If there’s a perfect example of Amazon Studios’ strategy with its local-language international TV content, Japan’s “Documental” would be it. The series revolves around 10 comedians who battle to make one another laugh in an elimination-style competition. James Farrell, Amazon Studios’ head of international originals, said it was a good example of an unconventional idea
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Joyn, the streaming service run jointly by Discovery and German media giant ProSiebenSat.1, will roll out internationally in addition to launching a premium tier domestically later this year. At Mipcom in Cannes, ProSiebenSat.1 CEO Max Conze was asked whether the service, which offers on-demand content and linear channel feeds, would launch beyond Germany. “We definitely
Facebook Watch has inked a content pact with French channel M6 and unveiled a slate of short-form content from European digital publishers for the platform. The deal with M6 will see the French broadcaster place spinoff programming from some of its hit shows on Facebook Watch. M6 will run pre- and after-show clips, interviews, and
Even as a student at Scotch Plains High School in New Jersey, Universal Music Group executive and digital music veteran Jay Frank — who died Sunday at the age of 47 after a battle with cancer — was destined for a career in the music business. Most recently UMG’s senior vice president of global streaming,
Disney unveiled the complete list of films to premiere on its streaming service Disney Plus via a lengthy Twitter thread Monday. With its powerhouse catalog including Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, and National Geographic properties, the full magnitude of the Disney empire will be seen once the streaming service launches. Along with Disney originals previously announced
October 14, 2019 7:15AM PT Longtime YouTube creator Grace Helbig has a new series — coming to Facebook Watch. In the unscripted eight-episode show “Ladies First with Grace Helbig,” set to premiere Tuesday, Oct. 22, the digital star sits down with a series of “empowered women” to learn about how they’re making a positive impact.
On Sunday, “Fortnite” — the most popular game on Earth right now — without warning, imploded into darkness. At around 2 p.m. ET on Oct. 13, a meteor in Season 10 of “Fortnite” that had been biding its time set off a cataclysmic chain reaction that sucked up everything on the the island and eventually
In a first such integration with other social networks, Reddit has added an option to share content from its iOS app to Snapchat. iPhone users can now share Reddit posts with their contacts on Snapchat, or add Reddit content to their Snapchat stories. Anything shared on Snapchat includes a special Reddit sticker, and links back
Ad-supported video streaming service Tubi is the latest to jump on the children’s entertainment bandwagon: Tubi is set to launch a dedicated kids section on Oct. 21, the company announced at Mipcom in Cannes Monday. Additionally, Tubi will also bring its service to the U.K. early next year. Tubi’s new kids section will offer access
October 13, 2019 9:30PM PT CANNES — Veteran U.K. film industry investor Terry Back has joined ACF investment bank as chairman. ACF, headed by CEO Thomas Dey, has been at the forefront of the M&A activity around independent TV and film production outfits, mostly in the unscripted TV arena. ACF is in the midst of
Universal Music executive and digital music veteran Jay Frank died Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 47. UMG chief Lucian Grainge remembered him in a message sent to the company. “Dear Colleagues,” it reads. “I’m deeply saddened to tell you that our colleague and friend Jay Frank has passed after a recurrence of
Sam and Colby, YouTube’s favorite DIY paranormal investigators, headed to the U.K. for their next big ghost-hunting project. The duo today released the trailer for “The Graveyard,” a four-part docu-series shot in The Langham – by legend, London’s most haunted hotel – and an abandoned church graveyard. The project is their first international expedition. The
The global import-export strategies of the U.S. majors are in flux as the world’s major content companies gather this week in Cannes for the annual Mipcom market and conference. Disney, WarnerMedia and the other handful of media conglomerates that control the vast majority of the U.S. market are in the midst of a radical transition
October 12, 2019 7:59AM PT SVOD outfit Cirkus is expanding with Kritic, a new service programmed with premium non-English-language drama. The first launch will be in Sweden in December and feature big-ticket shows such as “Babylon Berlin” from Germany and “Gomorrah” from Italy. Cirkus has established itself in the Nordics and German-speaking territories. Kritic will
CANNES — More or less the only thing that hasn’t changed in Avril Blondelot’s MipJunior presentation of Kids Audience Successes Around the Globe was Blondelot herself. As well as, which she began by reporting, that “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Miraculous Ladybug” – in that order – still dominate the rankings for the
Activision Blizzard saw its stock recover Friday despite continued backlash over its decision to punish a “Hearthstone” player for publicly siding with Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters. The company’s share price was up more than 2% Friday, closing at $54.82. Activision had been in the spotlight ever since Ng Wai Chung, a player of its “Hearthstone”
Microsoft’s Twitch competitor Mixer has lots its two co-founders: Both Matt Salsamendi and James J. Boehm, who co-founded the startup that eventually became Mixer in 2011, have both left the company over the past 2 weeks. The departure comes just a few weeks after Mixer poached famed video game streamer Ninja from Amazon’s Twitch. Salsamendi
Donald Trump has joined Twitch, the game-focused live-streaming service, apparently in an effort to widen his unfiltered 2020 reelection messaging as the embattled U.S. president faces a fast-moving impeachment inquiry. Trump’s first Twitch broadcast was from his campaign rally Thursday in Minneapolis, where among other targets he lashed out at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Somali
YouTube claims its new windowing strategy for originals — making them available to watch free, with ads, for everyone — is delivering big audiences just as execs hoped. Season 2 of “Liza on Demand,” the sitcom starring and co-created by popular YouTube comedian Liza Koshy, scored more views for debut episode “Naked” in its first
AMC’s Acorn Media Enterprises and Irish pubcaster RTE have teamed up on “The South Westerlies,” an Irish-produced original comedy-drama featuring an ensemble cast led by Orla Brady (“Mistresses”). ZDF Enterprises and Norway’s TV2 are also on board the series, which has backing from Screen Ireland. Dublin-based Deadpan Pictures is producing. It will bow on RTE
Apple CEO Tim Cook has defended the company’s decision to remove the controversial HKmap.live app from its virtual store. But his explanations have drawn fire from politicians in the U.S. – and praise from China. The app, conceived by anonymous developers, displays crowd-sourced data about the location of protest operations, and where police are congregated.
YouTube, as part of a stepped-up investment in educational and learning content, is debuting a monthly “book club” original series with bestselling authors talking about their latest books with top YouTubers. The video service’s “BookTube” kicks off with Malcolm Gladwell (“Talking to Strangers”), on Oct. 17. That will be followed by Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid’s
October 10, 2019 9:50AM PT Add ESPN to the growing list of news outlets trying to catch consumers ear in the A.M. The Disney-owned sports-media giant said Thursday it would launch “ESPN Daily,” a weekday morning podcast that will “take a deep dive into a specific story in sports,” all the while using the company’s
October 10, 2019 9:36AM PT German virtual reality (VR) startup Holoride has teamed up with Universal Pictures and car maker Ford to launch a new location-based Frankenstein VR experience, with a twist: The “Universal Monsters Presents Bride of Frankenstein” ride is being shown in a moving car. The experience gives viewers a chance to accompany
Vice Media, in another bid to diversify its revenue mix, struck a deal with Spotify to distribute three podcast series exclusive on the streaming platform. Vice News will produce the trio of original podcast series, combining long-form narrative, talk, and investigative journalism, covering the 2020 U.S. election and current events worldwide. The deal follows Vice
News and opinion website Splinter is getting shut down six months after G/O Media acquired the assets of the former Gizmodo Media Group. Paul Maidment, executive editor of G/O Media, informed company staff in a memo of the decision Thursday. He said the company will “reallocate” Splinter’s seven-person team to other sites in the portfolio,
Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions now wants to strike fear through people’s earbuds. Blumhouse and radio and podcasting giant iHeartMedia reached a deal to produce a series of fictional podcast series for potential future film and television development, the companies announced. Under the pact, the companies will collaborate to develop and produce scripted podcasts in the
One of the biggest stories in technology and music is the proliferation of smart speakers — there are an estimated 100 million of them in homes at the moment, and the No. 1 use for these devices is listening to music. Along with automotive voice devices, smart speakers are proliferating even faster than smartphones did
Now you can make Google Assistant talk — and sing — like Issa Rae, star and co-creator of HBO’s “Insecure.” The actress-writer-producer is the latest celebrity to bring her voice to a digital virtual assistant. Rae is the second celeb cameo for Google Assistant, after singer John Legend’s mellifluous vocalizations came to the platform earlier
Apple has removed from its online stores the controversial HKmap.Live app which had been used to show the locations of protests and police operations in Hong Kong. The move was made on Thursday, local time, barely a day after Apple had been criticized in mainland Chinese media for hosting the app. A statement from Apple