Tech

Eko is launching its most ambitious bet yet to close the loop between interactive entertainment and ecommerce, with partner and investor Walmart. The interactive-video platform company debuted four original scripted series Thursday (Nov. 21). Two of them — EffinFunny’s “Wizard School Dropout” (pictured above), set in a Harry Potter-esque world, and “Timeline” from Olive Bridge

The Players’ Tribune, the media company founded by Derek Jeter dedicated to serving up first-person content from athletes, has been acquired by Minute Media — the latest roll-up play in a wave of consolidation in digital media. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions

Verizon, in its ongoing quest to find killer applications for 5G wireless, has signed Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, as a new tech development and marketing partner. Under the pact, the companies said, they will work together at Verizon’s 5G Labs to create new augmented-reality feature and experiences for consumers, including new ways to

The team behind the award-winning controversial Hong Kong dystopian drama “Ten Years” has launched a new streaming platform focusing on short films about the ongoing protests that have gripped the city since June. Backed by Next Digital, which publishes Apple Daily and Next Magazine, Next Film is headed by Jevons Au, one of the co-directors

Global streaming giant Netflix has struck a multi-year deal with Studio Dragon, a three-year old production company that has become one of the hottest content houses in Korea. The deal is described as a three-year strategic partnership, highlighted by a multi-year content production and distribution agreement, that begins from 2020. Studio Dragon’s parent company, CJ

Google is tweaking its policy for political ads, which includes doing away with micro-targeting by political affiliation or voting records. The search giant also announced Wednesday that it would clarify its advertising policy to make sure that political advertisers can’t make grossly misleading statements. “We’re limiting election ads audience targeting to the following general categories:

Smart speaker maker Sonos is getting ready to take a more active role in voice control: Sonos announced the acquisition of Paris- and Tokyo-based voice assistant startup Snips Wednesday. Snips had been developing a platform to launch dedicated voice assistants for smart speakers and other devices. Sonos spent $37.5 million in cash on the startup,

Vice Media Group appointed Ramin Arani, a 26-year veteran of Fidelity Investments and an early adviser to Vice, as its new chief financial officer. Arani, reporting to CEO Nancy Dubuc, will lead all financial and accounting functions for Vice Media Group. Following Vice Media Group’s recent acquisition of Refinery29, Arani will also work to unify

November 20, 2019 10:49AM PT Professional wrestling mainstay Jim Cornette has resigned his position with the National Wrestling Alliance. “Effective immediately: Jim Cornette has resigned from the National Wrestling Alliance,” the company said in a statement released Wednesday. “As an announcer on the November 19th edition of ‘NWA Power,’ Jim made remarks during a singles

When she launched her ultimately short-lived Hulu talk show  “I Love You, America” in 2017, Sarah Silverman wanted to make a point. This wasn’t a traditional broadcast or cable talk show with content restrictions or language limits — and so she experimented with that freedom on her very first episode. “Because we can — we’re

‘Disgraceland’ Host’s Double Elvis Productions, iHeartMedia Partner – Variety You will be redirected back to your article in seconds November 20, 2019 9:00AM PT Jake Brennan, the creator and host of popular podcast “Disgraceland,” and his business partner Brady Sadler have launched Double Elvis Productions, a new audio-driven media company that will create original entertainment

Thousands of Disney Plus accounts have reportedly been hacked and stolen — and offered for sale on underground cybercrime forums. Disney has now responded, saying only a “small percentage” of the service’s 10 million-plus users have seen their usernames and passwords compromised and that Disney Plus systems were not breached by hackers. “We have found

Former basketball star and entrepreneur Tony Parker will be the ambassador for the third edition of the Game Shakers Awards during Esports BAR Cannes, the three-day conference hosted by Reed Midem, the organizer of MipTV, Mipcom and Midem. Set to take place Feb. 11, 2020, the Game Shakers Awards is a competitive section bringing together

Verizon is not selling HuffPost, according to Verizon Media CEO Guru Gowrappan — who insisted the news and opinion site is central to its content strategy. “We are not selling HuffPost,” said Gowrappan, speaking at the Code Media conference in L.A. Tuesday. “It’s so core to our content… We are focusing on creating good journalism,

No, it wasn’t Amazon’s fault that Disney Plus struggled following its launch last week: Disney direct-to-consumer chairman Kevin Mayer told the audience of Recode’s Code Media conference in Los Angeles Tuesday that there really wasn’t anyone to blame but Disney’s own technology. “It had we to do with the way we architected the app,” Mayer

Disney Plus got off to a rocky start with widespread technical problems for the streaming service on launch day — and a week later, the company says it’s still seeing a high level of incoming calls from users who are having problems. Disney announced one day after the launch that more than 10 million people

The Game Awards 2019 unveiled nominations for this year’s event, led by Hideo Kojima’s epic “Death Stranding” with nine nods and Remedy/505 Games’ “Control” with eight nominations. This year’s Game of the Year nominees, in addition to “Control” and “Death Stranding,” are “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” “Resident Evil 2,” “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice” and “The

Conde Nast CEO Roger Lynch told the audience of Recode’s Code Media conference that he hadn’t made up his mind yet about Apple’s news subscription service. “I think the jury is out,” Lynch said, adding that he had inherited Conde Nast’s deal with Apple from his predecessor. “I hope Apple News Plus is wildly successful,”

November 19, 2019 12:30PM PT NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, looking to tap into Snapchat’s youth-skewing user base, launched its first exclusive show on Snapchat. Telemundo’s 10-episode “Diego Street Magic” features Mexican-American magician Diego Winburn performing magic tricks and illusions on the streets of New York City. After premiering Nov. 19, new episodes will be available Tuesdays

One week after the launch of Disney Plus, Wall Street analysts are scouring tea leaves for signs of how the Mouse House’s streaming service is faring — and whether it’s taken a bite out of Netflix. Disney Plus’ launch in the first week had “little to no impact” on Netflix usage trends, which is “reassuring

Ross Levinsohn’s reintroduction into the spotlight of the media world was off to a rocky start. Appearing at Recode’s Code Media conference Monday afternoon alongside his business partner James Heckman, Levinsohn was given a chance to address the elephant in the room right out of the gate, with journalist Peter Kafka bringing up allegations of

TV’s newest commercials are starting to look an awful lot like the web’s oldest. Any user of Amazon’s Fire set-top device might have recently stumbled upon an interactive on-screen graphic from Geico, the insurance company known for its heavy use of TV ads. In just 15 minutes, the company likes to claim, it can save

A new player has joined the streaming fray in the U.K., with Video Solutions launching new ad-supported service W4Free and Comcast-owned Sky on board to handle its advertising sales. W4Free’s British rollout follows that of a sister service, Watch4, in German-speaking markets, and comes as the likes of Pluto and Tubi have been in the

Fans of “Friends” can own a piece of the sitcom — with more than 100 props, costumes, replicas and other items to go up for auction online for the first time next month. Proceeds from the auction, timed for the popular series’ 25th anniversary, will benefit The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention

Funimation, Sony Pictures Television’s global anime business, has hired four executives — hailing from NBCUniversal, Hulu, Viz Media and DC Entertainment — to bulk up its management team. The four new hires are Wenny Katzenstein, VP of marketing strategy; TJ Walker, VP of creative; Beth Kawasaki, executive director, brand management; and Anna Songco Adamian, VP,

There’s no doubt about Disney’s desire to make an impression on the market with direct-to-consumer service Disney Plus, trumpeting 10 million subscribers just a day after its Nov. 12 launch. That’s more than HBO Now’s 8 million lifetime subs, not to mention CBS All Access and Showtime OTT’s 8 million subs combined. Wall Street sent

Confirming the pre-launch hype, Disney Plus’ “The Mandalorian” swooped into the No. 3 spot on a ranking of the most in-demand digital originals among U.S. viewers after its debut, according to new data. For the week of Nov. 10-16, “The Mandalorian” — the first live-action series in the Star Wars universe — notched nearly 40

Membership services startup Patreon has paid out over $1 billion to creators since its launch in 2013, the company announced Tuesday. Now, Patreon is getting ready for an international expansion, with a particular focus on Europe, Patreon’s senior vice president of product Wyatt Jenkins told Variety. In addition to the $1 billion payout milestone, Patreon

Appearing at Recode’s Code Media conference in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, CBS chief creative officer David Nevins didn’t hold back criticizing one of his biggest competitors: “If you are going to put out one main product, you have to be as mainstream as you can,” Nevins said about WarnerMedia’s plans for HBO Max. Minutes

The free version of Amazon’s music-streaming service is now available across more platforms, bolstering competition with Spotify’s free tier. Starting Monday, Amazon said, customers can now listen to Amazon Music’s ad-supported selection of top playlists and thousands of stations for free. It’s available to anyone in the U.S., U.K. and Germany who doesn’t have a