Tech

Netflix is in the movie business for the long haul as it looks to fill creative voids left by the focus at the major studios on tentpoles and superheroes, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos told a crowd of investors and entrepreneurs on Thursday. Sarandos was pressed during the Q&A at the Upfront Summit in

Amazon announced that it now has more than 150 million paid Prime members worldwide. CEO Jeff Bezos disclosed the figure in releasing Amazon’s fourth-quarter 2019 results, which again blew past Wall Street expectations. The company, which rarely releases such metrics, isn’t breaking out the number of Prime members by geography. “We’ve made Prime delivery faster

Paradiso, the recently-launched French podcast studio, is expanding to the U.S. and has tapped the L.A.-based executive Emi Norris to develop a slate of original narrative podcasts, as well as adapt Paradiso’s hit formats for the U.S. and other English-speaking markets. Paradiso is Europe’s first podcast studio to expand to U.S. soil. The company opened

Sundance Film Festival is a home for premieres of indie films and experimental content, and this year’s fest featured a first look at a forthcoming project from interactive-video company Eko called “Damage Control” presented in partnership with Variety. The comedy’s co-directors and co-creators Alon Benari and Johnny Milord and cast members Emily Pendergast and Rekha

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman, who is 67 days away from the launch of the company’s ambitious new streaming service, claimed that the company doesn’t really see the likes of Netflix, Hulu or Disney Plus as rivals. Whitman, speaking Thursday at the 2020 Upfront Summit in Los Angeles, said that only 10% of viewing on those

Verizon lured more wireless subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2019 than expected — its highest wireless net adds in six years — thanks in part to its pact with Disney to offer Disney Plus free to unlimited wireless customers for one year. Verizon reported a net addition of 790,000 postpaid wireless customers, topping the

Snap’s new “Bitmoji TV” could represent the vanguard of a new wave of personalized entertainment — or maybe just a one-off gimmick. Either way, Snapchat and Bitmoji users are bound to be delighted and amused with the animated show, which stars their own Bitmoji avatars and those of their friends. The first season will feature

Facebook turned in another massive quarter — reporting a quarterly record $21.08 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2019, and announcing that its core app now reaches 2.5 billion users each month. Still, while it Facebook beat Wall Street expectations on revenue (vs. analyst forecasts of $20.89 billion) and earnings per share of

January 29, 2020 12:06PM PT Apple has tapped nine-year Netflix veteran Ruslan Meshenberg as an engineering leader on its streaming-video team. Meshenberg tweeted news of his joining Apple on Monday, posting a photo of the tech company’s HQ at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, Calif., and the caption, “New adventure!” According to his updated LinkedIn

Richard Plepler has hopped on the podcast train. The former HBO chief executive has invested in Luminary Media, a podcast-subscription service, and taken a seat on its board. Plepler acquired a minority stake in Luminary, according to sources, although they could not confirm the amount of the investment. The New York-based company has raised over

Helios and Matheson Analytics, which owns the defunct MoviePass cinema-subscription service, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. The company disclosed the move in an SEC filing dated Jan. 28, when Helios and Mathenson filed the petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Chapter 7

Whip Media Group — formed by TV Time’s acquisition of Mediamorph last year — closed a new tranche of $50 million in funding that the company claims will let it build unprecedented tools for determining the value of TV show and movies in the global entertainment market. The funding was led by prior investor asset-management

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp says it’s trying to battle fake news and social-media clickbait with Knewz, its own curated headline-aggregation service. The company’s new Knewz.com site — a text-heavy agglomeration that has already drawn critiques of its cluttered design — officially launched Thursday as a “beta” test. The site, patterned after other aggregators like Google

AT&T’s top line was stung by its investment in HBO Max in the fourth quarter of 2019 to the tune of $1.2 billion in “foregone licensing revenues.” The telco also continued to see rapid deterioration in its pay-TV business, losing a total of nearly 1.2 million subscribers in Q4. WarnerMedia — comprising Turner, HBO and

Amazon Studios’ official move into Italy last week with a robust slate of both scripted and unscripted shows is shaking up the local industry and may give the country a welcome boost in terms of raising its profile on the global production map, where Italian TV output for global viewing lags behind nearby territories. The

Penn National Gaming Takes Minority Stake in Upstart Barstool Sports – Variety You will be redirected back to your article in seconds January 29, 2020 3:52AM PT Casino operator Penn National Gaming will take a minority stake in Barstool Sports, the upstart sports site with a flair for the rambunctious, the latest example of how

Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group), one of Scandinavia’s largest media groups, is set to pull out of non-scripted content, and focus on scripted drama and film production and distribution. The company is looking to bring a minority equity partner on board to bolster its scripted drama production business. As part of the reorg, NENT Group

Netflix is going the impact campaign route as it expands its profile in the U.K. and looks to assure local players of its commitment to the domestic ecosystem. Why spend marketing dollars on impact? Partially because impact drives are a sure-fire way to raise profile. But for Netflix, this level of campaigning is particularly important

Apple reported record-setting sales of nearly $92 billion for the three months that ended 2019 — but Apple TV Plus, the flashy new subscription-video service it bowed last fall, wasn’t part of the tech giant’s growth story. Apple TV Plus revenue “was immaterial to our results” for the period, CFO Luca Maestri told analysts on

Apple turned in stellar results for the 2019 holiday quarter — its biggest ever in terms of revenue and earnings — including strong growth in its services business and a return to growth in iPhone revenue, which climbed 8%. Revenue hit an all-time quarterly high of $91.82 billion, up 9% versus the year-ago period, for

January 28, 2020 11:15AM PT The NFL, a week before Super Bowl LIV, was targeted by a hacking collective that temporarily commandeered social media accounts across Twitter and other platforms for the league and multiple teams. In the attack, 15 of the NFL’s teams — including the Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco

China’s media regulator has responded to the deadly coronavirus epidemic sweeping the country by cutting “entertaining” TV shows and boosting news programs, it said Tuesday, at a time when millions are stuck at home under quarantine. The announcement comes just days after it declared it was also doing the opposite: actively working to bring in

Netflix and production company Fandango on Tuesday unveiled the streamer’s third Italian original “Luna Nera” (Black Moon), a fantasy rooted in historical reality about a group of women accused of witchery in 17th century Italy. The innovative show will drop on January 31 in the roughly 190 territories where Netflix operates. Shot in Rome’s revamped Cinecittà Studios

January 28, 2020 5:06AM PT The British government, led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, decided Tuesday to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to build parts of the country’s 5G network, in defiance of U.S. concerns over national security risks and the potential for Chinese espionage. The U.K.’s National Security Council green-lit the move to go

The Washington Post is under fire from its own guild and media critic for putting one of its reporters on administrative leave for a series of tweets put out in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s death. As news of Bryant’s passing spread on Sunday, political reporter Felicia Sonmez had tweeted a 2016 article from the

Meet Cute, a New York-based podcast company that focuses on romantic comedies, has secured more than $3 million in funding from a group of investors, including Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital and venture capital firm Union Square Ventures. Meet Cute CEO Naomi Shah did not disclose the exact dollar amounts from each company, but revealed that

January 27, 2020 6:34AM PT ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV streaming service is expanding its U.K. offering with new channels dedicated to British film and TV fare and cataclysmic miniseries. Pluto TV Made in Britain is a 24/7 channel showcasing film and TV favorites, documentaries and celebrity shows. From momentous periods in British history to stories of pop

YouTube landed a multiyear deal as the exclusive live-streaming partner for Activision Blizzard’s e-sports events worldwide, including Overwatch League, Call of Duty League, Hearthstone Esports. The agreement (which excludes China) promises to give a big boost to YouTube Gaming, the video giant’s dedicated home for all things related to games. It’s also a loss for

In simpler times, an artist could see album sales spike to over 500,000 in the days after a Grammy Awards broadcast appearance. That was Santana’s experience in 2000. Following a performance on the show and eight Grammy wins, “Supernatural” flew off the shelves — a gold certification from one key look. Today, that seems downright

After opening its doors in Paris last week, Netflix is setting up an office in Rome, Variety can reveal. The streaming giant has confirmed that it will move its Italian team, which is now based in Amsterdam, to new offices in the Italian capital, where they are currently seeking a space. The process will take