The 9 Biggest Streaming Stories of 2025
Although the major events of 2025 haven’t impacted viewers yet, this was a landmark year. Aggressive corporate moves behind the scenes have permanently shaken up the TV and movie landscape.
For years, experts have believed we were headed toward consolidation in the streaming wars, and it seems those predictions came true. But while acquisition was one of the top stories, some entertainment companies actually dumped assets this year.
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Paramount Gets a Rich, Reckless New Owner
You may not know the name David Ellison, but the son of one of the richest men on the planet is here to blow up the streaming game. After buying Paramount from the decaying husk of Sumner Redstone’s bumbling daughter, Ellison went on a rampage.
He overpaid for sports like UFC and Professional Bull Riding. He put right-wing kook Bari Weiss in charge of CBS News and chased off respected journalism leaders. And then he teamed with the Saudis to try to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. But that didn’t go exactly as he planned…
Netflix Buys Warner Bros. (Or Does It?)
If you’re looking for a tidal wave in the streaming industry, Netflix’s attempt to swallow Warner Bros. certainly qualifies. If the deal goes through, Netflix gets to sink its teeth into 100 years of cinematic classics and beloved TV franchises. Netflix can also choose to absorb HBO Max if it wants.
While this deal is probably bad for the consumer overall, it would definitely make your Netflix subscription more valuable. That would also trigger a price hike, by the way.
That said, Netflix is probably a better owner than Paramount. If Paramount were to gobble Warner Bros. Discovery, Bari Weiss could further erode what little credibility CNN still has.
Netflix doesn’t want the “Discovery Global” part of the company. That useless bundle of linear channels is set to spin off into its own company. In a Hail Mary move, Paramount is trying to appeal to WBD shareholders to choose them over Netflix.
All of this won’t matter if Netflix and Warner Bros. can’t convince regulators to push the deal through. The Trump administration has given the green light to every possible mega-merger so far, but we don’t know what might lie ahead for this deal.
As we saw when Disney overpaid for Fox’s entertainment assets, these kinds of mergers only result in fewer movies in theaters and higher streaming prices. In theory, we should root for the deal to fall through, but only if Warner Bros. isn’t scooped up by another entertainment giant.
ESPN, FOX, and CNN Go DTC
For years, the only important linear channels available to consumers were CBS (via Paramount+) and NBC (with Peacock). But things changed in a big way on August 21, when FOX One and ESPN Unlimited brought two of the most popular cable networks direct-to-consumer.
Subscribers to FOX One got the 4th and 5th most-watched TV stations (FOX and Fox News Channel) without the hassle of a huge cable bundle.
$19.99
And ESPN Unlimited offered the first standalone streaming option for the ultra-popular sports channel.
$12.99-$29.99
CNN also gave viewers the option to watch (most of) the channel without a bigger package. CNN All Access launched in October.
$6.99/mo.
None of these services is cheap. You’re paying an alarming amount for just a handful of channels. But these services mark a new chapter in the TV carrier wars. If you own an antenna, you now have access beyond the major networks without a bloated channel package. That optionality is great, but the prices would need to come down to make them truly game-changing.
Disney Announces Plan to Kill Hulu App
Hulu is one of the OG streamers. It launched way back in 2007, years before nearly every movie studio and cable channel decided they needed their own platform. But on August 6, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Hulu is going to disappear in 2026.
Nearly 20 years is a remarkable run for a streaming service. But in June, Disney was finally able to buy the remaining piece of Hulu from Comcast, and that opened the door for a full merger with Disney+. (It didn’t come cheap. Disney ended up paying $9.2 billion for Comcast’s 33% share.)
I’ve never cared for the Hulu app. The navigation is terrible, the recommendations are bad, and God help you if you have the ad-supported version. Those commercial breaks are brutal.
So maybe things will be brighter when Hulu becomes just another tile on Disney+. The early revamp of Disney+ suggests the navigation will be improved. But unless the company reduces the length of the commercials and/or starts generating far more original content, Hulu will always remain seriously flawed.
$11.99/mo.
Everyone Raises Prices Again
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: it seems like nearly every streaming service jacked up their prices. Aggressively so! Here’s a list of the streamers who decided to raise prices this year alone.
Nuts. Just nuts. And for the most part, we’re not getting any extra content for that money. You’re just paying more to watch old reruns of “Friends” or “The Office.” In 2026, Paramount+ is also cranking up its price. And it won’t be the only one. Welcome to our new dystopian streaming future.
Disney Buys Fubo, Roku Buys Frndly TV
There aren’t that many live TV streaming services to begin with, so it’s kind of remarkable that two of them changed hands this year.
Roku’s purchase of Frndly TV is something of a head-scratcher. Roku makes nice streaming hardware, but it’s unclear how they think a bargain-basement live TV provider will help their bottom line.
$8.99/mo.
Disney bought 70% of Fubo basically to shut them up after their lawsuit blew up the planned Venu streaming service. Why does Disney own two live TV streaming services? This is odd.
It’s also weird that Disney let Fubo lose NBC without much of a fight. That standoff has gone on more than a month now.
Most subscribers may not initially notice much of a difference in the existing products, but new ownership always means major change over time.
$89.98/mo.
Thin Bundles Are In
The best development of 2025 was the widespread rollout of “skinnier” channel bundles. To fight rising programming costs, many providers began offering smaller channel packages at smaller prices.
The leader in this effort is DIRECTV. They now have lots of small TV offers that offer a better menu to cord-cutters. They first began offering the plans in February. That move triggered a wave of imitators.
Sling TV got creative with the ultra-low-budget Sling Select, and started offering passes for as little as 24 hours of TV access. Disney sued Sling over the option, but Sling won in court and celebrated by offering 24-hour passes for just $1.
Even Fubo got into the act with their Fubo Sports plan, which has a strange channel lineup and isn’t available nationwide.
Based on the results of YouTube TV’s 2-week standoff with Disney, YouTube TV says they, too, will finally offer a smaller channel option.
Smaller channel bundles are always a positive development, even if we’re ultimately paying an increasing per-channel price as time goes on.
Big Sports Find New Homes
With live sports being the only reliable draw in the TV game, media companies went to war to secure streaming rights in 2025.
The biggest shakeup was the new NBA deal, with TNT losing its games to Prime Video and NBC/Peacock.
Apple TV made a splash by grabbing F1 rights and announcing that next year’s MLS season will be available free to its subscribers.
The new owner of Paramount+ planted a flag by snatching UFC rights from ESPN and making those fights available free starting next year.
To compensate, ESPN shoved Peacock aside to grab the WWE.
And the MLB streaming landscape will look different next year as baseball finds some new homes, including Netflix.
Companies Turn Their Backs on Cable Channels
This year, two of the biggest players in television decided they were sick of programming endless cable channels. First, Comcast announced it would dump nearly all of its cable channels to a new company called Versant. An overly upbeat investor presentation tried to paint a picture of a healthy and thriving business, but we don’t know if Versant will invest to keep these channels going or merely ride dwindling revenue into oblivion.
Warner Bros. Discovery also realized that its cable channels filled with pageant moms, hoarders, and medically unwell people may not be long-term winners. So David Zaslav, the goon who built that empire of human rubbernecking, decided he wanted to cut them loose. Channels like TLC, Discovery, and Food Network are supposed to head to their own company called Discovery Global. That split may depend on the outcome of the Netflix takeover.
The one exception to this trend was Paramount. Behind owner David Ellison, Paramount is claiming it will invest and reinvigorate long-dead channels like Comedy Central and MTV. We’ll believe it when we see it.
What’s Next?
The big moves of 2025 haven’t really hit us yet, but they’re coming. With fewer, more expensive streaming services, more of us will be forced to pick sides and trim our budgets.
We’ll see if anyone can make linear TV viable outside live sports.
And we may find out how serious a more unified Disney streaming brand is about battling Netflix, or whether they’re content to sit on their sports-and-kids empire.
And the larger industry question remains: are streamers willing to invest in original titles, or are we stuck with an endless slate of retreads and spin-offs?
As always, Streaming Smarter will be there to cover the news.
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