Tech

Disney’s Hulu wants to reel in deal-seekers with a reprise of its Black Friday promotion — offering its entry-level ad-supported package for $2 per month, a 66% discount, for a year. Starting at midnight PT on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26), new and eligible returning subscribers can sign up for Hulu’s streaming plan with ads for

Alicia Keys promises to reveal her complete approach to songwriting in a newly launched online-video class comprising more than 3 hours of lessons. Keys launched her class on MasterClass, a streaming platform that offers an array of courses led by celebrities and experts. Keys’ class is available through the company’s $180 annual subscription plan, which

TikTok is partnering with the Elton John AIDS Foundation to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS on the upcoming World AIDS Days on Dec. 1. The partnership’s campaign starts on Nov. 25, with TikTok users being offered access to a quiz on HIV/AIDS education and awareness. The legendary rocker will also take part in a special livestream

Taylor Swift is bringing an “intimate” concert film for her latest album, “Folklore,” exclusively to Disney Plus just in time for Thanksgiving. Swift and her collaborators on the album — The National’s Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff (Bleachers) and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) — secretly recorded it earlier this year, thousands of miles apart from each

“The Queen’s Gambit” set the record as the most-watched scripted limited series to date on Netflix — with 62 million member accounts tuning in to the show in the first 28 days, according to the company. There’s a caveat, though: The way Netflix reports viewing is based on the number of viewers who have watched

YouTube is letting Billie Elish fans remix her chart-topper “Bad Guy” — using thousands of users’ cover versions — in a virtually infinite number of permutations. On Monday, the video platform debuted “Infinite Bad Guy,” available at this link: billie.withyoutube.com. YouTube says the interactive experience (which will carry no ads) is meant to celebrate Eilish

Snapchat users, put on your thinking Snaps: The app company is launching its first program to pay creators for the most-viewed daily video posts, which will be showcased in a new TikTok-like feed. Snap is launching Snapchat Spotlight, which will show users a stream of publicly submitted posts surfaced based on personalized content algorithms. Snapchatters

New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be given the International Emmy Founders Award for effective communication and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced Friday. The award is being given to acknowledge Cuomo’s use of television to provide information and a sense of calm to viewers. Each iteration

Vox, the flagship news site of Vox Media, is losing its top two editorial execs. Ezra Klein, co-founder and editor-at-large, is leaving to join the New York Times’ opinion department. Editor-in-chief and SVP Lauren Williams will exit to launch Capital B, a local and national nonprofit news organization serving Black audiences. Klein said he will

T-Mobile has come up with a short-term solution to address accusations from multiple TV programmers that its new TVision bundles violated distribution contracts — but the carrier’s headaches are far from over on the issue. On Thursday, T-Mobile announced several “holideals” for customers. Among the offers: It’s adding 33 channels from Discovery, ViacomCBS, AMC Networks

BuzzFeed is acquiring HuffPost, the 15-year-old internet news outlet, in a stock deal with Verizon Media, the companies announced. The HuffPost purchase is part of a larger strategic partnership across content and advertising between BuzzFeed and Verizon, under which Verizon Media will take a minority investment stake in BuzzFeed. Terms of the deal were not

Jennifer Prince, a seven-year Twitter veteran, has been promoted to global VP and head of content partnerships, overseeing the teams that work with creators, media and entertainment companies to leverage the platform. In the new role, Prince reports to Matt Derella, Twitter’s global VP of customers. She will lead the company’s efforts worldwide to engage

CD Projekt Red’s music director Marcin Przybyłowicz was hardly finished with the Polish developer’s last major tentpole, “The Witcher III: Wild Hunt,” when he had to start thinking about its next, “Cyberpunk 2077.” In fact, when CDPR announced “Cyberpunk 2077” in 2012, he was still working on the music for “The Witcher III’s” expansions. Though

This comes as no surprise: T-Mobile is shutting down the TVision Home “fat bundle” pay-TV service, which carried a starting price of $100, at the end of the year. The announcement comes just a few weeks after the wireless carrier debuted a new set of over-the-top live TV services, also (confusingly) under the TVision brand.

Former Spotify head of music Nick Holmsten has unveiled a plan to create a “playground for artists” in New York’s Times Square, where musicians will be able to perform concerts, meet fans, sell merch and create other experiences. Plans call for the development, which will include a street-facing stage and a retail space, to open

SiriusXM is dramatically expanding its podcast content offerings, launching a new destination for original, exclusive and popular podcasts including original shows from Disney’s Marvel Entertainment. The augmented lineup features new podcast shows from SiriusXM hosts including Jeff Lewis and Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo, podcasts from Fox News, and a curated selection of popular podcasts from

Bond — James Bond — is coming to a console and computer screen near you with an all-new origin story about the iconic British superspy. IO Interactive, in collaboration with MGM, EON Productions (the production entity owned by the Broccoli/Wilson family) and game financier Delphi, announced that it is developing and publishing the first-ever Bond

Amazon Kids Plus has picked up its first original production: “Super Spy Ryan,” a special featuring the star of the massively popular Ryan’s World kids’ franchise. The half-hour hybrid live-action/animated show comes from Pocket.watch, the exclusive studio partner for the Ryan’s World franchise, and Sunlight Entertainment, the production company run by the family of 9-year-old

U.S.-based investment firm Muddy Waters has alleged massive fraud at YY.com, the Chinese live streaming arm of NASDAQ-listed JOYY. Earlier this week Chinese internet search giant Baidu proposed the acquisition of YY.com for $3.6 billion in cash. Muddy Waters, which specializes in short-selling companies whose shares it expects to decline, issued its independent research into

Music is expected to play a prominent role in the development of content for virtual reality, following games and films. But the growth of VR content will depend on a pool of next-generation talent who can master both art and technology. “We need multi-disciplinary young talent,” says Liu Szu-Ming, president of HTC Vive Originals, at

Apple will shell out $113 million as part of a settlement negotiated with 33 U.S. states and the District of Columbia resolving allegations that the company made misrepresentations about the batteries in certain older iPhone models and software updates that throttled the devices’ performance. That’s in addition to the class-action settlement Apple agreed to earlier

This year’s nominees for the fan-voted Game Awards, taking place Dec. 10, have been announced, with a trio of buzzy titles leading the pack. Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us Part II” (pictured above) scored 10 nominations, including for Game of the Year, game directing, art directing, narrative and performance for voice actors Ashley Johnson

Miquela, the virtual pop star and digital influencer — who is literally digital — is launching a new Snapchat creator show, “Get Real, Miquela.” The avatar, music artist and social activist is the product of L.A.-based digital studio Brud. The 10-episode “Get Real, Miquela” will air weekly on Snapchat starting today (Nov. 18) at 4

YouTube, in an expansion of its advertising business, will begin serving up ads on channels that will not receive a cut of the revenue. In a Nov. 18 update to its terms of service, YouTube added a new section that says users grant the service “the right to monetize your Content on the Service (and

NRG Esports, the pro esports organization with  notable investors including Shaquille O’Neal, Alex Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Rollins and Tiesto, is opening a new content space in downtown Los Angeles called “The Castle.” NRG describes The Castle as “a cutting-edge space for influencers and creatives to connect and enjoy one-of-a-kind installations, elevating gaming tournaments and

Apple announced that it will reduce its take of App Store fees for small app developers by half — to 15% — starting in January. The tech giant positioned the move as helping small businesses grow during difficult economic times. But Spotify and Epic Games, two of the biggest critics of Apple’s App Store, complained

Comcast is getting Twitch-y, starting with tonight’s episode of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.” The cable operator is launching Watchwith, an interactive live-streaming app for Xfinity X1 and Flex customers that lets viewers engage with the programming using their remote controls. It’s akin to social live-streaming platforms like Amazon’s Twitch, but Watchwitch

The business of marketing content moved away from traditional pillars like billboards and 30-second spots long ago. Digital platforms are now taking an increasing portion of budgets in order to spread the word on the latest movies, TV shows and album releases via search, social and other new-media tactics. “Digital Marketing Impact Report,” the new

Activist Tamika Mallory, a Time 100 honoree and co-founder of 2017’s Women’s March, will make her literary debut with “State of Emergency,” which will also be the first release from Charlamagne Tha God’s Black Privilege Publishing, a new imprint from Atria Books at Simon & Schuster. Described as “a searing indictment of America’s historical, deadly,

Prominent Middle East satellite pay TV and streaming service Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) is launching an OSN Originals unit as part of new plans to double its investment in Arabic content with the stated goal that Arabic acquisitions and originals should account for 25% of its total content by 2021. The Dubai-based company’s move follows