Netflix just came closer to buying Warner Bros. after the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Board of Directors advised shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance Corporation’s offer to buy one of Hollywood’s biggest studios for $108 billion. In a statement released on Wednesday, December 17, Netflix said, “The WBD Board urged stockholders to approve the merger agreement with Netflix, which they believe offers a more certain and superior alternative for WBD stockholders.”
On December 5, Netflix announced that it had entered a definitive agreement with Warner Bros. to acquire the company and its film and TV studios, HBO and HBO Max, for a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion. The agreement would see Netflix adopting HBO’s film and TV programs into its streaming services and “enhance Netflix’s studio capabilities” to deliver more original content.
This week, Netflix also secured deals with Barstool Sports and iHeartMedia to bring video podcasts to the platform in 2026.
Under the agreement with Barstool Sports, Netflix will stream all new video episodes from the podcasts Pardon My Take, The Ryen Rusillo Podcast, and Spittin’ Chiclets, on top of select older episodes from each podcast. Audio versions of the podcasts will still be available on other streaming platforms.
Meanwhile, 15 of iHeartMedia’s video podcasts will stream exclusively on Netflix starting early 2026, and will no longer be distributed on YouTube. These podcasts include The Breakfast Club, My Favorite Murder, This Is Important, and comedian Chelsea Handler’s Dear Chelsea. Other podcasts, such as Las Culturistas, will remain on YouTube, but according to Vulture, iHeartMedia said that more shows will be announced in the coming months.
This comes two months after Spotify announced that it had made a deal with Netflix to stream video podcasts produced by Spotify Studio and The Ringer in early 2026.
