Tech

TikTok, the massively popular video app owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, apparently has an ally in Donald Trump. The former U.S. president expressed opposition to a national ban of TikTok not for, say, First Amendment reasons but because such a move would likely boost the fortunes of Meta’s Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Trump,

When Hollywood accurately depicts work-family and gender-equity scenarios on screen, it’s good for business by driving up viewership and engagement, according to a new research study. The vast majority of engaged streaming viewers in the U.S. want to see their lives — working, managing family life and providing care — represented on screen more often

Warner Bros. Discovery has jumped on the password-sharing crackdown bandwagon, with a top exec saying Max will begin enforcing restrictions on subscribers sharing accounts outside their household starting this year — following the trail blazed by Netflix, which was more recently joined by Disney. J.B. Perrette, president/CEO of global streaming and games at Warner Bros. Discovery,

Taylour Paige, the Grammy-nominated singer and actor (“Zola,” “The Toxic Avenger”) has voiced “Astra,” Eliza McNitt‘s immersive experience which will premiere at SXSW. In “Astra,” McNitt explores the mystery of life in the universe as she did previously in “Spheres,” which was produced by Darren Aronofsky and boasted a voice cast including Jessica Chastain, Patti

J.J. Abrams is taking a look back at “Felicity,” the beloved series he co-created that premiered 25 years ago, in a difference kind of rewatch podcast featuring guest appearances by the show’s stars, including Keri Russell, Scott Speedman and Scott Foley. “Dear Felicity,” from Abrams’ Bad Robot Audio and Spotify’s The Ringer, is set to

Jonathan Taplin is the Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California and the author of “The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars and Crypto.” He was tour manager for Bob Dylan and The Band in 1969. He has written this

The standoff between Universal Music Group and TikTok took another turn on Wednesday when the trade group National Music Publishers Association sent a letter to its members saying that it does not expect to renew its license with the China-based platform when it expires at the end of next month. “Recently, the press has highlighted

The battle between Apple and Epic Games continues to rage on. Epic Games on Wednesday said Apple terminated its developer account for Sweden, which the games company said it had planned to use to launch the Epic Games Store and “Fortnite” on iOS devices in Europe. That came less than three weeks after Apple had

Rooster Teeth is biting the dust after more than two decades. Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, after unsuccessful attempts to sell the unprofitable fandom, gaming and comedy entertainment division, is shutting down Rooster Teeth’s operations. RT general manager Jordan Levin announced the shutdown of Austin-based Rooster Teeth at an all-hands meeting Wednesday and in a

Netflix will launch a mobile game version of the indie hit “Hades” in March. Per Netflix’s description, “Hades” is “a rogue-like dungeon crawler in which you defy the god of the dead as you hack and slash your way out of the Underworld of Greek myth.” Pre-registration to play the streamer’s exclusive version of the

Meta’s family of apps including Facebook and Instagram were experiencing widespread technical problems Tuesday, with thousands of users logging errors in accessing the social media services. Users reported problems including being logged out of Facebook — and when they attempted to log back in, saw an error message such as, “Something went wrong. Please try

The “face with tears of joy” emoji represents “a crying with laughter facial expression,” according to Wikipedia. “The emoji is used in communication to portray joking and teasing on messaging platforms.” Elon Musk, the multibillionaire tech baron who owns X (formerly Twitter), on Monday was sued by four former Twitter executives, whom Musk fired immediately

By now, it’s widely known that Universal Music Group has removed most or all of its catalog from TikTok, as well as apparently every song that includes at least one songwriter affiliated Universal Music Publishing Group. It’s a battle that pits the world’s largest music company against the most influential and powerful platform for promoting

Tubi, Fox Corp.’s ad-supported streaming service, recruited ad-sales veteran Jeff Lucas as chief revenue officer. Lucas takes over the role from former Tubi CRO Mark Rotblat, who will remain with Fox Corp. focusing on adRise, the company’s distribution and monetization platform for connected TVs. At Tubi, Lucas will report to Jeff Collins, president of advertising sales

The annual Podcast Academy’s Awards for Excellence in Audio — or Ambies — will return for its fourth installment on March 26, with Season 3 “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” winner Trixie Mattel set to host.  The ceremony celebrates excellence in podcasting, especially those that elevate the status of the medium as a “unique” and

After a years-long investigation, the European Commission levied a fine against Apple of €1.8 billion — about $1.95 billion — for “abusing its dominant position on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps” to iPhone and iPad users. The EU said Monday its investigation into Apple, which was kicked off by a complaint

Will Shortz, the longtime crossword puzzle editor of the New York Times and NPR’s “puzzlemaster” for more than three decades, suffered a stroke last month and has spent the last several weeks rehabilitating. Shortz revealed the injury in a recorded message aired on on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” on March 5. He has been absent

The 8th annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards just concluded in Tokyo — with “Jujutsu Kaisen” Season 2 wining a total of 11 honors, including the top prize of anime of the year. Crunchyroll revealed the winners during a live ceremony Saturday, March 2, featuring celebrity presenters and musical performances. (The full list of winners is below.)

SiriusXM named industry veteran Sarah van Mosel to the newly created position of senior VP of podcast strategy. It’s a return to SiriusXM for van Mosel, who previously served as chief revenue office at its subsidiary Stitcher. Van Mosel most recently was EVP of iHeartMedia’s iHeart Audience Network audio advertising group. At SiriusXM, she reports

A new true crime series involving European royals has been set at Exactly Right Media and Blanchard House. Titled “The Butterfly King,” the serialized narrative podcast tells the story of the mystery surrounding King of Bulgaria’s shocking death. “When King Boris III of Bulgaria dies amid mysterious circumstances during World War II, there’s no shortage

Tubi has given its logo an overhaul and a new coat of vivid paint — and has introduced a buoyant sonic logo akin to Netflix’s “tudum” — as the Fox Corp.-owned streamer prepares to launch into more international markets. The free, ad-supported streaming service’s new brand identity was developed in partnership with London design consultancy

Apple has nixed its plans to build an electric vehicle — a project that had been in the works at the tech giant for a decade, according to a new report. Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, reported Apple’s decision to wind down the EV project, code-named Project Titan. In a surprise announcement, Apple COO Jeff Williams

David Duchovny is diving deep into screwing up in “Fail Better,” marking his first foray as a podcast host. The actor, writer, director, author and singer-songwriter’s seasonal weekly series is produced by podcast network Lemonada Media. “Fail Better” is slated to premiere in May 2024, to be available across all major audio platforms. The podcast

Netflix is expected to hike prices on its streaming plans in 2024 — a move that should accelerate its revenue and earnings growth — as it continues to take a bigger bite out of overall TV viewing, according to analysts at UBS Securities. “We expect to see rate increases this year” by Netflix, UBS analysts

Stephen A. Smith, known for his no-filter commentary on sports, politics and culture, has a new podcast partner. “The Stephen A. Smith Show” has joined iHeartMedia’s iHeartPodcast Network, after originally launching with radio and audio company Audacy’s Cadence13. The show is produced by Smith’s Mr. SAS with Smith serving as executive producer. New episodes of

Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries has set up “Jockular,” a podcast from three queer best friends Katie Kershaw, Tien Tran and E.R. Fightmaster — who, along with their guests, will discuss all things queer, trans and women-forward in the world of sports. “Jockular” will dispense “equal doses of sports commentary, cultural criticism and light-hearted gossip,” per

Whoopi Goldberg, famed EGOT and business mogul, is adding another entry to her résumé: streaming entrepreneur. Goldberg is an equity investor in Blkfam, billed as the first and only Black-owned and Black-focused family streaming platform. The free, ad-supported service launches Feb. 26 across multiple platforms. At launch, Blkfam’s content library includes more than 20 syndicated

It’s the end of the road for Warner Bros. Discovery‘s MotorTrend+ automotive streaming service. The media company announced that MotorTrend+ will be shut down after content from the service is fully migrated to Discovery+ and Max at the end of March. The majority of current MotorTrend+ subscribers will be automatically switched over to Discovery+’s ad-free

A new cohort of emerging content creators have been selected for the second edition of Hoorae and Walmart’s “Black and Unlimited” digital development program. The program aims to provide content creators from diverse backgrounds with the necessary resources, membership and exposure to “unlock their full potential and pave their way to success.” The new class

Vice Media Group is making drastic changes in the face of financial difficulties. In a memo to Vice employees Thursday, CEO Bruce Dixon said the company will be cutting “several hundred” jobs in the next week. As part of its major restructuring, Vice will discontinue publishing content on its own website, Vice.com, and will instead