Qatari powerhouse beIN Media Group has rallied support from American sports and entertainment entities, including Discovery and Fox, behind its request that the U.S. government place Saudi Arabia on its watch list of top intellectual property offenders. The Doha-based broadcaster, a state-owned spinoff of Al Jazeera news network, accuses the Saudi government of harboring pirate broadcaster
Tech
February 15, 2019 8:25AM PT NBA Digital announced a deal with Facebook under which all NBA, WNBA, NBA G League and NBA 2K League game recaps will be available on Facebook Watch worldwide. The video recaps will span every game during the season, including the Summer League, preseason and playoffs where applicable. NBA Digital, jointly
MADRID — Telefonica’s Movistar +, the biggest pay TV-SVOD service in Spain, is feeling the Netflix effect. And for the good. Following Netflix’s launch on Movistar + on Dec. 11, more than one third of new subscribers to Movistar, Telefonica’s telephony, internet and TV service, have taken the new Netflix option. 35% of established clients
February 15, 2019 6:11AM PT Netflix and Hasbro have partnered with Rooster Teeth to bring “Transformers: War for Cybertron” — telling the origin story of the Transformers universe — to the global streaming service in an original series set to launch in 2020. The producers promise that the series will feature a “new animation look
Streaming-audio giant Spotify shelled out around €300 million, or about $337 million, to buy podcasting companies — producer Gimlet Media and services provider Anchor FM Inc., the company said. The deals for Gimlet and Anchor, announced last week, were primarily in cash, with the total purchase prices subject to closing adjustments, Spotify disclosed the figure in
February 14, 2019 4:01PM PT Victoria Beckham will launch her own YouTube channel in time to live-stream her London Fashion Week show on Sunday. The former Spice Girls star-turned-designer will add a range of content about her brand to the channel. Starting with her autumn-winter show, it will also feature behind-the-scenes footage of the workings
February 14, 2019 3:45PM PT Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are in negotiations over a settlement that would result in a massive fine of multiple billion dollars for privacy violations, the Washington Post reported Thursday afternoon. The fine would be the largest such penalty ever by the agency against a technology company. Facebook
Apple is going to give the world a first glimpse at its marquee video content at a press event in Cupertino, Calif., at the end of next month, where the iPhone maker is expected to show clips of its original series. However, sources familiar with the company’s plans told Variety that the service may not
Walmart is using virtual reality to — what else? — get people excited to buy stuff. The retailer teamed up with DreamWorks Animation for a touring VR experience tied to “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.” Walmart is setting up installations in parking lots of its stores in 16 cities, starting Friday (Feb.
Overtime, a digital sports-media startup focused on high-school athletes, has raised $23 million in Series B funding as it looks to expand its content footprint and diversify its revenue base. Venture-capital firm Spark Capital led the round, which brings the two-year-old company to $33.5 million raised to date. Others participating include MSG Networks; Sapphire Ventures; Charles
Online video platform provider Brightcove is acquiring longtime competitor Ooyala for $15 million in cash and stock, the company announced Wednesday afternoon. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of this year. As part of the acquisition, Brightcove will get its hands on Ooyala’s software platform, technology and intellectual property. The company
European Union negotiators agreed Wednesday on codified language in a new set of sweeping copyright-reform rules — including a provision that would mandate YouTube and other internet platforms block copyrighted material when it’s uploaded. YouTube in particular has been particularly vigorous in opposing the proposed changes to the laws. The finalized text of the rules
Cord-cutting inflicted a heavier toll on big cable and satellite TV providers last year — and analysts expect the pain to continue into 2019. The five biggest U.S. pay-television providers saw their traditional subscriber rolls shrink 4.2% in 2018, as they collectively lost around 3.2 million customers for the year. That’s an acceleration from estimated sector-wide declines
February 13, 2019 10:02AM PT Amazon just made it a lot easier to publish content on one of its Echo speakers, or any other device running the company’s Alexa assistant for that matter. The company opened up its Alexa Skills Blueprints program to the public Wednesday, effectively allowing anyone to create and publish a range
February 13, 2019 8:16AM PT Digital entertainment firm Wattpad and talent agency Huayi Brothers Korea have partnered to adapt Wattpad stories for film, TV and digital outlets. Wattpad, an online community of readers and writers, will use machine learning software to sift through the 565 million stories it houses. The selected stories will be adapted
CuriosityStream, the streaming service launched by Discovery founder John Hendricks, has raised about $140 million in private-placement funding. Stifel Investment Banking acted as sole placement agent, with new investors including Blum Capital Ventures and TimesSquare Capital Management. In December 2017, Hendricks said he had invested nearly $100 million in CuriosityStream. CuriosityStream offers more than 2,000
Apple will be holding its first press event of the year on March 25, Buzzfeed reported Tuesday afternoon. The event is said to be focused on services, and may include the announcement of a news subscription plan. The iPhone maker didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Apple plans to hold the event in
ABC is moving its Oscars red-carpet preshow from Facebook to Twitter for 2019, marking the first time “Oscars All Access: Red Carpet Live” will be streamed live exclusively on Twitter. Twitter’s live stream will be available at @TheAcademy account on Oscars Sunday, Feb. 24, starting at 6:30pm ET/3:30 p.m. PT. For Twitter — which has been pushing to
Amazon’s acquisition of mesh router maker Eero caused an uproar among Eero’s customers on Monday, with some suspecting that Amazon would soon be able to spy on everything they do online. That’s not true at all — but Amazon can still learn a lot from Eero’s user base, even without violating their privacy. In fact,
February 12, 2019 11:05AM PT Video game publisher Ubisoft is working with Mozilla to develop an artificial intelligence coding assistant called Clever-Commit, head of Ubisoft La Forge Yves Jacquier announced during DICE Summit 2019 on Tuesday. Clever-Commit reportedly helps programmers evaluate whether or not a code change will introduce a new bug by learning from
February 12, 2019 8:19AM PT The number of paid subscriptions to streaming video services in China could exceed 300 million this year, according to a new report. That would be a jump from 230 million at the end of 2018, and further change the hybrid paid- and ad-supported business models previously adopted by leading Chinese
Los Angeles-based immersive entertainment company Vortex Immersion Media wants to give consumers a new way to experience virtual reality (VR) without those pesky headsets: The company has struck a deal to open a 360-degree dome multiplex that can seat up to 2,500 visitors in its main theater in Phoenix, Arizona. The Domeplex is being built
February 12, 2019 8:00AM PT Variety is launching its first-ever Silicon Valley summit with Silicon Valleywood, a half-day exploration into the convergence of technology and entertainment. Beginning April 23 at the Rosewood Hotel in Menlo Park, Calif., Silicon Valleywood will bring together leaders from both the Hollywood and tech communities in an effort to spark conversation
Netflix has started production on “Ares,” its first Dutch original series, the streaming giant announced Tuesday. Filming is taking place in Amsterdam, where Netflix’s European headquarters have been based since 2015. “Ares” will launch on the platform later this year. An eight-part psychological horror, “Ares” stars Jade Olieberg, Tobias Kersloot, Lisa Smit, Robin Boissevain, and
Amazon announced the acquisition of home mesh router maker Eero Monday afternoon, with executives from both companies painting it as a way improve connectivity in people’s homes. Amazon said that the deal was subject to customary closing conditions, and did not disclose an acquisition price. “We are incredibly impressed with the Eero team and how
February 11, 2019 12:24PM PT Facebook is getting ready to launch its Oculus Quest virtual reality (VR) headset soon, if a duo of new FCC filings is any indication. Two filings for the headset’s touch controllers passed the FCC on Monday, roughly 45 days after the headset itself made an appearance in a similar regulatory
February 11, 2019 10:40AM PT [embedded content] Samsung further teased its upcoming foldable phone Monday with a video for its upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event on February 20. The video is titled “The future unfolds,” and clearly features a two-screen device capable of being folded and unfolded. The Korean consumer electronics giant has been working on
Thrillist, the food, drink and travel brand from Discovery-backed Group Nine Media, has taken its first bite in acquiring third-party programming. The millennial-focused lifestyle outlet has acquired series “Send Foodz” from YouTube comedians-foodies Timothy DeLaGhetto (who has 3.9 million YouTube subscribers) and David So (1.5 million subscribers). The show follows the duo as they visit food festivals
Facebook keeps plowing more money into original programming for Watch: The company ordered a six-part docu-series on NBA superstar Stephen Curry and set a Feb. 20 premiere date for BuzzFeed News’ interactive trivia game show “Outside Your Bubble.” “Stephen vs. The Game,” following Curry — three-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors — throughout
February 11, 2019 9:51AM PT Reddit has raised a new $300 million round of funding from investors including Tencent, Sequoia, Fidelity and Andreessen Horowitz among others. The new round of funding values the company $3 billion, the company announced Monday morning, and brings the total amount raised to around $550 million. News of the funding