IHRT News & Events

"Now Streaming" is The Fly's weekly recap of the stories surrounding the biggest content streamers.ROKU/FOX:Earlier this week, Fox Corporationand Rokuannounced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which FOX will acquire Roku for $160.00 per share in a combination of cash and FOX Class A common stock, valuing Roku at approximately $22B in enterprise value. The transaction combines FOX's sports, news and entertainment content and the Tubi service, with Roku's connected TV platform, The Roku Channel, first-party data and direct relationship with more than 100M global streaming households. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2027. Meanwhile, Semafor's Rohan Goswami reported that Netflixlost the bidding war for Roku.NETFLIX/LIONSGATE:On Tuesday, Semafor also reported that Netflix is also one of a number of media companies interested in buying Lionsgate Studios, but the company has not put in a formal indication of interest, according to a person familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, The Wrap's Lucas Manfredi reported that Netflix has no plans to pursue a takeover of Lionsgate Studios. Additionally, the Semafor report said that Netflix dropped plans to acquire Roku, which agreed to be acquired by Fox, but a spokesperson for the streaming giant said it "did not make a bid," according to The Wrap.DOJ APPROVES PARAMOUNT-WARNER BROS. DEAL:The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice released a statement earlier this week in connection with the closing of the Division's investigation into the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discoveryby Paramount Skydance, giving approval to the deal. The DODJ determined that the proposed acquisition is "not likely to harm competition" for linear television or film production, nor does it raise serious antitrust labor concerns.Following the news, the Wall Street Journal reportetd that thte DOJ ended its review of the deal before career antitrust staffers completed their investigation or issued a formal recommendation, Dave Michaels, Dana Mattioli, according to people familiar with the matter. The team of lawyers reviewing the transaction had spent months examining the deal and was reportedly leaning toward recommending a legal challenge, arguing that a combination of the two studios could reduce competition and violate antitrust laws. However, the staff had not yet reached a final conclusion when they were informed Friday that the department would close the investigation.Meanwhile, Chinese regulators have cleared the proposed merger, Dawn Chmielewski of Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.NETFLIX/IHEARTMEDIA:iHeartMediaand Netflix announced the next phase of their exclusive video podcast partnership with the addition of a new collection of iHeartPodcasts from some of today's most influential and culturally resonant voices, including Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson, Lele Pons and Martha Stewart launching as video shows on the streaming service. The agreement includes all new episodes from the podcast lineup, as well as select library episodes from each show. The shows now joining the existing lineup on Netflix include the new "Suite 305 with Lele Pons" hosted by fan-favorite Latin multihyphenate and social media star Lele Pons who is joined by Shakira in the first episode; "The Martha Stewart Podcast" featuring fascinating conversations between the culinary and culture icon and her extraordinary guests; and "Sibling Revelry with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson," an insightful, hilarious and often poignant show from a famous brother and sister duo going deep into all topics with other siblings.AMC NETWORKS CFO:AMC Global Mediaannounced Hozefa Lokhandwala has joined the company as CFO, effective immediately. Lokhandwala joins AMC Global Media with more than two decades of financial leadership experience across media, corporate strategy and investment banking. He will be based in New York and will report to AMC Global Media's CEO Kristin Dolan. Lokhandwala most recently served as an independent director for MSG Networks. Lokhandwala succeeds Patrick O'Connell, the company's former CFO who stepped down in March as part of a planned departure announced in January.FUBO/BIG3:FuboTVand BIG announced an agreement to stream the league's 2026 season live on Fubo Sports Network, Fubo's FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) channel. Beginning June 20, Fubo Sports Network will stream 16 live games for the duration of Season 9, with two games each week. Through the agreement, Fubo Sports Network will also be home to BIG3's library of over 100 archived game telecasts from Seasons 6 through 8.STOCK PLAYS:Other publicly traded companies in the space include Disney, Comcast, Amazon, and Apple.

iHeartMedia unveiled AudioGraph a suite of advertising capabilities that, for the first time, will bring digital-like targeting, identity-based planning and measurement, and outcome-based attribution to broadcast radio at scale. These capabilities are powered by Triton Digital, the global technology and services leader. The vast majority of audio consumption comes from broadcast radio, yet up until today, it has lacked the targeting and measurement infrastructure available in digital. iHeartMedia's broadcast radio stations reach more than 278 million consumers every month, and now with AudioGraph, for the first time, advertisers can plan, target, measure, and attribute that audience using privacy-safe, ID-informed insights with digital-like precision. AudioGraph makes it possible by connecting a privacy-safe identity spine, enriched audience attributes built from TransUnion data, and proprietary ID-level listening models that enable planning and measurement at the listener level while activating campaigns at broadcast scale. Proof of concept shows that broadcast radio campaigns planned and measured using privacy-safe AudioGraph IDs can deliver a KPI outcome 75 percent higher than traditional demo-based plans.

iHeartMedia (IHRT) and Netflix (NFLX) announced the next phase of their exclusive video podcast partnership with the addition of a new collection of iHeartPodcasts from some of today's most influential and culturally resonant voices, including Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson, Lele Pons and Martha Stewart launching as video shows on the streaming service. The agreement includes all new episodes from the podcast lineup, as well as select library episodes from each show. The shows now joining the existing lineup on Netflix include the new "Suite 305 with Lele Pons" hosted by fan-favorite Latin multihyphenate and social media star Lele Pons who is joined by Shakira in the first episode; "The Martha Stewart Podcast" featuring fascinating conversations between the culinary and culture icon and her extraordinary guests; and "Sibling Revelry with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson," an insightful, hilarious and often poignant show from a famous brother and sister duo going deep into all topics with other siblings.

iHeartMedia has partnered with LG Electronics to upgrade LG Electronics' free ad-supported audio streaming service, LG Radio+. Through this partnership, iHeartMedia's more than 850 live iHeartRadio stations, digital-only stations and its impressive catalog of podcasts will now be available on the LG Radio+ app.