Tech

Quibi, the mobile-only streaming service from Jeffrey Katzenberg, surpassed 1 million installations within the first week of launch. According to analysts, the big-budget, short-form video streamer has had a relatively tepid reception in part because of the coronavirus pandemic. As of Sunday, April 12, the Quibi app had been downloaded and installed 1.15 million times,

Media and publishing company Condé Nast, citing the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, is making a series of cutbacks including layoffs and reducing pay for high-salary employees. The series of cost-cutting measures includes some amount of layoffs; pay cuts of 10%-20% for those making $100,000 or more annually — while CEO Roger Lynch and

AT&T will provide three months of free wireless service for nurses and physicians battling the coronavirus pandemic across the U.S., the latest goodwill gesture from corporate America during the crisis. The telco revealed the news with the assistance of John Krasinski on his YouTube series “Some Good News,” which he launched two weeks ago as

HBO will continue to support streaming apps on Apple TV second- and third-generation models through at least May 15, temporarily tabling its plan to discontinue support for the older set-tops this month. The premium cabler had a previously scheduled “device deprecation” plan on 2nd and 3rd gen Apple TV devices effective April 30 for HBO

Apple and Google on Friday announced a joint effort to embed technology into their smartphone operating systems that could detect if you’ve come into close contact with an individual who has contracted the coronavirus. The “contact tracing” project, the tech giants said, is being designed with user privacy and security at the forefront. It’s a

Seven editors honed footage for Netflix seven-part docu-series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” about the man who owns the largest collection of big cats in the U.S. The telling of the story of Joseph Maldonado-Passage, aka Joe Exotic, is a meta one, including a reality show-within-a-show, and it turns sinister very quickly. After all,

France Televisions, the French public broadcaster, has come on board “One World: Together at Home,” the two-hour live special that will be co-hosted by Lady Gaga, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon on April 18. Put together by Global Citizen to support World Health Organization’s initiatives during the coronavirus pandemic, “One World: Together at

The 2020 Coachella Festival was scheduled to kick off today — but since we can’t have that until October at the very soonest, the next best thing will have to be the feature-length documentary “Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert,” presented by YouTube Originals in partnership with Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which premieres

BTS will present a two-day online event dubbed “BANG BANG CON” giving fans a chance to experience their past concerts. The gathering aims to connect with BTS devotees who are self-quarantining due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The content will be available on BTS’ BANGTANTV YouTube Channel at 11 p.m. on April 17 and 18. The

Apple TV Plus is making a number of its original television series, kids shows and one documentary available for free as millions of families are cooped up indoors due to coronavirus-induced prevention measures. The streaming platform joins HBO, AMC and others in offering free content during the pandemic. The following programs are currently available to

Disney Plus revealed a whopper of a subscriber update Wednesday — 50 million paying customers — flexing its ability to become a contender in the streaming services arena after a mere five months on the market. That puts the Walt Disney Co. well ahead of schedule to hit its target of 60 million to 90

Do you think Thumper is more adorable than Bambi? OK, boomer. There’s a generational split over which of the two stars of Disney’s 1942 animated classic is the cutest-ever TV and movie cartoon character, according to a new survey conducted by opinion-research firm YouGov. The poll found that Gen Z and millennial respondents favored Bambi

Rihanna and Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, are teaming up to help victims of domestic violence in Los Angeles affected by the stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic. Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) and Dorsey on Thursday announced a joint grant to the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles to address the current crisis

Amazon has found a new way to monetize its Prime Video catalog: It’s now letting top Twitch live-streamers host “watch parties” to provide running commentary alongside a selection of movies and TV shows. Starting Thursday, Twitch is opening up Watch Parties to the biggest streaming channels on the platform in the U.S. (which it refers

Advertising veteran Peter Naylor, after more than six years at Hulu, is departing the Disney-controlled streamer to join Snap in a newly created role. Snap on Thursday announced that Naylor will join the company as VP, Americas, in early May, overseeing Snapchat’s business in U.S., Canada and Mexico. He will be based in Snap’s New

Alison Mosshart, singer of The Kills and Dead Weather, has a new solo project coming from which a song, “Rise,” is featured in the FacebookWatch drama “Sacred Lies.” Watch her home-made video below: Along with The Kills and Dead Weather, over the years Mosshart has collaborated with everyone from the Arctic Monkeys and Primal Scream

TikTok, the social-video company owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, pledged to donate $250 million in funds to support COVID-19 relief efforts as well as $125 million worth of advertising credits on the platform. It’s the latest example of a big tech company looking to demonstrate that it’s a good corporate citizen amid the unprecedented

Sony is to pay $400 million for a minority stake in Chinese online entertainment platform Bilibili. The deal values Bilibili at $8 billion. The all cash transaction is to be conducted through Sony Corporation of America and sees SCA buy 17.3 million Bilibili shares, or just under 5% of Bilibili’s capital. Bilibili stock is traded

Australia-based film distributor and multi-territory cinema-on-demand platform Fanforce, this week launched Fanforce TV. It is a streaming service which it positions as a community-led platform, and ideal for use by populations under coronavirus-enforced lockdowns. Fanforce TV consists of a pay-per-view model combined with live-streamed discussions and live chat to enable global audiences to connect films

Across the globe, live sports have been suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. The shutdown leaves inevitable gaps in programming — and sports fans looking to scratch that competitive itch have lost their favorite pastimes as they spend weeks self-isolating. As the quarantine drags on, however, the gaming and esports scene has risen to the

Amazon Studios has bought rights from STX and MWM to Dave Bautista’s family comedy “My Spy” for exclusive streaming on Amazon Prime in the U.S. and some foreign markets. No streaming date has been set yet. The deal takes place with U.S. movie theaters not expected to open for several more months with studios vacating

Bruce Springsteen eloquently paid tribute to the late John Prine,  “a true original,” as part of his guest DJ turn on Sirius XM’s E Street Radio Wednesday morning. “Over here on E Street we are devastated by the loss of John Prine. Not only was he one of our country’s great songwriters, a real national

YouTube hosts the most massive collection of free videos on the planet. Now, amid the coronavirus pandemic, it’s also opening up more than a dozen YouTube original series free for anyone to stream — without a subscription. YouTube Originals available for free in front of the paywall starting April 8 include Joey Graceffa’s murder-mystery competition

Snapchat was dealing with technical problems spanning the U.S. and Europe on Wednesday morning, as thousands of users reported trouble using the social messaging app. According to DownDetector, problem reports spiked around 10:30 a.m. ET with nearly 90,000 users reporting issues; 82% said they were having problems sending Snaps, the app’s disappearing messages. That came

At the risk of sounding almost trivial given the sheer magnitude of the current global pandemic, these are challenging times for all in the media and entertainment industry. The out-of-home entertainment market is one segment of the media business that has been particularly devastated. So have the livelihoods of content-developing creatives (producers, talent) and content-enabling

Pluto TV, ViacomCBS’s free, ad-supported, streaming TV service, is now live with across 17 countries in Latin America, including Mexico, with a library of 12,000 hours of Spanish-language movies, TV shows and other programming. As of April 7, the Spanish-language service is available in: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras,

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and payments company Square, said he is moving $1 billion of his equity in Square to fund COVID-19 relief efforts and eventually other causes. Dorsey, who has a net worth of about $3.3 billion according to Forbes, announced the plan Tuesday on Twitter. He said the $1 billion represents about

Disney Plus has finally launched France on Tuesday after being delayed by two weeks at the behest of the French government, which feared the service would overload the country’s internet networks during the coronavirus lockdown. The streaming service launched in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland on March 24. The Walt Disney

United Talent Agency has signed author, journalist and Recode co-founder Kara Swisher, Variety has learned. The agency will work with Swisher to generate opportunities across digital, publishing, news and broadcast, speaking engagements, film and television, and other business areas, a UTA spokesperson said. Swisher currently serves as editor-at-large at Recode, the leading tech outfit she

As millions of kids are stuck at home, Netflix has released an update to its parental controls with a range of new features — including the ability to completely block individual TV series or films from showing up in a child’s profile. Parents and guardians can now choose to remove individual series or films by