said. “Although the FCC has the authority to ensure broadcasters operate in the public interest, it cannot serve as President Trump’s roving censor, threatening to revoke licenses against broadcasters whose editorial content—including a comedian’s jokes—displeases the President. In fact, before serving as chairman, you frequently recognized the importance of the First Amendment and the freedom of speech, including for comedians. As you previously explained: ‘From Internet memes to late-night comedians, from cartoons to the plays and poems as old as organized government itself - Political Satire circumvents traditional gatekeepers & helps hold those in power accountable. Not surprising that it’s long been targeted for censorship.’ Now, you are doing exactly that — targeting political satire for censorship.”

The letter also laid out a number of questions that the senators wanted answered, including about contact between FCC staff and the White House and prior instances of the FCC asking for early renewals.

The letter was signed by Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, along with Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.).

Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also signed the letter.

The senators also requested answers by May 21 to these questions:

• ”What internal legal review, including by the Office of General Counsel, was conducted before the order was issued?
• ”Did you consider, but reject, any less aggressive enforcement steps prior to issuing the order?
• ”The Commission issued a procedurally similar early-renewal order against Bridge News, LLC on April 27, 2026 — one day before the Disney order. Did you intentionally time the orders so that the Bridge News order would precede the Disney order in the public record?
• ”What is the status update on each open FCC investigation into Disney or its ABC stations?
• ”What is the FCC’s justification for issuing the early-renewal order amidst these ongoing investigations?
• ”Between April 22, 2026, and April 28, 2026, did you, your staff, or any other FCC personnel communicate with the White House, any other component of the Executive Office of the President, or any individual acting on their behalf regarding Disney, ABC, Jimmy Kimmel, or the early-renewal order?
• ”What are the prior instances in which the Commission has invoked 47 CFR § 73.3539(c) to call in the licenses of a broadcaster for early renewal, including a summary of the grounds for each instance?”

A new note to investors from financial analysts at LightShed Partners poses the controversial question of whether broadcast networks should scrap entertainment programming given the long-term declines for non-sports programming and the fact that NFL games now dominate the list of most popular programming.

Citing data from the NFL’s recent meeting with the Federal Communications Commission, analysts Richard Greenfield, Brandon Ross and Mark Kelley write that it has become apparent “how irrelevant all non-sports programming is to broadcast TV viewership…Over the past 20 years non-sports broadcast primetime viewership is down over 75%, while NFL regular season viewership is up over 30% over the same period. Even more stunning is that NFL viewership on CBS and NBC reached all-time highs last season, despite all the cord-cutting that has shrunk the reach of broadcast TV.”

“The obvious question is why broadcast networks bother investing in general entertainment programming,” they wrote. “Given that general entertainment programming is not driving retransmission consent fees, if any of these forms of programming cannot cover their production costs via advertising and streaming syndication revenues, should they exist at all? It is beyond obvious that broadcast networks and stations drive retrans fees of $5/sub/month and growing from NFL programming alone; no other programming matters.”

The NFL also clearly understands its value and is in the process of renegotiating higher rights fees. Those higher licensing fees could mean that “broadcast networks may be forced to cut back on general entertainment programming that does not cover its production costs, reduce the cost of programming or shift even more of that content to streaming platforms (AI should help with this).”

This also raises the question of “why Disney needs to be in the linear TV business as part of our long-term strategic questions for management.”

More on this is available here and here.

Over the last year, it has become clear that live events are the key to streamers’ longevity.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, Netflix broke a record, with one of its Christmas Day NFL games drawing 27.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. The event marked the most-streamed NFL game in U.S. history.

In addition to the Minnesota 
Vikings-Detroit Lions game, 
Netflix also streamed the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Commanders game on Christmas Day, reaching an average audience of 19.9 million viewers. Another Christmas NFL game was livestreamed by Prime Video and averaged 21.1 million viewers, making it Amazon’s most-watched “Thursday Night Football” regular-season game ever.

Nielsen data for each game covered only U.S. viewership, but the Netflix NFL games were available worldwide. According to the streamer, people in more than 200 countries tuned in to at least one of the 2025 NFL games, with the Lions-Vikings matchup attracting an average-minute audience of 30.5 million viewers worldwide and the Cowboys-Commanders game reaching 22.4 million.
According to Chris Hamilton, industry insights manager at global media and entertainment intelligence company Parrot Analytics, live events on streaming platforms are more important than ever.

Cultural Cache

“Streaming was originally built around deep on-demand libraries, but live events deliver something libraries cannot: simultaneous audiences and real-time cultural relevance,” Hamilton said.

“Netflix’s record-setting Christmas Day NFL streams were a clear signal that live programming is no longer a side strategy for streamers; it is becoming a core part of how major platforms drive engagement, monetize attention and strengthen their economics.”

Dan Rayburn, a streaming media expert and chairman of the NAB Show Streaming Summit, said that by the end of this year, streamers will increase their coverage of live NFL games as well as other live events.

He pointed to Apple and Formula 1 signing a five-year exclusive U.S. streaming deal last fall. The streamer reportedly pays Formula 1 approximately $150 million annually, making the deal worth $750 million. Apple also has streaming deals with MLB and Major League Soccer.

But while live sports are driving viewership on streamers, that doesn’t necessarily create a successful business.

Rayburn cited Peacock’s fourth-quarter operating loss of $552 million, compared with $372 million in 2025. The main cause for the loss was NBCUniversal’s 11-year, roughly $27.5 billion ($2.5 billion per year) NBA media rights deal, which began in the 2025–26 season.

No Loss Leader

“Peacock has a lot of sports. But look at how much money they lost in Q4,” Rayburn said. “Peacock is still unprofitable. They lost more than half a billion dollars in Q4. So it’s great you have a lot of sports, but if you are not profitable, does that matter?”

While live sports aren’t a magic economic fix for streamers, Hamilton said they help in three specific ways.

“They drive habitual usage, support premium advertising and make a platform feel essential in real time,” Hamilton said.

“In a business where reducing churn is just as important as adding new customers, that makes sports a powerful strategic asset. The rights fees are eye-watering, but for the biggest platforms, the retention and advertising math is increasingly justifying the investment.”

When it comes to streaming and AI, the technology is not being utilized as much as it is in other industries, such as film and television production. Streamers are using the technology for video compression and large language models for content discovery and personalization.

“AI is completely overblown when it comes to streaming,” Rayburn said.

“The place you see AI is in the video workflow. So if there is a three-hour sporting event, the moment the sporting event is over, you want to be able to chop up the highlights to only show the place where someone hit a home run. That’s where AI can look at that video, automatically clip it and create a video and package.

“Whether it’s ingestion, contribution or coding clipping, those are the places where AI tools will come into the video stack over time,” he added. “But right now, it’s still extremely early.”

Filling Niches

The consistent desire of Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon to appeal to the masses has enabled the growth of niche streaming platforms that serve specific audiences through genre-focused content.

But discovery and sustainability make it hard for niche streamers to sustain success.

“Long term, the strongest niche services will be the ones that either own a fandom so completely that subscribers see them as essential, or position themselves as the must-have specialist inside a larger aggregation ecosystem or bundle,” Hamilton said. “Just as importantly, they need to monetize community, not just content, through curation, identity, events, commerce and features that make the service feel like a hub for a passion and not just another video app.”

Two examples of successful niche platforms are Crunchyroll, a global anime brand and streaming service, and BritBox, owned by BBC Studios and focused on British television. Crunchyroll surpassed 17 million paid subscribers last year. BritBox boasts 4 million subscribers across the U.S., Canada, Australia and the Nordics.

Robert Schildhouse, the BBC Studios CEO of direct-to-consumer, has oversight of BritBox.

“We’re not trying to replicate the scale of general entertainment streamers,” Schildhouse said.

“Our ambition is to become a mainstream American brand but one that’s synonymous with a specific promise: the best of British television. In that sense, success looks less like mass-
market dominance and more like being a trusted destination for premium content with deep audience loyalty.”

Like last year, there will be more subscription price hikes, more bundling offers and more streamer fatigue in 2026. What would make streaming in 2026 dramatically different from 2025 is if Paramount Global can close on its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Hamilton predicts that if a merger happens, “the total demand for content on that combined platform would roughly match Netflix. That would leave three services realistically competing to be the entertainment anchor for households — Netflix, Disney+/Hulu and a hypothetical HBO Max/Paramount+ combination.

“Everyone else would need to define their role more clearly, either as a specialist or as a service built around churn-and-return behavior rather than always-on subscription status,” he said.

© 2026 NAB

ESPN and Disney+ have launched ESPN on Disney+ in Europe and select Asia-Pacific markets, a move that will make the offering available in 53 countries and territories across the regions.

With this expansion, ESPN now reaches viewers through Disney+ in approximately 100 markets around the world.

In Europe, the expansion builds upon a growing portfolio of sports content on Disney+. In select Asia-Pacific markets, which includes Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, a selection of English‑language ESPN sports programming will be available on Disney+ in this initial phase.

All Disney+ subscribers in both Europe and select APAC markets can also access exclusive sports content including live sporting events, studio shows, films, and more, alongside general entertainment and kids and family programming – all within a single app.

“Sports and live events are an essential part of our Disney+ content library, and we’re excited to build on the success we’ve already had with sports fans, as we bring more of ESPN to Disney+ subscribers in Europe and APAC,” said Alisa Bowen, president, Disney+. “This launch adds to our growing portfolio of local sports rights around the world.”

The initial offering will vary by market but will grow to thousands of live events over the next year, Disney reported.

That content includes a diverse portfolio of programming such as US sports coverage of the NBA (National Basketball Association) and NHL (National Hockey League) – both starting with the 2026-27 season. The lineup also includes college sports, featuring NCAA championships including men’s and women’s March Madness, plus college basketball regular season and conference tournaments, college football, College Football Playoff, and bowl games, as well as the Little League World Series, Savannah Bananas, and more.

The expansion comes on the heels of the recently concluded NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, which streamed on Disney+ across Europe.1

Disney+ subscribers will also have access to ESPN’s "30 for 30" documentary collection, a deep library of films and studio shows, including ESPN FC, ESPN’s global football news and information program.

This builds on the sports offerings on Disney+ already available in Europe, including the UEFA Women’s Champions League, LALIGA in the UK and Ireland, and the Copa del Rey, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and DFB Pokal in the Nordics. The offering will also feature KeSPA’s flagship events, including Esports Championships Asia Jinju 2026, and the 2026 LoL KeSPA Cup in APAC markets.

The launches are in addition to ESPN existing linear networks. It currently has 50 linear networks reaching fans across 130 countries and territories.

In a notable example of how important mobile users and vertical video on social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube have become to the media industry, Disney+ is launching Verts, a new vertical video offering that the company calls the first phase of bringing more vertical video content to the platform.

The launch follows earlier experiments with vertical video on Disney+ and the launch of Verts on ESPN Unlimited in August. Disney formally announced plans to launch Verts in January at Disney’s 2026 Global Tech & Data Showcase.

Disney said that those tests produced increased viewer engagement and that the launch this week is just the first phase of its plans for vertical video.

Initially, Verts is focused on content discovery. At launch users can access Verts with a tap of the new Verts icon in the navigation bar on mobile that allows them to enter a vertical video feed. They can then swipe through a stream of scenes and moments from movies and shows on Disney+, and seamlessly add to their Watchlist or jump directly into playback, Disney reported.

“With the latest streaming hits and an incredible catalog spanning more than 100 years of storytelling, we’re making it easier for fans to discover what to watch next,” Disney announced. “Verts offers a fun, fast way to explore that catalog right from the moment users open the app. It brings the magic of Disney’s storytelling into a format that feels modern, engaging, and tailor-made for how fans already enjoy discovering video on mobile devices.”

Looking forward, Disney said that its teams are “exploring and experimenting with ways to expand far beyond content discovery. Over time, Verts will play a key role in fans’ everyday experience on Disney+. At launch, this includes driving discoverability across Disney’s entertainment catalog, with opportunities in the future to add content from creators that reflects our fandoms, plus other storytelling formats, content types, and personalized experiences.”

Little more than two decades old, Alpha’s YouTube service has been crowned the world’s largest media company by a prominent research firm.

Financial research firm MoffettNathanson has estimated that the streaming service, which reportedly earned $60 billion in revenue in 2025, actually brought in $62 billion last year, which would exceed The Walt Disney Co.’s $60.9 billion revenues earned in its media business in 2025.

MoffettNathanson had already crowned YouTube as the “new king of all media” and values the streaming service at an estimated $500-560 billion, which outpaces its closest rival, Netflix, with a current market cap of just under $509 billion.

YouTube earned more than $40 billion in ad revenue in 2025 and also takes in revenues from its subscription services, which include YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, NFL Sunday Ticket, and the YouTube TV virtual multichannel video service, which has about 10 million in subscriptions. YouTube says it has paid $100 billion to creators, music companies and media partners.

The researcher says the streaming service shows no signs of slowing down.

“Over the next few years, unlike almost any other asset we cover, we strongly believe that YouTube will be a major beneficiary of both the structural tailwinds and headwinds facing technology and media companies,” Michael Nathanson wrote in his report.

ESPN has announced that it will air its third animated version of a live NHL game on Sunday, April 5th with animated NHL players and characters from Pixar’s “Inside Out” show depicting a live game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers players.

It is the third ESPN/Disney animated NHL presentation created with Sony’s Beyond Sports visualization technology, NHL Edge positional data (NHL Puck and Player Tracking), and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking data.

ESPN+, Disney+, Disney Channel, and Disney XD will present the real-time, animated telecast, while the traditional telecast will be available on ESPN. In 2023, the “NHL Big City Greens Classic” featured the Capitals vs. Rangers and was the first-of-its-kind real-time volumetric animation presentation in sports.

"Inside Out Classic" will feature virtually created real-time animation of the action between the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers modeled after characters on Pixar’s award-winning franchise Inside Out.

The animated telecast will leverage tracking technology to present the action on the ice in real-time while featuring "Inside Out" characters skating alongside animated versions of the NHL players. Highlights for this year’s animated telecast include:

• The presentation will blend two types of tracking technologies – NHL Edge positional data (NHL Puck and Player Tracking) and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations’ optical tracking – to create more dynamic player and character movement to help fans better visualize detailed limb and stick movement and mannerisms.
• Inside the mind of "Inside Out" character Riley, Hockey Island will host the animated presentation where Riley’s Emotions will skate alongside animated versions of the NHL players.
• Using Sony’s Beyond Sports’ Virtual Commentator technology, the ESPN commentators calling the action on the animated telecast – Drew Carter, Kevin Weekes and Arda Öcal – will wear virtual reality headsets for motion capture, immersing them in the animated environment of Hockey Island in Riley’s Mind.
• "Inside Out" voice talent will also be featured in the animated presentation, including Phyllis Smith (Sadness), Lewis Black (Anger), Tony Hale (Fear), and Maya Hawke (Anxiety).
• The real-time animated telecast will be produced in association with ESPN Edge Innovation Center and NHL partner, Sony’s Beyond Sports. Driven by Sony’s Beyond Sports’ proprietary virtual recreation technology, the broadcast transforms tracking data from fellow NHL partner Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations into animated action on the ice.

In 2025, ESPN and Sony’s Beyond Sports expanded its agreement to continue to produce alternate telecasts utilizing Disney’s extensive portfolio of Intellectual Property to expand its audience. Along with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations and the use of state-of-the-art technology, ESPN has already produced multiple animated alternate telecasts under the new agreement.

"Inside Out Classic" will be available internationally on Disney+ in Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa (live, no replay), and Europe. Video on demand will also be available in most markets, including the United States and its territories, on Disney+ shortly after the real-time telecast.

NEW YORK—While YouTube continues to attract the largest share of TV viewing, January 2026 data shows that Disney captured the largest month-over-month gain in Nielsen’s January 2026 Media Distributor Gauge report, a monthly view of total TV consumption aggregated by parent company.

The report also noted that in January television viewing reached a 12-month high, Disney added 1.2 share points and finished with 11.9% of total television viewing in January, nearly tying its Media Distributor Gauge best (12.0% in January 2025), and bringing it within 0.6 share points of YouTube’s 12.5% lead.

Disney’s momentum was primarily fueled by ESPN’s coverage of the College Football Playoffs and Championship games, which drove an 82% monthly viewing increase on the network and contributed nearly a full share point to Disney’s total.

Disney also got a boost from its ABC affiliates, with viewing up 10% among them on the strength of multiple NFL games, the Citrus Bowl, the return of broadcast dramas, and seasonal staples like "New Year’s Rockin’ Eve" and "The Rose Bowl Parade". ABC’s "High Potential" and "ABC World News Tonight" were notably the top broadcast programs in each of their respective genres in January.

Netflix represented 8.8% of TV usage in January and maintained the No. 3 rank among distributors. Netflix’s overall usage was up slightly in January (+1%), and its original series "Stranger Things" claimed the top streaming program for a second consecutive month.

NFL games carried on NBC, plus simulcasts on Peacock, were a key factor in the 5% overall increase to NBCU-Versant this month. Peacock also benefited from a new season of its original series "The Traitors". Additionally, Telemundo affiliates saw a 13% jump in viewership powered by the sports reality hit "Exatlón", bringing the network’s monthly share contribution to 0.7 points. Overall, NBCU-Versant represented 8.5% of TV viewership in January (+0.3 points vs. December).

Fox climbed to 7.4% of TV viewership in January (+0.4 share points). This growth was largely underpinned by a 17% jump in viewing on Fox News Channel, which accounted for more than half (+0.25 share points) of Fox’s monthly share increase.

Led by increases on FYI (+46%) and Lifetime (+14%), A&E’s combined viewership climbed 8% in January (+0.1 share point) and moved up one slot in the distributor rankings.

Nielsen noted that while Versant formally completed its spin-off of NBCUniversal cable networks in early January, advertising sales for both entities have been retained by NBCU. For this reason, and to preserve data trends and insights in these reports, Nielsen said that NBCU and Versant will be reported together in the Media Distributor Gauge. However, to further acknowledge the change, the companies’ respective shares will be included in the Media Distributor Gauge chart.

The January 2026 interval spanned four weeks, from 12/29/2025 through 01/25/2026. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.

BURBANK, Calif.—The Walt Disney Company has ended months of speculation about who will succeed longtime CEO Bob Iger, announcing that the company’s Board of Directors has unanimously voted to name Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro as its next GEO.

D’Amaro will assume the post at the upcoming Annual Meeting on March 18, 2026, when he will succeed Iger.

The Board also intends to appoint D’Amaro as a director immediately following that meeting. D'Amaro, a 28-year Disney veteran, is the head of the company’s largest business segment with $36 billion in annual revenue in FY2025 and 185,000 cast members and employees at its theme parks and experiences worldwide.

“Josh D’Amaro possesses that rare combination of inspiring leadership and innovation, a keen eye for strategic growth opportunities, and a deep passion for the Disney brand and its people – all of which make him the right person to take the helm as Disney’s next CEO,” said James Gorman, chairman of The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors. “Throughout this search process, Josh has demonstrated a strong vision for the company’s future and a deep understanding of the creative spirit that makes Disney unique in an ever-changing marketplace.

"He has an outstanding record of business achievement, collaborating with some of the biggest names in entertainment to bring their stories to life in our parks, showcasing the power of combining Disney storytelling with cutting-edge technology. The Board believes he is exceptionally well prepared to guide this global company forward to serve our consumers around the world and create long-term value for shareholders.”

“Josh D’Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO,” said Robert A. Iger, CEO, The Walt Disney Company. “He has an instinctive appreciation of the Disney brand, and a deep understanding of what resonates with our audiences, paired with the rigor and attention to detail required to deliver some of our most ambitious projects. His ability to combine creativity with operational excellence is exemplary and I am thrilled for Josh and the company.”

In addition, the company has named Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, has been named president and chief creative officer of The Walt Disney Company, also effective March 18.

As co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, Walden has led Disney’s world-renowned, award-winning entertainment media, news, and content businesses globally, including Disney’s streaming businesses. In this new role, Walden will report directly to D’Amaro.

“Dana Walden is an excellent leader who commands tremendous respect from the creative community,” continued Iger. “Given that creativity is at the heart of everything Disney does, she is a wonderful choice to serve in this new leadership role. In the years since Dana joined Disney, she has accumulated great knowledge about the many facets of our businesses and brands, and is very well prepared to be President and Chief Creative Officer.”

Disney also reported that Iger will continue to serve as Senior Advisor and a member of the Disney Board until his retirement from the company on December 31, 2026.

D’Amaro will have be big shoes to fill. Iger has led Disney to unprecedented creative and business success during his nearly two decades leading the company.

Disney noted that since his return in 2022, he has spearheaded a strategic transformation of the company, guiding Disney through a period of significant industry disruption and positioning it for long-term growth in this new era of entertainment.

“I am immensely grateful to the Board for entrusting me with leading a company that means so much to me and millions around the world,” said D’Amaro. “Disney’s strength has always come from our people and the creative excellence that defines our stories and experiences. There is no limit to what Disney can achieve, and I am excited to work with our teams across the company and brilliant creative partners to honor Disney’s remarkable legacy while continuing to innovate, grow, and deliver exceptional value for our consumers and shareholders. I also want to express my gratitude to Bob Iger for his generous mentorship, his friendship, and the profound impact of his leadership.”

D’Amaro, 54, has served as Chairman of the Disney Experiences segment since 2020, and prior to that was President of Walt Disney World Resort. He joined the company in 1998 at Disneyland Resort.

As Chairman of Disney Experiences, D’Amaro oversees 12 theme parks and 57 resort hotels worldwide, with plans for a new park in Abu Dhabi. His responsibilities include Disney Signature Experiences—including Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Adventures by Disney, Disney Institute, and Storyliving by Disney—as well as overseeing Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Consumer Products. He also manages digital ventures, including the collaboration with Epic Games to create a Disney universe within Fortnite.

Disney reported that D’Amaro has been instrumental in expanding Disney’s iconic franchises through the creation of immersive, story-driven experiences at Disney’s theme parks, such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the Marvel-themed Avengers Campus, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and World of Frozen. Building on this momentum, upcoming projects include the development of a Monsters, Inc.-themed land at Disney Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort, a new Avatar destination at the Disneyland Resort, and expansive new areas inspired by Cars and Disney Villains as part of the largest-ever expansion of the Magic Kingdom.

Over his nearly three-decade career at Disney, he has held leadership roles across the company both in the U.S. and internationally, including in finance, business strategy, marketing, creative development and operations. His past positions include President of Disneyland Resort and President of Walt Disney World Resort.

D’Amaro earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgetown University.

“I am incredibly proud to step away at a moment when Disney’s future has never been brighter,” continued Iger. “I’m confident Disney will continue to innovate and put the spirit of Walt at the heart of everything it does – from its new park in Abu Dhabi to the groundbreaking partnerships just announced with OpenAI and the NFL, to the countless upcoming creative projects that will enthrall audiences around the world. Disney has shaped who I am as a leader, and I will always be grateful to this extraordinary company and for the opportunity to lead it over all these years.”

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—In a notable example of how major programming rights have been shifting towards streaming, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and YouTube have signed a multi-year deal that will give YouTube the exclusive global rights to the Oscars, beginning in 2029 with the 101st Oscars ceremony and running through 2033.

The Academy reported that the Oscars, including red carpet coverage, behind-the-scenes content, Governors Ball access, and more, will be available live and for free to over 2 billion viewers around the world on YouTube, and to YouTube TV subscribers in the United States.

“We are thrilled to enter into a multifaceted global partnership with YouTube to be the future home of the Oscars and our year-round Academy programming,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor. “The Academy is an international organization, and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience possible — which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the film community. This collaboration will leverage YouTube’s vast reach and infuse the Oscars and other Academy programming with innovative opportunities for engagement while honoring our legacy. We will be able to celebrate cinema, inspire new generations of filmmakers and provide access to our film history on an unprecedented global scale.”

“The Oscars are one of our essential cultural institutions, honoring excellence in storytelling and artistry,” said Neal Mohan, CEO, YouTube. “Partnering with the Academy to bring this celebration of art and entertainment to viewers all over the world will inspire a new generation of creativity and film lovers while staying true to the Oscars’ storied legacy.”

The partnership also will include worldwide access for film fans to other Academy events and programs exclusively on the Oscars YouTube channel. This will include the Governors Awards, the Oscars Nominations Announcement, the Oscars Nominees Luncheon, the Student Academy Awards, the Scientific and Technical Awards, Academy member and filmmaker interviews, film education programs, podcasts, and more.

In addition, through this partnership, the Google Arts & Culture initiative will help provide digital access to select Academy Museum exhibitions and programs and help to digitize components of the Academy Collection—the largest film-related collection in the world, with more than 52 million items.

The Academy said that its U.S. partnership for the Oscars will continue with Disney ABC through the 100th Oscars in 2028, as will the international partnership for the Oscars with Disney’s Buena Vista International.

BURBANK, Calif.—The Walt Disney Company and YouTube TV have reached a new multi-year distribution agreement, ending a carriage dispute that had blacked out ABC, ESPN, and other Disney-owned channels on the vMPVD since the end of October.

As usual in these carriage agreements, financial terms were not disclosed.

“This new agreement reflects our continued commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment and evolving with how audiences choose to watch,’’ said Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. in a statement “It recognizes the tremendous value of Disney’s programming and provides YouTube TV subscribers with more flexibility and choice. We are pleased that our networks have been restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football.”

Disney said that key elements of the agreement included:

• Carriage of Disney’s full linear portfolio including all the ESPN networks, ABC, the Disney-branded channels, Freeform, the FX Networks, and the National Geographic channels
• ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service (Unlimited Plan) to be made available at no additional cost to YouTube TV subscribers
• Access to a selection of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited inside YouTube TV
• Select networks to be included in various genre-specific packages
• The ability to include the Disney+, Hulu Bundle as part of select YouTube offerings

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has weighed in on the blackout of ABC, ESPN and other Disney programming on YouTube TV with a post on X says that said the two parties “need to get a deal done and end this blackout.”

“People should have the right to watch the programming they paid for — including football,” he added.

After failing to reach a deal on new retransmission consent payments for ABC and a carriage agreement for Disney’s ESPN and other cable channels, the Disney services were removed from the vMVPD at the end of October when the old agreement expired..

Since the dispute first went public in late October, both sides have traded barbs, blaming the other part for the blackout. YouTube TV has attacked Disney for insisting on terms that would push up prices for pay TV subscribers, while Disney complained that “with a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor.”

YouTube has offered subscribers a $20 credit and in a separate post on X said they were "working to negotiate a deal with Disney that pays them fairly for their content and returns their programming to YouTube TV."

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters took aim at YouTube TV and its owner Google in a blog post for its “heavy hand in deciding what viewers can and cannot watch.”

Specifically, the Nov. 3 post by Michelle Lehman, NAB’s chief of staff and executive vice president of public affairs, objected to Google’s unwillingness “to fairly compensate ABC stations” for programming and to Big Tech’s market power, which gives it “enormous control” over what viewers can access.

Negotiations for a new carriage deal between YouTube TV and ABC parent Disney proved to be fruitless by the midnight Oct. 30 deadline for renewal. ABC, ESPN and other Disney-owned networks were dropped from the virtual multichannel video programming distributor’s lineup on Oct. 31. Google also is resisting Disney’s demand for price increases on other non-broadcast channels, such as ESPN, because it says increasing what it pays for the right to carry those channels will raise consumer prices.

As a result of the drop, Lehman said, YouTube TV subscribers who rely on local ABC stations for “important news, emergency information, entertainment and live sports” have been “in the lurch” and “at the mercy” of Google, which the blog said annually generates revenue totaling “hundreds of BILLIONs [blog’s all caps].”

The situation, she wrote, is reminiscent of last month’s retrans dispute with NBCUniversal, which nearly left YouTube TV subscribers without access to NBC stations and has shut them off from Univision stations.

The NAB executive vice president urged readers to act “before it’s too late” by reaching out to Washington to modernize broadcast ownership rules.

“[W]hen local broadcasters are sidelined, it is not just sports fans who lose. It is every community” that relies on broadcasters for emergency notifications, “fact-based news,” and a connection with others who reside there, she wrote.

The contentious contract negotiations between The Walt Disney Co. and YouTube TV have resulted in a blackout of Disney-owned programming on the pay TV operator. That will leave subscribers without access to high-profile NFL, college football, NBA and other sports and entertainment programming until a new carriage deal is concluded.

The blackout includes ESPN; ABC broadcast programming; and other Disney-owned networks. The channels were removed from YouTube TV Thursday evening.

As usual in these negotiations, both sides blamed each other for the impasse.

YouTube TV attacked Disney for insisting on terms that would push up prices for pay TV subscribers, while Disney complained that “with a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor.”

The dispute comes as pay TV operators have been trying to control prices as a way to slow subscriber losses from cord-cutting, and as large programmers like Disney have been launching direct-to-consumer streaming services that allow consumers to access high-profile programming outside the pay TV ecosystem.

In a statement, YouTube said: “Last week, Disney used the threat of a blackout on YouTube TV as a negotiating tactic to force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers. They’re now following through on that threat, suspending their content on YouTube TV. This decision directly harms our subscribers while benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.

“We've been working in good faith to negotiate a deal with Disney that pays them fairly for their content on YouTube TV,” the vMVPD said. “Unfortunately, Disney is proposing costly economic terms that would raise prices on YouTube TV customers and give our customers fewer choices, while benefiting Disney’s own live TV products—like Hulu+Live TV and, soon, Fubo. Without an agreement, we'll have to remove Disney’s content from YouTube TV and if it remains unavailable for an extended period of time, we will offer subscribers a $20 credit.”

In response, a Disney spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter: “Unfortunately, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC. Without a new agreement in place, their subscribers will not have access to our programming, which includes the best lineup in live sports—anchored by the NFL, NBA and college football, with 13 of the top 25 college teams playing this weekend. With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor. We know how frustrating this is for YouTube TV subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”

The Walt Disney Company today announced they have closed their transaction to combine Fubo’s business with Disney’s Hulu + Live TV business.

Disney now holds 70% interest in the newly combined company with existing Fubo shareholders holding an approximately 30% interest.

Fubo’s existing management team, led by Fubo Co-founder and CEO David Gandler, will operate the newly combined Fubo and Hulu + Live TV businesses.

Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will continue to be available to consumers as separate and distinct services, each offering consumers multiple plan options from skinny to robust at compelling price points. Hulu + Live TV will continue to be streamed in the Hulu app and offered as part of an entertainment-focused bundle with Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN Unlimited. Fubo will continue to serve viewers in the Fubo app.

The acquisition of Fubo is a sign that, as consumers seek more value for the content they stream, streaming services are more likely to continue to consolidate. Although virtual MVPD’s like Disney’s Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and Fubo TV (whose specialty is sports), have become more popular in recent years, the costs involved in running them have been too high for these companies.

The newly combined Fubo and Hulu + Live TV business makes it the sixth largest pay TV company in the U.S. with nearly 6 million subscribers in North America and the second largest vMPVD after YouTube TV. The combined company will offer more than 55,000 live sporting events, and entertainment-focused programming offerings from Fubo and Hulu + Live TV.

The acquisition also allows Disney to strengthen its position as a juggernaut in live sports, with its ability to combine viewership from Fubo with its soon to be launched ESPN DTV streaming service.

Disney will also combine its marketing and sales teams for both services and says it will have more flexibility to optimize advertising efforts and offer more streaming packages, including the increasingly popular “skinny bundles. Disney says the combined company will have access to a $145 million term loan that it has dedicated to provide Fubo in 2026 as part of the transaction.

Sterlington PLLC advised Fubo’s management team in the deal.  The Sterlington team was led by Executive Compensation partners Jeremy L. Goldstein and Kristy Fields, who specialize in advising senior executives and management teams in complex corporate transactions.

Fubo will discuss the transaction on its third quarter 2025 investor conference call on Monday, Nov. 3 at 8:30 a.m. ET.

ESPN said it will produce animated telecasts for NFL, NHL, NBA and WNBA games across The Walt Disney Co. and ESPN platforms during the 2025-26 season under an agreement it signed with Sony’s Beyond Sports and Hawk-Eye Innovations.

The telecasts will use Disney’s intellectual property portfolio in game presentations that transform live play into real-time animations, an innovation ESPN first introduced in 2023. More alternate telecasts are planned for the 2026-27 sports calendar, the broadcaster said.

“At ESPN, innovation has always been a driver in serving sports fans, including reaching new audiences,” said Kevin Lopes, vice president of sports business development and innovation at ESPN. “The Beyond Sports team has helped fuel our animated alternate casts, along with our league partners, creating an entirely new way for fans to consume our content. We look forward to continuing to produce these unique experiences for fans both this year and in the years ahead.”

ESPN, Disney, Sony’s Beyond Sports, and multiple league partners have collaborated on several previous animated alternate presentations, beginning with the NHL Big City Greens Classic in 2023 and a second the following year. Since then, the NFL has partnered on multiple Funday Football presentations, powered by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and featuring characters from “Toy Story” and “The Simpsons.” The NBA has also joined in with “Dunk the Halls,” featuring Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters.

“The addition of four new telecasts this season will bring our total with ESPN to nine, a reflection of how this partnership continues to grow year on year,” Sander Schouten, managing director and co-founder of Beyond Sports, said. “Enabled by our technology, together we’re driving the evolution of fan engagement, creating new ways for fans to experience the game and redefining live sports storytelling.”

Expanding audiences is the primary motivation driving the animated alternate casts. They are intended to promote co-viewing and attract casual fans. ESPN research reveals that more children watch these telecasts with an adult, the broadcaster said.

More information is available online.

NEW YORK—Live sports streamer Fubo announced today that its shareholders have approved its previously announced transaction with The Walt Disney Company to combine Fubo’s business with the Hulu + Live TV business.

The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

The deal, which was announced in January ended a contentious period between the two companies, when Fubo battled Disney over what it viewed as unfair competition from Disney’s collaboration with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery on the new Venu streaming service. Days later the companies pulled the plug on the joint venture.

Under the terms of the agreement, at closing, Disney will own approximately 70% of Fubo. Fubo’s existing management team, led by Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler, will operate the newly combined Fubo and Hulu + Live TV businesses. Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will continue to be available to consumers as separate offerings after the deal closes.

“We would like to thank Fubo shareholders for voting to approve our business combination with Disney’s Hulu + Live TV business,” Gandler said. “The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, but today we are one step closer to fulfilling our vision of a streaming marketplace that provides consumers with greater choice and flexibility.”

Two analysts from Needham Securities think Disney should move all of its TV content onto the Disney Hulu and ABC apps and shut down its broadcast operations, citing increased pressure by the FCC; the kind of pressure that resulted in the suspension of the Jimmy Kimmel Show two weeks ago.

Needham Securities analysts Laura Martin and Dan Medina, in a note released last week recommended that Disney keep its broadcast licenses but shut down broadcast operations. Putting the licenses up for sale just puts Disney at risk of more FCC interference into its affairs, the analysts said in an article on Forbes.

“We calculate that shutting down (not selling) ABC would force (Disney) to write off about $1.7 (billion) to $2.7 (billion) of free spectrum value, plus about $1.4 (billion) of lost (free cash flow) per year, which is worth about $8.3 (billion) of value based on current TV trading comps,” Martin wrote.

The analysts think it would be worth more for ABC to stop broadcasting in order to avoid threats associated with the current political climate amidst a changing media environment spurred on by artificial intelligence.

"GenAI collapses time frames, thereby making the delays, distractions and headaches of regulation more expensive, so jettisoning regulatory risks is increasingly valuable,” they wrote.

Although it’s highly unlikely that Disney would follow their advice—particularly given its lucrative live sports contracts—the fact remains that revenues from local stations, an estimated $4 billion in revenues in 2024 continue to decline, Martin and Medina wrote.

NEW YORK—Nielsen’s rankings of media distributors by their share of total TV viewing saw YouTube, Disney and Netflix remain the top three ranked companies in August as the start of the football season helped Disney and Fox increase their share of TV viewing.

Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge for August showed that #2 ranked Disney climbed to 9.7% of TV watch-time in August (+0.3 share points vs. July), as football coverage helped drive a 4% bump for ABC affiliates and a 25% surge for ESPN. The viewing impact from Fox affiliates contributed to a 14% monthly uptick, leading #6-ranked Fox to represent 6.7% of TV (+0.2 points).

While the effects of a new football season will not be fully evident until September, its late-month impact was a clear indicator of what’s to come, Nielsen researchers reported.

When comparing the first and last weeks of the August interval (07/28/25-08/03/25 vs. 08/25/25-08/31/25), viewing to Fox affiliates was up 36%, ABC affiliates gained 29%, and ESPN surged 196%, which was due at least in part to a memorable season premiere of College GameDay.

What’s more, Disney’s share of TV started at 8.9% in the first week of the month, and concluded with 11.5% of TV in the final week.

This football-driven surge countered the back-to-school drop in viewing among school-aged audiences, with streaming viewership being the most impacted by this group, a dynamic that was previously described in the August report of The Gauge.

Top-ranked YouTube gave up 0.3 share points and finished the month with a 13.1% share of TV. Meanwhile, Netflix held steady in third, behind Disney in second, with 8.7% of television (-0.1 point) on the strength of owning the top four streaming titles of the month.

Beyond the top three, shares for NBCUniversal and Paramount remained even with July, finishing with 7.6% and 7.1%*, respectively. Like Disney and Fox, both NBCU and Paramount were buoyed by gains across their broadcast affiliates as the two also benefited from the return of football.

The August 2025 interval spanned five weeks, from 07/28/2025 through 08/31/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.

A football season unlike any other is taking shape in a conflicted broadcast environment where big-game producers are delivering unprecedented viewing experiences digitally as TV station owners count on the sport’s popularity to help them weather a weakened ad market.

The challenges were highlighted by The Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger during an early August earnings call, when he discussed the now-launched ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service, which encompasses all content delivered over the seven ESPN cable channels and online assets, including ESPN+.

While stressing that Disney views what it’s doing with ESPN as part of its TV business, Iger acknowledged, “the features and functionality of the ESPN app will have more on them or in the app than obviously any linear channel can provide. It will really be a sports fan’s dream in terms of everything they’ll be able to do and watch on that channel.”

ESPN-NFL Deal
Adding to the drama, the NFL and Disney also announced a landmark deal that, if approved, would give the league an unprecedented 10% stake in a media partner in exchange for ESPN’s takeover of NFL Network, with the addition of more games and other benefits. A taste of what’s in the offing on the ESPN service, which launched Aug. 21, can be found on the NFL+ streaming service, which remains under the NFL’s control, delivering all its games, but is available in the deal with ESPN for bundling with the latter’s streaming service.

It happens that the advanced in-game betting, personalized fantasy team features and other data-rich enhancements available on NFL+ are supported by technology from Genius Sports, which has also been supporting features on ESPN+. While declining to go into details of what his company is bringing to the new streaming service, Matt Fleckenstein, chief product officer at Genius Sports, says the arc of development on ESPN and NFL+ is parallel.

Specifics are “just a question of whether we’re working directly with NFL+ or ESPN,” he says.

The Genius BetVision app—a single-screen display of betting options supported by all the major sports-betting books, with video lagging just two to three seconds behind real time—is an especially noteworthy example of game-changing aspects to what ESPN might be offering.

With nearly all major pro and college football games now available on streaming services, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the broadcasters whose distribution via cable, satellite and OTA accounts for the lion’s share of the football audience. As they’ve done before, station group owners in their latest earnings reports cited football as a significant counterforce to economic headwinds impacting ad revenues.

During Sinclair’s Q2 earnings call in early August, Chief Operating Officer Rob Weisbord, acknowledging the overall advertising environment “remains rough,” said that with “larger buys coming down the pipeline … we’re cautiously optimistic as we move through the summer months into September with the return of college football and NFL.”

Building on the popularity of football, Sinclair has launched four podcasts devoted to college football programs at Ohio State, Alabama, Texas and Notre Dame, and “will shortly be announcing a landmark events and media partnership” devoted to “producing original content and brand activations,” says Chris King, Sinclair’s vice president of investor relations. This will include a “nationwide tailgate tour during the upcoming college football season” and an exclusive event at February’s Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., he said.

Scripps’ Sports Strategy
E.W. Scripps also touted the importance of football to its second-half expectations following first-half revenue performance that was down just 2% from levels reached in a national election year, marking a “best-of-class” performance that tied “directly back to our sports strategy,” according to Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs. While “there’s a lot of hesitancy out there” in the overall second-half advertising picture, Combs voices “optimism around our ability to monetize football as it starts to kind of roll back in here.”

One aspect to that optimism relates to Scripps Sports’ longstanding relationship with the NCAA Division I Big Sky Conference, which consists of 10 full and two affiliate member universities in eight Western states. The contract with the Big Sky, renewed for another five years in March, makes Scripps responsible for producing and broadcasting at least 12 conference games a year over its seven Montana stations involving either or both of the state’s conference members, Montana State and Montana University, James Raffety, Scripps Sports senior director of sports production, says.

Scripps is generating coverage that “brings big market, big production to FCS [Football Championship Subdivision] football,” Rafferty says. And Scripps also benefits from the fact that the Big Sky relationship runs deeper than basic game production, he says, with the broadcaster acting as league supporter in event productions like the annual Big Sky Hall of Fame banquet and the Media Day season kickoff. It’s a relationship that goes to the heart of Montana culture with the broadcast of the annual “Brawl of the Wild” showdown between MU and MSU, which Rafferty says draws the biggest statewide audience for any TV program other than the Super Bowl.

Local Ties
Many other station owners benefit from relationships they’ve built with colleges at regional and local levels, in some cases enabling game coverage not supplied by the national networks and, in others, resulting in ancillary programming with games broadcast nationally. Gray Media, for example, is leveraging multiple university partnerships with its launch of regional sports networks, says Robert Folliard, the station group’s senior vice president of government relations and distribution.

“This is a strategic initiative for the company to get into local sports where there’s a ton of advertising and sponsorship opportunities,” Folliard says. “We provide the only platform that can get them into every home.”

On another front, Gray with six other partners in the NextGen TV Pearl TV alliance will be broadcasting college and NFL games in HDR-enhanced 4K, marking a major advance in viewing experience over what consumers typically get through cable and online services. With FCC Chair Brendan Carr voicing enthusiasm for NextGen TV, it looks like “all signals are a go” for expeditious transition to ATSC 3.0, Folliard says, which means TV stations will be in a much stronger position to hold football fans with the combination of superior signal quality and OTA access to interactive game playing and real-time betting.

Nobody is doing more than Fox Sports to keep all its boats afloat, including the new Fox One DTC streaming service, by delivering superior viewing experiences across all affiliated TV and digital outlets. On the big home screen, whether NFL games are delivered via pay TV, OTA or online, Fox is tapping things it introduced at this year’s Super Bowl to enhance the lean-back experience, says Michael Davies, executive vice president of field operations at Fox Sports.

“We’re looking at picking up where we left off,” Davies says. He cites wider use of things like dual SkyCams, Lidar technology for nonobstructive on-screen placements of AR-embellished graphics displays and officials’ Hawk-Eye play-review systems to help commentators with real-time analysis. At some point, Fox Sports anticipates embellishing some NFL broadcasts with output from field-based 180-degree cameras that Fox partner Cosm has deployed to support immersive off-site theatrical viewing of game action.

ESPN launched today its new direct-to-consumer streaming service and a set of new features on an enhanced ESPN App, making ESPN’s full suite of 12 networks and services available directly to fans for the first time ever.

Branded as “ESPN Unlimited,” monthly subscriptions go for $29.99 per month or $299.99 annually. The sports network’s first digital service, “ESPN+” is being rebranded as “ESPN Select,” and remains at $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year. Customers can also bundle ESPN’s “Unlimited” service with Disney+ and Hulu (both with ads) for $29.99 per month for the first 12 months.

Channels on the new service include:

• ESPN, the main channel
• ABC, specifically any ESPN sports production airing on the flagship broadcaster
• ESPN2, the secondary channel
• ESPN3, digital-only games
• ESPN+, digital-only games
• ESPNU for college sports
• ESPNEWS for simulcasts, reruns and event overflow
• ESPN Deportes for Spanish-language programming
• SEC Network for the Southeastern Conference
• SEC Network+, digital-only
• ACC Network for the Atlantic Coast Conference
• ACCNX, digital-only

Cable subscribers who want to watch the new service can enter their credentials into the updated ESPN app. ESPN currently has agreements with the following pay-TV providers:

• Fubo
• Charter
• DirecTV
• Hulu
• Verizon

“This is a monumental day for all of us at ESPN, for The Walt Disney Company and, most importantly, for our fans,” said Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN. “ESPN DTC and the ESPN App are a powerful combination marking a major turning point in how we serve sports fans – anytime, anywhere – for years to come. We’ve put a lot of hard work into this launch, with the full force of ESPN and Disney behind it, and we can’t wait for fans to experience all of ESPN in the ESPN App. The best part is, we’re just getting started. What we’re launching today will evolve with regular enhancements over time. As we have since 1979, we’ll continue to listen, adapt and innovate, with sports fans at the center of everything we do. There is no finish line.”

In addition to ESPN DTC, the enhanced ESPN App is introducing an expansive set of new features and functionality including a personalized SportsCenter For You, a vertical video carousel (currently in beta) for mobile devices, a synchronized two-screen experience for live games, and multiview options for connected TV devices.

Fans will also be able to get integrated live game stats, real-time ESPN Fantasy stats and results, live ESPN BET information, personalized in-game commerce, and more. All of these new features are available to all fans who subscribe to ESPN, whether through a traditional pay TV package or directly with an ESPN DTC subscription.

In an extensive interview on CNBC this morning, Disney President Bob Iger and Pitaro discussed the type of audience ESPN is targeting.

"The marketing is focusing on people that are on the sidelines, people who have cut the cord are people who have never subscribed in the first place,” Pitaro said. This is a really important point—we are adding value to the traditional ecosystem, the pay TV ecosystem, as a part of today's announcements."

"And what I mean by that is, if you are a subscriber to traditional paid television, whether it's charter or Comcast or direct TV, you will, through authentication within the ESPN app, get access to all of our new features and function, which is a ton of for the sports fan and a ton of value for our partners.”

Iger stressed that in launching a DTC app, ESPN is not ignoring its traditional pay-TV partners and that he doesn’t yet know what its impact will be.

“We manage our television assets as one business, not as individual businesses, meaning we don't manage linear in the linear business and the digital business separately, we manage it as one,” he said. “It's one group of executives. It's essentially one bottom line, because we want to be agnostic when it comes to how people watch or consume our product.”

Iger also pointed out that Disney is not backing away from the traditional linear TV model, which is falling out of favor with viewers who prefer on-demand.

“A number of other companies are exiting their linear business completely, meaning they're selling off the channels that serve the linear television ecosystem,” Iger said. “We're doing the opposite actually. We're combining them, which gives us the ability to aggregate both subscription fees and advertising on both sides, and essentially end up with a business that's actually larger and more impactful than it would be if we were to separate them completely.”

Initial reactions to the launch have revolved around customers being aware of all of their options in what is becoming an increasingly crowded DTC market or its programming decisions.

Fubo issued guidance on its second quarter today, reporting strong numbers for the period, shrinking its net loss and turning a positive operating profit for the first time. Subscriber numbers and revenue were also better than expected.

The streaming service, available in the U.S., Canada, Spain and France (under the Molotov brand), will release its full fiscal quarterly report on Aug. 8. For Q2, Fubo said it expects total revenue in North America to exceed $365 million, lower than the $382.7 million in overall revenue reported during the same quarter in 2024; however, it said it expects second-quarter net loss will come in at about $8 million, significantly lower than the $28.4 million reported in the same period a year ago.

Fubo also saw a healthy increase in paid subscriptions, with second-quarter paid subscribers expected to exceed 1.350 million; prior guidance was 1.240 million paid subscribers at the midpoint.

Outside North America, Fubo expects second-quarter total revenue to exceed $8.5 million and paid subscribers to exceed 340,000.

Fubo said it will pause guidance on future results while the proposed business combination with Hulu + Live TV is pending. As a result, it has withdrawn its previously communicated 2025 profitability target, and is pausing its subscriber and revenue guidance.

In a notice filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on July 28, Fubo said it anticipates its deal to merge with Hulu—which will give Disney 70% ownership—will close sooner than anticipated, either by the end of 2025 or the first quarter of 2026.

When the deal closes, Fubo will continue to operate under its own name.

STAMFORD, Conn. and BURBANK, Calif.—Charter Communications and The Walt Disney Co. have announced an expanded distribution agreement that brings Hulu (With Ads) to all Spectrum TV Select customers at no additional cost.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The new agreement expands a carriage agreement that was inked after a contentious 2023 blackout that allowed Charter to add Disney streaming services and reduce the number of networks it carried.

Under the new expanded agreement, Spectrum TV Select customers will have access later this summer to Hulu’s extensive library of hit TV series and films, plus award-winning Originals, alongside existing complimentary access to ad-supported Disney+ and ESPN's soon-to-launch streaming service, anticipated by the fall of 2025.

Charter said the expansion will give TV Select customers access to a premium entertainment experience with a retail streaming value of more than $100 per month.

The expanded agreement also will see the return of eight Disney-owned linear networks to Spectrum’s channel lineup: Disney Jr, Disney XD, Freeform, FXX, FXM, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo and BabyTV.

Charter and Disney reported that these channels expand Spectrum's entertainment offering and create meaningful value for both companies by boosting advertising reach and strengthening audience engagement across platforms.

The networks had been dropped from an carriage agreement signed in 2023 by Charter and Disney. At the time, Charter said the dropped channels were part of its effort to streamline and offer more cost-effective bundles.

That 2023 agreement also added access to Disney+ as part of Charter’s efforts to expand the streaming services it provides to customers.

“We began this journey to transform the video proposition for consumers with Disney, so it is befitting that this new agreement and the doubling down on our strategy continues with them,” Charter executive vice president, programming acquisition Tom Montemagno said. “This extension is a true testament to our mutual confidence in this innovative model—which already is showing improvement in subscriber churn—and our commitment to work creatively together to achieve win-win outcomes for both of us and most importantly for our customers—all achieved midcycle and absent from any of the typical pressures from expiring agreements.“

Added Disney Platform Distribution Executive Vice President Sean Breen: “With the addition of Hulu and the return of our full portfolio of channels, we're pleased to expand and extend our agreement with Charter—delivering the most robust and valuable combination of linear and streaming entertainment for years to come. This agreement reflects our continued focus on leaning into the strength of Disney's best-in-class programming across every genre and platform—and our shared commitment with Charter to building innovative, consumer-focused distribution models that drive value across the board.”

The renewed extension of Charter and Disney's carriage agreement will continue to be supported by marketing and promotional efforts.

Charter also will make Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, the various Disney Bundles and the forthcoming ESPN streaming service available for purchase to its extensive broadband-only customer base at retail rates, as well as provide TV Select customers the opportunity to upgrade to the ad-free tiers of the included streaming services.

At launch, customers will be able to stream Hulu's TV series, films and critically acclaimed Originals, as well as their live Spectrum TV channels, directly through Xumo Stream Box or on any Hulu-supported device.

NEW YORK—During the landmark month of May, when streaming surpassed the combined viewing shares of broadcast and cable for the first time, Nielsen’s latest Media Distributor Gauge report found that pure-play streamer YouTube maintained the leading share of total TV viewing, while the largest monthly increases in share belonged to multiplatform distributors, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox.

Warner Bros. Discovery exhibited the largest gain of any distributor in May, adding 0.3 share points versus April to finish the month with 7.0% of total television usage.

WBD’s increase was overwhelmingly powered by TNT, which notched a 69% jump in viewership over last month due in large part to its coverage of the NBA Playoffs, Nielsen reported.

The eight New York Knicks games carried by TNT amassed nearly 7 billion viewing minutes combined. In fact, the NBA Playoffs generated 31.4 billion viewing minutes overall in May across WBD and Disney entities, with nearly a quarter of the viewing total attributable to Knicks games.

Fox added 0.2 points to its share of TV in May. While it was partly due to NASCAR traction on Fox Sports 1, Fox’s increase was primarily due to the continued growth of its FAST service, Tubi, Nielsen said.

Tubi achieved a platform-record 2.2% share of TV viewing in May, driven by a 25% increase among 18-24 year-olds, and accounted for nearly a third of Fox’s overall viewing total.

Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery each finished the month with a 7.0% share of TV, although WBD came out slightly ahead based on unrounded figures and moved up to sixth overall in the distributor ranking.

YouTube extended its streak as the leading media distributor to four consecutive months, gaining 0.1 share point in May to represent 12.5% of total TV. While YouTube actually exhibited monthly declines in virtually every demographic group (with the exception of audiences 65+), its overall decrease was ultimately less than that of total TV, leading to a monthly gain in share and yet another platform best, Nielsen explained.

Other key developments in the May distributor rankings included:

• NBCU moved up to third with 8.0% of television viewing.
• Paramount fell to fourth after losing a full share point, following the conclusions of the NCAA basketball tournament and The Masters.
• The Roku Channel also hit a new platform-best in May with a 2.5% share of TV, boosted by double-digit gains among the 12-17 and 25-34 age demographics.
• The May 2025 interval included dates 04/29/2025 through 05/26/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar with measurement weeks that run Monday through Sunday.

LOS ANGELES—The Walt Disney Co. has agreed to pay Comcast an additional $437.8 billion for Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu, ending years of maneuvering and negotiation over who would take full control of the streaming service.

Disney had paid $8.6 billion in 2023 for the minority stake, but Comcast had asked for $5 billion more, which sent the issue to arbitration over the appraised value.

Disney has had operating control of Hulu, which was founded in 2007, since it acquired Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox.

Concluding the deal for Comcast’s stake, which is expected to close in July, will, however, give Disney more flexibility in how it packages its various streaming services, which include Hulu, Disney+ and the upcoming ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service.

“We are pleased this is finally resolved. We have had a productive partnership with NBCUniversal, and we wish them the best of luck,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. “Completing the Hulu acquisition paves the way for a deeper and more seamless integration of Hulu’s general entertainment content with Disney+ and, soon, with ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product, providing an unrivaled value proposition for consumers.”

NEW YORK—New research from Nielsen’s Gracenote highlights the growing importance of sports related programming on the major SVOD services, with total sports programming growing by 7.8% in Q2 2025 compared to the previous quarter among Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix and Paramount+, five of the top global subscription video on-demand (SVOD) services.

Three of those services, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Netflix were the leading sports players in Gracenote's analysis, serving as home to 92% of available streaming sports programming. Gracenote defines that category as including live games, sports-related news, highlight shows and documentaries.

Warner Bros. Discovery's Max, which has a large offering of live sports, was not included in the data Gracenote made public to the media.

Overall, the total number of unique TV, movie and sports titles offered by these services increased approximately by 4,500, or 5%, from February to May according to a new Gracenote Data Hub release, which tracks quarterly content trends.

Netflix significantly outpaced all tracked services in total catalog growth during Q2, increasing available content by 18.2%. The next biggest relative gains were posted by Apple TV+ (3.7%), Amazon Prime Video (3.2%), Disney+ (1.6%) and Paramount+ (1%). Currently, Netflix offers 20.1% of the TV shows, movies and sports programs available on major streaming services, up from 17.9% in the previous quarter.

At the program level, the five top SVOD services grew sports content by 7.8% in Q2. This was almost 2 times the rate of movie expansion and nearly one percentage point more than the rate of TV expansion.

In terms of other content types, TV programs were up 6.9% across all tracked services while movies were up 4%.

"In the big picture for SVOD, overall content volume continues to rise but the CTV apps making this content available continually shift," said Bill Michels, chief product officer at Gracenote. "Regardless of program type or any other attribute, effective content discovery helps streamers connect viewers to the entertainment they'll enjoy most and get the most value out of each of the assets in their catalogs."

The Gracenote Data Hub provides interactive visualizations of SVOD content volume, program genre and mood trends as well as exclusivity and country of origin insights. Tapping industry-leading Gracenote Global Video Data covering content in 35 languages and more than 80 countries, the Data Hub helps video services, content owners and advertisers develop smart content distribution, licensing and media buying strategies.

More information is available at Gracenote.com.

NEW YORK—YouTube continues to mark its 20th anniversary with more TV viewing data showing its increasingly powerful place in the TV ecosystem.

In Nielsen’s April 2025 Media Distributor Gauge report, which ranks the largest M&E companies by their share of TV viewing, YouTube maintained its lead among media companies with a 12.4% share of audiences’ time spent watching television.

The April ranking marked YouTube’s third consecutive month atop the ranking and its largest share of TV viewing to date.

Nielsen also reported that April was the first time that company rankings in the Media Distributor Gauge have stayed exactly the same month over month since Nielsen began tracking this data in November 2023.

The Walt Disney Co. held the second-largest share of TV viewing in both April and March, and this month represented 10.7% of total television. Disney’s 0.2 point gain in share over March was partly driven by cross-network coverage of the NFL draft on ESPN and ABC, the NCAA women’s basketball tournament and the first round of the NBA playoffs. Disney also owned April’s top streaming title, “Grey’s Anatomy,” which notched 3.9 billion viewing minutes and benefited from its multichannel and multiplatform availability, Nielsen said.

Paramount comprised 8.9% of total TV watch-time in April and exhibited the largest monthly share increase among media companies (up 0.4 share points, which, based on unrounded figures, was slightly larger than YouTube’s increase). Viewership gains to its CBS broadcast affiliates drove more than half of Paramount’s monthly growth.

NBCUniversal rounded out the top four media distributors in April with an 8.2% share of TV, up from 8.0% in March.

Netflix stayed in the fifth spot with 7.5% share of viewing, down from the 7.9% share it had in March.

Warner Bros. Discovery maintained 6.7% of TV usage this month, boosted by a 58% lift in viewership to TNT, which televised 18 first-round NBA playoff games through April 27). WBD was also buoyed by HBO series “The White Lotus,” which was the second most watched streaming title in April with 3.7 billion viewing minutes on Max. The White Lotus was also No. 1 in Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 during the weeks of March 21-April 6 and April 4-13, totaling 1.31 billion minutes and 1.25 billion minutes, respectively, Nielsen said

The April 2025 interval ran from March 31 through April 28. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar with measurement weeks that run Monday through Sunday.

NEW YORK—Sports streamer Fubo said it lost subscribers but improved profitability in its latest quarter.

Reporting financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, FuboTV said its global streaming business “exceeded subscriber guidance and once again improved its profitability metrics.”

Revenue in North America for the quarter was $407.9 million, up 3.5% year-over-year (YoY), and 1.47 million paid subscribers, down 2.7% YoY. “These results met and exceeded Fubo’s applicable guidance range, respectively,” the company said.

In the Rest of World (ROW), Fubo delivered $8.4 million in total revenue, down 0.4% and 354,000 paid subscribers, down 10.9% YoY. These results met and exceeded Fubo’s applicable guidance range, respectively. ROW includes the results of Molotov, the French live TV streaming service acquired by Fubo in December 2021.

The company reported record revenue and subscriber growth for 2024. During the most recent quarter, Disney announced that it was taking a majority stake in Fubo, with plans to merge it with Hulu + Live TV. As part of the deal, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery paid FuboTV $220 million to end antitrust litigation. In addition, Disney has committed to provide a $145 million term loan to Fubo in 2026 as part of the transaction.

“We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter and remain focused on our goal of achieving profitability in 2025 for our global streaming business,” said Edgar Bronfman Jr., executive chairman, Fubo. “We also remain excited about our agreement with The Walt Disney Company to combine Fubo with Hulu + Live TV, and its potential to increase competition in the pay-TV space. We continue to work through the regulatory process, and look forward to sharing more information when we are able.”

NEW YORK—Warner Bros. Discovery captured the largest monthly viewership increase among media distributors in March, according to Nielsen’s latest Media Distributor Gauge report, which breaks down the total TV viewing of content distributed by major media companies.

In the March report, WBD exhibited 3% growth in television viewing compared with February, primarily driven by March Madness coverage on TBS, TNT and truTV. Tournament games were also available to stream on Max, which allowed for additional reach to notably younger consumers.

Max notched the largest month-over-month growth among streaming services in March (up 6%), further contributing to Warner Bros. Discovery’s significant monthly gains, the report explained.

Max’s increased viewing was due in large part to HBO megahit ‘The White Lotus,’ which was No. 4 among most-streamed titles in March with 4.5 billion viewing minutes. The debut season of Max original series ‘The Pitt’ also contributed, generating 2.3 billion viewing minutes across the month and charting in Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 for the first time during the week of March 17.

YouTube captured 12.0% of overall TV viewing in March to secure a second consecutive month as the top reported media distributor, eclipsing its previous company best share of TV of 11.6%, which it set last month, the researchers noted.

Disney gained half a share point over February to account for 10.5% of TV watch-time in March. Disney benefited from its successful cross-platform simulcast of “The Oscars,” which drew 20.3 million viewers across ABC and Hulu, in addition to the return of “American Idol” and the continued strength of “ABC World News Tonight With David Muir.”

Paramount advanced to No. 3 in the Media Distributor Gauge rankings in March (up from fifth in February) with an 8.5% share of TV (up 0.3 share points). Paramount rode the success of March Madness coverage on CBS, coupled with a robust drama lineup on the network, including “Tracker” and “Matlock,” which drew 10.7 million viewers and 9.2 million viewers, respectively, across the month. “Tracker” episodes represented five of the top 10 broadcast telecasts in March, averaging over 10 million viewers each (on a live-plus-7-day basis).

Despite a 0.1 point decline in viewing share versus February, NBCU climbed from No. 6 to No. 4 in the distributor rankings and finished with 8% of TV viewing in March. Although it did not change from a ranking perspective, The Roku Channel also set a platform record with 2.2% of television viewing, per Nielsen data.

The March interval ran from Feb. 24 to March 30. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar with measurement weeks that run Monday through Sunday.

NEW YORK—YouTube hit record share of monthly TV viewing in February and had the largest share of TV viewing by the major media companies, according to Nielsen’s February 2025 Media Distributor Gauge, which ranks media companies by the combined share of TV viewing their various networks and outlets achieve.

In February YouTube gained two share points over January to capture 11.6% of time spent watching TV across the month. This marks YouTube’s best share of TV to date, and is the second time the pure-play streamer has topped the Media Distributor Gauge since Nielsen began tracking in November 2023.

Disney came in second with 10%, followed by Fox, which moved up to the third spot for the first time with 8.3% on the strength of Super Bowl Viewing. Netflix was tied for fourth with Paramount at 8.2%, followed by NBCU (8.1%), Warner Bros. Discovery (6.1%) and Amazon (3.5%).

Nielsen reported that YouTube has exhibited steady usage increases for some time. A longer-term look at the platform’s growth illustrates that time spent watching YouTube on television is up 53% versus two years ago in February 2023, and its share of TV has grown from 7.9% to 11.6% in that time, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge™ reports.

Interestingly, the data also showed that the overall viewing bump has been increasingly driven by older audiences. YouTube viewing from adults aged 65+ has nearly doubled in the last two years (+96%), and the demographic now represents a viewing contribution similar to that from kids 2-11 (15.4% vs. 16.9%).

Fox-owned entities gained 5% in February on the strength of a successful multi-platform Super Bowl, in addition to a 3% bump in Fox News Channel viewership, which drove 37% of the company’s total viewing. Fox Sports 1 viewership was also up 45% compared with January, primarily attributable to NASCAR events. Overall, Fox achieved an 8.3% share of TV usage in February and climbed from sixth to third in the rankings to notch its highest placement to date in the Media Distributor Gauge.

Following its best monthly performance to date in the Media Distributor Gauge, which was driven by NFL games and the College Football Playoffs, Disney lost two share points in February. This impact dropped them out of the top slot for only the third time since the inception of the Media Distributor Gauge, the researchers noted.

NEW YORK—The media measurement company VideoAmp has announced VXP, aka VideoAmp Cross Screen Planner. It is billing the offering as a first-of-its-kind media planning solution that leverages publisher first party data to help agencies and brands more efficiently reach target audiences across linear TV, streaming and digital platforms.

The solution is available now in early access and will be available for broader access in Q2 2025

With the announcement, VideoAmp reported that it is expanding its current integrations to unlock access to census-level streaming data from leading publishers including Disney, Fox and Paramount to provide a true cross-platform solution that augments their currency-grade cross-platform measurement dataset spanning 40M homes and 65 million devices. Snap was previously announced last August.

Several companies, including Disney, Fox and Omnicom, praised the effort.

“In pursuit of enabling precise, cross-platform planning for our rich and engaging content, this solution from VideoAmp will continue to expand the way we demonstrate performance and outcomes for advertisers across our inventory,” said Dana McGraw, senior vice president of data and measurement science, Disney. “By leveraging insights rooted in identity and our clean room engagement with VideoAmp, we’re continuing to explore new ways we – and the wider industry – can plan and measure reach of audiences in streaming, with accuracy and precision.”

“Census-level data provides the necessary precision required for more accurate planning across linear, streaming and now social video,” added Megan Pagliuca, chief product officer, Omnicom Media Group. “Given the abundance of inventory generated from the shift to CTV and the importance of social video platforms, it is critical we have a complete view into our video investment opportunities. By integrating audience and outcomes datasets from Omni - the open operating system that supports all Omnicom agencies - Omnicom has and continues to work diligently with VideoAmp to build planning capabilities that reflect the full scope of the marketplace, ensuring a unified approach across all video channels.”

VideoAmp integrates these datasets through its patented clean room technology to enable privacy-first cross-platform planning, helping advertisers maximize reach of advanced and demographic audiences. By breaking down traditional silos, VideoAmp’s advanced planning solution empowers advertisers to effectively allocate their media budget and find their target audiences - whoever they are and wherever they are watching - via the most representative, first party datasets.

“We are extremely excited to join forces with VideoAmp to integrate Fox data into the Planning tool, providing an enhanced solution to our agency partners," said Darren Sherriff, senior vice president of advanced TV at Fox. "Working more closely with VideoAmp allows the planning process to be far more holistic and representative of all Fox inventory across both linear and digital. As the paradigm for buying extends beyond traditional linear to include cross platform, demo and advanced audiences, this evolution is essential for our agency partners and we are happy to support it.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has asked the U.S. Dept. of Justice to “closely scrutinize” Disney’s acquisition of FuboTV, expressing concerns that the deal could violate antitrust law and lead to higher subscription prices.

The deal, announced last month, resolves a lawsuit that Fubo filed in February 2024 against Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, which at the time collectively controlled more than 80% of nationally broadcast sports. A federal judge found that the three companies’ joint venture, Venu Sports, likely violated antitrust law.

In a letter sent to Omeed Assefi, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division this week, Warren said that Disney’s proposed acquisition of Fubo “appears to allow Disney to simultaneously circumvent the negative outcome of the lawsuit while eliminating a competitor.”

“This proposed acquisition raises significant concerns under antitrust law, would give Disney increased market power and incentives to increase costs for viewers, and should be regarded as another data point in Disney’s history of anticompetitive behavior,” wrote Sen. Warren. “I urge DOJ not to be fooled by Disney’s attempt to purchase its way around antitrust law, and to closely scrutinize this proposed acquisition.”

Warren first raised concerns about Venu Sports in August 2024. Later that month, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York enjoined the launch of that venture. Shortly after Disney appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the DOJ’s Antitrust Division filed an amicus brief supporting the District Court’s findings that Venu Sports would have anticompetitive effects on the market.

“Disney’s proposed acquisition of Fubo is inextricably linked to the company’s attempt to dominate the sports streaming marketplace through Venu Sports” Warren said in a statement. “Disney directly competes with Fubo through Hulu + Live TV. Since acquiring Hulu in 2019, Disney has raised the price of Hulu + Live TV by 85%, from $45 per month to $82.99 per month, while using its market power to lead competitors to raise prices as well. If the takeover of Fubo is successful, Disney will only increase its leverage, and could use the reduced competition and the resultant market power to raise prices even further for sports fans across the country.”

Warren urged the DOJ to terminate the deal if it thinks antitrust laws have been broken.

“Disney has proposed a plan to acquire its competitor, and, in the process become an even more powerful force in an already highly-concentrated market,” she wrote. “I urge DOJ to continue [its] work on behalf of viewers by closely scrutinizing this proposed deal and blocking it if it violates antitrust law.”

LOS ANGELES—Disney's KABC-TV station has restored its broadcast feed after the Eaton Wildfire in Los Angeles knocked it off the air earlier on Friday, Jan. 10.

Several news reports noted that the station's broadcast feed was unavailable on Friday morning. Following up on those reports, the station has confirmed to TV Tech that as of 1:40 p.m. (PT) that the broadcast feed was still down.

The station was, however, cautiously optimistic that it would be restored in the afternoon, which it was.

Earlier in the day, the station’s website noted: “ABC7's over-the-air signal was having issues Friday morning as the Eaton Fire burned near the Mount Wilson Observatory and communication towers in the Angeles National Forest. If you watch ABC7 over the air and you lost our signal, you can still watch us at abc7.com or by downloading the ABC7 Los Angeles app on your mobile phone or smart TV.”

In addition, the station is also available on pay TV operators and streaming services like Hulu + Live TV.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, a ABC spokesperson said "The issue was related to the fires," but equipment was not burned.

TV Tech learned that the station was back on the air at 3:30 p.m. PT.

Five days after they unveiled a settlement with FuboTV over the proposed Venu sports streaming service, The Walt Disney Co., Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery announced today that the service will not launch after all.

The three studios announced the launch of Venu a year ago, prompting litigation from FuboTV, which said the combined sports streaming service is anti-competitive. It won a court injunction in August, which survived a December challenge.

On Monday (Jan. 6), Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery said they had patched up their differences with FuboTV, and would make an aggregate cash payment to Fubo of $220 million. In addition, Disney has committed to provide a $145 million term loan to Fubo in 2026 as part of the transaction.

In addition, Disney announced that it would merge its Hulu + Live TV vMVPD service with FuboTV, which would continue to be marketed as a separate service.

Monday’s announcement drew stern criticism from multiple corners of the industry, including DirecTV, which told the Justice Department that it might join EchoStar in challenging the deal in court.

What scuttled the deal is still up to speculation but the end came swiftly in an announcement this morning:

“Venu Sports, the proposed virtual MVPD service from ESPN, FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery, will be discontinued,” the companies said. “The collective decision by the three companies not to move forward with the contemplated joint venture is effective immediately.

“After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service,” they added. “In an ever-changing marketplace, we determined that it was best to meet the evolving demands of sports fans by focusing on existing products and distribution channels. We are proud of the work that has been done on Venu to date and grateful to the Venu staff, whom we will support through this transition period.”

DirecTV issued this response:

“DirecTV remains a leader in sports, and we look forward to working with our programming partners —including Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery—to compete on a level playing field to deliver sports fans more choice, control, and value all-in-one experience. ”

Article updated to include DirecTV comment.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has announced that it has finalized deals with The Walt Disney Co. that extend and renew the network affiliations for all of its ABC-affiliated television stations across 25 markets through Dec. 31, 2028.

“We are pleased to announce the further extension of our decades-long relationship with Disney for ABC station affiliations,” Gray President and Co-CEO Pat LaPlatney said. “These agreements recognize our ABC affiliates’ commitment to public service and will help them continue to serve their communities.”

“Disney/ABC is incredibly proud of our long-established partnership with Gray to serve 25 outstanding communities across the country,” Disney Senior Vice President, Affiliate Relations Susi D’Ambra-Coplan said. “With this new agreement, we couldn’t be more pleased to pair our best-in-class network shows, news and sports with their invaluable local programming for many more years to come.”

The ABC affiliates covered by the new agreements are:

• WWSB, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida (Sarasota)
• WBAY-TV, Green Bay-Appleton, Wisconsin
• WTVG, Toledo, Ohio
• KSPR-LD, Springfield, Missouri
• KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
• KOLO-TV, Reno, Nevada
• KTRE-KLTV, Tyler-Longview,v Texas
• WPTA, Fort Wayne, Indiana
• KSF-KPRY, Sioux Falls, Iowa
• WGGB-TV, Springfield-Holyoke, Massachusetts
• WEEK-TV, Peoria, Illinois
• WTVM, Columbus, Georgia-Opelika, Alabama
• KNOE, Monroe-El Dorado, Louisiana
• KSWO, Wichita Fall-Lawton, Kansas
• WALB-D2, Albany, Georgia
• WLOX, Biloxi-Gulfport, Mississippi
• WCJB-TV, Gainesville, Florida
• WDAM-D2, Hattiesburg-Laurel, Mississippi
• KOTA-TV, KHSD-TV, KSGW-TV, Rapid City, South Dakota
• WHSV-TV, Harrisonburg, Virginia
• KAIT, Jonesboro, Arkansas
• WBKO, Bowling Green, Kentucky
• KGNS-TV, Laredo, Texas
• KJCT-LD, Grand Junction-Montrose, Colorado
• WTOK-TV, Meridian, Mississippi