Big media and sports deals soared in 2025, report finds

As the extremity of 2025 approaches, it is abundantly wide this has been a twelvemonth blistery with large media and sports deals. And it’s a inclination that should spill into the caller year.

Consulting steadfast PwC (formerly Price Waterhouse Coopers) connected Tuesday released its yearly outlook for woody enactment successful the media and telecommunications industry, and discerned a notable uptick successful the worth of projected tie-ups compared with 2024.

The past fewer months person witnessed a surge successful ample combinations, marking a 61% emergence successful woody worth successful the 2nd fractional of the year, compared with the past six months of 2024, the steadfast said successful the report.

Several deals this twelvemonth person stood out:

• Walt Disney Co. successful January agreed to bargain the bulk involvement of a tiny competitor, the sports transmission distributor Fubo TV. The woody was finalized successful precocious October, allowing Disney to harvester its Hulu + Live TV concern with Fubo. The woody included a $145 cardinal word indebtedness from Disney.
  
• Charter Communications and Cox Communications announced a $34.5-billion merger successful May that would unite Southern California’s 2 large cablegram TV and net providers into 1 institution that would marketplace its services nether Charter’s Spectrum brand.
  
• The Jerry Buss household successful June agreed to merchantability its bulk involvement of the Los Angeles Lakers, a family-run concern since 1979, to Dodgers’ controlling proprietor Mark Walter and TWG Global. The deal, which closed successful October, valued the squad astatine $10 cardinal — a grounds magnitude for a sports team.
  
• NFL announced successful August it would instrumentality a 10% ownership involvement successful Disney’s ESPN, a determination designed to solidify ESPN’s narration with the league for years to come. The 2 companies valued the involvement astatine $2 billion.
  
• Electronic Arts successful September announced a $55-billion woody to beryllium acquired by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake backstage equity steadfast and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. The woody is expected to beryllium the largest leveraged buyout ever.
  
• Netflix has agreed to bargain the Warner Bros. studios, HBO, HBO Max and the movie studio’s historical batch successful Burbank for $72 billion. Netflix besides agreed to presume astir $10 cardinal successful Warner indebtedness — pushing the woody worth to $82.7 billion.

Netflix’s projected takeover of Warner Bros., if approved, would reshape the industry.

“After years of expansion, the streaming marketplace is decisively shifting toward standard and sustainability,” the PwC study found. “Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery confirms that the stand-alone level epoch is ending, with standard becoming the superior determinant of competitiveness.”

The woody is driven, successful part, due to the fact that the streaming marketplace is reaching maturity and consumers aren’t funny successful — oregon cannot spend — 7 oregon much subscriptions to each the services available, PwC found. Streaming executives are trying to find ways to clasp subscribers portion expanding revenue, and consolidating with a rival is 1 definite path.

The Netflix-Warner woody “sets a caller highwater people for streaming valuations,” the study found.

However, Paramount, which is backed by the billionaire Larry Ellison family, is refusing to judge decision successful the bidding warfare for Warner Bros. Paramount has bypassed Warner’s committee and is appealing straight to shareholders successful a alleged hostile takeover. asking them to judge $30 a share, which would worth its acquisition astatine $78 billion.

Paramount wants to bargain each of Warner Bros. Discovery, including its linear cablegram channels, among them: CNN, HGTV and TBS. Netflix is lone funny successful the streaming and studios business. With debt, the endeavor worth of Paramount’s connection would apical $108 billion.

The Warner auction whitethorn not beryllium settled until aboriginal adjacent year.

PwC recovered that investments successful sports and acquisitions successful the gaming abstraction person been connected the rise, and should proceed to turn arsenic unrecorded events gully large audiences. Money is flowing into squad ownership, media rights and women’s leagues, the steadfast found.

“With a favorable M&A backdrop to 2026, we’re expecting a robust M&A marketplace that should outpace the past respective years,” PwC said successful its report.

“Media organizations should besides research originative woody structures — including number stakes, associated ventures, and content-sharing alliances — to unafraid entree to indispensable assets and technologies without overextending their equilibrium sheets.”