Tech

Entertainment executives and stars across streaming sites and digital media companies took part in Variety’s virtual Entertainment Summit, a partnership event with CES hosted on Thursday. The summit covered new and emerging technologies and innovation techniques that are changing the landscape of film, TV, gaming and more. Topics included the rising importance of streaming content,

The special purpose acquisition company set up by Group Nine Media announced pricing of its initial public offering of 20 million units at $10 apiece, for total gross proceeds of $200 million. Discovery-backed Group Nine, whose digital-media brands include Thrillist, NowThis, the Dodo and Seeker, filed paperwork for the SPAC last month saying it plans

With Donald Trump set to vacate the White House in less than a week, WNYC Studios is ending its “Trump Inc.” investigative podcast after nearly three years. “Trump, Inc.,” a coproduction of WNYC Studios and ProPublica, dug into the business dealings of the president and his family — and the clan’s conflicts of interest while

PewDiePie, the massively popular YouTube creator, will bring his videos back to Facebook after a more than four-year hiatus. PewDiePie (real name: Felix Kjellberg) is the No. 1 most-subscribed individual YouTuber, with over 108 million subscribers and more than 26 billion views to date. The Swedish gamer, comedian and entrepreneur has an official Facebook page,

Did “Wonder Woman 1984” fail to deliver the HBO Max subscriber haul WarnerMedia was banking on — or was its promo pricing so successful it reupped the deal? The media company, looking to lock up more paying customers for HBO Max through mid-2021, extended its 22% promotional discount for new subscribers who prepay for six

Jamia Bigalow, an alum of Fox, Disney and NFL Network, is joining Amazon’s Entertainment Devices and Services division as head of partner marketing. In the newly created role, Bigalow will support joint marketing efforts between Amazon and content providers like Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and Discovery Plus across streaming video, gaming, music and education

Samsung took the wraps off its next-generation Galaxy S21 smartphones, as the powerhouse maker of Android devices continues to train its sites on battling chief rival Apple. The trio of 5G phones, announced at the Korean consumer-electronics giant’s Galaxy Unpacked event Thursday, are the Galaxy S21 (with a 6.2-inch screen), S21 Plus (6.7 inches) and

The CEO of Parler, which claimed it had more than 12 million users before it was cut off by Amazon, Apple and Google in the last week, said the social network popular among Trump sympathizers might not be able to find a new home on the internet. Asked in an interview with Reuters when Parler

Quibi announced a deal last week with Roku, which acquired the bulk of the failed mobile startup’s streaming rights — some 75 shows, which the streaming platform plans to make available for free on the Roku Channel. But even though Quibi has now mostly wound down operations, the Jeffrey Katzenberg-founded company has retained a legal

Julie Eddleman, who has led partnerships for Google’s largest advertising clients for more than six years, is leaving the internet giant to join media measurement company DoubleVerify. DoubleVerify hired Eddleman as EVP, global chief commercial officer, overseeing sales and client service organizations worldwide. She reports to CEO Mark Zagorski. As global client partner at Google,

YouTube removed a video uploaded to President Trump’s channel because it violated the site’s policy against inciting violence — and as a result, the platform suspended his ability to share content on YouTube for at least seven days. “After review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content

Daniel J. Mertzlufft, who went viral with his arrangement of “Remy the Ratatouille” by Emily Jacobson, has signed with CAA and Kraft-Engel Management. The composer, arranger, music director, songwriter and TikTok influencer’s arrangement helped lead to the TikTok Ratatouille musical movement. It also proved that even during lockdown, there’s a way to reach theater fans

Ellen Digital Ventures, the joint venture between Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros., has hired digital-media veteran Nathan Brown as general manager. Brown takes over the GM role at Ellen Digital Ventures after the exit of former general manager Michael Riley, who departed EDV last fall after less than three years to join Netflix as VP,

Amid the acceleration of the streaming wars in 2020, one thing was clear: “The Office” stood head and shoulders above every other TV show available on major subscription-video platforms. Last year, Americans cumulatively streamed more than 57 billion minutes of “The Office,” the comedy favorite that originally aired for nine seasons on NBC, on Netflix,

Amazon announced it donated $1 million to the National Museum of African American Music to sponsor several initiatives at the museum, including “A Soundtrack for All: Amazon STEAM Days,” which will support local schools’ field trips to the museum. According to the announcement, the company’s investment in and partnership with the museum aims to foster

YouTube announced the inaugural 2021 class of partners for its #YouTubeBlack Voices program — a group of 132 creators and artists from around the world who will receive funding and support from the video giant. Last summer, amid racial-justice protests across the U.S. and in other countries, YouTube announced a $100 million fund dedicated to

Noah Beck, the hugely popular TikTok creator, is getting his own reality show on AwesomenessTV. Awesomeness, the ViacomCBS-owned Gen Z digital studio, announced short-form series “Noah Beck Tries Things,” starring the social-media superstar, will premiere on AwesomenessTV’s digital platforms on Friday, Jan. 22. Guest stars on the series, co-developed with Beck, will feature Beck’s friends

Univision, fresh off the closing of its sale to new owners and installing a new senior management team, is launching a new foray into the streaming wars. The Hispanic media company announced plans to launch PrendeTV, which it says will be the only streaming service aimed at a U.S. Latino audience with free, ad-supported Spanish-language

Issa Rae, star and creator of HBO’s “Insecure,” is launching her first online class — in which she promises to share her approach to “creating outside the lines” and how she followed her own path to showbiz success. Rae teamed with MasterClass, an e-learning company that offers a lineup of celebrity-led courses, to launch the

UPDATED: AT&T has thrown in the towel in trying to compete for cord-cutters looking for a cheap TV bundle — an unsurprising move as the telco tries to shore up its struggling pay-TV business. In an update on its website this week, the telco said it is no longer selling AT&T TV Now to new

Verizon kicked off the virtual 2021 CES trade show Monday with a keynote delivered by CEO Hans Vestberg — starring 5G, the wireless technology the telco has invested billions in. Verizon is now trying to make the case to consumers and businesses that it’s a truly game-changing communications and entertainment breakthrough. To date, Verizon has

It’s not the same as being there, but Sony unveiled a new technology — featuring Epic artist Madison Beer — at CES on Monday that at least looks a lot like an actual live concert. In it, Beer is a virtual avatar performing her song “Boyshit” at Sony Hall in New York before a virtual

Facebook currently has no plans to allow Donald Trump to regain access to his accounts, after the social giant suspended him indefinitely following the Jan. 6 deadly insurrection in the nation’s capital, COO Sheryl Sandberg said Monday. In addition, Facebook said it has begun removing content with the phrase “stop the steal,” which has become

On Monday, an update to the U.S. State Department site said President Trump’s time in office was ending on Jan. 11, before the page was removed. “Donald J. Trump’s term ended on 2021-01-11 19:49:00,” what appeared to be a sparse bio page for Trump on the State Department website said Monday afternoon. A bio for

Discovery continued to expand its footprint in Italy in 2020, and has cracked the country’s top three networks. The media giant’s linear channels last year commanded an almost 8% average audience share, up 4% compared with 2019, bolstering its standing as the country’s third free-TV player after state broadcaster RAI and private network Mediaset. Year-end

Disney’s Hulu is courting the collegiate crowd with a new offer: The streamer has rolled out a special reduced-rate plan for U.S. college students, priced at $1.99 per month. Starting Monday (Jan. 11), eligible students over the age of 18 can sign up for the deal and watch Hulu’s full streaming library of movies and

Range Media Partners has signed Mari Copeny, a 13-year-old activist and philanthropist, also known as “Little Miss Flint.” Copeny first gained national attention in 2016 when she wrote a letter to then-President Obama asking him to visit Flint, Mich., which was published in the Los Angeles Times. The letter sparked a dialogue around the water

“Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” a comedy from the duo behind “Bridesmaids,” is forgoing its planned theatrical debut and will premiere on premium video-on-demand platforms next month. The Lionsgate film — starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo — will be available to rent for a premium price starting Feb. 12. It was

UPDATED: Shares of Twitter took a nosedive in early trading Monday, coming after the social network permanently banned Donald Trump — its highest-profile user — prompting worries that would hurt user and revenue growth. Twitter’s stock dropped as much as 12% at the market open Jan. 11, before recovering some lost ground to around -8%

Parler, the far-right social network favored by many Trump supporters, went offline on Sunday evening, apparently due to the withdrawal of web hosting services by Amazon’s AWS division. Attempts by Variety to connect to the site on Monday arrived only at a largely blank screen with an error message announcing “this site can’t be reached.”