August 27, 2019 4:48PM PT Eight people have been charged with conspiring to violate federal criminal copyright law which resulted in the loss of millions of dollars by television program and film copyright owners. Kristopher Lee Dallmann, Darryl Julius Polo, Douglas M. Courson, Felipe Garcia, Jared Edward Jaurequi, Peter H. Huber, Yoany Vaillant, and Luis
Tech
Facebook has been working on a new private messaging app for Instagram, according to a report by The Verge. The new app, dubbed Threads, is meant to help users share their location and other details with their closest Instagram friends. A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment. Threads allows users to exchange private messages with their
HBO Max has been on a buying spree, with the nascent streamer snatching up a number of high-profile original projects as it visits the WarnerMedia vault to extract existing properties. While the final product is still under wraps until spring, the underlying ethos of the subscription video-on-demand service is starting to take shape. Its budding
This week, Venice Film Festival attendees will get to see the world premiere of “The Line,” a new virtual reality (VR) film coming out of Brazil. Sao Paulo-based Arvore Immersive Experiences exclusively shared the trailer with Variety and its audience. The 12-minute interactive VR film follows the story of Pedro and Rosa, 2 miniature dolls
Multi-territory, Asian streaming service, Viu is to produce an Indonesian adaptation of U.S. hit series “Pretty Little Liars.” Localized in Bahasa and filmed in Bali, the series follows a group of four estranged undergraduate students whose group fell apart when their former leader went missing. The girls come back together in the face of danger,
August 26, 2019 4:20PM PT Netflix has shipped a total of 5 billion DVDs to its customers since first sending out those iconic red envelopes 21 years ago. The milestone was announced by DVD.com, the Netflix subsidiary that is now responsible for the company’s physical disc subscriptions, on Twitter Monday. 5,000,000,000 shipments. F I V
Lululemon is the latest brand to embrace podcasting: The athleisure brand unveiled a new podcast called “Sweatlife” Monday that is being created in collaboration with Makers, the Verizon Media subsidiary that is focused on women-centric storytelling. The new podcast is said to feature weekly conversations with athletes, activists and more about physical and mental wellness.
Netflix has set late 2019 and early 2020 air dates for a trio of Chinese-language original series that it has made in Taiwan. Crime thriller, “Nowhere Man” will go to air from Oct. 31, 2019. Directed by DJ Chen and starring Alyssa Chia, Mavis Fan and Joseph Chang, the story involves a strange encounter that
Amazon Prime Video has unveiled its first distribution deal with a telco in France, signing a pact with Altice Europe, which owns leading French internet, mobile and cable-TV provider SFR. The deal will give SFR customers access to the service via their set-top boxes, which is crucial in France, where households still consume content mostly
Top Australian film and TV creator, Tony Ayres, “Harry Potter” producer David Heyman and Christian White have set up “Clickbait,” a new thriller series for Netflix. It probes probing the dangers of social media and the widening gulf between people’s real and virtual selves. The show is to be produced in Melbourne, Australia through NBC
It should come as no surprise that, in its quest to become a full-blown entertainment ecosystem, Netflix has built a roster of podcast programming to complement its scores or original series and films. The programs recruit top talent and hosts to hang out and talk about the streaming giant’s TV and film content. It’s a
Netflix, a company powered by the strategic use of data, relies on artificial intelligence to suggest new content that its streaming customers are likely to be interested in. Now it’s looking to potentially add a human touch: The company has launched a limited-scale test of “Collections,” a new feature that presents groups of movies and
“Wolves in the Walls,” the virtual reality (VR) experience based on Neil Gaiman’s children’s book by the same name, has been awarded with a Primetime Emmy for outstanding innovation in interactive media. The experience has been produced by San Francisco-based immersive entertainment startup Fable, which puts a big effort on making the viewer a participating
James Murdoch-backed virtual reality (VR) startup The Void has teamed up with Sony Pictures Virtual reality to produce a new location-based VR experience, according to Curtis Hickman, the startup’s chief creative officer. Hickman revealed the partnership in a conversation with Variety this week, during which he also outlined plans to bring more original IP to
Peter Loehr, the former head of CAA in China, and seasoned music executive John Possman have been tapped by digital avatar company Genies to lead its expansion into Asia. The company’s proprietary avatar technology allows users to express ideas, thoughts and feelings in a different way from text, audio and video. Within the app and
“Frozen” fans will soon be able to get their hands on a new puzzle-matching adventure game featuring Anna, Elsa — and, of course, Olaf — set for release this fall. The “Frozen Adventures” game, aimed at both kids and adult fans of the animated franchise, is based on Walt Disney Animation Studio’s “Frozen” and “Frozen
Tim Connolly, the former Hulu exec who joined Quibi last year as head of partnerships and advertising, is leaving the mobile TV subscription startup founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg. Connolly’s exit comes eight months ahead of Quibi’s planned April 2020 debut. A Quibi rep declined to comment on his departure, which was first reported by Business
Warner Music Group announced it has entered a partnership with the music streaming and discovery service Audiomack, marking the platform’s first licensing deal with a major label. According to the announcement, the two companies will work together on content concepts and explore ways to break emerging artists, connecting music fans with rising talent before they
Google said it disabled a group of 210 channels on YouTube that were acting in a coordinated “influence campaign” directed against the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Google announced the action Thursday, three days after Facebook and Twitter said they had removed accounts identified as linked to China-backed disinformation campaigns on their platforms aiming
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is aiming to fight back against internet behemoths Facebook and Google — which the company has accused of profiting off its content — with “Knewz,” a news-aggregation app that it says would include a wide range of sources and be free from “bent or bias.” The Knewz news was first reported
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is aiming to fight back against internet behemoths Google and Facebook — which the company has accused of profiting off its content — with “Knewz,” a news-aggregation app that it says would include a wide range of sources and be free from “bent or bias.” The Knewz news was first reported
Google’s YouTube TV now offers two more add-on channels to subscribers, under an expanded pact with AMC Networks: British TV service Acorn TV and UMC (Urban Movie Channel), which features a selection of black TV and film titles. Acorn TV’s add-on channel is now available via YouTube TV for $6 per month and UMC is
August 22, 2019 9:32AM PT Apple is getting ready to introduce a cheaper version of its HomePod smart speaker in 2020, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The company is also working on a new version of its AirPod headphones for next year, according to Bloomberg. Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The new version
Teen rapper Bhad Bhabie is hitting the streets in a new mobile game — in which the object is to steal as many cars as possible. The “Ride or Die!” arcade-style racing game comes from BBTV Interactive, a division of media-tech company BroadbandTV. In the free-to-play game, players control Bhad Bhabie as she jumps from
Eminem’s publishing company Eight Mile Style filed a major copyright infringement lawsuit against Spotify late Thursday, claiming that the streaming giant has no license to host about 250 of Eminem’s songs, while also taking aim at the Music Modernization Act, the federal law enacted last year to improve royalty payments for songwriters. The news was
Chinese streaming firm iQIYI is in negotiations to expand further into Southeast Asia through a venture with Indonesia’s Media Nusantara Citra. iQIYI announced its first step outside Chinese-majority territories in June, when it revealed a linkup in Malaysia with pay-TV leader Astro. It also operates in Taiwan. In April, the company said that it planned
August 22, 2019 1:55AM PT Spotify today extended the free-trial period for its Premium service from one month to three, tripling the amount of time listeners can take full advantage of the streaming giant’s offerings without paying for them. According to the announcement, the offer is “always-on/not limited time,” and will roll out across Spotify
August 21, 2019 2:51PM PT Electronica musician Tycho launched a clever promotional website for his new album “Weather” this week: Visitors of Tycho’s website can use a web app to generate a playlist based on their local weather. Playlists can be saved to both Spotify and Apple Music, and consist of 25 songs, both from
AT&T this week launched AT&T TV, a new subscription streaming television service that uses an Android-based internet set-top, in 10 markets. But the way it’s priced and packaged looks very similar to cable and satellite TV services — in other words, AT&T TV isn’t targeted at the cord-cutter crowd. It’s basically designed as a way
Disney Channel’s first original scripted series made exclusively for release on YouTube is “Shook,” a hip-hop dance short-form series starring Sofia Wylie, produced by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass. “Shook” will debut Saturday, Sept. 28, on Disney Channel’s YouTube channel. The scripted single-camera show centers on 15-year-old Mia (Wylie), who yearns to dance professionally but