Tech

Reddit, the popular internet discussion platform valued at more than $10 billion, said it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement with the SEC for a proposed initial public offering. Reddit announced the IPO filing Wednesday and had previously said it was contemplating going public. The company said its hands were tied in releasing any

Spotify is borrowing a page from rival Apple with the addition of a five-star user ratings system for podcasts — a new tool for sorting through the more than 3.2 million podcast titles on Spotify’s platform to find the most popular shows. Starting Thursday (Dec. 16) Spotify is starting the rollout of ratings for podcasts,

“Cowboy Bebop’s” foray into live-action territory may have ended faster than it started, but that didn’t stop fans from flocking to Twitter to chat about the show’s debut on Netflix — or its swift cancellation. The series topped Variety‘s Trending TV chart for the week of Dec. 7 to Dec. 13 with more than 28,000

Discovery has a new ally in the streaming wars in SiriusXM: The companies have formed a new marketing partnership aimed at driving up subscribers to Discovery Plus streaming service. Under the pact, new and existing subscribers to SiriusXM’s Platinum VIP plan — priced at $34.99 per month — will be eligible to activate a complimentary

Variety Trending TV Charts from Twitter debuted on Wednesday, with “Cowboy Bebop” (Netflix), “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (CBS) and “Miss Universe” (Fox) topping this week’s list of the most-tweeted about shows across network TV and streaming. Variety and Twitter announced the charts earlier this year at Advertising Week New York. The Variety

Twitch announced that Kendra Desrosiers, a former marketing exec at Facebook and YouTube, has been appointed global head of strategic programs and culture. In the newly created role, Desrosiers will advocate for underrepresented creators on Twitch, according to the Amazon-owned livestreaming platform. She’s tasked with ensuring that their “challenges and experiences are understood” and to

UPDATED: The Amazon Web Services cloud platform on Wednesday morning briefly experienced service disruptions across the U.S., coming a week after an major hours-long outage that took down multiple online services. User reports of problems with AWS began spiking around 10:30 a.m. ET on Dec. 15, peaking at 10:43 a.m. with more than 20,000 registered

Michael Jordan and his son Jeffrey Jordan are looking to drive the six-time NBA champ’s legacy into the world of NFTs and next-generation entertainment. The Jordans have launched Heir Inc., a new holding company that plans to build a consumer-facing community platform for athletes to connect with fans — as well as other lines of

Disney Plus has updated its suite of Apple apps to add support for the tech giant’s SharePlay feature, letting subscribers watch TV shows and movies with friends and family while connected on a FaceTime video-chat call. With support for SharePlay, Disney Plus subscribers with an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV can watch content together with

Rachel Brosnahan will star in and executive produce “The Miranda Obsession,” a scripted Audible original podcast series inspired by the true story of Miranda Grosvenor — the mysterious woman who seduced powerful men in Hollywood in the ’70s and ’80s over the phone. Brosnahan, who is best known for her Emmy-winning turn in Prime Video’s

Banijay Rights has signed a package deal with Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) ahead of the launch of its Viaplay streaming service in the U.S. on Dec. 15. The deal will give Viaplay subscribers in the US access to a dozen of premium scripted titles from Banijay Rights’ hit Nordic drama titles, including Norwegian culture-clash

As 2021 comes to a close, ending a year that saw streamers grab headlines as the driving force behind European content growth, producers should start bracing themselves for that streamer-fuelled upswing to reach a tipping point in 2022. In fact, they should prepare for the overall pot of available resources to shrink. That’s the main

This year, Snap finally caught user-generated content fever: In 2021, the company has paid out more than $250 million to more than 12,000 creators through its Snapchat Spotlight programs. Of course, Snap’s total payout is tiny compared with YouTube, the 800-pound gorilla in the digital creator economy: According to YouTube, over the three-year period from

Here’s another TV distribution fight that is escalating — and could result in a blackout: Google is telling YouTube TV subscribers that its current contract for Disney’s suite of networks is due to expire this week and that they could be removed from the service. Disney confirmed that the contract with YouTube TV for ABC-owned

The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” was the most-played video, both globally and in the U.S., on the major video network Vevo, the company announced Monday as part of its annual year-end look back on music video viewership. “Save Your Tears” topped the list with 615 million views globally, and 102.9M views in the U.S. Released

Vox Media and Group Nine Media are in advanced discussions to merge, in an all-stock deal that would give Vox Media a 75% ownership stake in the combined company — and create one of the industry’s largest pure-play digital media players. The talks between Vox Media and Group Nine were first reported by the Wall

Cox Communications has added Disney Plus to its lineup of next-gen TV services. Under the cable operator’s deal with Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Cox’s Contour TV and Contour Stream Player offer the streaming service, which is the streaming home of Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel and National Geographic. Subscriptions to Disney Plus are currently

Charter Communications is giving free access to Peacock Premium free for one year to Spectrum TV subscribers through its deal with Comcast’s NBCUniversal. Also under the pact, Spectrum Internet customers are eligible to get Peacock Premium (normally $4.99/month) for 90 days at no additional cost. The Peacock promotions were included as part of the Charter-NBCU

Joe Inzerillo, a key architect of Disney Plus and the company’s other streaming services, is joining SiriusXM as chief product and technology officer. Inzerillo starts at SiriusXM on Jan. 10, 2022, and will report directly to CEO Jennifer Witz. He will lead a team of more than 1,500 engineers, product leaders and technology professionals. Going

Maejor has been in the music biz for more than a decade. Over his career, the singer, songwriter and powerhouse producer has worked with the likes Justin Bieber, Drake, Trey Songz, Ciara and T-Pain. Now Maejor (aka Brandon Green) is bringing out a new Audible original podcast that follows his globe-trotting explorations into how music

What do you get the richest person in the world? How about a perch as Time’s Person of the Year. The magazine has conferred that honor on Tesla founder Elon Musk, citing his work revolutionizing the electric car industry, as well as the fact that his company SpaceX’s won an exclusive NASA contract to put

A new podcast imagines what happens five years after the events of beloved musical “Annie.” “Tomorrow,” a scripted drama series featuring new music and new arrangements of the musical’s classic songs, premieres exclusively on Amazon Music and Wondery on Monday, Dec. 13, before it will come to other major audio platforms a month later. Intended

Viaplay, Scandinavia’s leading streamer, is set to launch in the U.S. on Dec. 15 under a partnership with Comcast. A European challenger to global players, Viaplay will bow with more than 1,100 hours of subtitled premium Nordic entertainment, including U.S. premieres of award-winning Viaplay Originals, as well as high-profile third-party acquisitions of films and series

The 2021 YouTube Streamy Awards were handed out on Dec. 11, honoring the top digital creators and content of the year. MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson), the YouTuber famous for his big-money giveaways, stunts and charitable initiatives, took hope the Creator of the Year award — winning for the second year in a row. In addition,

Get ready to hit the virtual floor, Little Monsters: Lady Gaga has landed on Beat Saber. Meta’s Oculus announced a new 10-track Lady Gaga Music Pack, available in Beat Saber on the Quest and Rift virtual-reality platforms. Beat Saber is a VR game in which players slash to the beats of music — as they

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses a major plot development in the first episode of “And Just Like That,” the “Sex and the City” revival series now streaming on HBO Max. Shares of Peloton, the fitness equipment company, fell 11.3% Thursday — tumbling to a 19-month low — after a key character in HBO Max’s “Sex

Is it real — or is it Unreal? Epic Games worked with Warner Bros., “The Matrix Resurrections” director Lana Wachowski to create a “technical demo” set in the world of the Matrix, designed to show off the capabilities of Epic’s latest 3D creation tool, Unreal Engine 5. The company on Thursday released “The Matrix Awakens:

The best video games of the year are being honored at the 2021 Game Awards, hosted by Geoff Keighley and featuring presenters like Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Ann Moss, Simu Liu, Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Guillermo del Toro, Giancarlo Esposito, Ming-Na Wen and more. The show will be broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles,

The Sundance Film Festival released the schedule for the 15th-anniversay edition of New Frontier, the fest’s track for showcasing multimedia, VR and emerging tech creative projects. The 2022 lineup includes 15 premieres from creators around the world. The New Frontier program will be “a fully biodigital showcase,” according to Sundance. It will be globally accessible

No shocker here: For Twitter users, it was a green light for “Squid Game,” the massive global hit that became Netflix’s biggest TV show in its initial release. The Korean drama was the No. 1 most-tweeted about television show of the year. In the U.S., following “Squid Game” were Disney Plus’ “WandaVision,” “Sesame Street,” “Saturday