Tech

ViacomCBS Networks International has greenlit six diverse short form shows exclusively made for YouTube and Facebook from the BET, Comedy Central and MTV International platforms. Eight-episode series “Dating Black,” premiering on Feb. 7, 2022, follows British Black millennials and their challenges in dating and features the “90’s Babies” podcast crew of Hemah K, Samuel Eni,

Spotify has shut down Studio 4, its internal podcast studio group, a move that will result in as many as 15 staffers being laid off or redeployed into other divisions. A source familiar with the situation confirmed the closure of Spotify Studios’ Studio 4, first reported by tech site The Verge. Asked for an official

A 2004 clip of everyone’s favorite red muppet, Elmo, seeing red made the rounds on Twitter this week, catapulting HBO’s “Sesame Street” to the third spot on Variety’s Trending TV chart for the week of Jan. 3-9. A user resurfaced a clip of Elmo and his monster friend Zoe arguing over whether her pet rock,

WarnerMedia has renewed its carriage deal with Comcast’s cable systems. This multi-year pact will ensure WarnerMedia’s cable channels, including TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TCM, truTV, HLN and CNN en Español, plus on-demand and TVE content, continue to be available to Comcast customers. As part of the extended agreement, Comcast will make CNN

Spotify has announced that its high-quality audio tier, Spotify HiFi, which it had said would launch in select markets in November, is delayed indefinitely. Responding to a thread on its Community website, where users voiced frustration and anger over the delay, the company said that it has no update on when the tier may become

There’s a new voice of the New York Times’ “Modern Love” podcast: Anna Martin, a producer in the company’s audio department, who is taking over hosting for the popular relationship and dating series. In 2019, when the Times brought the “Modern Love” podcast in-house, column creator Daniel Jones and editor Miya Lee became its new

Take-Two Interactive, the games-publishing powerhouse behind the “Grand Theft Auto” series, plans to acquire casual mobile-games vendor Zynga, whose titles include “FarmVille” and “Words With Friends,” in a cash-and-stock deal worth $12.7 billion. The deal, if it goes through, will create one of the world’s largest publicly traded games companies — with $6.1 billion in

Due to COVID-19 concerns, the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) has canceled its annual conference in Miami, which was set to take place from Jan. 18 to Jan. 20. The organization announced it would not be proceeding with the in-person conference on Saturday. Dates and locations for the next conference and marketplace event

The Nasdaq closed Friday down more than 4% from where it opened Monday and almost 1% for the day, marking a rough start to 2022 for several entertainment and tech stocks. Along with the Nasdaq, the S&P 500 is having a bumpy beginning to the new year, down 0.4% at close on Friday and -1.8%

Saltbox TV, a production company and advertising-supported streaming service for older adults, has signed with Buchwald for representation in their unscripted division. Buchwald, one of the leading talent agencies, has a roster of clients that includes Ralph Macchio, Kristin Davis, Kimberly Elise, Neal McDonough, Simon Rex and George Takei, as well as corporate clients. Saltbox

Zack Sharf has been named digital news director of Variety.com. He’s tasked with driving digital growth through coverage of breaking news, trending stories and in showcasing Variety‘s array of editorial content across online and social platforms. Sharf reports to William Earl, editor of Variety.com. “Zack is an expert at understanding the intersection of metrics with

It clearly pays to be the sister of the world’s biggest TikTok star. Charli D’Amelio, who has the most-followed account on the short-form video app, earned a cool $17.5 million in 2021, making her the highest-paid TikToker of the year, according to estimates by Forbes magazine. Her older sister, Dixie, came in at the the

Roku announced that Scott Rosenberg, SVP and GM of its platform business, informed the company that he plans to step down in the spring of 2022. It’s unknown what Rosenberg, a nine-year Roku veteran, expects to do after exiting the streaming-platform player. According to Roku, Rosenberg will continue to lead his teams until his departure.

Amid the COVID-truncated CES 2022 show this year, with multiple companies canceling their plans to attend the Las Vegas confab, one newly introduced entertainment-tech product stood out: Samsung’s ultra-portable, versatile Freestyle HD projector — priced at an affordable $900. In recent years, CES has often served as a platform for high-concept, futuristic tech which may

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple — the most valuable technology company in the world — had a compensation package worth $98.7 million last year, more than six times his haul in 2020, according to a regulatory filing. Cook’s base salary for 2021 was $3 million, unchanged from the two prior years. He received a cash

The New York Times Co., doubling down on digital subscriptions and looking to reach younger audiences, announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire The Athletic for $550 million in cash. The Times had reportedly been in talks to buy The Athletic since the spring of 2021. The deal is expected to close

BuzzFeed, after becoming a publicly traded company last month, named Christian Baesler — CEO of recent acquisition Complex Networks — as its first chief operating officer. Baesler will continue to serve as CEO of Complex. Based in New York City, he reports to BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti. Baesler joined BuzzFeed last month after

Disney Plus racked up more than 118 million paying customers in its first two years. HBO and HBO Max swelled to 73.8 million worldwide as of the end of 2021, beating WarnerMedia’s forecast. Netflix now boasts more than 216 million worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic helped lift all boats in the streaming seas. But now the

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network is available to Hulu + Live TV subscribers starting today, under a deal between Discovery and the Disney-owned streamer. As of Jan. 6, Hulu + Live TV subscribers have access to the live OWN channel, including the upcoming series “Ladies Who List: Atlanta” (premiering Jan. 7) and “The Kings of Napa”

NBCUniversal will pack every single second of its coverage from the 2022 Winter Olympics into Peacock’s premium tiers, as it looks to use the Beijing games as a new streaming signup lure. In the U.S., Peacock will be the comprehensive streaming home of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games from Beijing, China, available on the service’s

The latest episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast features Steve Martocci, the founder and CEO of Splice, an online music marketplace where, for a monthly fee, creators can acquire the parts that make up music — loops, one-shots (or specific drum beats that can be used and manipulated), different instruments and sounds both synthetic and

Spotify announced podcast docuseries “The Big Hit Show,” a new podcast from Higher Ground Productions, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s media company, coming out next week “The Big Hit Show,” focused on transformational moments of pop culture, will premiere exclusively on Spotify on Jan. 12. The new podcast is being released through the Obamas’

UPDATED: Amazon is touting a major milestone for Fire TV, claiming it has sold more than 150 million of the streaming devices worldwide. And it announced deals with Ford Motor Co., BMW and Stellantis to bring Fire TV to the automakers’ in-car entertainment systems. For comparison, Roku reported 56.4 million active streaming accounts across its

HBO and HBO Max rounded out 2021 with 73.8 million global subscribers, WarnerMedia parent company AT&T revealed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. The figure exceeds the company’s prior guidance that end-of-year subscribers would fall at the high end of the 70 million to 73 million target. It’s likely that a robust, audience-pleasing content slate

There were several televised shindigs ringing in the New Year last week, but according to Twitter, it was “Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party” on NBC that earned the most buzz, topping Variety’s Trending TV chart for the week of Dec. 27-Jan. 2. The Pete Davidson co-hosted show had been heavily promoted ahead of its Dec.

Justin Smith, who has served as CEO of Bloomberg Media for the past eight years, has stepped down from the company to form a start-up alongside New York Times columnist Ben Smith, who will lead the news organization. The two Smiths will run a global news media company that promotes “unbiased journalism.” The unnamed company

At the top of every year, Shazam uses its data to predict five artists to watch — last year it did pretty well with Masked Wolf and Tai Verdes — and on Tuesday the song-identifying app used a combination of its its “uniquely predictive data and algorithms” as well as some selections from its parent

Francis Bourgeois, the U.K.’s trainspotting sensation, has found representation, Variety can reveal. The beloved TikTok talent, whose unbridled joy for the country’s railway system has garnered a global fanbase, has signed with international talent management company YMU’s Books division, which will represent him globally. He was signed by Millie Lean who will manage Bourgeois. Bourgeois —

Netflix has launched “The Gay Agenda,” a new podcast that will look at the lives of LGBTQ+ creatives at the top of their fields across different industries. The goal, the streaming service says, is to be celebratory, championing success stories “through a loving and humorous lens.” The podcast is created by lesbian actress, singer/songwriter and

Viacom veteran Stefanie Schwartz, who previously led Viacom Digital Studios, is joining Jellysmack as the creator-centric video distributor’s global head of platform partnerships. In the new role, Schwartz will lead Jellysmack’s partnerships with social networks and video platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and Amazon’s Twitch. She also will lead the company’s efforts to