Tech

AT&T is pulling out the stops to promote HBO’s “Game of Thrones” final season — as if the popular fantasy epic series needed a corporate-synergy assist to build buzz. Among the telco’s “GOT” promos: It’s running a sweepstakes to give one AT&T customer a full-size replica of the show’s iconic Iron Throne, which carries a

Cord-cutters who thought they were getting a price break from “virtual” internet pay-TV services may be in for some sticker shock. FuboTV, as of Thursday (March 28), is increasing the subscription price of its base internet TV package for all subscribers by 22%, to $54.99 per month — up $10 from the previous $44.99 monthly

A bit more than a year after stepping down as CEO of Sony, Kazuo Hirai on Thursday announced that he will be retiring from the company this summer. While he will retire as chairman of Sony on June 18, the company said he will continue to provide counsel as requested by Sony’s management team, acting

Bustle Digital Group, the company behind websites like Bustle, Mic and Gawker, has acquired Joshua Topolsky’s The Outline, the company confirmed Wednesday afternoon. As part of the deal, Topolsky and his staff will join the Bustle Digital team. News of the acquisition was first reported by Recode. “The Outline has created industry leading technology and

Google’s greatest promise with Stadia is that it frees video games from boxes, unhinging the imagination of creators, of players, of streamers in a way never possible before in the roughly four-decade history of the medium. Stadia aims to take the ubiquitous nature of gaming culture and apply it to the games themselves, making it

Downtown Music Holdings, the parent company of Downtown Music Publishing and Songtrust, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the AVL Digital Group and its portfolio of music-distribution, rights-management and artist-services businesses, including AdRev, CD Baby, DashGo and Soundrop, the company announced today. The deal was in the vicinity of $200 million, according to Music

Facebook is tightening the rules around content produced by the fringe right: The company is going to ban “praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism” on both Facebook and Instagram, it announced Wednesday. “Going forward, while people will still be able to demonstrate pride in their ethnic heritage, we will not tolerate praise

Vice Media has agreed to pay a total of $1.875 million to five former female staffers to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging the company consistently paid women less than men. The settlement of the lawsuit was conditionally approved in the Superior Court of Los Angeles on March 25. News of the settlement was first reported

After years of mostly sitting on the sidelines of the digital land grab, Viacom has gotten serious about investing in an online future for its stable of youth-skewing TV properties like MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. A cornerstone of CEO Bob Bakish’s digital road map is Viacom Digital Studios, led by president Kelly Day, a

March 27, 2019 10:00AM PT Twitch is launching a new four-person multiplayer-centric feature known as Squad Stream. Inspired by the multiplayer gaming moments that players have cherished over the years such as “Rock Band” sessions, “GoldenEye” games after school, or building together in “Minecraft,” the feature is a way for four creator to go live

This year’s CinemaCon could be heavy on drama. Netflix, the streaming giant upending the film business, won’t take the stage at the annual exhibition industry confab in Las Vegas, but it’s going to be the topic du jour. The company’s recent success at the Oscars has caused some blowback. Steven Spielberg, for instance, is trying

Baobab Studios, the VR startup best known for its 2016 animated short “Invasion,” has won 2 Daytime Emmys for outstanding individual achievements in animation for its latest VR short “Crow: The Legend,” the Television Academy announced Wednesday morning. Baobab character designer Kal Athannassov won the individual achievement award for character design, while Baobab art designer

March 27, 2019 8:00AM PT File sharing startup BitTorrent is getting ready to give live streaming another go: The company will soon begin the beta test of a new BitTorrent Live app that is being described as a “decentralized social media platform” — a kind of TikTok, run by a P2P company. The new BitTorrent

“Dance Central” doesn’t sound like something that should work in virtual reality, let alone work well. And while some concessions were necessary to make it work, “Dance Central VR” is an excellent adaptation of the seven-year-old franchise. A big piece of the success is the Oculus Quest hardware. The standalone headset is due in Spring

YouTube’s latest original is a half-hour special featuring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who interviews Awkwafina, Simone Biles and Diane von Furstenberg — to ask them for one actionable piece of advice, as Chopra embarks on the next phase of her life. “If I Could Tell You Just One Thing” launched Wednesday (March 27) exclusively on Chopra’s

History and TLC alum Jana Bennett has signed on with Ozy Media to help the Silicon Valley-based digital content firm expand its TV production and podcast operations. Bennett joins as senior adviser with a mandate to expand the 5-year-old company’s original content operations. The company, co-founded in 2013 by former CNN and MSNBC anchor Carlos

LILLE, France — Once nearly one-way traffic, the U.S. TV trade balance with Europe is narrowing just slightly, Avril Blondelot, Eurodata TV head of content insight, suggested at Series Mania’s Lille Transatlantic Dialogues. That may come as little comfort to European film-TV authorities as U.S. global streaming services look set to dominate the global OTT

March 26, 2019 10:25PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, Annapurna Pictures claims the top spot in spending with “Missing Link.” Ads placed for the animated film had an estimated media value of $6.47 million through Sunday for 981 national ad

The U.S. Latin music business experienced its second year of double-digit growth in 2018, driven almost entirely by streaming, according to the RIAA’s year-end report. The Latin market grew 18% in 2018 to $413 million, driven by a nearly 50% growth in revenues from paid subscriptions, the report says. Streaming formats made up a whopping

“Darkwood” is the sort of game you might not expect to find on the Nintendo Switch: It’s dark, violent, and immensely unsettling. But the top-down survival horror title is also an excellent fit for the platform, the sort of evocative experience that a player can methodically pick at in short stints, or sink into for

March 26, 2019 10:39AM PT T-Mobile is once again giving its customers free access to MLB.tv, Major League Baseball’s streaming service. The telco began giving away access to the streaming service Tuesday; anyone interested in signing up has until April 1 to do so. MLB.tv allows subscribers to stream regular season games on mobile and

Electronic Arts is laying off about 350 of its 9,000-person staff, CEO Andrew Wilson announced in a blog post on its website Tuesday. In the brief, open letter, Wilson noted that the move was made to “address our challenges and prepare for the opportunities ahead,” and to “better deliver on our commitments, refine our organization

Is Apple’s star-fueled streaming service a “Netflix killer” — or just another incremental challenger chasing the market leader? Wall Street don’t agree on whether Apple TV+ will put a big dent in Netflix’s subscriber momentum with the debut of its premium subscription VOD service later this year. At its splashy unveiling Monday, Apple trotted out

iHeartMedia today announced a multi-year agreement with LiveXLive, a digital media company focused on live entertainment. According to the announcement, the deal combines content, production, distribution and promotion. The newly expanded partnership gives LiveXLive exclusive global livestreaming rights for 17 iHeartRadio marquee events this year, including iHeartRadio’s ALTer Ego, iHeartCountry Festival, iHeartRadio Wango Tango, Daytime Stage at

Spotify announced plans to acquire Parcast, a scripted-entertainment podcast studio — the streaming giant’s third podcasting pickup so far in 2019. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Spotify expects the acquisition to close in the second quarter of 2019. The Parcast acquisition comes after Spotify last month paid around $337 million to buy two

YouTube claims it is not pulling up stakes from original entertainment — denying a report by Bloomberg over the weekend that the Google-owned video service was cancelling plans for “high-end dramas and comedies” and had stopped taking pitches for “expensive” scripted shows. In a statement, a rep said, “YouTube denies the report” and cited its

Apple unveiled its much-anticipated video service at a press event in Cupertino Monday, promising a range of originals via its forthcoming Apple TV+ service as well as easy access to third-party video subscription services. But while many of the big names attached to Apple’s video efforts were known beforehand, one significant detail wasn’t: How are

Apple detailed its long-rumored gaming subscription service during a special event it held in Cupertino, California Monday. Apple Arcade is the world’s first game subscription service for mobile, desktop and living room, the company said. With a single subscription, you get access to more than 100 new and exclusive games. The games won’t be on

Apple unveiled a news subscription service called Apple News+ at its services event in Cupertino, Calif. Monday. The $9.99 service gives paying subscribers access to over 300 magazines as well as select newspapers and premium digital news services. “We believe in the power of journalism and the impact it will have on your lives,” said

Katie Drummond, who has worked as an editor in digital media and publishing for a decade, joined Vice Media as senior vice president of Vice Digital. Drummond comes on board to take over many of the duties of Ciel Hunter, who left Vice in January as global head of content for Vice Digital after more