Mediagazer: Apple says it will roll out more App Store ads in 2026 “to increase opportunity in search results”; Apple's website says 800M+ users visit the App Store weekly (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)

8:10 AM ET, December 18, 2025

Top News:

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr tells a Senate committee the FCC “is not an independent agency”; the agency removed “independent agency” from its site as he testified — FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in his Wednesday Senate testimony that the agency he governs “is not an independent agency, formally speaking.”

Steven Portnoy / ABC News:

Democratic Senate Commerce Committee members accused FCC Chairman Brendan Carr of making “mafia threats” and encroaching on broadcasters' First Amendment rights — Sen. Markey calls him “chairman of the ‘Federal Censorship Commission.’” — Brendan Carr, commissioner …

John Rogers / Associated Press:

Peter Arnett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent who covered the Vietnam War for the AP and the first Gulf War for CNN, has died at 91 — Peter Arnett, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who spent decades dodging bullets and bombs to bring the world eyewitness accounts of war …

Discussion: The Independent, Mirror, @kevinmkruse.bsky.social, @davidclinchnews, New York Times and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Scott Feinberg / The Hollywood Reporter:

The Academy signs a multiyear deal that gives YouTube the exclusive global rights to the Oscars, beginning in 2029 and running through 2033, streaming for free — The Academy announced on Wednesday: — LOS ANGELES, CA - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and YouTube signed …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, @disparutoo, @piersmorgan, @sydneybattle, @moorehn, @michaelcollado, @seanhannity, @812filmreviews, @mattbelloni, @ronnui_, @jayelharris, @offbeatorbit, @nealmohan, @clubchalamet, @nandovmovies, @awards_watch, @jasminelwatkins, @katiemiller, @mrbrianrowe, YouTube Official Blog, israelhayom.com, @brianstelter, @unikunka, Tech Times, @brianstelter, @lucas_shaw, BMI, TheGrio, @theacademy, TVREV, TV Tech, John Lustyan on LinkedIn, Tubefilter, @ckrewson.bsky.social, Barrett Media, Spyglass, Demetrius Bagley on LinkedIn, CNET, Ken Gibbs on LinkedIn, Baller Alert, Decider, Forbes, Sports Business Journal, Deadline, UPI, TechCrunch, E! Online, Cord Cutters News, Showbiz411, Screen, Media Play News, Adweek, TheDesk.net, @kattenbarge.bsky.social, Billboard, Screen Rant, @joshsternberg.com, NBC News, Los Angeles Times, @mgsiegler.com, @jmrivera.bsky.social, Gold Derby, @riderbabe52.bsky.social, TVLine, Associated Press, New York Times, KFMB, @johnspurlock.com, New York Daily News, @azalben.bsky.social, WPXI-TV, Telecompaper, Fox News, CBS News, The Verge, Oh No They Didn't! and Just Jared, more at Techmeme »

Brian Stelter / CNN:

Senators Warren and Blumenthal call on AG Bondi to recuse herself from reviewing the WBD deal due to her prior employment with lobbying firm Ballard Partners — Warner Bros. chose Netflix over Paramount — again. Now what? — Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Wednesday …

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, The Hollywood Reporter, @brianstelter, Variety, The Wrap, Deadline and Bloomberg Law

Todd Spangler / Variety:
SEC filing: WBD says the Ellisons offered David Zaslav a compensation package of several hundred million dollars, which Zaslav said was inappropriate to discuss

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, Gizmodo, Wall Street Journal, Sean McNulty on LinkedIn, @aimeekitty.bsky.social, @xpangler, @karlbode.com, Forbes and The Wrap

Wall Street Journal:
WBD recommends shareholders reject Paramount's unsolicited cash bid, calling the offer “illusory” and saying it believes Netflix's proposal is still superior

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Paramount reaffirms its $30/share all-cash bid after WBD's board officially rejected it, saying its bid offers “superior value and certainty” for shareholders

New York Times:
WBD says the Ellisons have “consistently misled” shareholders, including claiming Paramount's proposal had a “full backstop” but it “does not, and never has”

Discussion: @hshaban, The Boston Globe, @pkafka, @sherman4949, The Japan Times, Inc.com, @willmckinley.bsky.social, Axios, Business Insider, @newnarrative.bsky.social, Straight Arrow News and Semafor

Financial Times:

Sources: Standard General hedge fund founder Soo Kim has been in talks with a major WBD shareholder over potentially buying or investing in the WBD TV networks — Standard General's Soo Kim is considering purchasing or investing in WBD's television networks

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Deadline and Reuters

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Filing: Comcast's offer to merge NBCUniversal with WBD valued Comcast's media and theme-park assets at about $81B; Comcast's overall valuation is about $111B

Discussion: MediaPost

Laura Cress / BBC:

Netflix wins rights to a FIFA soccer simulation game, developed by Delphi Interactive and set for release ahead of the 2026 World Cup, for free to Netflix users — Fifa will finally release its much-anticipated return to video games in 2026, several years after its acrimonious split with developer EA.

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix signs a deal with Barstool Sports to stream video versions of three podcasts, initially in the US; full video episodes will be removed from YouTube

Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:

A study of 1,000+ marketing campaigns: host-read podcast ads on YouTube are up to 25% less effective at driving purchases than in audio-only podcasts — Ads that appear in video podcasts are alluring for visually-minded marketers but may perform worse on the whole than audio-only, according to a new study

Discussion: Podnews, Digiday, Tubefilter, Journalism.co.uk, The Athletic, Inside Higher Ed, TVNewsCheck and Oxford Road

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

Apple says it will roll out more App Store ads in 2026 “to increase opportunity in search results”; Apple's website says 800M+ users visit the App Store weekly — Apple is expanding the number of ads that appear in App Store search results. In an update on its Apple Ads website today …

Discussion: Tech Times, AppleInsider, MacRumors and Apple Ads

Natalie Korach / Status:

Sources: Bari Weiss moved a planned internal CBS town hall, set to lay out her broader vision, from this month to 2026, after the Erika Kirk town hall flopped — In the days leading up to the holidays, Bari Weiss had planned to address CBS News staffers with a broader vision of where she sees …

Discussion: CBS News, @nataliekorach.bsky.social, Mediaite and The Independent

Will Page / Pivotal Economics:

Analysis: music copyright's global value rose 5.2% YoY to a record $47.2B in 2024; the revenue split favored labels and artists at 62%, above songwriters' 38% — 11-MINUTE READ — TL;DR — Music copyright was valued at $47.2bn in 2024, nearly doubling in a decade

Discussion: Music Ally and Music Business Worldwide

Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:

PEN America elects novelist Dinaw Mengestu as president, as the organization navigates free speech challenges across the US and criticism of its Gaza response — The novelist Dinaw Mengestu will lead the literary group at a time of escalating threats to free expression at home and abroad.

Discussion: PEN America

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

YouTube says it will no longer give data to US Billboard charts after January 16, arguing Billboard's ranking formula doesn't count ad-supported streams fairly — YouTube is pulling its data from Billboard for use in the publisher's industry-leading U.S. music charts.