July 8, 2019 3:42AM PT BBC Studios has invested in Quibi. The production arm of BBC Studios recently won its first commission from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s soon-to-launch shortform video platform, for nature series “Fierce Queens. The company has now also taken a small stake in the business. BBC Studios confirmed the deal. “We
Tech
The U.S. Copyright Office today announced that it has designated the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) — which is backed by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), and the Songwriters of North America (SONA) — as the new entity tasked with licensing and administering rights under the Music Modernization Act.
Starting July 4, MoviePass will be out of commission for the next several weeks — at least — with the struggling theater-subscription service provider saying it needs to fix technical issues and finish work on a new version of its app. There was also a hint that the money-losing MoviePass business is running low on
Depictions of tobacco in the most popular TV shows among young people surged nearly fourfold in the past year — and Netflix’s “Stranger Things” season 2 was the worst offender, according to a new report from anti-smoking group Truth Initiative. In response, Netflix said that going forward, all new shows it commissions with ratings of
With sports dominating the most-watched telecasts on broadcast TV in 2018, its value to TV networks in guaranteeing a live audience is unparalleled. People are still watching sports despite the decline in overall live viewing. But an exclusive study conducted for Variety by Prodege, a leading market research panel, found that being able to gamble
Here we go again: Instagram users across the globe reported problems logging in, sharing or otherwise accessing the Facebook-owned photo and video service on mobile apps and the web on Wednesday. Instagram began having issues since 8:45 a.m. ET, with most of the user reports concentrated in the Northeast U.S. and Western Europe, according to
Like many YouTubers, Lauren Riihimaki — better known to millions of fans as LaurDIY — began her creator career unintentionally: She started posting crafty, do-it-yourself videos as a hobby in 2011. Fast-forward to today, and her popular how-to tutorials and vlogs have been viewed more than 1.1 billion times on YouTube. LaurDIY has blossomed into
July 2, 2019 9:30PM 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, Columbia Pictures claims the top spot in spending with “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” Ads placed for the superhero film had an estimated media value of $5.23 million through Sunday
July 2, 2019 3:06PM PT Tidal, the streaming platform primarily owned by Jay-Z, today announced the release of interactive credit pages, an enhanced feature that expands on the service’s credit feature. According to the announcement, Tidal members can dive deep into the credits on most releases, ranging from unheralded background singers and lyricists to producers and
We’re more than halfway through with 2019, meaning tech giants have had ample time this year to show us how much they’ve furthered — or stagnated on — efforts to rid unsavory content from their platforms. And like other years, there are platforms that have found themselves in hot water on brand safety issues more
In a stunt promoting Hulu’s July 26 launch of “Light as a Feather” season 2, Viacom’s Awesomeness will let fans virtually enter the world of the paranormal teen thriller — and interact with avatars of the show’s cast. Debuting at VidCon US 2019 next week (July 10-13), the “Light as a Feather” mixed-reality experiences use
Amazon isn’t amused by HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” most recent episode, which included a takedown of the ecommerce giant’s warehouses. Oliver, in the show’s June 30 broadcast, broadly decried the low pay and grueling conditions of warehouse workers, and specifically called out “brutal” and “physically draining” working conditions at Amazon’s fulfillment centers
July 1, 2019 4:01PM PT Citing the rising cost of TV programming, Sony said the PlayStation Vue internet-delivered pay TV service will be increasing by $5 per month. It’s deja vue for PS Vue customers: The price hikes come almost exactly one year after Sony raised rates by the same amount in July 2018. The
July 1, 2019 2:01PM PT Facebook evacuated four buildings at its Menlo Park, Calif., campus Monday after equipment at the company’s mail-processing facility detected a package that might have contained sarin, a potentially lethal nerve agent, according to reports. Two individuals may have been exposed to sarin but are not currently showing signs or symptoms
NBC News Now, five weeks after the free streaming service’s launch, has a full-time anchor: Alison Morris, who most recently was with Fox Corp.’s Fox 5 in New York. Since launching May 29, NBC News Now has operated without an anchor, with a rotation of various reporters and talent to host each day. The free,
RIP, WatchESPN. ESPN has officially killed off WatchESPN, first launched in April 2011 to provide pay-TV customers authenticated access to live games, in a move to simplify its app portfolio and consolidate access to all content into one service. On Monday, the Disney-owned sports programmer pulled WatchESPN from Apple’s App Store, Google Play and other
After less than a year, Spotify has decided shut down a test program that let independent artists upload their songs directly to the music-streaming giant. Instead, musicians — as they have had to do previously — will need to work with pre-approved distributor to get on-boarded to Spotify, if they’re not repped by a label.
MobiTV, a provider of internet-video delivery services, announced that it closed over $50 million in new funding from existing investors Oak Investment Partners and Ally Financial and new investor Cedar Grove Partners. The company said it will use the investment to accelerate its international footprint and continue to build out its MobiTV Connect platform, which
July 1, 2019 5:00AM PT Pluto TV is targeting Hispanic audiences — long underserved in the streaming space — with Pluto TV Latino: a suite of 11 free linear channels stocked with 2,000-plus hours of TV programming in Spanish and Portuguese. The entretenimiento gratuito lineup includes content from Pluto TV parent Viacom, with dedicated channels
Wondery, the three-year-old podcast publisher headed by former Fox International Channels chief Hernan Lopez, this week announced the closing of $10 million in Series B financing. With the funding, the company plans to expand internationally and has hired Declan Moore, most recently CEO of National Geographic Partners, the joint venture between National Geographic Society and
In a pair of cost-cutting moves, Pierre Omidyar’s First Look Media is shuttering the Topic Magazine digital publication dedicated to nonfiction storytelling and is dropping its funding for political cartoon site The Nib. Topic Magazine, launched two years ago, is ceasing publication as First Look plans to put more resources toward Topic.com’s original video content
AT&T will donate $500,000 to Sports Fans Coalition NY, the not-for-profit organization that operates Locast, which lets users live-stream local broadcast TV stations via the internet for free. According to the telco, the donation “will support SFCNY’s mission to make free broadcast content available to consumers and offer them more choice.” AT&T added the Locast
June 28, 2019 1:33PM PT Actress and YouTuber Shay Mitchell revealed on social media Friday that she is six months pregnant with her first child with boyfriend Matte Babel — and her “pregnancy journey” will be documented in an original series on YouTube. The biweekly YouTube original series “Almost Ready” will premiere every other Wednesday
It’s become an industry guessing game: Will Netflix ever relent on its no-commercials stance and cash in on advertising? There’s a persistent idea that Netflix is leaving money on the table by not selling advertising — which the company could definitely use toward its $18.9 billion in long-term content-spending obligations, not to mention paying off
Snap’s Spidey sense is tingling in a new pact with Sony Pictures. To hype the release of “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” Sony Pictures is letting Snapchat users take selfies with the famed webslinger and his nemesis Mysterio — with the studio sponsoring the first Snapchat lens tied to four major world landmarks. The Sony campaign
Apple said chief design officer Jony Ive, who has led the tech giant’s award-winning design team since 1996, will leave the company later this year. But he’s not falling too far from the Apple tree: Ive plans to form an independent design company — with Apple among its primary clients. According to Apple, while Ive
June 27, 2019 1:51PM PT Apple Music is still growing at a nice clip — but the company keeps touting different stats to mark its upward trajectory. The tech giant now has surpassed 60 million subscribers for Apple Music, Eddy Cue, senior VP of Internet Software and Services, revealed in an interview with French news site
June 27, 2019 7:35AM PT Global music royalty collection service Songtrust, whose mission is to remove the complexity of the publishing landscape by offering detailed artists and rights holders access to data, reports significant year-over-year growth. With more than 2 million songs under its management, Songtrust registers an average of over 5,000 new songs every
Bustle Digital Group’s Bryan Goldberg is back with more M&A: In the latest prong in Goldberg’s roll-up strategy, BDG closed a deal to buy Nylon, the 20-year-old fashion, beauty, music and pop-culture media brand — the company’s seventh acquisition to date. Financial details of the deal weren’t disclosed; the transaction comprises both cash and equity.
Taylor Swift is headlining Amazon’s first-ever Prime Day live-streaming concert, an event to promote the e-commerce giant’s annual shopping-deals extravaganza. The two-hour July 10 special will also feature live performances by Dua Lipa, SZA, and Becky G. The “Prime Day Concert” will be hosted by comedian-actress Jane Lynch (Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Glee”). The