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Thursday, December 18, 2025 |
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One of the best ways to understand this year in media is to unpack the competition between YouTube and Netflix.
This week, Netflix rolled out 2 big video podcast pacts. YouTube outbid traditional broadcasters for the future rights to the Oscars telecast. Netflix reiterated its reasons for signing a deal to buy Warner Bros. and HBO. And so on and so forth.
As Netflix bosses Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters toured the Warner studio lot yesterday, M.G. Siegler wrote at Spyglass, "The world has changed. And there's no going back. It's not just that streaming won, it's that the internet won."
I loved the way Siegler put this: "UGC, movies, television, it's all going to be thrown into a blender in the next decade. What comes out will terrify Hollywood. But they were terrified when 'talkies' came about. Then color. Then television. Then videotape. The plot is always the same, as is the ending. It's not the death of movies, or television, it's the expansion of it. An opening of the aperture to a far larger audience."
But, yes, it is disorienting. "YouTube broadcasting the Oscars is like shaking hands with the guy who's trying to kill you," screenwriter Daniel Kunka remarked on X.
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The NYT's John Koblin nailed it back in July. "The Streaming Wars Come Down to 2: YouTube vs. Netflix," he wrote then.
That's the key to understanding the Warner deal, as well. Netflix looks huge — except when standing next to YouTube, which is even bigger. Nielsen's "gauge" shows YouTube accounting for 13% of all video consumption in the US, and Netflix with 8%.
"YouTube getting the Oscars is a potential boost to Netflix's argument about the size of the streaming marketplace as it prepares arguments for a Warner deal with antitrust enforcers," the WSJ's Joe Flint noted yesterday.
Ben Thompson has been explaining these dynamics — and what he calls the "Hollywood End Game" — really well over at Stratechery.
"YouTube will always have more new content than anyone else," he wrote earlier this month. But "professionally-produced content," the kind Netflix is known for, still has some advantages, in that it "tends to be more evergreen and have higher re-watchability." Witness all the people rewatching "When Harry Met Sally" and "The Princess Bride" this week in honor of Rob Reiner.
So Netflix wants/needs to own more top-tier programming. YouTube does, too. The Athletic was thinking ahead yesterday: "The Oscars are coming to YouTube. Is the Super Bowl next?"
Gavin Purcell, looking at Netflix's and YouTube's respective announcements, quipped that the pair is "in a race to see who can become the other one first."
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The other part of this story, of course, is the (inevitable, IMHO) shift away from broadcast TV. Disney's ABC was the "proud home of the Oscars for more than half a century." But YouTube outbid ABC for the rights starting in 2029.
With a single global destination for the awards show, YouTube will "certainly increase the potential audience," though "I'm not sure that many more people will find it compelling," BI's Peter Kafka wrote.
>> A note from Deadline's Ted Johnson: When the Oscars are on YouTube, "it means that presenters, honorees and the host can swear whenever they want, unbleeped, given that the FCC does not have oversight." More on the FCC down below...
>> ICYMI, here's a recap of Netflix's video podcast deal with Barstool Sports.
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WBD presses Ellison, hosts Netflix |
"Warner Bros. Discovery sent a message to Larry Ellison: If you want to buy our company, sign on the dotted line yourself."
That's how the WSJ's Lauren Thomas and Joe Flint summed up yesterday's action around WBD. Paramount did not immediately raise or revise its bid for CNN's parent company, but did blast the Netflix deal as "inferior."
Meanwhile, David Zaslav showed Sarandos and Peters around the studio lot, and photos were released by WBD at the end of the day. Zaslav also said in a memo that the regulatory review of Warner-Netflix has begun. Speaking of which...
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Senators press Bondi to recuse herself from WBD review |
In a letter obtained first by CNN, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal pressed AG Pam Bondi to recuse herself from the antitrust review. The senators said the bidding war for WBD has been "surrounded by a cesspool of corruption and political favoritism," and "the corruption concerns related to this deal extend to your office," because Bondi's previous employer, lobbying firm Ballard Partners, has been hired by both Paramount and Netflix.
A DOJ rep said "all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials." And Ballard pushed back hard. Here's my full story...
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📊 Trump's PowerPoint presentation |
The White House apparently wanted last night's prime-time address to double as a PowerPoint presentation to the American people. His comms team shared a set of slides with the major TV networks ahead of time and encouraged them to show them on-screen, 3 news execs told me on condition of anonymity. None of the broadcast networks ran the slideshow. CNN did not show the slides either. One reason: The graphs didn't include clear sourcing info, the news execs said.
However, Fox News did show a handful of the slides during the speech, while Trump was shown in a smaller box. No surprise, given the network's relationship with the White House, but still worth noting...
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Notice the reactions on the right |
Sean Hannity et al applauded the address, but more honest/realistic right-wing commentators raised their eyebrows. "Even his own allies puzzled over whether the president did more harm than good with his rushed delivery and harsh tone," WaPo's Isaac Arnsdorf wrote. Thinking about the CBS viewers who just wanted to watch the "Survivor" finale, Steve Bannon asked, "Was this too intense for a broadcast audience?"
And I'd be remiss if I didn't link to Daniel Dale on a morning like this. Here is Dale's detailed fact-check...
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It would take an act of Congress... |
...For Trump to get what he wants vis-à-vis TV licensing. Yesterday, he wrote that he wants TV networks like NBC to pay "significant amounts of money" for licenses, which would be a radical change to the beleaguered broadcast business.
On one level, Trump was just complaining about NBC's "Meet the Press" because he didn't like one of the guests, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. (The senator responded on MS NOW's "All In" last night.) But if the president really wants networks to pay up, he'd need a total rewrite of the Communications Act...
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THR's Caitlin Huston says it was "testy and often heated." LateNighter's Matt Webb Mitovich says Carr "stuck to the script." Carr claimed that when he condemned Jimmy Kimmel and said "we can do this the easy way or the hard way," there "was no threat to revoke a license." Riiiiight...
>> Notably, Carr said the FCC is "not formally an independent agency." Shortly after his comments, the FCC amended its website to remove "independent" from its website, Sara Fischer reported.
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'Facebook Jail' IRL lawsuit |
Larry Bushart, the "retired Tennessee policeman who spent more than a month in jail over an anti-Trump Facebook post," is officially "suing the authorities responsible for his arrest," WaPo's Will Oremus and Ben Brasch report. They say Bushart "joins a growing number of liberal activists around the country who are pushing back on what they view as an overzealous crackdown on speech in the wake of the September killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk..."
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>> Just announced: "CBS News says it will continue a series of town halls and debates under the aegis of editor in chief Bari Weiss in 2026, even though the debut of the format that aired this weekend suffered from lackluster ratings and ad support," Brian Steinberg writes. (Variety)
>> Dan Bongino is leaving the FBI, with Trump saying, "I think he wants to go back to his show." (CNN)
>> Truth Social's parent company has a deal to merge with a nuclear fusion company. The stock, down 70% year to date, is up about 25% on the news. (CNN)
>> Amazon MGM Studios dropped the official trailer for its $40 million "Melania" documentary. Justin Baragona cobbled together some responses. No surprise: MAGA was delighted; most others just seemed baffled. (Independent)
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The Guardian keeps digging |
UnitedHealthcare sued The Guardian and its parent over the summer. But the publication is continuing to break news about the health care giant. George Joseph, who penned the article at the heart of the suit, is out with a new piece that shows UnitedHealthcare is facing wrongful death claims after it reduced hospitalizations for nursing home seniors. As for the lawsuit, it's still pending in Delaware. The Guardian has filed a motion to dismiss, which the judge is considering along with reply briefs...
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>> "In a new experiment, Meta is limiting the number of links users can post on Facebook, unless they have a paid Meta Verified subscription." (TechCrunch)
>> Roblox "is willing to make changes to some of its features in Russia, it said on Wednesday, as it seeks to overturn a ban imposed on it earlier this month." (Reuters)
>> Last week's Game Awards "broke viewership records." (Variety)
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Entertainment notes and quotes |
>> Lisa Respers France has a heartbreaking look at "What Rob and Michele Reiner said about how much they loved their son Nick." (CNN)
>> The couple's two other children, Jake and Romy Reiner, issued their first statement since the killing. (People)
>> James Cameron's "Avatar: Fire and Ash" is expected to win the weekend with "$340 million to $380 million," but fall short of 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water," which raked in $444 million. (Deadline)
>> Taylor Swift's visit to "The Late Show" gave Stephen Colbert "his strongest 18–49 demo performance since his post–Super Bowl episode." (LateNighter)
>> YouTube "is beefing with Billboard" over the way streaming music charts are calculated. (Vulture)
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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former CNN correspondent
Peter Arnett has died. He was 91.
Arnett was one of the foremost war correspondents of the 20th century, having won the Pulitzer in 1966 for his harrowing dispatches from the jungles of Vietnam.
He joined CNN just a year after the network launched, and "he became something of a household name in 1991" when he "broadcast live updates for CNN of the first Gulf War," The AP's obit notes.
"While almost all Western reporters had fled Baghdad in the days before the U.S.-led attack, Arnett stayed. As missiles began raining on the city, he broadcast a live account by cellphone from his hotel room." You can rewatch that legendary live broadcast right here on YouTube...
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