Tech

The Estefans will be back for more. Facebook Watch ordered 12 more episodes of their “Red Table Talk” series from Jada Pinkett Smith and Westbrook Studios.   The series features music icon Gloria Estefan, her daughter and rising musician Emily Estefan and her niece Lili Estefan, a Daytime Emmy Award-winning Univision TV host.  “Taking on the

Kevin Durant and his Thirty Five Ventures partner Rich Kleiman are about to launch a slew of shows on their vertical Boardroom. Among them is the tentatively titled “The Sneaker Game,” which focuses on the $75 billion sneaker industry. Variety caught up with host Nick DePaula ahead of the show’s premiere next month. First sneaker:

The Coda Collection, a new multi-media company, is launching a channel on Amazon Prime featuring rare concerts and music documentaries, exclusive premieres for films and more. The channel is combined with an editorial destination across Coda’s desktop and mobile sites, providing another perspective on the artists and music featured in the content. It will become

Roddy Ricch, 21 Savage, Jhené Aiko and Kirk Franklin will perform in “iHeartRadio’s Living Black!,” a special spotlighting the power of Black culture throughout Black History Month in February. The nationwide on-air celebration will feature the first-ever “iHeartRadio’s Living Black!” special event with performances by Roddy Ricch, 21 Savage, Jhené Aiko, Kirk Franklin and hip-hop,

AT&T said the release of “Wonder Woman 1984” helped HBO Max double activations — to 17.2 million — in the fourth quarter of 2020. But a 21% decline in Warner Bros. revenue for Q4, as well as other COVID-related impacts, pulled down the company’s revenue down and earnings for the quarter. At the end of

On Jan. 3, 20-year-old TikTok user @shhlana — who generally posts about TV shows such as “Julie and the Phantoms” and “The Wilds” — posted a TikTok saying, “Guys, I think I’m going to have to come out to my parents soon.” Last week, she posted an update, saying she had not yet talked to

One year ago on Tuesday, Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter accident outside of Calabasas, Calif. He was one of nine confirmed dead, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, six family friends and the pilot. He was 41. Regarded as one of the best players to walk the court, Bryant was a five-time NBA champion, an 18-time

Duran Duran is celebrating its four decades of music this year — the band’s self-titled debut was released in 1981 — with new programs set to launch on on SiriusXM and Pandora. “Duran 40,” an exclusive playlist on Pandora, will feature the band’s biggest hits and fan favorites, along with with commentary from the band

In a classic case of co-opetition, Roku inked a deal with Amazon to bring the IMDb TV free, ad-supported streaming service to the Roku platform in the U.S. The IMDb TV service competes for viewers — and ad dollars — with the Roku Channel, a similar ad-supported VOD service. Under Roku’s standard distribution agreements, it

In an unusual arrangement, all 11 seasons of hit sitcom “Modern Family” will be available on both Disney’s Hulu and NBCUniversal’s Peacock starting next month. Under the multiyear shared agreement with Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both Hulu and Peacock have U.S. streaming rights to all 250 “Modern Family” episodes beginning Feb. 3. “Modern Family”

Twitter has a new way for tweeters to make money: The social network has acquired Revue, a small startup that lets writers self-publish subscription newsletters. “Revue will accelerate our work to help people stay informed about their interests while giving all types of writers a way to monetize their audience — whether it’s through the

Livestream and on-demand platform LiveXLive has announced the launch of a new original franchise show called “The Snubbys,” which is intended to honor “those who are deserving but not receiving.” The event, is slated to air on Sunday night (January 31) at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT — the originally scheduled time for the

Kellyanne Conway, ex-counselor to disgraced former President Trump, allegedly posted a topless picture of her daughter Claudia, 16, on Twitter on Monday. Reached for comment, a Twitter rep told Variety the company’s teams are investigating the incident. Kellyanne Conway could not be reached for comment. According to screen captures posted by users on social media,

Verizon’s sale of news and opinion site HuffPost to BuzzFeed resulted in the telco taking a $119 million charge for the fourth quarter of 2020. In announcing Q4 earnings Tuesday, Verizon said the results included a net loss of $119 million “primarily related to the disposition of the HuffPost business.” When the companies announced the

Kerry Washington, in conversation with Voices Artistic Creative Director Aja Monet, explained how “The Vagina Monologues” connected her ambitions as an actor and activist.  “Once I became a professional actor … the path for connecting the activism and art wasn’t always clear for me,” Washington said in an Instagram Live. Then she met the community

Endeavor Impact has announced details for the upcoming virtual event series NXT: Africa Edition, a free program that explores opportunities in the global sports, entertainment and fashion industries, with a specific focus on the emerging African market. The NXT Africa Edition program is focused on equipping current and aspiring entertainment professionals with actionable steps to advance

Vimeo said it raised $300 million in new equity funding — giving it a valuation north of $5 billion, doubling from three months ago — ahead of parent company IAC’s planned spinoff of the video hosting and services unit. The new investment in Vimeo came from T. Rowe Price Group and Oberndorf Enterprises. Last month,

Twitter and NBCUniversal have worked together since 2013. Now the companies are spreading their wings with an expanded multiyear content and advertising deal that covers markets worldwide, including in the U.K. and Europe with Sky. As part of the expanded agreement, Twitter will provide broader sales support for NBCU’s advertising partners globally. The agreement covers

UPDATED: WWE issued a bullish forecast for adjusted operating income in 2021, citing as one of the key factors its new deal to fold the U.S. version of its WWE Network streaming outlet into NBCUniversal’s Peacock. On Monday, WWE and NBCU announced a multiyear pact to bring WWE Network exclusively to Peacock in the U.S.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock soon will be the only place to watch WWE Network in the U.S. WWE and NBCU reached a multiyear agreement giving Peacock exclusive streaming rights to WWE Network for American viewers. The over-the-top wrestling entertainment service’s existing U.S. subscribers (about 1.1 million in total) will be migrated over to Peacock Premium, where they’ll

European Film Promotion, a network of film agencies and institutes from 37 European countries, and the Sundance Film Festival have kicked off their first ever collaboration. The partners have launched an online showcase, Europe! Hub at Sundance, that puts the spotlight on the European films premiering in competition at the festival (Jan. 28-Feb. 3). Next

Three Long Island-based ticket brokers agreed to pay around $3.7 million to settle alleged violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission announced on Friday. According to the announcements, these are the first enforcement actions that the department and the FTC have brought under the BOTS

The “streaming wars” are now in full swing, but so far the competition has produced a rising tide lifting all boats — the adoption of subscription-video services has soared across the board during the time of the coronavirus. The question now is whether that will mostly stick, or if there’s a wave of SVOD cancelations

Apple has said it wants to bulk up revenue from services — including Apple TV Plus, which is just over one year old. But new research suggests that the tech giant’s entry into the so-called “streaming wars” is at a distinct disadvantage compared with rivals. In the fourth quarter, the majority of Apple TV Plus

Seven months after K-pop fans famously took over the #WhiteLivesMatter hashtag on social media in an effort to drown out racist online chatter, there’s been no shortage of other events that seemed ripe for such a move: the presidential debates, the election, the white riot at the Capitol, and any of countless actions and inactions

Agnes Chu, the former Disney Plus SVP of content who’s five months into her new gig as president of Condé Nast Entertainment, has recruited former Mouse House colleague Jennifer Jones and promoted several CNE execs to senior roles. Jones joins Condé Nast Entertainment as head of global business affairs and operations, after almost three years

Vivendi, the parent company of Canal Plus and Universal Music Group, has acquired a 7.6% stake in Prisa, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s largest media groups, which owns El Pais newspaper, among other assets. The deal is part of “Vivendi’s ongoing strategy to become a global leader in content, media and communications, while extending its

A senior Google executive on Friday told the Australian government that it would stop offering its search functions in the country if legislation forcing it to pay for news goes ahead unchanged. The threat was made by Google Australia MD Mel Silva at a senate committee hearing. “Coupled with the unmanageable financial and operational risk

The spirit of Dunder Mifflin was alive and well at the third annual iHeartRadio Podcast Awards, held Thursday night in a virtual online awards show. “Office Ladies,” a podcast hosted by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey about NBC’s “The Office,” took home the big prize at the 2021 awards, winning the fan-voted Podcast of the

A federal judge denied a request by Parler, a social media app popular among Trump supporters that was knocked off the internet earlier this month, to force Amazon Web Services to reinstate its hosting contract. On Sunday, Jan. 10, Amazon’s AWS division pulled Parler’s hosting services, with the e-commerce giant citing nearly 100 examples of