Tech

Disney is offering a significant discount on the ad-supported version of Disney+, as it looks to drive up subscribers for the package before the end of the current quarter. Starting Sept. 6 and running through Sept. 20, new and returning Disney+ customers in the U.S. can subscribe to Disney+ Basic (with ads) for $1.99/month for

Story Protocol, which is developing what it says is an open system for extending intellectual property through online collaboration and paying any number of contributors, announced that it has raised more than $54 million in funding. The funding was led by a16z crypto, part of venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, along with investors including Endeavor and

Khaby Lame may be best known for wordless videos featuring his hyper-expressive face, but make no mistakes: he’s a gamer, too. The social media juggernaut, who’s the most popular person on TikTok with over 160 million followers, just wrapped one of his most ambitious projects yet: becoming a video game character. Lame is featured in

Netflix just kicked off its big crackdown on illicit password-sharing users this spring — but co-CEO Greg Peters says there’s still a long road ahead of the company on this front. “We’ll be in the password-sharing business for some time,” Peters said, speaking Tuesday at the 2023 Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference. According to

Montreal-based studio Felix & Paul Studios wants to send VR users to space, embedding users in the heart of the International Space Station with the three-part immersive series “Space Explorers: Blue Marble.” Giving users the opportunity to experience the awe-inspiring Overview Effect – the profound experience of witnessing our planet from a far, and in

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is stepping away from the gaming keyboard — and getting into your earbuds with his first-ever podcast. The top gaming influencer will host twice-weekly podcast “AFK w/ Ninja,” set to premiere Sept. 12 across all major platforms. New episodes of the show will be available every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts,

Spanish actor Gabriel Guevara, star of Spanish Amazon Prime teen film franchise “My Fault,” has been arrested during the Venice Film Festival on alleged sexual assault charges, the fest has confirmed, specifying that the teen idol was not on the Lido for anything related to the event. Guevara, 22, had arrived on the Lido yesterday, which he

A federal judge threw out the conviction of Hernan Lopez, former head of Fox International Channels, who had been found guilty of bribing FIFA soccer officials in exchange for a broadcasting-rights deal. “We are obviously pleased with Judge Chen’s thorough and correct decision,” David Sarratt, a lawyer for Lopez, said in a statement to the

It’s the end of the podcast road for Jemele Hill and Spotify, as they have agreed to end their partnership. Hill, an award-winning journalist, author and cultural commentator, launched her podcast “Jemele Hill Is Unbothered” on Spotify in April 2019. Subsequently, she expanded her deal with Spotify for the Unbothered Network with podcasts created and

Ruby Franke, a once-popular mom influencer offering parenting advice on Instagram and the now-defunct 8 Passengers YouTube channel, was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse in Ivins, Utah, officials announced. In a press release issued Thursday, the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Dept. said that on Aug. 30, 2023, at about 10:50

ESPN, ABC, Disney Channel and other outlets owned by the Walt Disney Co. have gone dark on Charter Spectrum cable systems, which serve nearly 15 million subscribers in New York, Los Angeles and other major markets. Disney channels were pulled off Charter systems on Thursday afternoon about 5 p.m. PT after the sides failed to

Max, taking a page from Netflix, is giving subscribers insight into daily top-trending movies and TV shows on the platform. Warner Bros. Discovery launched the new Max top 10 lists on Thursday, beginning in the U.S. “Starting today you’ll see Top 10 rows within the app that update daily to show you which series and

Score one for Pornhub: A federal judge ruled Thursday that a Texas law requiring pornography sites to institute age-verification measures — and add prominent warning labels about the alleged dangers of porn — violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment prohibition against free-speech restrictions. A lawsuit seeking to overturn the Texas legislation was filed Aug. 4

The 2023 Streamy Awards amassed 15 million views across all digital platforms in its first 48 hours, setting a record as the most watched show in the event’s 13-year history. The awards ceremony took place on Aug. 27 in Los Angeles. This year’s Streamy Awards, hosted by YouTube star MatPat, broke the show’s 2021 record

Jimmy Kimmel claims he was ready to hang up his spurs as ABC’s late-night talk show host earlier this year — but the WGA writers strike changed his perspective. Kimmel made the revelation on the first episode of Spotify’s “Strike Force Five” podcast, which went live Wednesday (Aug. 30) featuring a roundtable Zoom discussion among

“I want to tell the stories that have been written out of history by Silicon Valley,” says Taylor Lorenz. In her forthcoming book, “Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Power and Influence on the Internet,” Lorenz — a technology and digital culture columnist for the Washington Post — chronicles what she describes as a

Five rival late-night TV hosts — Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver — are teaming with Spotify for “Strike Force Five,” a limited-series podcast discussing the WGA writers strike, which is on the cusp of entering its fifth month. Proceeds from the podcast will go to staffers on each of

Elon Musk’s X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, will again begin accepting political advertising after a nearly four-year ban — with some caveats. In a blog post Tuesday, X said, “Building on our commitment to free expression, we are also going to allow political advertising,” beginning in the U.S. The decision reverses Twitter’s

Fox Corp.’s Fox Sports is turning to generative artificial-intelligence to help its staffers more rapidly generate content from millions of hours of its archived games footage. The sports programmer inked an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud to use the internet giant’s generative AI technology. Fox Sports said that by using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI Vision

In a cross-streamer promotion, Max subscribers will get a sampler platter of AMC+ programming in September and October — for no extra charge. Starting Sept. 1 and available through Oct. 31, Max and AMC Networks will launch a programming “pop-up” on Max featuring full seasons of seven AMC original series comprising more than 200 episodes

Anastasia Radzinskaya, the 9-year-old better known to millions of YouTube fans as “Like Nastya,” is swimming to the big screen. Nastya has boarded animated feature film “Weird Waters,” set to voice Jam, a precocious neon tetra who embarks on an undersea adventure with two best fish friends forever (BFFFs) — and must discover the hero

Jason Derulo and Alexandra Shipp (“Barbie,” “X-Men: Apocalypse”) will star in “Underwater,” from Interval Presents, Warner Music Group’s in-house podcast network — a neo-noir romantic thriller that will feature new music from Derulo. Primarily set at a high-end island resort, the eight-part series follows Nico (Derulo) and Ana (Shipp), a couple whose deep romantic connection

Dr. Seuss’ beloved kids books — for the first time — are getting podcast adaptations under a partnership with Amazon’s Wondery podcast studio and network. Wondery Kids & Family inked an expansive deal with Dr. Seuss Enterprises for a slate of podcasts. The first title under the pact is “The Cat in the Hat Cast,”

Dylan Mulvaney, the social medial influencer who faced a transphobic backlash earlier this year after setting a partnership with Bud Light, was saluted Sunday night at the Streamy Awards honoring social media creators. Mulvaney won the award for breakout creator at the ceremony hosted at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. An emotional

The Streamy Awards return for a 13th annual ceremony on Sunday, honoring the internet’s top content creators at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Calif. The awards ceremony will be available to stream on Variety’s website on Sunday evening at 6pm PT. Produced by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter, the ceremony is being hosted by

YouTube is teaming with MrBeast, the platform’s biggest creator, to push the pricey NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package for the 2023 season. MrBeast (real name: Jimmy Donaldson) on Friday kicked off a characteristically over-the-top challenge for fans. From Aug. 25 through Sunday, Aug. 27, more than 1,000 QR codes will be hidden within old

Night, a talent management company whose clients include YouTube megastar MrBeast, acquired LFM Management, a New York-based content creator managing firm. The deal brings LFM’s roster of prominent creators to Night, including Kai Cenat, the Twitch and YouTube streamer whose PS5 giveaway stunt earlier this month in New York City led to a violent riot

Following his arrest in Fulton County, Ga. on charges related to alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, former president Donald Trump was processed, released on bond and got back to posting. After more than two years since his last words on the social media platform X, née Twitter, Trump shared

OnlyFans, the subscription platform that caters to sexually explicit content creators, reported $5.55 billion in total spending by users for the fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 2022, up 16% from the year prior, with creators taking home nearly $4.5 billion of that. U.K.-based OnlyFans generated a pre-tax net profit of $525 million for the most recent fiscal

Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, the musical “If/Then”: These aren’t the usual conversational touchpoints in a discussion about a video game. But all three of those musical theater references, and many more, were brought up by the creators of the new video game Stray Gods on the latest episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety’s theater podcast. Listen to