Tech

Spotify is axing a small portion of its original podcast programming slate — canceling 11 out of approximately 500 current shows — as it looks to concentrate firepower on the biggest original and exclusive hits. The 11 shows come from Parcast and Gimlet, two podcast studios that Spotify acquired in early 2019 as part of

Twitter at long last will give users in the U.S., its biggest geographic region, the ability to edit their tweets. However, for now, the company will limit access to the “Edit Tweet” feature only to subscribers of Twitter Blue, its service with enhanced features for power users that costs $4.99 per month in the U.S.

“Arthur,” the public television show that is the longest-running kids’ animated series in the U.S., is getting its own podcast featuring the beloved anthropomorphic aardvark. Season 1 of “The Arthur Podcast,” featuring eight episodes, will launch weekly on Thursdays starting Oct. 20. The podcast taps into the “Arthur” content library that spans 25 years, retelling

October is a boom time for horror stories, with fans preparing for Halloween by spending the month binging the best slasher films, monster shows and horror books. And for those who would prefer to turn off the lights and listen to a spooky story, audiobooks provide plenty of bone-chilling options. Many of the horror classics

Google is showering Velma with confetti and gay-pride flags after the longtime member of the “Scooby-Doo” crew has officially been confirmed as a lesbian. In a new Easter egg that appeared Wednesday, Google Search queries for “Velma,” “Velma Scooby-Doo,” “Velma Dinkley” (the character’s full name) and even “Dinkley” yield a regular search-results page — along

Yahoo announced the appointment of Kat Downs Mulder, a 14-year veteran of the Washington Post, as senior VP and GM of Yahoo News, one of the biggest news and information sites in the U.S. At the Washington Post, Downs Mulder most recently served as chief product officer and managing editor of the publication, which is

Elon Musk looks ready to get his hands on Twitter: The world’s richest person has agreed to his original $44 billion acquisition of his favorite social network, after a three-month legal fight trying to nix the deal. And that has renewed worries among some that he’s going to make drastic changes to Twitter’s content-moderation policies

Has Peacock regained its forward momentum? NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell claimed the media company’s flagship streamer notched healthy growth in the third quarter — thanks to a strong content lineup, including Peacock’s reclaiming day-after-air rights to episodes of NBCU shows from Hulu. Shell, in an appearance Tuesday on CNBC, said Peacock added more than 2

Trading in shares of Twitter was halted Tuesday following a report that Elon Musk has proposed to complete the $44 billion deal to buy the social network at the original agreed-on terms. Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, offering to close the deal at the $54.20 per share price, Bloomberg reported, citing

Sex and relationship talk show “Call Her Daddy,” hosted by Alex Cooper, shot to the top of Spotify’s podcast charts following last week’s debut of Season 2. The premiere episode, released as a video podcast, featured an in-depth interview with Hailey Bieber. After the Season 2 premiere of “Call Her Daddy” on Sept. 28, the

YouTube Original doc “The Letter: A Message For Our Earth,” an unprecedented call to action for climate change from Pope Francis, featuring his dialogues with activists from the Brazilian Amazon, India, Senegal and the U.S., launched on Tuesday from Vatican City. The high-profile ecological doc is directed by Emmy-winning director Nicolas Brown (“Serengeti Rules”) and produced

Comedy group the Try Guys shared a video statement Monday evening, addressing its recent decision to cut ties with ex-member Ned Fulmer, who admitted that he was engaged in a “consensual” workplace affair and was the subject of an internal investigation. Zach Cornfeld, Keith Habersberger and Eugene Lee Yang appear in the video, titled “what

J Eatedali has exited Twitch to join UTA as an executive in the company’s gaming and esports department. Prior to joining UTA, Eatedali served as the co-head of creator acquisitions, retention and programs at Amazon-owned Twitch (alongside Toby Berlin), where he and the team were responsible for contract negotiations for the livestreaming platform’s top creators.

Kim Kardashian agreed to pay $1.26 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that she touted a crypto asset security without disclosing the payment she received for the promotion, the agency said. Under the settlement, without “admitting or denying the SEC’s findings,” Kardashian also agreed to not promote any crypto asset securities

More than two years after Kim Kardashian inked an exclusive deal with Spotify for a podcast series focused on criminal-justice reform, the series is finally out. On Monday, Spotify released the first two episodes of original podcast “Kim Kardashian’s The System: The Case of Kevin Keith,” available worldwide. Following the series premiere, new episodes will

Fandom is rolling up a suite of entertainment and gaming content properties — including TV Guide and Metacritic — in a deal with digital-marketing company Red Ventures worth about $50 million. San Francisco-based Fandom acquired GameSpot, Metacritic, TV Guide, GameFAQs, Giant Bomb, Cord Cutters News and Comic Vine under the deal. The sites collectively attract

Ari Emanuel, the legendary Hollywood agent who is CEO of Endeavor, reportedly got involved in the dispute between Twitter and Elon Musk over Musk’s attempt to nix his takeover of the company — but it’s not exactly clear why. Within the “past few weeks,” Emanuel had reached out to Twitter board member Egon Durban to

The Gotham Film & Media Institute (The Gotham) announced today the launch of The Gotham/Variety Audio Honors, presented by Wondery, a groundbreaking initiative dedicated to recognizing the boldest voices in the ever-expanding world of audio storytelling. The honorees have been selected in recognition of their innovations in audio storytelling by a committee of distinguished audio

Adam McKay took a vicious satirical punch at Chevron, scripting a fake ad released online blasting the petroleum giant for putting profits over the future of the planet. The writer, producer and director posted the fake Chevron ad on Twitter on Thursday, where it already has racked up more than 4.2 million views. He didn’t

Crooked Media is looking to take its progressive-politics podcast empire to the next level. The L.A.-based media company, which produces more than 30 podcasts including the flagship “Pod Save America,” has hired Lucinda Treat, chief legal officer at Vice Media Group for the last four years, as its first CEO. Crooked Media also announced an

Julia Boorstin, CNBC’s senior media and tech correspondent, put her pandemic lockdown downtime to good use. She went all in on a book that examines female leadership in business, how it’s changing and how those management styles are changing business. “When Women Lead,” to be published next month by Simon & Schuster, is a deeply

Alisa Bowen has been named president of Disney+, in a promotion for the exec who has overseen global business operations for Disney’s streaming platforms, including Disney+ since its launch in 2019. Bowen most recently served as EVP of global business operations for Disney Streaming, overseeing global content and business operations for the company’s direct-to-consumer video

After three years, Google Stadia is exiting the arena. The internet search giant, which launched the streaming games service in November 2019, announced that Google Stadia will be winding down over the next few months. Players will continue to have access to their games library and be able to play through Jan. 18, 2023. Google

Riot Games has hired veteran executive Mandy Beckner as its global head of live action development, film and TV. She joins the developer and publisher after a stint as director of content for the original indie film group at Netflix. In her new role, Beckner will be in charge of developing live-action film and TV

The three remaining members of the Try Guys need time to process the events that led the popular YouTube comedy troupe to kick out their friend and co-founder Ned Fulmer, after he confessed to having a workplace extramarital affair. The Try Guys trio — former BuzzFeed staffers Keith Habersberger, Zach Kornfeld and Eugene Lee Yang

The Argonon Group is moving into podcasting with its first audio series, Variety can exclusively confirm. Argonon label Like A Shot Entertainment is set to launch 10-part series “Forbidden History” based on the international TV brand. The label has also undergone a management restructure with Debbie Akinbola (pictured) appointed to head of production. Reporting to

AMC Networks has announced a collaboration with DreadXP and game developer DarkStone Digital to produce a video game based on the TV series “Creepshow.” The show, available for streaming on Shudder, is executive produced by Greg Nicotero and is based on George A. Romero’s 1982 film. Production company Cartel Entertainment will also help bring the

Tim Burton’s “Wednesday” series starring Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams will have its European fan screening in Italy at Lucca Comics & Games with Burton attending the launch at Europe’s biggest geek meet.  Lucca Comics – which is an immersive cross-media event dedicated to pop culture, cosplay and comics held in the medieval Tuscan town

Pornhub, the embattled adult-content site, lashed out at the decision by Instagram to permanently ban its account on the social network, citing Instagram’s practice of allowing celebrities like Kim Kardashian to post photos with nudity as an example of a double standard. In a letter addressed to senior execs at Meta, Instagram’s parent company, Pornhub

Kickstarter announced that marketing exec and entrepreneur Everette Taylor has been named CEO of the crowdfunding platform company.  Taylor most recently served as chief marketing officer for Artsy, an online marketplace for buying and selling fine art. He takes over as CEO of Kickstarter from COO Sean Leow, who served as interim CEO since former