Tech

Porta dos Fundos has hit back at a backlash from Christians in Brazil over its Netflix 2019 Christmas Special, co-founder Fábio Porchat calling the protest “homophobic.” The reaction, which has seen 1.8 million signatures claimed for a petition calling on Netflix to pull the show, or the government to prohibit it, comes over a 45-minute

Netflix has disclosed operating results for its international business by region for the first time, showing solid growth particularly in Europe and Asia-Pacific. The streamer reported the historical figures in an 8-K filing Monday with the SEC. Starting with the fourth quarter 2019, Netflix will report financial results by international region. In the Asia-Pacific region,

It’s another end-of-the-decade walk through memory lane: Spotify is taking listeners on a journey through the last 10 years in music with a new original podcast, “The Decade Wrapped.” “The Decade Wrapped” podcast is hosted by Eric Eddings, who is joined by critics, comedians, influencers and writers — with special guests including Lele Pons, Robin

Solve, the interactive true-crime and mystery studio that spun out of Elisabeth Murdoch’s Vertical Networks, is diving into podcasting with plans to develop content in other media formats in 2020. The L.A.-based startup has raised $20 million in funding from Elisabeth Murdoch, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Upfront Ventures and Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital. The funding came

San Francisco-based virtual reality startup Bigscreen has teamed up with Paramount Pictures to bring the theater experience to VR headsets: Bigscreen will begin showing classic Paramount movies like “Interstellar” and “Star Trek” in a virtual movie theater, where users can watch the films together with friends. Much like a traditional theater, Bigscreen won’t overwhelm users

Dish Network customers with the satellite operator’s Hopper 3 DVR now have full access to the Amazon Prime Video app directly on their TV. Amazon Prime joins Dish’s lineup of integrated streaming options available on the Hopper 3, including Netflix, YouTube and YouTube Kids, and SiriusXM’s Pandora. Prime Video is available to all Hopper 3

Comcast chairman-CEO Brian Roberts hailed NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke’s legacy at the Peacock and Comcast on Monday as Burke formally announced his retirement and plan to hand the leadership reins at NBCU to filmed entertainment chief Jeff Shell in January. Word of Burke’s retirement plan surfaced late Thursday. Shell has long been seen as the

December 15, 2019 1:58PM PT The gamer behind YouTube’s most-watched channel, PewDiePie (real name Felix Kjellberg), announced in his latest Pew News video, posted Saturday, that he is planning to take a break from the platform next year. Towards the end of the video, which slams YouTube for its inability to effectively enforce its latest

Bernie Sanders pulled his support for Cenk Uygur’s congressional bid, with the Vermont independent in part acknowledging that Sanders’ supporters were “frustrated” about the endorsement. Sanders, who’s running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, cited Uygur’s announcement Friday that he would not be accepting any endorsements. In a statement, Sanders alluded to sexist and other

The 2019 Streamy Awards – honoring the best from YouTube and online video – were held Friday night in Bevely Hills. Tana Mongeau won Creator of the Year while “Good Mythical Morning” was named Show of the Year. Here’s the complete winners list: AUDIENCE CHOICE Creator of the YearCollins KeyDavid DobrikEmma ChamberlainLilly SinghLoren GrayMrBeastNinjaSafiya NygaardSimply

A group of approximately 150 editorial workers who help produce some of NBC News digital content have formed a union, citing a desire to push their employer to work more seriously through such issues as equal pay and the recent handling of sensitive stories. Editorial employees of NBC News Digital won certification of their union

WWE inked a partnership with TikTok as the wrestling entertainment company looks to tap into the popular short-form video app’s young-skewing audience. WWE launched an official account on TikTok, which already has over 100,000 followers. As part of the pact, WWE is making available its entrance themes for more than 30 Superstars and Hall of

The Fox Nation streaming-video service has long been touted as a new option for super-fans of the Fox News Channel. But some of the broadband hub’s new programming choices suggest adherents of “Fox & Friends” and Sean Hannity aren’t looking solely for chatter about politics and interviews with members of the Trump administration. Subscribers to

December 13, 2019 9:53AM PT The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is weighing whether it should seek an injunction against Facebook to prevent the social media giant from integrating services like Whatsapp, Messenger and Instagram with its core app, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Regulators fear that Facebook’s

Rooster Teeth’s Joe Clary and Sean Hinz are the new co-heads of its animation studio, replacing replace Gray Haddock, who recently left the company after he was moved out of his role as head of Rooster Teeth Animation earlier this year. The WarnerMedia-owned company, whose animated series include “gen:Lock,” “RWBY” and “Red vs. Blue,” promoted

Bay Area rapper Saweetie didn’t intend for “My Type” to come out as a single. But when a clip of the bouncy anthem about desirable (and slightly vulgar) attributes in a partner started to take off on TikTok as part of a social media challenge, it became clear the song would be her defining hit. The

Coinciding with Green Day’s performance at the Game Awards, Facebook announced late Thursday that the popular virtual reality game Beat Saber is getting a Green Day music pack. The 6-song pack is slated to go live at midnight, and players will simultaneously get access to Beat Saber’s long-awaited 360-degree gameplay. The Green Day music pack

A new full trailer for developer Sucker Punch’s “Ghost of Tsushima” is finally here. The latest substantial footage of the samurai game dropped at The Game Awards Thursday night, marking the first real look at the PS4 exclusive since Sony released a short teaser during its State of Play earlier this week. “Ghost of Tsushima”

Now you can see NBA superstar LeBron James facing off against NHL great Wayne Gretzky in a fast-paced hockey game. In an innovative fantasy mashup for sports gaming fans, Apple Arcade is launching “Ultimate Rivals: The Rink,” a hockey game that lets you pit NHL players against athletes from other sports. The game is available

The next-generation Xbox console is officially called the Xbox Series X, and will be released over next year’s holiday season, Microsoft revealed during Thursday night’s The Game Awards. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer took the stage at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater to make the big reveal about the project previously known as Project Scarlett, and

The Game Awards will be taking place on Thursday night and, fittingly, there are plenty of ways to stream the event online. The whole show will be streaming live starting at 5:30 p.m. PT/8:30 p.m. ET from Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater on The Game Awards’ YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Twitch pages. Additionally, for the first

In its latest move into the podcast biz, Sony Music Entertainment announced a strategic investment in podcast production house Neon Hum. Founded by podcast producer Jonathan Hirsch (pictured above), L.A.-based Neon Hum has helped create multiple podcast hits including MSNBC’s “Bag Man” with Rachel Maddow, Dateline NBC’s “The Thing About Pam,” Wondery’s “Room 20,” Crooked

If you just can’t keep yourself from watching another episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale” or “PEN15,” then Hulu has an ad for you. The streaming-video hub is starting a trial run of new commercials aimed specifically at binge-watchers, which the company defines as subscribers who watch three or more episodes of the same series consecutively.

Facebook announced an initial commitment of $130 million to launch its new Oversight Board, which is designed as a way for users to appeal the social giant’s content decisions, but the entity is behind schedule with initial board members to be announced in 2020. The Oversight Board — which has been dubbed Facebook’s “Supreme Court”

Amazon released a special behind-the-scenes look at “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” in partnership with Disney and Lucasfilm, in order to — what else? — sell stuff to fans of the galaxy far, far away. The ecommerce giant debuted the Star Wars video Thursday (Dec. 12) exclusively on Amazon.com and Fire TV, with secret

December 12, 2019 5:30AM PT Music streaming service Tidal has partnered with Dolby to bring Dolby Atmos Music tracks to its Tidal HiFi tier. This makes Tidal the second music service to support the high-end format. For now, support is limited to certain Android devices. Consumers may know Dolby Atmos as a surround-sound audio format

December 11, 2019 10:27PM PT Netflix is testing discounted plans in India for some long-term subscribers. The plans are only available to selected new subscribers and not existing ones. While signing up, new users may be offered a 20% discount on a three-month subscription, a 30% discount on a six-month term and a 50% discount

YouTube has promised to ramp up its fight against hate and harassment: The Google-owned video service announced changes to its harassment policy Wednesday, which include a ban on implicit threats of violence and insults that target someone for their race, gender expression or sexual orientation. “We will not tolerate harassment,” said YouTube’s global head of

HBO Max may not be streaming to consumers until May 2020, but for Jeremy Legg, the hard work has already begun. The WarnerMedia chief technology officer is deep into the development of parent company AT&T’s highest priority next year. While rival efforts from Disney and Apple are already in market, he envisions launching a product

Quibi has greenlit the development of “Curs_r,” a gaming drama series executive produced by Anton, Stigma Films and Ridley Scott. The series will be directed by Toby Meakins (“Bite Size Horror”) and is written by Simon Allen (“The Watch,” “Das Boot,” “The Musketeers”). Matthew James Wilkinson (“Yesterday,” “Amulet”) is producing. The series centers on the