October 23, 2018 7:39AM PT Under the Milky Way, a leading digital film distribution company, has appointed Juliana Moreira de Souza to run its office in Brazil as its seeks to strengthen its presence in Latin America. The company, which already boasts local offices across 10 countries in Europe, North America and Asia, previously did
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In a bid to save MoviePass, the struggling theater-subscription service’s parent — Helios & Matheson Analytics — announced a plan to spin off the division as a separate, publicly traded entity called MoviePass Entertainment Holdings. HMNY said its board had preliminarily approved the spinoff plan that would combine MoviePass Inc. and other film related assets
Verizon’s Oath internet media businesses — anchored by Yahoo and AOL — lost steam in the third quarter of 2018. For Q3, the telco reported Oath revenue of $1.8 billion, down 6.9% compared with the year-earlier quarter. Verizon said it expects Oath revenue to be “relatively flat in the near term” and that it does
October 23, 2018 12:01AM PT Hollywood’s premier open source group is getting bigger: Sony Pictures Entertainment/Sony Pictures Imageworks, Warner Bros., the Blender Foundation and the Visual Effects Society (VES) are all joining the Academy Software Foundation, which was founded by the Linux Foundation and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in August. “We are
With its collection of over-the-top optional accessories — a second screen, physical controller, three flavors of docks — the Republic of Gamers’ gaming-centric smartphone from Asus sounds like a gimmick in an already borderline gimmicky niche. But the phone itself is a surprisingly adept piece of gaming tech that genuinely pushes the niche forward while
October 22, 2018 12:30PM PT Amazon Studios has tapped industry veteran Chris Castallo to serve as head of unscripted television. Castallo, formerly a programming exec at CBS and NBC, replaces Heather Schuster, who was forced out in August amid an investigation into allegations that she was verbally abusive in the workplace. Castallo will spearhead unscripted
October 22, 2018 11:39AM PT Facebook’s VR subsidiary Oculus is shutting down its VOD efforts on is Oculus Rift headset this week, and is reimbursing anyone who has bought titles in the past. Oculus told Rift users in an email about the changes Monday, and confirmed the move in a comment sent to Variety. “Over
The Razer Phone 2 is in just about every way a much better Razer phone, but it still doesn’t quite match up with the products of the titans of the smartphone industry: Apple and Samsung. As with last year’s Razer Phone, this follow-up device delivers over-the-top hardware hampered in some places by sub-part software. Specifically,
Oculus co-founder and former CEO Brendan Iribe is the latest executive to leave Facebook: Iribe announced on his Facebook profile Monday that he is leaving Oculus after six years. Facebook denied a Techcrunch report that the departure was prompted by a corporate decision to cancel plans for a second-generation Oculus Rift headset. “I never could have
October 22, 2018 9:22AM PT Samsung is giving its high-end VR headset a refresh: The company released a new Odyssey+ headset Monday, which features some minor updates designed to reduce discomfort. One of the biggest changes is the introduction of a new display technology that is supposed to reduce the screen door effect, which essentially
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is warning that the European Union’s recent copyright legislation is putting digital creators’ livelihoods at stake — and she issued a call for YouTubers to voice their opposition to the proposed rules. The EU Parliament’s “Article 13 as written threatens to shut down the ability of millions of people — from
Hannah Storm knows football fans have to take an extra step to listen to her and Andrea Kremer broadcast “Thursday Night Football.” “It is your choice,” she told viewers during last week’s game between the Denver Broncos and the Arizona Cardinals. You won’t find the duo holding forth on Fox, which owns TV rights to
MTV has recruited Lars Silberbauer, who previously built up Lego’s global digital-content efforts, as senior VP for Viacom’s MTV Digital Studios. In the newly established role, Silberbauer will oversee creative, development and production for the network’s digital originals and lead MTV’s social channels, including for “Cribs,” “Teen Code” and “TRL.” He is scheduled to relocate
Netflix is again going to debt markets to fund its enormous appetite for content, announcing plans Monday to raise $2 billion in financing through debt securities. As of Sept. 30, 208, Netflix reported $8.34 billion in long-term debt, up 71% from $4.89 billion a year prior. The latest proposed debt offering is the sixth time
October 22, 2018 6:17AM PT [embedded content] The newly announced Intellivision Amico will bring retro classics and some to-be-announced titles to homes in 2020, Intellivision Entertainment announced Monday. Game industry veteran Tommy Tallarico delivered the keynote address at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, where he commented on the goals behind the new system to bring family
Amazon Studios has named James Farrell head of international originals. Previously head of content, international expansion for the e-commerce giant’s entertainment arm, Farrell will, in his new role, lead the international original teams in Japan, India, Europe, Mexico and Brazil as well as future locations. “We’ve had significant success in this area to date and,
AT&T’s pruning of WarnerMedia continues: Turner announced that it is killing off Super Deluxe, its edgy digital and TV studio. “Turner is proud of the unique brand Super Deluxe has built over the past three years, and the cutting-edge content and innovations this incredible group of very talented people has made,” the cable programmer said
October 19, 2018 11:03AM PT Basketball fans just got another option to watch this season’s games for free, with a little help from Facebook’s Oculus: virtual reality live-streaming startup NextVR is going to stream a number of NBA games in Oculus Venues without the need for an NBA League Pass subscription. Oculus Venues launched as
Hulu is hoping to boost its over-the-top live TV subscriber rolls by extending a special promo to Sprint’s wireless customers. Starting Friday (Oct. 19), Sprint customers can upgrade to Hulu With Live TV, which includes 50-plus local and national networks and access to thousands of on-demand titles, from their Sprint account. The offer comes after
Facebook has hired Nick Clegg, former U.K. deputy prime minister and head of the country’s Liberal Democrats, as VP of global affairs and communications, tasked with taking on a knot of issues ranging from “fake news” to data-privacy breaches. COO Sheryl Sandberg and Clegg confirmed the move in posts Friday on Facebook. “After almost twenty years
It’s official: Lenny Letter, the three-year-old digital-media startup from Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, is dead. Following reports Thursday that Lenny Letter would shut down Oct. 19, the co-founders and editorial and creative director Molly Elizalde confirmed the closure in a farewell message to readers. “While there’s no one reason for our closure, this change
October 18, 2018 1:31PM PT Lenny Letter, the female-targeted newsletter and website founded three year ago by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, is closing its doors. Lenny Letter will shut down on Friday, Oct. 19, according to reports by the New York Post and Digiday, citing contributors who were notified via email of the closure. The
Blockchain is coming, whether anyone understands it or not, and the drumbeat drew a bit closer this morning when Ticketmaster, the world’s largest ticketing company and a division of Live Nation, the world’s largest live-entertainment business, announced that it has acquired Upgraded, a blockchain technology company servicing the live events industry. According to the announcement,
The abrupt termination of the DramaFever service this week by Warner Bros. left U.S. aficionados of Korean dramas distraught and angry — and looking for alternative streaming services to meet their K-drama fix. Services like Viki, owned by Japan’s Rakuten, and Kocowa, a streaming service from the three biggest broadcasters in Korea, offer a range of
October 18, 2018 10:52AM PT Deal gives YouTube coverage of 70% of U.S. ticketing market along with its existing Ticketmaster pact YouTube struck a deal with Eventbrite letting musicians automatically list live performances and sell tickets for the U.S. venues and festivals that use Eventbrite as their ticketing partner. The YouTube-Evenbrite deal covers thousands of
October 18, 2018 10:49AM PT Spotify is giving its premium experience on iOS and Android a new look: The company started to roll out changes to its mobile apps with a new focus on recommendations, discovery and artist radios Thursday. [embedded content] The company said in a blog post that it streamlined the navigation of
Anime distributor Funimation has ended its cross-licensing deal with Crunchyroll after two years, as Sony-owned Funimation looks to expand globally. The decision to not renew the 2016 pact with Crunchyroll — now fully owned by AT&T after it acquired Chernin Group’s stake in Otter Media — stems from Funimation’s own acquisition by Sony Pictures Television
October 18, 2018 9:51AM PT Apple is holding another product launch event this fall, set for Oct. 30 at New York City’s Brooklyn Academy of Music, according to invites sent to media on Thursday. As usual, Apple isn’t providing any details on what will be announced at the event, set to kick off at 10
Facebook’s recently-disclosed security incident that exposed the data of some 30 million members was committed by spammers, not nation-state actors, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. Facebook has yet to officially identify who’s behind the hack, with the company’s VP of product management Guy Rosen telling reporters last week that it was following
SoundCloud is on a roll. Hot on the heels of an announcement earlier this month allowing all users of the open audio platform to tap into the company’s monetization tool at no additional cost for subscribers, SoundCloud revealed more big news Thursday. The Berlin-based streaming platform has announced partnerships with Native Instruments, Serato, Virtual DJ,