9 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Streaming

Established streaming industry leaders like Netflix and Amazon are facing more competition than ever. Now legacy entertainment giants are in the game with their own subscription services, like Peacock, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, and the Disney Plus / Hulu / ESPN Plus bundle, while Apple TV Plus attacks around the edges. Meanwhile, the rise of ad-supported free platforms like Roku Channel and Pluto TV has attracted enough attention that Plex, YouTube, and Amazon’s Freevee are trying to get a chunk of the action too.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Twitch is testing pause screen ads.

The platform isn’t the first service to try them.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Paramount ups its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, again.

Now, Paramount is offering to cover the $2.8 billion termination fee that Warner Bros. Discovery would owe Netflix for abandoning the $82.7 billion merger agreement. It’s also tossing in a $0.25 per share “ticking fee” that it would pay shareholders for every quarter its deal hasn’t closed beyond December 31st, 2026.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
This isn’t even Tony Tony Chopper’s final form.

There’s a lot to see in Netflix’s new trailer for the live-action One Piece’s upcoming second season, but the most surprising reveal here is a fresh look at Tony Tony Chopper’s (Mikaela Hoover) Walk Point form that turns him into a much more normal-looking reindeer. The show’s out March 10th.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
YouTube Music just got an AI playlist maker.

Similar to the Prompted Playlists that Spotify launched in December, YouTube Music premium subscribers on iOS and Android can now use voice or text descriptions to turn ideas, genres, or vibes into personalized playlists.

<em>The AI Playlists feature should appear when you open the “New” menu at the bottom-right of the YouTube Music app.</em>
<em>The AI Playlists feature should appear when you open the “New” menu at the bottom-right of the YouTube Music app.</em>
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The AI Playlists feature should appear when you open the “New” menu at the bottom-right of the YouTube Music app.
Image by YouTube
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Netflix’s drip feed of new Sesame Street episodes continues March 9th.

The next four episodes of Sesame Street are dropping soon on Netflix and will include a cameo from Miley Cyrus.

Will they also go back to having a Letter and Number of the Day and a proper ending song? I won’t hold my breath, but I’ll still be bitter.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Disney loses Dolby in Europe.

Disney Plus subscribers in a few European countries have spotted that Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and 3D content have disappeared from the service. A Disney statement blames it on “technical challenges,” but FlatpanelsHD points out it may be linked to a patent dispute in Germany.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Pixar previews Hoppers.

Just before kickoff, Disney and Pixar previewed their next CG family flick, Hoppers. As we’ve heard and seen in a teaser trailer, this one follows a world where people put their minds into 3D-printed versions of animals to try and live among them. It’s coming to theaters on March 6th, although the YouTube description mentions an early viewing window on February 28th.

Netflix’s Warner Bros. merger puts rival streamers in survival mode

The $82.7 billion deal will force Paramount Plus, Disney Plus, Peacock, Apple TV, and other rivals to make some changes.

Emma Roth
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
It’s time to go to Jupiter.

Now that Boys Go to Jupiter is streaming on HBO Max, you should check out our interview with writer / director Julian Glander about the movie and why he feels that open-source software programs like Blender are doing way more to “democratize” art than generative AI.

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Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Disney’s Eragon series is showing signs of life.

Todd Harthan and Todd Helbing have joined the series as co-showrunners and executive producers, along with Marc Webb and Rachel Moore as executive producers, as Variety reports. Author Christopher Paolini will also be executive producing the adaptation of his YA fantasy series at Disney Plus, which is also home to the hit adaptation of Percy Jackson.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Déjà vu.

As expensive bundled packages, premium live sports pricing, and restrictive walled gardens proliferate, customers have turned to TV piracy instead. Now why do I feel like I’ve seen this one before?

NotSoSavvy:

Hey, the exact same problem that drove people to Torrenting comes up again! It’s weird that as soon as watching things legally becomes more of a hassle than watching them illegally, people start watching illegally again. It’s almost like people hate walled gardens and it’s generally in a company’s best interests to have wider, easier distribution they get a smaller cut from than try and make their own Netflix or something.

Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Content creators are now driving The Grand Tour.

While Top Gear has spent years trying to replace Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond with mainstream celebrities, Amazon is instead appeasing British broadcasting execs’ obsession with online content creators. The Grand Tour season 7 presenters are viral trainspotter Francis Bourgeois, alongside James Engelsman and Thomas Holland, who run the Throttle House YouTube channel.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Even Hulu is getting into podcasts now.

Hulu already offers companion podcasts for some of its shows, but now Deadline reports that it has struck a deal to stream We’re Here to Help — a comedy advice podcast hosted by Jake Johnson and Gareth Reynolds — one day before it appears on other platforms.

Everyone is stealing TV

Fed up with increasing subscription prices, viewers embrace rogue streaming boxes.

Janko Roettgers
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
BTS, live on Netflix.

You’ll be able to livestream the famous K-Pop group’s first concert in three years on March 21st, the day after the new BTS album comes out. You might want some coffee, though; the show starts at 7AM ET that day.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
More about the Sora AI videos coming to Disney Plus.

Disney’s deal with OpenAI includes a plan to allow Sora users to create 30-second clips featuring over 250 Disney characters while some will appear in curated vertical video feeds inside Disney Plus, CEO Bob Iger told investors on Monday. Iger said the feature could arrive “sometime in fiscal 2026,” adding the company hopes to allow Disney Plus subscribers to create them directly on its platform:

What this deal does is by giving us the ability to curate what has been basically created by Sora onto Disney, is it jumpstarts our ability to have short form video on Disney Plus.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
$7.3 million a day.

That’s how much Disney says ESPN and its sports business lost in income during the 15-day YouTube TV blackout late last year, totalling $110 million. That’s almost double the daily hit analysts had estimated at the time, and it’s just for sports, not counting any hit to ABC or Disney’s entertainment channels.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Disney might have a new CEO sooner than expected.

Current CEO Bob Iger has apparently said he plans to step down before the end of the year, and the company’s board of directors are set to vote next week on who should be his successor, The Wall Street Journal reports. The frontrunners are reportedly Josh D’Amaro and Dana Walden.

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Andru Marino
Are Netflix’s podcasts actually podcasts?

Though Netflix originals The Pete Davidson Show and The White House with Michael Irvin look and feel like a podcast, they lack a lot of features podcast listeners are used to, like RSS feed downloads and chapter markers. Here’s my take.