Tech

Vice Media Group closed its acquisition of Refinery29 — and Refinery29’s co-CEOs and co-founders Philippe von Borries and Justin Stefano will no longer be involved in day-to-day management at the newly combined company. In a memo to staff Monday (Nov. 4), Vice Media Group CEO Nancy Dubuc said Stefano (above left) and von Borries (above

Twitch is losing another high-profile creator. Pro gamer and influencer Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, who has 2.1 million followers on Twitch, inked a deal with YouTube to live-stream exclusively on his YouTube channel. Dunlop is scheduled to kick off his first live stream on YouTube, where he has 1.85 million subscribers, on Tuesday (Nov. 5). “I’m

November 4, 2019 11:56AM PT Twitch is looking to broaden its esports and live entertainment biz with the hire of longtime Nascar executive Lou Garate. Garate is joining the Amazon-owned streaming company as Twitch’s first global head of sponsorships sales. He will be based in Twitch’s New York office and focus on developing partnerships with live

A former employee of Disney Streaming Services fired earlier this year is suing the company, alleging that he was the target of discrimination and harassment over his new parental status — and that Disney employees hacked into his home computer and phone to learn private information about him. Steven van Soeren worked as a product

Comic and actor Fred Armisen will host the NAMM Tec Awards in January, an annual ceremony held as part of the NAMM Show in Anaheim, where musicians and representatives of the industry’s products, sound and tech sides converge each year. Nominations for the 35th annual Technical Excellence and Creativity Awards, which will take place Jan.

CBS Interactive is undergoing a CEO transition as Marc DeBevoise takes the reins from Jim Lanzone, who is leaving after nine years to be an executive-in-residence at Benchmark Capital. Lanzone, who also served as chief digital officer of CBS Corp., is the architect of the CBS All Access streaming service. He joined CBS in 2011

Location-based virtual reality (VR) startup The Void has teamed up with Sony Pictures Virtual Reality for a new “Jumanji: Reverse the Curse” VR experience that will be available at select The Void locations starting November 27. The experience will launch just ahead of the premiere of “Jumanji: The Next Level,” which is set to premiere

Hearst is bringing two more original lifestyle shows — tied to its magazine brands — exclusively to Facebook Watch, the social media giant’s video platform for episodic content. The two eight-episode series are: “Breaking Event,” hosted by self-trained home Kevin Curry (pictured above) and “Relationship Rehab,” featuring former Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon and comedian

Bob Iger wants to talk movies with Martin Scorsese over a glass of wine. The Disney CEO and chairman was asked about the vaunted director’s recent comments taking down the Marvel franchise, which ignited a ferocious debate about the artistic merit of such movies. “I don’t think he’s ever seen a Marvel film,” Iger told

In today’s film news roundup, “Avatar” gets a streaming date, Trace Adkins and Thora Birch join disaster thriller “13 Minutes,” and Jamie Bell and Ruby Rose get voice cast roles. STREAMING James Cameron’s “Avatar” will be available on Nov. 12 on Disney Plus when the streaming service launches in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands.

Ozy Media, the digital magazine and lifestyle outlet launched in 2013, has raised $35 million in a new round of financing to support the expansion of its TV production, live events and podcasting operations. Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, led the series C funding round with participation from Interlock Partners, LionTree, Atinum Investment,

Demonstrators arrived outside of BlizzCon, Activision Blizzard’s annual convention to promote its current and upcoming releases, on Friday to protest the company’s decision to take punitive action against a professional “Hearthstone” player who made a statement of support for Hong Kong during a livestream. The protesters gathered outside of the Anaheim Convention Center on Friday

Deadspin is dead, for the time being. The site is now without any editors or writers — after a staff revolt that erupted this week when parent company G/O Media demanded that the sports and culture site confine its coverage to sports. As of Friday morning, all 20 of Deadspin’s previous editorial employees are no

Kyra TV thinks it’s found the recipe for building a sustainable, Gen Z-focused digital entertainment company. The startup, founded by four guys in London in March 2017, is creating original lifestyle shows for YouTube, geared toward young audiences. But Kyra TV is focused on generating revenue through brand deals — not video advertising — and

November 1, 2019 9:26AM PT U.S. regulators have opened an investigation into ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, and its acquisition of Musically in late 2017, Reuters reported Friday morning. Regulators are said to focus on potential national security risks, given that ByteDance is based in China. The investigation is being handled by the Committee

In the wee hours of Nov. 1, Apple opened the doors to Apple TV Plus, its brand-new streaming service stocked with original programs. But multiple customers on social media have complained that they’re seeing error messages when they try to redeem the one-year free offer Apple has extended to buyers of new devices. In trying

Google is expanding its device portfolio into smartwatches, reaching an agreement to acquire Fitbit in a deal worth $2.1 billion. In announcing the agreement, Fitbit pointedly promised customers that it would strenuously protect their privacy. “Strong privacy and security guidelines have been part of Fitbit’s DNA since day one, and this will not change,” the

Amusement park guests may soon be able to get personal tours from their favorite characters, who will guide them from ride to ride with the help of mobile augmented reality (AR) technology, helpfully pointing out landmarks along the way. London- and Los Angeles-based Nexus Studios has been working on incorporating AR into entertainment venues for

Netflix is set to launch its first original scripted podcast, Variety has learned exclusively. Titled “The Only Podcast Left,” the podcast is set in the world of the streamer’s post-apocalyptic series “Daybreak,” and has showrunner and head writer Aron Coleite on board as an executive producer. According to Netflix, the 6-episode narrative is designed to be complimentary

October 31, 2019 9:48AM PT Nintendo’s new Switch Lite is selling like hotcakes: The Japanese gaming giant sold nearly 2 million units of the smaller, lighter Switch in just 11 days, it revealed as part of its September earnings release. Nintendo began selling the Switch Lite worldwide on September 20. By September 30, it had

Aaron Sorkin, who won a screenwriting Oscar for “The Social Network” about the early rise of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, has weighed in on the debate over the social giant’s policy to accept all political advertising — regardless of whether it’s factual or not. Sorkin’s message to Zuck: You’re wrong. In an op-ed published Thursday

Deadspin has spun to a virtual halt. At least 10 editorial employees, the majority of the staff of the irreverent sports and culture news site, have resigned in the last three days. The exits have come after the firing of interim editor-in-chief Barry Petchesky by parent company G/O Media because he refused to follow instructions

It’s not TV, it’s… well, it’s a bit confusing. WarnerMedia has finally unveiled details behind HBO Max, the company’s long-awaited direct-to-consumer offering that will compete in an increasingly crowded field starting next May. But for existing HBO subscribers, it’s still not quite clear what they’ll be getting — or when they’ll be getting it. That’s

Ahead of its debut of Apple TV Plus, Apple posted financial results for the September 2019 quarter that were well above Wall Street estimates and included an all-time high $12.5 billion in services revenue, up 18% year over year. The tech giant reported revenue of $64.0 billion (up 1.8%) and net income of $13.69 billion

Minutes after Twitter announced that it would ban all political advertising, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg used his company’s Q3 2019 earnings call for a defense of political ads, arguing that they were free speech that was worth standing up for — even if this type of advertising was unpopular, and not all that meaningful in

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that the social service will no longer sell political advertising — an issue that has ensnared Facebook in recent weeks. “We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought,” Dorsey wrote in a tweet Wednesday. We’ve made

AT&T is rolling out three new unlimited wireless plans — and with the new packages, subscribers will no longer have free access to WatchTV, the 35-plus live TV channels the telco launched last year. In addition, AT&T’s most expensive tier will now include HBO for free, whereas it previously offered customers on the top package

A group of digital journalists at NBC News have asked the company to recognize their efforts to unionize, the latest sign of strife at the NBCUniversal operation to break out as it grapples with accusations of how it has handled recent employee matters over the past two years. “There have been several different situations at

“Turn around, don’t drown!” Standing in a street with rapidly rising waters, The Weather Channel meteorologist Chris Warren is imploring drivers to steer clear of flash floods. Moments later, as if to prove his point, a car floats by. Only, Warren isn’t risking his life to record the network’s latest extreme weather segment. Instead, he’s

Google and public radio distributor PRX have teamed up for a 10-part educational series meant to teach budding podcasters how to perfect their craft. “Podcasting 101,” which is scheduled to launch on 10/31, will show podcasters how to record professional-sounding audio, how to write scripts, how to monetize their shows and more. The video series