The outgoing president of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, will forever be remembered by his declaration that “women need to step up.” And ascend they did: From female artists who dominated the airwaves and streaming charts (Ariana Grande, Lizzo and Lady Gaga, just to name a few) to execs (Epic Records’ Sylvia Rhone, Sony Pictures’
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An armed man live-streamed at least part of an attack near a German synagogue on Twitch, the game-focused video platform owned by Amazon, during which two people were shot and killed. The assault Wednesday — on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish faith — occurred in the east German city of Halle. The
Consider it the box set for VR, if you will: Just in time for Halloween, Fun Train is reissuing its “Exorcist” series with a deluxe edition that includes all 5 episodes on the Steam store. Ahead of the release, Fun Train shared 2 pieces of key art from the game exclusively with Variety’s readers. The
Facebook is facing multiple antitrust investigations at federal and state levels, probing issues including whether it has used its ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp to anticompetitive advantage. But the majority of regular Americans aren’t actually aware that the social giant owns both Instagram and WhatsApp. That’s according to a new survey by Pew Research Center,
October 9, 2019 9:22AM PT AT&T is selling its wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to Liberty Latin America for $1.95 billion in cash. AT&T has been on a mission to reduce its enormous debt load from last year’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner through asset sales and
Apple approved an app that lets users track the location of police in Hong Kong — a move that China’s state-run newspaper criticized, saying it lets pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong “go on with violent acts.” “Nobody wants to drag Apple into the lingering unrest in Hong Kong,” according to the English-language version of an
True Royalty TV has embarked on a new funding round and wants to raise $12 million as it looks to expand its royal-themed streaming service. The SVOD player has brought in Laurence Hollingworth, J.P. Morgan’s former vice chairman, EMEA, as chairman of its board as it plots its next moves. True Royalty TV’s initial seed-funding
Harold Ryan, after more than three years in stealth mode, is finally ready to talk about his next venture after leaving as head of Bungie, the game studio behind hits like “Halo” and “Destiny.” Ryan said he’s set up ProbablyMonsters as a different kind of game developer: It functions as a holding company and incubator
October 8, 2019 7:23PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv, Paramount Pictures claims the top spot in spending with “Gemini Man.” Ads placed for the thriller had an estimated media value of $9.37 million through Sunday for 1,149 national
Android inventor Andy Rubin tweeted photos and videos of a new device made by his phone upstart Essential Tuesday afternoon. The new phone, code-named “Gem,” features an elongated body that looks more like a remote control than a traditional smart phone — something that Rubin called a “radically different form factor.” The back of the
At long last, Google is finally introducing a way for users of its smart speakers and streaming adapters to move media between those devices. The company introduced a new feature called Stream Transfer Tuesday that makes it possible to move an ongoing music stream, podcast or YouTube video from one compatible device to the next.
Netflix and Mediaset on Tuesday in Rome announced details of an alliance in Italy under which they will jointly produce seven Italian-language feature films, a move that marks the U.S. streaming giant’s biggest Italian content deal to date. Five of the films that Netflix will produce in tandem with Italy’s top private generalist broadcaster were announced.
In “Concrete Genie,” the player finds themselves dodging bullies and swinging from the rooftops of a largely abandoned town. But it doesn’t want users to fight said bullies. Instead, the goal is to fill their world with a little bit of color. The title, the latest from Sony’s in-house studio Pixelopus which releases on Tuesday,
Los Angeles-based Kilburn Live has acquired Holodome, the 360-degree immersive entertainment business launched as part of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s holding company Vulcan Inc., and aims to launch new Holodome locations in the near future. Terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed by the two companies. “Holodome is an amazing innovation in the live entertainment
The controversy over China’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong has invaded the esports arena. Activision Blizzard’s Blizzard Entertainment unit has banned “Hearthstone” player Blitzchung from competing for one year — and the company rescinded prize money he won in the recent Asia-Pacific Grandmasters tournament for the game — after the gamer issued a
October 8, 2019 4:22AM PT The newest edition of “60 Minutes” will have decidedly less time to make its point. The venerable CBS newsmagazine plans to launch an original weekly program – just six minutes in length – for Quibi, the upstart streaming-video outlet that plans to devise short-form entertainment for mobile audiences. The new
Hatchling’s “Christmas with Jam” and Lucid’s “Designer” shared top prizes at the Entertainment Intellectual Property Market, part of Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Film Market. “Jam” is a web cartoon about the friendship between an evil spirit in a dog’s shape and the dog’s owner. The two awards were sponsored by major South Korean film
In another digital-media merger, Discovery-backed Group Nine Media has reached a deal to acquire female-focused lifestyle brand PopSugar. The all-stock acquisition will bring PopSugar into the Group Nine portfolio, which includes Thrillist, The Dodo, NowThis, Seeker and comedy studio JASH. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The pact values PopSugar at $300 million, and brings
Hulu at long last is launching one of its customers’ most-requested features: the ability to download TV shows and movies to mobile devices for watching them on the go. The download feature, which has been several years in the works, gives Hulu subscribers on the $11.99 no-commercials plan the ability to download tens of thousands
Imagine the prototype for a dome-shaped alien spaceship, put together with metal piping and neon-green fabric, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of how one of Intel’s latest projects looks like. Only, this dome isn’t about space travel, but the future of entertainment. Tucked away on a soundstage in Los Angeles, Intel’s massive volumetric
October 7, 2019 10:22AM PT Twitch is finally available on Apple TV: Amazon’s gamer-centric live streaming service has launched an official Apple TV app, Macrumors was first to report Monday morning. The app had been in testing since last month. Viewers can browse the Twitch app on Apple TV by game, and also quickly jump
October 7, 2019 9:40AM PT Amazon is bringing its Freetime kids service to Fire TV, starting with its Fire TV stick devices: The app allows parents to set age limits, content restrictions, and even limit the amount of time their little ones spend watching TV every day. Freetime apps previously launched on Amazon’s Fire tablets,
Roku has once again teamed up with Walmart to release lower-priced editions of its hardware: The streaming device maker announced Monday that it is now selling cheaper versions of its recently-introduced soundbar and subwoofer through the retail giant. Co-branded as Roku onn, the two products are selling for just $129 each at Walmart. That’s $50
A massive management shakeup is imminent at NBCUniversal that will see Bonnie Hammer shift from launching the Peacock streaming platform to overseeing all broadcast and cable studio operations. Comcast veteran Matt Strauss is joining NBCUniversal as the new head of Peacock, while Paul Telegdy will become the solo chairman of NBC Entertainment, multiple sources close
Facebook has admitted it overstated video-viewing metrics over an 18-month period from 2015-16 — and was promptly hit with lawsuits from advertisers claiming they overpaid for video ads based on the inflated data. Now the social-media giant agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit under which it will fork over $40 million to advertisers claiming they
Mark Ronson is the subject of YouTube’s latest original release, with documentary film “How to Be: Mark Ronson,” set to premiere Saturday, Oct. 12, for free on the video platform. The film promises previously unreleased footage chronicling the 44-year-old Brit’s ascent in the music biz, plus exclusive interviews with collaborators including Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper,
For the 2019 season, the NFL has consolidated nearly all international-streaming operations for its Game Pass premium subscription service with OverTier, which will now power the over-the-top football package in 181 countries and territories. Since 2017, OverTier has held the rights to operate NFL Game Pass in Europe, covering 61 territories/countries in the region. The
Organized by the Busan International Film Festival and its Asian Film Market, the inaugural edition of the Asia Contents Awards took place in Busan Sunday (Oct. 6) evening. It was a brash red carpet affair, which tried achingly hard to please. The new award show was conceived as a part of the Asian Film Market’s
Director Vincenzo Natali and his “In the Tall Grass” leading man Patrick Wilson celebrated the global release of their Netflix Original feature at Spain’s Sitges Intl. Fantastic Film Festival on Friday. That morning, Natali, who doesn’t speak Spanish, opened the Sitges Pitchbox, a pitching competition for European first-time filmmakers in the horror genre, with a
October 4, 2019 5:11PM PT Subscription video streaming services, smart TVs, and 5G internet will be three key driving forces behind propelling U.S. consumer spend on tech products throughout 2020. That’s the takeaway from a Variety Intelligence Platform analysis on the latest edition of the semi-annual U.S. Consumer Sales and Forecasts Report prepared by the