Tech

The “Sesame Street” Muppets are stepping up to help America’s families deal with life under the COVID-19 health emergency. Sesame Workshop announced Wednesday a major expansion of its Caring for Each Other initiative to help children and parents cope with issues arising from the coronavirus pandemic. The new content — developed with financial support from

The Interactive Advertising Bureau released an update on companies expected to present at the postponed Digital Content NewFronts marketing series — in a live-streaming format — scheduled for June 22-26. According to the IAB, the trade group that runs the NewFronts, presentations are still planned by Hulu and YouTube, along with confirmed presentations from Condé

Google has seen explosive usage on its videoconferencing platform, Google Meet, during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, it’s opening up Google Meet free for anyone starting in early May. The free version of Google Meet (at meet.google.com) provides meeting for up to 100 users per session. According to the internet company, meetings can run for an

Content consumption on Spotify’s streaming platform has been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 crisis — with usage initially down in areas affected by lockdown orders — but the company saw a rebound in active listeners in Q1. Spotify said it will slow hiring for the rest of 2020 “until we have better visibility into the

YouTube Originals is to host a four-hour lockdown live stream on Thursday featuring YouTube creators and talent including Saffron Barker, Jack Maynard and Big Narstie. The remotely produced “Stream #WithMe” event is designed to support, entertain and educate viewers in lockdown, and will see the talent — which also includes Lady Leshurr, Colin Furze, Yammy

YouTube generated $4.04 billion in ad revenue for the first quarter of 2020, up 33% from the year prior. Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, topped Wall Street estimates for Q1 revenue but fell short on net profit — and said ad sales had significantly fallen in March amid the coronavirus crisis. Overall,

Lionsgate-backed streamer StarzPlay is growing its international footprint with a launch in Japan. The roll-out comes a year after StarzPlay was launched in a host of territories via Apple TV Channels, including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia and Mexico. The OTT platform is now available to Japanese customers through Apple

YouTube is launching fact-check information panels for U.S. users searching for specific debunked topics, with the video platform citing the coronavirus outbreak as underscoring the need to quickly flag misinformation. YouTube is introducing the new feature as a number of hoaxes related to COVID-19 continue to circulate on the service and elsewhere online. For example,

Wave, a company that specializes in interactive virtual entertainment experiences, announced “One Wave,” a series of virtual concerts with John Legend and others that will see the artists transforming “into their own digital avatar, allowing them to perform live in an immersive and fantastical virtual world,” according to the statement. Past Wave artists, including Tinashe,

Facebook plans to allow users to charge for livestreams, which will provide a way for musicians and other creators to monetize their performances and events on the platform, the company announced Friday in a statement about new services it is offering. In an announcement titled “Introducing Messenger Rooms and more ways to connect when you’re

Some of the biggest names in fashion — including Kim Kardashian West, Hailey Bieber, Karlie Kloss and Diane von Fürstenberg — are coming together for coronavirus relief efforts. CR Runway, founded by Carine Roitfeld, will host its second edition May 1 on YouTube to help raise awareness for the amfAR Fund to Fight COVID-19. Along

It’s been well over a year since Spotify launched its major foray into podcasting. But the streaming giant had been missing one of the most popular radio shows in the U.S. — “This American Life” — until now. The show is now streaming on Spotify, although only the 10 most recent episodes are currently available.

Sirius XM’s revenue and earnings rose more than expected in its first quarter, but the satellite-radio giant said it lost 143,000 net subscribers for the first quarter, while adding 69,000 self-paying ones. The company reported a profit of $293 million, or 7 cents a share, compared to $162 million, or 3 cents a share, the

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences has announced the nominations for the 2020 Webby Awards, with Variety scoring nods in three categories. Dubbed “Webbys From Home” by event organizers, this year’s ceremony will focus on celebrating both organizations and individuals who have best used the Internet in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Variety

HBO Max will get an assist from Apple for the WarnerMedia streaming service’s May 27 debut, in a continuation of their “coopetition” arrangement. At launch, HBO Max will be available on Apple devices and fully integrated with the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TVs. The Cupertino tech giant is teaming

With COVID-19 shuttering film fests worldwide, YouTube has stepped in to launch a 10-day digital film festival this spring with 20 partners — streaming free to cinema fans everywhere. We Are One: A Global Film Festival is being produced and organized by New York’s Tribeca Enterprises. The YouTube-hosted event will feature programming from 20 top

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” will begin streaming on Disney Plus two months earlier than previously scheduled. The final installment of the original Star Wars movie series will debut on the streaming service — when else? — on May 4, colloquially known as “Star Wars Day” among fans of the galactic movie franchise. With

Cooking and video streaming have both boomed as major quarantine activities — and now Food Network Kitchen, which fuses the two pursuits, will be free to tens of millions of Amazon device users. Amazon is paying Discovery to give away one-year free subscriptions to Food Network Kitchen to all users of Fire TV and Fire

Since concerts have been cancelled for the near future due to the coronavirus pandemic, artists are leaning into technology to entertain their fans and stay connected. Among them: K-pop groups like SuperM, who livestreamed a concert at 11 p.m. PST on April 25 via new concert streaming service ‘Beyond LIVE,’ in partnership with SM Entertainment,

HBO freeloaders have only a few days left to binge-watch the premium programmer’s unprecedented batch of 500 hours of TV shows, movies and documentaries — which it has made available for free for the month of April. The huge trove of HBO content, which has been free across a range of platforms (only in the

Using his popularity for good, Post Malone treated fans to a 75-minute-long livestream of Nirvana covers and used the performance as an opportunity to raise money for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO. Joined on bass by Brian Lee and Nick Mack on guitar (playing from Post’s house in Salt Lake City), and on

Facebook is preparing to broadly launch a free videoconferencing product called Messenger Rooms — which will allow people to connect whether they use one of the social giant’s apps or not, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday. The new videoconferencing feature is similar to Zoom and group video-chat app Houseparty, both of which have seen usage

The COVID-19 pandemic could be a major inflection point that changes consumer behaviors for years. Over the past month and a half, streaming to the TV viewing has more than doubled in the U.S. — and with the current stay-at-home lifestyle, more Americans say they expect to keep watching more TV and streaming services after

Sports betting giant DraftKings has become a public company following approval of a merger with SBTech and Diamond Eagle Acquisition, the public acquisition vehicle headed by entertainment industry veterans Harry Sloan and Jeff Sagansky. The stock opened Friday at $17.53 on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol DKNG and rose above $18 in early trading.

Starting today at noon ET and stretching through the entire weekend, classic past performances by Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Green Day, Cardi B, Ed Sheeran, Janelle Monáe, Twenty One Pilots, Lil Uzi Vert, David Guetta, and many more will be part of the massive three-day PlayOn virtual festival, supporting the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization (WHO),

In early March, one day before cameras were set to roll in Milan on upcoming Netflix Italian original “Zero,” about the lives of black Italian youths, producer Nicola De Angelis and the streaming giant decided to halt production on the show due to the coronavirus outbreak. Italy was not yet on lockdown, but De Angelis

Rapper Travis Scott has grabbed the “Fortnite” crown for drawing the biggest live audience in the hit game’s history on Thursday night. Over 12.3 million concurrent “Fortnite” players participated live in Scott’s “Astronomical” virtual performance, an all-time record, according Epic Games. The prodigious turnout, no doubt, was helped by stay-at-home quarantine conditions in many parts

Verizon posted first-quarter 2020 revenue of $31.6 billion, down 1.6%, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic for missing Wall Street expectations. The top-line decline primarily resulted from “sharp reductions” in wireless equipment revenue, after social distancing measures were adopted in March — prompting Verizon to close 70% of its retail stores. Verizon estimated COVID-19

Hanno Basse, former chief technology officer of 20th Century Fox Film, has landed at Microsoft’s Azure, where he’s the tech company’s liaison to the media and entertainment industry. Basse, who joined Microsoft last month, is CTO of Azure Media and Entertainment. Based in L.A., his charter is to work with Hollywood studios, television networks and

Fox is setting the full run of “The Masked Singer” free. Just days after Fox Corp. clinched its acquisition of free-streaming platform Tubi, it’s putting the division to work to monetize its biggest hit. All episodes of “The Masked Singer” seasons 1 and 2, and the first 11 episodes from the current season 3, will