YouTube and Verizon have minted a distribution deal that will cross-promote both the telecom giant’s offerings, including 5G and broadband, and the internet-delivered pay-TV service. Under the deal, Verizon will offer promotions on YouTube TV to customers regardless of the service they get.

Convergence Research Group’s new study, “The Battle for the American Couch Potato: OTT and TV,” estimates U.S. OTT access revenue grew 37% to $16.3 billion in 2018 and will grow even further to reach $22 billion for 2019. It was based on 66 over-the-top providers, led by Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.

A trip to WNYW’s Tape Room, where the station keeps its archives, sparked an idea for reporter Dan Bowens. In the Tape Room, Bowens found old reports of crimes from the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area that have remained unsolved to this day. Bowens has produced 13 audio-only podcasts so far. Of those, four were made into TV stories and then those four were stitched together for a 22-minute special called The Tape Room.

Discussions between Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission officials about its data-handing lapses have touched on holding the CEO personally accountable. Zuckerberg controls a majority of Facebook’s voting stock and has run the company since starting it at Harvard in 2004.

The influx of new video streaming services and the escalating war for contentamong them is beginning to make cord-cutting a less appealing option for your wallet than it once was, but you can’t reverse the natural progression of technology. Streaming is now the dominant entertainment medium for everything but live sports, and cable TV providers continue to lose millions of subscribers each year.

ATT’s Turner TV unit has parted ways with industry ad consortium OpenAP. “As our company has transformed, our advanced advertising strategy has evolved,” stated a WarnerMedia representative, regarding its Turner unit. “As a result, we are withdrawing from OpenAP.” After completing its deal to acquire Time Warner (now WarnerMedia), AT&T has pushed its own advanced advertising unit, Xandr.

A survey finds that 72% of viewers recalled ads and 40% said they paused to learn more about a product or service. Fifty-four percent preferred a cheaper or free ad-supported service compared to a more expensive ad-free service.