Tech

Hulu is presenting Red Bull’s latest death-defying aerial stunt as the exclusive U.S. livestreaming partner. The opportunistic rights pickup shows how Disney is hunting for new head-turning opportunities to help Hulu stand out in the crowded streaming market. In Red Bull’s Plane Swap event, set for Sunday, April 24, skydivers and pilots Luke Aikins and

The company formerly known as P-MRC Data, which houses a collection of brands that have supplied music and entertainment industry data for decades, has a new name: Luminate. Luminate powers the Billboard Charts and brings together MRC Data (formerly Nielsen Music), Variety Business Intelligence, Music Connect, BDS Radio and SoundScan into one platform providing independent

Crunchyroll is inviting fans of the Dragon Ball anime franchise to hop on their Flying Nimbus cloud — and stream more than 500 episodes of the fan-favorite series that were previously available only on Funimation. For the first time, Toei Animation’s “Dragon Ball,” “Dragon Ball Z” and “Dragon Ball GT” are now available to watch

WME signed teen TikTok star Brooke Monk, who boasts more than 27 million followers across social platforms, for representation in all areas. WME said it will expand Monk’s business across film, TV, podcasts and new media. The 19-year-old Florida native was previously represented by UTA. Monk has amassed nearly 19 million TikTok followers since joining

The European Union’s antitrust regulator “unconditionally” approved Amazon’s proposed $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, in part because “MGM’s content cannot be considered as must-have.” The deal is still pending approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The European Commission on Tuesday announced the approval of the deal, announced in May 2021. The commission concluded that

Starting Tuesday, broadcasters are required to disclose foreign government-sponsored programming. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously adopted the foreign sponsorship identification rules in April 2021, today announcing a March 15 compliance date. The rule is meant to increase transparency, notifying the American public when a foreign government or its representatives are attempting to persuade them.

Prominent Dubai-based satellite pay-TV and streaming service Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) is launching OSN Plus, a new premium streaming service that replaces its streaming app and marks OSN’s full-fledged entry into the MENA region’s increasingly crowded SVOD landscape. The move comes after OSN in January re-upped its long-term exclusive partnership with HBO, and expanded its

Awards season continues its strong comeback as the Critics Choice Awards dominated Twitter for the week of March 7 to 14. The Sunday night show, which was originally supposed to air in January, but was delayed amid the spread of the COVID-19 omicron variant, earned nearly 1.5 million engagements on Variety’s Trending TV chart during its

Yuga Labs, the startup behind the mega-popular Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible token collection, has acquired the intellectual property of CryptoPunks — a pioneer in the NFT space — and Meebits from Larva Labs. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Through the pact, Yuga now owns the brands, copyright in the art, and other IP rights for

Meta is allowing users of Facebook and Instagram in Ukraine post “forms of political expression” that would ordinarily violate its hate-speech policies — including urging people to kill the Russian soldiers who are attacking the country. In response, the Russian government, which already previously blocked Facebook, said it will also ban Instagram effective March 14.

Hulu is finally getting competitive with YouTube TV on the DVR front: The Disney-controlled streamer next month will unlock a new Unlimited DVR feature for all Hulu + Live TV subscribers for no additional fee. On April 13, Hulu will introduce Unlimited DVR for live TV customers available across the entire lineup of 80-plus channels,

YouTube has suspended all monetization programs for users in Russia — after previously halting ads in the country — given the ongoing Russian military assault on Ukraine, the video giant announced Friday. In addition, YouTube said it is now blocking access to YouTube channels associated with Russian state-funded media, including RT and Sputnik, across the

Picture this: you walk beneath a lighted marquee into a vibe-heavy room and blend into a building crowd. Drink in hand, you and your friends exchange stories of the performer’s previous shows and who was first to discover them. The house music seeds the subtle rise in energy as the stage techs ensure the musical

New York City-based esports giant Andbox has hired 3BlackDot and 51 Minds alum Mitchell Lawrence Smith as its chief content officer, Variety has learned exclusively. Smith will oversee the organization’s content, brand and talent strategy. This includes development and production across all content projects, in addition to leading talent management and growing relationships and managing

Netflix will raise rates for all streaming plans in the U.K. and Ireland, marking the company’s second price hike in the region in less than 18 months. The price increases come after Netflix similarly raised subscription fees in the U.S. and Canada in January, amid a tide of new competitors and its continued spending on

Spotify has suspended premium service in Russia after the country launched its war on Ukraine — a move that the audio streaming powerhouse expects to result in a loss of about 1.5 million paying customers in the first quarter of 2022. Spotify CFO Paul Vogel, speaking at Morgan Stanley’s 2022 Technology, Media and Telecom Conference

TikTok, which has had a measurable effect on music discovery, is now letting individual artists upload — and make money from — their songs directly in the app. TikTok touted SoundOn as an “all-in-one platform” for music marketing and distribution. The platform lets artists upload their music directly to TikTok and earn royalties when TikTok

Fox Corp. isn’t exactly the first name that comes to mind when the inescapable subject of Web3 comes up, but Rupert Murdoch’s company is playing more aggressively in this innovative space than any other traditional media firm. The company’s year-old division Blockchain Creative Labs has been experimenting with the disruptive potential of digital ownership for

Amazon has joined the growing number of businesses suspending commercial activities in Russia in the wake of the country’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine. The e-commerce giant said in a statement that it is cutting off access to Prime Video for customers based in Russia, given “the ongoing situation in Russia and Ukraine.” Amazon said it

In today’s podcast news roundup, Vince Vaughn teams up with two former NFL pros to launch podcast production firm Audiorama; media startup Puck is launching podcasts with Spotify’s The Ringer and Audacy’s Cadence13; Spotify’s 2022 Sound Up accelerator program is geared toward family podcasters; and more. LAUNCHES Vince Vaughn (“Wedding Crashers,” “Brawl in Cellblock 99”),

Taiwan-based tech giant HTC Vive approaches this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) event as an important milestone. The global leader in virtual reality will be presenting two of its recent original creations that will lay the groundwork for the future gameplay of VR products in the highly anticipated Web 3.0 era. The two featured productions,

Netflix execs have regularly insisted that there’s no way the company would introduce an ad-supported service. Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann, speaking Tuesday at an investor conference, took a slightly more open tone: He noted that the subscription streamer doesn’t currently have any plans right now to introduce an ad-supported VOD plan, but he didn’t rule

HBO was hit with a class action lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that it shares subscribers’ viewing history with Facebook, in violation of a federal privacy law. A class action law firm, Bursor & Fisher, filed the suit in federal court in New York on behalf of two HBO Max subscribers, Angel McDaniel and Constance Simon.

UPDATED: Spotify was experiencing widespread technical problems Tuesday, with users complaining of access issues across its app and website. The service appeared to be functioning normally within about an hour and a half. User complaints about Spotify began to spike at around 1:10 p.m. ET, according to monitoring site DownDetector.com. It was not immediately clear

Apple has snared rights to a Friday-night package of Major League Baseball games, extending Silicon Valley’s reach into the world of sports. Under terms of the new pact, Apple will have exclusive rights to telecast two “Friday Night Baseball” games each week — totaling about 50 per year —  in the U.S. and to eight

The New York Times, citing the safety of employees, said it will temporarily remove editorial staffers from Russia after the country outlawed the publication of news about the war in Ukraine that the Kremlin deems “false.” On Friday, Russia passed a law making it illegal to publish “false information” about Russia’s military. Violators face potential fines, forced

Amazon has released the limited-access beta version of Amp, a new, free app that provides users with a way to DJ their own live radio shows. Creators can work from a catalog of tens of millions of licensed songs from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and a long list of independent

Award shows were all the rage on Variety’s Trending TV chart for the week of Feb. 28 to March 6, as Twitter users continued to dissect all the moments from the SAG Awards. That first big award show of the year (and since the pandemic) was once again at the top of the chart with

Apple TV Plus is landing on Comcast’s full range of video platforms in the U.S. starting Monday, and the tech giant is offering three months free of the streaming service to the cable operator’s customers for a limited time. The Apple TV Plus app will begin rolling out on Xfinity X1, Xfinity Flex and XClass

Twitter is elevating two veteran content execs to new roles: TJ Adeshola has been tapped as head of global content partnerships for the social network, and Sarah Rosen will oversee U.S. content partnerships. Adeshola, previously head of U.S. sports partnerships at Twitter, takes over the position left vacant after Jen Prince exited last fall to