Streamticker: The Biggest Streaming Mergers and Acquisitions of 2025
Here is a month-by-month roundup of the streaming industry’s most momentous mergers and acquisitions of 2025 (excluding the competing Paramount Skydance and Netflix bids for Warner Bros. Discovery—a drama that just turned definitively in Paramount's favor at press time).
January
DIRECTV acquired majority ownership of addressable TV ad solutions provider INVIDI Technologies, of which DISH and WPP are co-owners. INVIDI offers a consolidated campaign management and order distribution platform, a supply-side solution for distributors and programmers, and the ability to manage, serve, and optimize ad delivery across di-rect and programmatic sales channels for stream-ing services.
“INVIDI has had a longstanding relationship with DIRECTV as a client and an investor, and we know this will only strengthen that support,” says Bruce Anderson, co-CEO of INVIDI. “[W]e expect be able to further grow our business in the U.S. [and] plan to continue to work to build on our successes internationally, expanding our efforts in India, APAC, MENA, Europe and Latin America.”
February
Outbrain completed its $1 billion acquisition of Teads and rebranded as Teads to create a unified omnichannel platform for marketers across CTV, mobile, and web. This is the conclusion of a deal announced in August 2024. The merger creates one of the largest open internet companies, with com-bined advertising spend of approximately $1.7 billion, reaching 2.2 billion consumers. The company unites the contextual and interest datasets of Teads with those of Outbrain, which also has an AI prediction engine to optimize advertiser outcomes.
Outbrain CEO David Kostman is CEO of the new company, with Jeremy Arditi and Bertrand Quesada, former Teads CEOs, as co-president and chief business offi-cer of the Americas and international, respectively. “This transformative merger creates a company that directly addresses a large gap in the advertising industry: a scaled end-to-end platform that can drive outcomes, from branding to consideration to purchase, across screens,” says Kostman.
April
DAZN Group completed its acquisition of pay TV company Foxtel Group, marking a major expansion into the Australian market. Foxtel will continue to operate as a standalone business while benefiting from DAZN’s “global reach, market-leading technology, and investment in sports entertainment innovation.” Foxtel has 4.7 million subscribers in Australia, including across its Kayo and BINGE streaming services; the Hubbl set-top box; and domestic and inter-national sports broadcast rights, including cricket, the AFL, and the NRL.
The $2.2 billion deal was agreed to by Foxtel major-ity shareholder News Corp. and minority shareholder Telstra, with both becoming minority shareholders in DAZN. “The addition of Foxtel to DAZN brings the Group’s pro-forma revenues towards US$6 bil-lion and provides the additional content, expertise, and expansion opportunities to accelerate DAZN’s growth trajectory,” DAZN stated.
May
Broadband and cable providers Charter Communications and Cox Communications agreed to combine companies.
Broadband and cable providers Charter Communications and Cox Communications announced a $34.5 billion deal to combine Charter’s mobile and broad-band infrastructure with Cox’s residential and com-mercial assets. “We’re honored that the Cox family has entrusted us with its impressive legacy and are excited by the opportunity to benefit from the ter-rific operating history and community leadership of Cox,” notes Chris Winfrey, Charter’s president and CEO. “Cox and Charter have been innovators in connectivity and entertainment ser-vices—with decades of work and hundreds of billions of dollars invested to build, upgrade, and expand our complementary regional networks to provide high-quality internet, video, voice and mobile services. This combination will augment our ability to innovate and provide high-quality, competitively priced prod-ucts, delivered with outstanding customer service, to millions of homes and businesses.”
The combined company would become the largest cable operator in the U.S., beating Comcast, hence a need to hurdle antitrust con-cerns with the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Wall Street generally agreed that the trans-action should work financially for Charter, with strategic benefits too. According to Reu-ters, “Charter has been remaking itself as pay TV subscribers flee to video streamers and mobile providers roll out WiFi service to com-pete with broadband. As the buyer expands its network, boosts internet speeds and grows in wireless with a Verizon Communications partnership, Cox has even more customers to target with a variety of packages.”
Also in May, Roku agreed to pay $185 million for Denver-based SVOD Frndly TV. Founded in 2019, Frndly TV offers channels such as A&E, the Hallmark Channel, and Lifetime plus on-demand content and a cloud-based DVR.
“Frndly TV’s impressive growth and expertise in direct-to-consumer subscription services make it a compelling addition to Roku,” says Anthony Wood, founder and CEO of Roku. “This acquisition supports our focus on growing platform revenue and Roku-billed subscriptions, with a live content offering our users love at an industry-leading price point.”
Several days later, Swiss TV and streaming provider Zattoo acquired Berlin-based Green Streams. Zattoo has integrated Green Streams’ middleware technolo-gy into its own suite to create a modular, cloud-native, and globally deployable platform focused on network operators. “Full integration of Green Streams technology will allow Zattoo to mix in-house and third-party components to deliver tailor-made TV and streaming offerings, setting new standards of mod-ularity and efficiency compared with existing platforms,” Zattoo says.
Roger Elsener remains CEO of Zattoo, while Gernot Jaeger and Ivo Stock—both former Zattoo executives who founded Green Streams in 2021—are leading the integration from within the Zattoo team.
July
Deltatre acquired Endeavor Streaming from Endeavor Group Holdings with the intent of creating scale and serving sports rightsholders a fully integrated digital and streaming platform. Specifically, the deal (financial terms were not disclosed) sees Deltatre integrate its D3 Volt, Forge, Axis, and Diva products with Endeavor’s Vesper OTT platform.
“Endeavor Streaming is a highly respected player in our industry and its offerings are a natural complement to our existing products and services,” says Andrea Marini, CEO of Deltatre. “I strongly believe this move positions Deltatre as a leader in delivering high-quality, fully integrated digital and OTT deployments.”
Later in the month, the FCC greenlit SES’s $3.1 billion takeover of rival Intelsat. The move, first announced in April 2024, creates a global satellite operator with a combined fleet of 120 geostationary (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites, as well as access to low Earth orbit (LEO) infrastructure.
The FCC accepted SES and Intelsat’s claim that “consumer media consumption patterns have changed drastically and that, as a result, consumers are switch-ing away from traditional linear video consumption via broadcast television, cable and DTH satellite, all of which rely on the Applicants’ satellite distribution services, to IP-based consumption via OTT platforms, which generally do not rely on satellites for distribution.” In approving the bid, the FCC rejected submissions from the NCTA and Eutelsat, which contended that the merger could reduce competition for media distribution. The FCC also followed earlier greenlights from regulators in Europe.
Not only are satellite revenues for media declining, but incumbent operators face increasing competition for data transmission from Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper. Luxembourg-based SES said it would invest $700 million annually from 2025 to 2028 to strengthen its network and explore emerging technol-ogies such as IoT, direct-to-device communications, inter-satellite links, and quantum key distribution.
August
Amphenol Corp. spent $10.5 billion to land CommScope’s Connectivity and Cable Solutions (CCS) business. The broadband communication tools specialist said CCS would expand its portfolio in the fiber optic interconnect market, particularly for data centers and AI-driven applications.
In 2025, CCS generated around $3.6 billion sales, with EBITDA margins of about 26%. The Connecticut-based Amphenol bought CommScope’s Andrew mobile network business for $2.1 billion in July 2024. CEO R. Adam Norwitt says, “CCS is a premier and iconic business. … CSS’s broad portfolio of fiber optic interconnect solutions for the rapidly growing IT datacom market, including for artificial intelligence applications, is highly complementary to Amphenol’s already strong product offerings in this market.”
Later in the month, Spectrum Reach, the advertising sales arm of Charter Communications, acquired ShowSeeker, a provider of cloud-based order management systems. The acquisition integrates ShowSeeker’s planning, order, and proposal systems with Spectrum Reach’s Innovar operational automation suite, which is intended to simplify every step from ad planning to execution.
Spectrum Reach expects the deal to improve its ability to deliver more efficient, flexible advertising solutions to small local businesses and national brands. “In a fragmented media landscape, the in-tegrated solution will streamline planning and execution to save agencies valuable time,” says Rob Klippel, SVP of product, technology, and operations at Spectrum Reach.
September
Italy’s Bending Spoons continued its buying spree of digital platforms by agreeing to an all-cash deal for Vimeo valued at $1.38 billion. Vimeo has reposi-tioned itself in recent years from a creator-centric service to a video platform for enterprises and OTT, all of which sits well with Brightcove, WeTransfer, and Evernote in the Bending Spoons’ stable.
Luca Ferrari, CEO and co-founder of Bending Spoons, says, “At Bending Spoons, we acquire com-panies with the expectation of owning and operating them indefinitely, and we look forward to realizing Vimeo’s full potential as we reach new heights together. In particular, after closing [the deal], we’re determined to make ambitious investments in the US and other priority markets … spanning both the creator and enterprise offerings. We’ll focus on achieving even more stellar levels of performance and reliability, bringing advanced features to more customers, and continuing to release powerful and responsible AI-enabled features.”
At the end of September, Electronic Arts (EA) was acquired by an investor consortium comprising Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, tech investor Silver Lake, and investment firm Affinity Partners (founded by Jared Kushner) in an all-cash $55 billion transaction. EA remains headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., and continues to be led by CEO Andrew Wilson.
More than a blockbuster financial transaction, this is a strategic turning point, concludes analysis by Sportynomics. “It unites massive capital, iconic gaming IPs, and an emerging global sports power under one vision. If executed effectively, it could redefine the eSports landscape, empower new markets across Asia and the Middle East, and solidify Saudi Arabia’s growing status as a global force in the business of sport and entertainment.”
In March 2025, Scopely—a subsidiary of PIF’s Savvy Games Group—acquired the games business of Niantic, maker of Pokémon Go, for $3.5 billion. (Niantic’s technology business, including its mapping tech-nology, remains independent as Niantic Spatial.) Savvy also owns esports tournament organizer ESL.
“While Scopely is not acquiring Niantic’s technology, it will onboard the game development team with deep expertise in AR and geolocation,” observes Ampere Analysis’ Katie Holt. “Rightsholders looking to create an AR game using their IP will be drawn to Niantic due to its robust reputation and other Savvy subsidiaries can use the expertise to incorporate AR technology into an existing game or create new AR titles.” On Sept. 30, the Ultra HD Forum (UHDF) and Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA) joined forces under the SVTA banner. The merger is aimed at ex-panding adoption of the UHDF Guidelines for content creation and distribution at a time when broadcasters and streamers are questioning the value of the 4K and 8K parts of the UHD spec.
“Content today exists in many forms, across resolutions, color spaces, and dynamic ranges, reflecting both legacy workflows and the evolution of Ultra HD,” says Yasser Syed, Ultra HD Forum’s president.
“As we move forward, the challenge is to develop cost-effective workflows that capture content at its highest quality, automate production, and deliver it seamlessly to any screen. Achieving this requires the breadth of expertise that will come together in this soon-to-be-formed, larger organization.”
October
Research lab and patent holder InterDigital acquired Deep Render, an AI startup focused on video codecs. The transaction adds Deep Render’s patent portfolio in AI-based video coding to InterDigital’s own. As part of the deal, a team of AI experts will join InterDigital’s Video Lab.
Founded in London in 2018 by Chri Besenbruch and Arsalan Zafar, Deep Render developed an AI codec claimed capable of achieving the same image quality as AV1, HEVC, and VP9 while offering a 40%–50% bit-rate reduction. InterDigital is currently involved in developing a potential successor codec to VVC/H.266 using, in part, AI algorithms.
“Acquiring Deep Render means that we’re perfect-ly positioned to lead the development of the next gen-erations of video technologies, building on our exist-ing leadership in HEVC and VVC,” comments Rajesh Pankaj, InterDigital’s CTO. “At InterDigital we have spent years placing AI at the center of our wireless and video research to make networks more efficient and to change the way we consume content, and this acquisition only adds to our research leadership.”
December
OTT platform provider Magine Pro and video streaming software and services provider Accedo merged their respective SaaS businesses Magine Pro and Accedo One into a new, jointly owned company with the scale to better compete with Brightcove and Kaltura. Markus Hejdenberg, former CEO of Accedo One, is CEO of the new entity, which operates separately from the Accedo Group and is headquartered in Stockholm.
Michael Lantz, CEO of Accedo, says, “Our customers expect us to lead product innovation and continue to drive the best experience both for them and the end user. Together with the talented team from Magine Pro, we will be able to focus our resources on growth and innovation.”
A few days later, Harmonic divested its video business to MediaKind for $145 million in cash, pitching that this enables it to sharpen its focus on broadband solutions, including high-density MDUs. Harmonic video products, such as the Spectrum media server, ViBE encoder, and, most notably, VOS360 Media SaaS, now move to Denver-based MediaKind, which has its own cloud-based streaming video platforms. “With aligned technologies and a shared cloud-neu-tral strategy,” the combined business is expected to generate more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue and more than $150 million in annual appliance revenue, MediaKind says.
Harmonic is primarily shareholder-owned; Blackrock owns the largest share, at about 17%. MediaKind, formerly Ericsson Television, is owned by One Equity Partners, which acquired the company in 2018. The transaction was expected to close in the first half of 2026.
MediaKind CEO Allen Broome says, “By joining Har-monic’s Video Business with MediaKind, we strengthen our ability to invest across our entire portfolio, led by an expanded and complementary research and development platform that will significantly accelerate innovation. Together, we would create the leading independent streaming infrastructure company, giving customers a stronger, more reliable partner to power the future of video.”
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