Roblox signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment under which the companies plan to feature more Sony artists in the popular massively multiplayer online game. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. The companies said the partnership will “offer a range of new commercial opportunities for Sony Music artists” to reach new fans and generate new
Tech
Megyn Kelly’s time on Fox News and NBC came to an end some time ago, but she continues to find ways to stay in the game. The former TV anchor, best known for her tenure on the Fox News Channel primetime schedule and a chaotic period at NBC News, will launch a new weekday talk
The powerful appeal of K-pop is a major contributor to YouTube taking up position as the dominant streaming video platform in South Korea, a new study has found. Netflix, which has also invested heavily in Korean film and TV, is the leading subscription video service in the country. South Koreans streamed 169 billion minutes of
A raft of measures taken by China to control its tech firms and expand national security protection are rattling the entertainment sector and internet giants at home and abroad. On Sunday, Chinese regulators shocked stock markets by banning downloads of ride hailing app Didi Chuxing. Other than another enforcement action two days earlier, which blocked
AMM Global, a production and investment company spun out of Hong Kong’s Asia Television, and Phoenix Waters Productions have announced “Crypto Keepers,” which they claim will be Asia’s first NFT drama series. NFTs or non-fungible tokens, which aim to lock in the value of digital intellectual property, have taken the art and music worlds by
A California police officer played Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” in an attempt to prevent a Black Lives Matter activist from uploading a video to YouTube — in the belief that the platform’s copyright-detection system would block it. It didn’t work. In fact, the video in question was not only shared successfully on YouTube, it has
Peacock, NBCUniversal’s U.S.-based streaming service, will carry all remaining NHL 2021 Stanley Cup Final games — with the Tampa Bay Lightning facing off against the Montreal Canadiens — as they are broadcast live on NBC. Coverage of the Stanley Cup will be available on Peacock Premium, which costs $4.99/month with ads, and Peacock Premium Plus,
Archewell Audio, the podcast arm of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s production firm, has tapped award-winning podcast producer Rebecca Sananes as head of audio. Most recently, Sananes for the last two years has been lead producer for New York Magazine’s “Pivot” tech, media and business podcast hosted by Recode cofounder Kara Swisher and NYU professor Scott
Aaron Steven will write “Nightingale,” an all-ages podcast, for Gen-Z Media. Described as a cross between “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “Five Feet Apart,” “Nightingale” scopes in on a group of teens in the cancer ward of a children’s hospital who discover a secret world where they find that they aren’t defined by their illnesses,
Donald Trump may or may not be joining “Gettr,” a newly launched social app from the ex-president’s ex-spokesman. The twice-impeached Trump has been kicked off — or frozen out of — mainstream social media services over his role in the Jan. 6 assault on Capitol Hill. But after news broke Thursday about the app’s ties
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has charged the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, with tax crimes connected to a set of benefits given to employees in a 15-year tax scheme. On Thursday, the Trump Organization and Weisselberg were arraigned at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, where the charges were announced.
In little more than a decade, streamers have shaken the TV industry to its core, laid waste to cinema sector windows, blurred the lines between film and television and rewritten the business relations between independent producers and commissioners. In many cases, SVODs have introduced American-style work-for-hire conditions that Europeans despise. Governments could surely sense that
Grab a revolver or a barbed-wire-wrapped bat: A new game based on “The Walking Dead” has landed on Facebook. “The Walking Dead Life” is a social game built for Facebook Gaming’s Instant Games platform, letting fans experience the show’s most memorable moments, collect virtual coins, and attack friends and foes alike. The casual game, developed
Short-form video app TikTok is putting a couple more minutes on the clock. The company said it will expand the canvas for users globally — tripling the length of videos they can share in a single post, from 60 seconds to three minutes. Why the change? The longer videos will “pav[e] the way for more
Can Apple TV Plus start earning its keep? This month, the free ride is over for millions of Apple customers who have been getting Apple TV Plus — regularly priced at $4.99 per month — at no charge. Some haven’t been paying for Apple TV Plus since the streaming video service debuted in November 2019.
Looking for way to make sure you don’t miss the most exciting moments in sports in real time? Startup Buzzer has an app for that — and it just banked $20 million from a roster of investors that includes a bevy of sports and entertainment industry heavyweights. Buzzer’s $20 million in Series A funding was
Twitter isn’t the biggest social network out there: Both Facebook and Instagram are significantly bigger, and Snapchat also has surpassed Twitter’s daily user base. But two of Twitter’s top execs focused on the entertainment industry, Sarah Rosen and Lara Cohen, say they’re looking to deliver on quality of engagement for their partners, not just quantity
Home-shopping cable mainstays QVC and HSN are coming to Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex services as an interactive streaming app — with plans to let Comcast customers buy products directly on their TVs starting in early 2022. Comcast already carries the linear channels of QVC and HSN, owned by John Malone’s Qurate Retail Group. Now,
After almost nine years at Twitter, top sales exec Matt Derella is leaving the company. Sarah Personette, currently Twitter’s VP of global client solutions, is being promoted to step into his role at the social networking company. During his time at Twitter, Derella, whose most recently title was customer lead, built out and led the
Working to expand and have a forward-thinking edge in media, Sugar23 has appointed Douglas Rushkoff as its Futurist in Residence. “We are thrilled to bring Doug in to the Sugar23 community and assist us and our clients to think through our approach to media and technology – both as story elements in their work, and
Facebook has unwrapped Bulletin, its newsletter/blog initiative for independent writers aimed at competing with Substack and other rivals. Featured partners for the “closed beta” test of the service in the U.S. include best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell and sports reporter Erin Andrews. Facebook won’t take a cut of subscription revenue that Bulletin partners earn, CEO Mark
Owing its concept to “The Truman Show,” “The Real World,” Simon Fuller’s ahead-of-its-time “If I Can Dream” and the Hype House phenomenon, a new experiment is underway in the form of Song House Live, which brings together seven influencers aspiring to make it as music creators and allows viewers 24-hour access to their daily goings-on
The New York Comedy Festival (NYCF) has announced the official return of the highly anticipated, week-long celebration of laughs, set for Nov. 8-14. After being canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival will return with more than 150 shows featuring more than 200 comedians, podcast stars and late-night hosts from around the
Facebook won a legal victory Monday after a U.S. district court tossed out the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust complaint against the social-media company, saying the agency had failed to make a case that Facebook held a monopoly. The court also dismissed a related lawsuit against Facebook brought by more than 40 state attorneys general. Facebook’s
Cavalry Audio, the podcasting division of Oscar nominee Dana Brunetti’s media company, is launching a new series about the social video landscape. “Tok Show With Remi & Connor” will be hosted by influencers Remi Bader and Connor Wood, covering weekly highlights and trends across TikTok with content creators, celebrities and fans. The series premieres June
YouTube TV is finally rolling out 5.1 Dolby surround sound audio support — which has been among users’ biggest requests — and is launching a premium “4K Plus” service tier. The 4K Plus add-on package, in addition to providing the option watch select content in 4K, also lets subscribers download shows from their DVR to
In an exclusive clip from “30 Days With: Bretman Rock,” the titular digital celebrity opens up about seeking to connect with his dad, who died in 2019, by venturing into the Hawaiian jungle. “Growing up in the Philippines, I wanted to be so much like my dad,” he says. “He taught me simple survival stuff.
YouTube has clinched its first naming-rights deal. The 6,000-seat performance venue at the Hollywood Park sports and entertainment complex in Inglewood, Calif., will be called “YouTube Theater.” The theater is slated to open this summer with its first events (yet to be announced) and has booked several music acts through early 2022. The Google-owned video
Variety has named its 10 Comics to Watch for 2021. This year’s honorees will be profiled in the July 27 Comedy issue of Variety and take part in a virtual panel at this year’s Just For Laughs Festival. Traditionally held every year in Montréal, the festival will go digital this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Maybe you’ve been there: You’re trying to download a movie or show to Netflix’s app before a flight — but you don’t get the whole thing before your plane takes off into the wild blue yonder, so you can’t watch any of it. Netflix has now addressed this first-world problem: On Monday (June 28) the