Apple has finally revealed key details about its upcoming video subscription service: The company used a press event for the introduction of the new iPhone Tuesday to announce that its Apple TV Plus service is going to launch in 100 countries on Nov. 1. The service will be priced at $4.99 per month, and Apple
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Apple announced that its Apple Arcade game-subscription service will launch next week on the App Store, priced at $4.99 per month for unlimited access to over 100 exclusive games. Apple Arcade, first revealed earlier this year, will be available starting Sept. 19 in more than 150 countries with the release of iOS 13. Priced at
For years, Netflix has ranked as the biggest application in terms of bandwidth consumption on internet networks, particularly during peak-period hours. But now Netflix has dropped to second place globally behind web-based media streaming apps, as video consumption overall continues to climb, according to the 2019 Global Internet Phenomena Report from Sandvine, a vendor of
WarnerMedia has tapped company veterans Sofia Chang and Rich Warren to oversee distribution for HBO, the nascent HBO Max streaming service and the Turner channels. The appointments of Chang and Warren as president of WarnerMedia Distribution come as part of the continuing shakeup of HBO and Turner operations following AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner last
Formal debates aren’t the only way news organizations can help voters meet White House potentials. ABC News, which will televise a debate among Democratic candidates Thursday night, will today launch “Around the Table,” a series of televised meetings between three voters and one of the Democratic presidential candidates, who get to converse around a dinner
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has a plan to save our planet: Pack up all those polluting factories, and relocate them to the moon. “We need to move heavy industry off Earth,” Bezos said at an Amazon event this summer. “Earth will be zoned residential and light industry.” The world’s richest man has poured billions of
Mark Cuban has sold a majority stake in his HDNet cable channels to Leonard Asper’s Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Entertainer and ubiquitous TV host Steve Harvey has signed on with Toronto-based Anthem as an investor in the deal that includes the music-focused AXS TV channel and HDNet Movies. Anschutz Entertainment Group and Cuban remain equity
September 9, 2019 10:08AM PT Spotify users will soon be able to recommend tracks and podcasts directly to their friends and followers on Snapchat, thanks to a new sharing option announced Monday. The new feature allows users to either add albums, tracks or podcasts to a story, or share them directly with their friends. Users
September 9, 2019 8:25AM PT The Upside Down appears to be helping Netflix’s subscriber numbers bounce back for the September quarter after the company’s big miss in customer growth projections for Q2. In a report Monday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch cited data from research firm Sensor Tower finding that Netflix’s mobile-app downloads so far
Digital studio Portal A has hired Todd Barrish, a former senior exec at Endemol Shine, Disney’s digital media group and Maker Studios, in a newly created position as head of revenue and growth. At Portal A, Barrish is responsible for leading the overall growth strategy for the branded content and entertainment studio. His hire comes
FuboTV announced details on programming available on Fubo Sports Network, a linear, free-to-view TV channel aimed at expanding its revenue base and audience beyond its flagship internet pay-TV service. The slate includes FuboTV’s first original programming as well as content from partners including FanDuel, Stadium, the Players Tribune, USA Today and Gravitas Ventures. The lineup
September 9, 2019 6:59AM PT President Donald Trump took aim at CNN and MSNBC on Monday morning as word surfaced that an activist investor was lobbying for major changes at CNN parent AT&T. Trump responded to reports Monday that Elliott Management had laid out a four-point plan to boost the share price of AT&T with
Digital-media company Group Nine Media raised $50 million in new funding, led by its lead investor Discovery along with participation from German publishing firm Axel Springer. Group Nine was formed in 2016 with a $100 million investment from Discovery, combining three startups backed by Lerer Hippeau Ventures — Thrillist, NowThis Media and the Dodo —
Los Angeles-based MoJo Global Arts, former Shoreline Ent. CEO Morris Ruskin’s newly-minted production-management venture, has struck a strategic alliance with top Spanish-language group 2btube and its subsidiary Touché Films. The deal will see the partners develop, package and produce premium TV and movie content for Latin America, Spain and the Hispanic U.S. In a first
September 7, 2019 1:30AM PT Roku is starting to bring smart TVs powered by its operating system to Europe, starting with some Hisense models that will go on sale in the U.K. during the coming holiday quarter. The streaming company announced at IFA Saturday that it was expanding its smart TV licensing program to the
September 6, 2019 2:59PM PT In its ongoing foray into podcasting, Spotify inked a deal with David Rhodes, formerly president of CBS News, as a consultant to develop its strategy for news-focused original audio programming. In addition, Spotify has hired Amy Hudson, most recently Facebook’s head of sports media partnerships for North America, to lead
Boston’s public broadcaster WGBH is trying out a new way to bring science programming to young audiences: The station’s Emerging Platforms Initiative is set to broadcast a space-themed escape room challenge, dubbed the Escape Lab, on Twitch this coming Monday. The one-hour challenge will be tackled by well-known YouTube family The Skorys, who will be
September 6, 2019 8:02AM PT Nick Holmsten, Spotify’s head of music, will be stepping down from his post and will transition to an advisory role that will work across several areas of the company, a rep for the company confirmed to Variety. The news was first reported by Hits. The rep confirms that the company’s
Global TV streaming service Rakuten Viki has struck new licensing deals with CJ ENM and JTBC, two major South Korean entertainment companies. Under the deals, Viki will add dozens of Korean and Chinese dramas to its catalog, including some that became unavailable to U.S. audiences when Warner Bros. shut down its Korean drama streaming service
Facebook faces another antitrust investigation, with the New York State Attorney General announcing Friday that a coalition of nine AGs has launched an investigation into the social-media giant for potential antitrust violations. The investigation focuses on “Facebook’s dominance in the industry and the potential anticompetitive conduct stemming from that dominance,” according to the announcement from
Crunchyroll, the anime streaming-service division of WarnerMedia’s Otter Media, entered into a pact to become the majority owner of Viz Media Europe Group, the top anime distributor and manga publisher in Europe. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The agreement will bring together Crunchyroll’s global streaming platform with Viz Media Europe Group’s network of partners,
Variety’s Entertainment and Technology summit featured a host of conversations surrounding the use of advertising in media and the ways in which perpetually advancing technology is constantly affecting how fans consume content. From “Spider-Man’s” departure from the Marvel Universe to Crypt TV’s possibly long future with Facebook Watch, take a look at the 10 biggest
Patreon, the subscription-based fan platform, is eyeing a range of new services to support creators — including potentially providing loans at some point, CEO Jack Conte said. Conte, speaking at Variety’s Entertainment & Technology Summit in L.A., said Patreon is considering ways to provide capital funding and other financial services to artists, as well as
Revenues are up 18% to $5.4 billion and streaming accounts for 80% of that revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America’s mid-year report released today. Paid streaming services added more than 1 million new subscriptions a month, pushing the U.S. total past 60 million. The trends continue the double-digit growth the industry has
Lenovo has once again teamed up with Disney to bring one of the studio’s iconic franchises to augmented reality (AR). After first launching the “Star Wars: Jedi Challenges” AR headset in 2017, the two companies are back with a new “Marvel Dimension of Heroes” experience running on slightly revamped hardware. News of Lenovo and Disney
Jon Favreau gave some more insight into the scale of his forthcoming Disney Plus “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian” at Variety‘s Entertainment & Technology summit. The prolific multi-hyphenate likened the series, which takes place after the events of “Return of the Jedi,” to the original George Lucas trilogy in terms of scale and tone. “For
It was a stand-up comic’s worst nightmare: Taking the stage a while back for the first of four shows that would be recorded for a TV special, the comic cracked under the pressure, mispronouncing a word at a pivotal moment in the joke and screwing up the punchline. Gaffes like this are exactly why comics
The streaming-video battlefield is about to get some major new combatants — and fresh research suggests that Disney is best equipped to grab new territory. Once Disney, WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal launch their direct-to-consumer services, customers’ perceived value of incumbent players Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video will drop significantly, according to a study conducted by
For those looking to get an easy handle on how thoroughly the digital revolution has reshaped the entertainment landscape, look no further than actor/comedian David Spade’s new Comedy Central talk show “Lights Out With David Spade,” which was inspired by a series of Instagram posts. “I’d walk around and try to do jokes instead of
Sonos is embracing the outdoors: The smart speaker maker unveiled its first-ever portable speaker Thursday. The speaker, dubbed Move, is a major departure for the company, as it is also the first Sonos product to embrace Bluetooth. In addition to the Move, Sonos also introduced a new version of its Sonos One speaker Thursday that