Tech

Hollywood creatives have always dreamed of having total control of their work. For most of them, it has been just that: a dream.  But that doesn’t hold true for a new breed of content creators: YouTube influencers. These individuals, with no corporate boss to answer to, and whose work is growing in scope and impact,

It’s either the Next Huge Thing — a technology that alters virtually every aspect of how we work, play, communicate and travel — or an incremental lift in today’s wireless speeds and feeds. No one doubts that the implementation of 5G as the new digital standard for wireless services will change the market and make

Thought you were getting a price break with an over-the-top TV package? Maybe think again. YouTube TV is the latest OTT television service to hike its fees, which is going up to $50 per month for all customers — a 25% to 43% increase, depending a customer’s existing subscription package. The new pricing kicks in

Amazon finally began selling its Echo Link Amp Wednesday, making it easier for audiophiles to bring internet-connected music streaming and voice control to their favorite pair of speakers. The Link Amp is available on Amazon.com for $299.99, and was first announced in September of 2018. The device comes with a built-in 2-channel amplifier, with up

SiriusXM and Netflix announced the launch of Netflix Is a Joke Radio, a full-time comedy channel piggybacking on the streamer’s stand-up comedy lineup. The channel, debuting April 15, marks the first time Netflix has teamed with another subscription-media company to distribute content. Netflix Is a Joke Radio is available on satellite radio channel 93 to

T-Mobile unveiled a new name for its Layer3 TV internet television service — TVision Home — with enhanced features, and announced a deal with Amazon to add Prime Video to the service later in 2019. TVision Home will be available starting April 14 in eight markets (the same areas Layer3 TV has already been available):

“Kulipari,” the frog-superhero saga created by Trevor Pryce, will be prominently featured on the former Denver Broncos star’s new digital network, which he’s gearing up to launch in partnership with Cinedigm. But the two seasons of the animated series for kids based on Pryce’s “Kulipari” won’t be on the new over-the-top channel — for now, those

April 10, 2019 6:57AM PT Veteran rapper Wiz Khalifa will launch a docuseries, “Wiz Khalifa: Behind the Cam,” April 17 on Apple Music, he announced Wednesday. According to the announcement, the series “will go into the most intimate aspects of Wiz’s life,” containing archival footage from throughout his decade-plus-long career. The series will feature interviews

“Top Gear” will rev anew in the United States. The fan-favorite series for driving enthusiasts will find a new home at MotorTrend Group, the Discovery-owned unit that caters to automotive enthusiasts. MotorTrend and BBC Studios have struck a new multi-year deal that calls for the two parties to produce a new U.S. format of “Top

April 9, 2019 2:36PM PT Nile Rodgers, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Greg Kurstin, Frank Dukes, Benj Pasel and Justin Paul, Mike Elizondo, Murda Beatz, Ross Golan and Teddy Geiger — who between them have collaborated with everyone from David Bowie and Aretha Franklin to Adele and Camila Cabello — are among the dozens of songwriters who

April 9, 2019 2:15PM PT The Void is coming to San Francisco: The location-based VR startup is getting ready to open a new outpost in the Westfield San Francisco Centre mall on the city’s busy Market street this summer, Variety has learned. There’s no word on the exact launch date; The Void didn’t immediately respond

YouTube plans to take its original programming into a new dimension — with a new slate of content geared around interactive content and live specials. The new initiative will be headed by Ben Relles, who previously was head of unscripted for YouTube Originals, a position he held since June 2015. Relles has been named to

Blackpink, the four-member K-pop girl group that has taken the world by storm, has officially broken the YouTube record as the most-viewed music video debut with “Kill This Love.” The group’s “Kill This Love” video, released April 4, garnered 56.7 million views in its first 24 hours, according to YouTube. That beat the previous record

April 9, 2019 10:37AM PT Apple just made a significant hire in the virtual reality (VR) space: The iPhone maker has hired serial entrepreneur Arthur van Hoff, a founding executive of the Disney-backed VR startup Jaunt. Van Hoff started at Apple in a senior architect position this month, according to his Linkedin profile. There’s no

Just in time for this week’s premiere of Laika’s and Annapurna’s new stop-motion comedy “Missing Link,” United Artists Releasing and digital agency Isobar have launched a new Alexa skill that lets kids and their parents join the protagonists of the movie in a series of goofy adventures. The “Missing Link Adventures” skill, which is now

Streaming giant Spotify, after years of attempting to woo the songwriting community, is now at the front of an effort to pay it less. It’s a move that has seen the company, the market leader with 87 million worldwide subscribers, hand second-place Apple, with an estimated 43.5 million subs, an opportunity to make up ground.

Fullscreen, the digital-centric talent and brand-marketing division of WarnerMedia’s Otter Media, announced 10 new clients to its talent management roster. The new signings are actress Mikaela Hoover (pictured above), Estrella Nouri, Sierra Schultzzie, Ava Frye, Bone Collector, Prakash Amritraj, Selva Rasalingam, Luke Abercrombie, Samantha Jo, and Josh Ovalle. Fullscreen’s 2,500-plus talent management roster includes digital

When news about Brightcove acquiring its long-time competitor Ooyala’s online video platform business for $15 million broke in February, many assumed that this would be the end of it for Ooyala. Turns out that was wrong: The acquisition officially closed last week, Ooyala is still and independent company, and its CEO Jonathan Huberman recently caught

PewDiePie, YouTube’s most popular individual creator, is throwing his weight behind DLive — a live-streaming video service that promises far better economic terms for creators than other major platforms. The vlogger-gamer-comedian, whose name is Felix Kjellberg, says he will use DLive exclusively (for the next several months, anyway) to present weekly live-streams. PewDiePie is slated

April 9, 2019 3:48AM PT Huya, a leading player in the business of live-streaming online games play, is to raise $343 million from a secondary offering of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The Chinese firm listed its shares in ADR form in May last year. The company says that the latest share

European on-demand platform Chili, which is backed by Warner Bros., Paramount, Fox and Sony, is ramping up operations, following up its expansion in the U.K. last June with an official launch in Germany and Austria over the past weekend. The Milan-based company is now active in Italy, Poland, Germany, Austria and the U.K., which it

As much as we already know about Disney+, there’s a lot we still don’t know. That’s about to change at an investor presentation on April 11, when Disney will give a demonstration of its yet-to-be-launched streaming service, as well as showcase some original content that’s being developed for it. Additionally, Disney will discuss its overall

Pluto TV will stream — for free — more than 200 classic “Doctor Who” episodes and other BBC Studios programming under a new content-licensing pact covering the U.S. It’s the first big content deal Pluto TV has announced since Viacom acquired the free, ad-supported streaming startup for $340 million in cash earlier this year. Pluto

Refinery29 promoted chief content officer Amy Emmerich to president, North America, which she’ll add to her current role overseeing editorial, video, and branded content. In her expanded position, Emmerich will lead the company’s North American business, responsible for commercial development of content across all channels; scaling Refinery29’s original productions and experiential businesses; and enhancing operational

CANNES — A Movistar + Original Series co-produced with and sold by Studiocanal, “Instinto” begins with deep breathing. It is in fact Marco Mur (Mario Casas), jogging down an empty near-dawn Madrid street. But it could as easily be his having sex. He pleasures himself in the shower, glances at a sketch – maybe his

April 8, 2019 9:30AM PT After five years on the public-relations team at BuzzFeed News, Katie Rayford is leaving to join Slate as the digital publisher’s first director of media relations. Rayford starts at Slate on April 22, and she will be based in the company’s Brooklyn office. She reports to Slate president and chief

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea and smart speaker maker Sonos announced their first two joint products Monday: The furniture giant will begin selling a $99 internet-connected bookshelf speaker and a $179 table lamp that doubles as a smart speaker this August. The two devices will be marketed under the Symfonisk branding, and both will be controllable

Rory Brown is leaving Turner’s Bleacher Report after a decade to join MTV in a newly created position as head of digital and social media for the MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo brands. In the new role, Brown will report directly to Jacqueline Parkes, chief marketing officer and executive VP of digital studios for MTV,

Univision Communications reached a deal to sell Gizmodo Media Group and The Onion to private-equity firm Great Hill Partners for an undisclosed amount. With the sale, Great Hill will form a new company called G/O Media Inc., headed by digital content industry vet Jim Spanfeller, who also will be a “significant investor” in the company.

Adam Berenzweig considers the gesture recognition technology of “Minority Report” an ergonomic disaster. The constant whipping around of arms. Fingers that strum and tap at the air as if you’re conducting an orchestra. For all the cool gadgets that Hollywood science fiction can produce, the reality is they’re usually just impractical and uncomfortable. “People have