Shareholders for FuboTV Inc. (formerly the FaceBank Group) have approved a plan for The Walt Disney Company to acquire the sports-centric Fubo live streaming service to merge with its Hulu + Live TV business. The combined entity would be second in size only to YouTube TV among OTT TV providers and will operate under the Fubo name, with the Fubo team running the company and Disney owning a roughly 70 percent stake. Earlier this year, Fubo executives told investors that together Hulu and Fubo are expected to generate more than $6 billion in annual revenue. Continue reading Fubo Shareholder Approval Propels Merger with Hulu + Live TV

Comcast NBCUniversal continues to lay the groundwork to spin most of its cable television assets off into a new publicly traded entity called Versant, announcing Monday that MSNBC will by year’s end be rebranded as MS NOW — short for “My Source for News Opinion and the World.” The channel’s new logo will no longer include the iconic Peacock, which remains part of the parent company’s NBC branding. The plans were shared in an internal memo from Mark Lazarus, the NBCUniversal Media Group chairman who has been chosen to run Versant as founding CEO. Continue reading MSNBC to Become MS NOW as Part of Versant Cable Spinoff

Entertainment studio Cineverse has joined forces with Banyan Ventures, the venture arm of former ABC Entertainment Group and WME Chairman Lloyd Braun, on MicroCo, a native AI platform that will generate micro-dramas and micro-series — “serialized, short-form, mobile-first content” that has become a craze in China. Launching in 2026, the platform has drawn comparisons to Quibi, the short-form content company founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg in 2018 and shuttered two years later, burdened by production costs. MicroCo plans to use AI to keep costs down. The company is aiming for a “freemium” model combining some free access along with paid subscriptions. Continue reading Cineverse, Banyan to Launch Platform for GenAI Micro-Series

The Walt Disney Company concluded its Upfront advertising sales with notable increases in sports and streaming commitments and an overall figure consistent with 2024’s number. Sports was a bright spot, generating close to $4 billion through both linear and addressable platforms including ESPN and others, propelled by double-digit growth in volume for “Monday Night Football” and College Football and a “high single-digit” increase in NBA volume driven largely by the NBA Finals and the half-time and post-game analysis series “Inside the NBA” that ESPN landed starting this year. Continue reading Disney’s Upfront Ad Commitments Led by Sports, Streaming

Fox Corporation found a receptive audience among advertisers during the 2025-26 upfront cycle, where its Tubi streaming service, sports franchise and FOX News operations drew attention and assurances of revenue. Having principally wrapped negotiations, the Murdoch operation won a vote of confidence from Madison Avenue, which promised new spending highs. NBCUniversal, the first company to conclude negotiations, also had a record upfront propelled largely by sports, including what was said to be a sell-out on the Super Bowl inventory across linear, Peacock streaming, and Spanish-language Telemundo platforms (30-second spots reportedly reached $8 million). Continue reading Fox, NBCUniversal Share Results of Successful Upfront Cycle

Moonvalley, the AI startup behind Marey, a high-quality video generator trained exclusively on licensed content, has just put the product in general release. The credits-based subscription pricing ranges from $15 to $150 per month. In addition to ethical training on 1080p native video, Marey also takes a non-traditional approach on its user interface, eschewing prompts for what it says is a more creatively intuitive process. “Directors need precise control over every creative decision, plus legal confidence for commercial use. Today we’re delivering both,” says Moonvalley CEO and co-founder Naeem Talukdar. Continue reading Moonvalley’s Production-Tailored AI Marey Publicly Released

Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to split into two publicly-traded companies by next year, one company focused on film, streaming and content production and the other concentrating on traditional television, including cable TV properties CNN, Discovery and TNT Sports. The Streaming & Studios company will contain Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, and HBO Max, as well as the film and television libraries. Global Networks will include CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S. as well as top free-to-air European channels, Bleacher Report and the Discovery+ streaming network. Continue reading WBD Will Split into Two Publicly Traded Companies Next Year

Peacock wants to be the place to watch basketball this fall when the NBA makes its debut on the streamer with the 2025-2026 season. As the result of an integration between the platform and the NBC Sports production team, Peacock will give basketball fans special functions that make watching NBA games more convenient in their living rooms or on their phones. Multiview and key plays, two popular YouTube features, are coming to the NBA on Peacock. The idea is to provide viewers with an immersive NBA experience. NBCUniversal shared the news at the NBC Upfront presentation at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Continue reading NBCU Enhances Streaming Features for Peacock NBA Debut

DirecTV is leaning even further into streaming despite its current decision to ditch its “Stream” branding. As of Sunday, the DirecTV Stream landing page had disappeared, its traffic rerouted to DirecTV.com.  The emphasis is now on streaming on any device, “satellite-free and with no annual contract or hidden fees.” Choosing what to watch and how to watch it “should be simple,” which is why DirecTV says it’s now marketing under a single brand. The main messaging on the new landing page includes a build-your-own channel lineup option and streaming via DirecTV’s bespoke dongle Gemini Air. Continue reading DirecTV Leans into Streaming, Bringing It Under Main Banner

At CES on Monday, Comcast unveiled Universal Ads, an advertising platform aimed at being an “easy button” for small- and medium-sized businesses to buy ad time on traditional TV’s streaming businesses, with the goal of luring them away from social media and digital outlets. In addition to Comcast’s own NBCUniversal, additional partners include DirecTV, Fox Corporation, Paramount, Roku, TelevisaUnivision and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNBC Senior Media & Tech Correspondent Julia Boorstin moderated a panel with Comcast and some major partners who explained why they signed on to the new platform. Continue reading CES: Comcast Debuts Universal Ads, Inks Media Partnerships

Warner Bros. Discovery is putting artificial intelligence to work creating ads that showcase products people see on their favorite TV shows. One of two new ad-based services, Shop with Max, uses machine learning to fuel shoppable content, identifying items within films and TV shows and pairing them with advertiser catalogs. A QR code takes viewers to a second screen where they can learn more about products and even purchase them. Another solution, called Moments, aligns brands with thematic content in 40 identified areas, including cooking, real estate, gaming and science. Continue reading WBD Taps KERV AI to Integrate In-Stream Advertising on Max

Popular video platform Max and food delivery service DoorDash are the latest promotional pairing as streamers vie for new subscribers in an increasingly crowded field. Warner Bros. Discovery has teamed with DoorDash to offer DashPass Annual Plan customers a Max with Ads subscription at no additional cost. It is DoorDash’s first available DashPass member benefit that extends beyond the DoorDash platform. The DashPass Annual Plan membership costs $96 per year, while the Max with Ads tier runs $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually. The new promotion starts this week. Continue reading DoorDash Teams with WBD for a DashPass and Max Bundle

Verizon is offering a year of Netflix Premium at no charge to Verizon Mobile and Home Internet customers who buy an annual subscription to Peacock Premium through its content subscription hub +play. That’s a $275 value (at $22.95 per month) in exchange for a $79.95 Peacock plan, according to the telecom company, which rebranded last month, launching a host of promotional plans in the lead-up to its 2025 silver jubilee. The offer, which started last week, ends August 31. The Peacock push dovetails with parent company NBCUniversal’s presentation of the 2024 Paris Olympics. NBC Sports coverage of the Olympics will include streaming on Peacock. Continue reading Verizon Offering Free Netflix Premium with Peacock Purchase

Fox Corporation’s ad-supported video-on-demand streaming service Tubi is launching in the United Kingdom with a content library of 20,000 movies and TV shows. With almost 80 million monthly active users, Tubi has grown quickly in the U.S. since its debut on the Nielsen Gauge just over a year ago and it is exporting the formula overseas. The new UK service will rely primarily on content from companies including Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well Tubi Originals, arthouse fare and films from Bollywood and Nigeria, known as “Nollywood.” Continue reading Fox Streamer Tubi Seeks to Replicate its U.S. Success in UK

Business-focused social network LinkedIn says video uploads have increased 45 percent on the platform, year-over-year, so it’s testing the Wire Program for in-stream video ads to run alongside publisher content from Bloomberg, Forbes, NBCUniversal, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, among others. The B2B social network is also expanding capabilities in Accelerate, its AI campaign creation and optimization offering. The new features are part of LinkedIn’s effort to boost marketer participation in brand-building and engagement among what the company says is a community of one billion global professionals. Continue reading LinkedIn Boosts AI, Joins Publishers on In-Stream Video Ads