Television

UPDATING with details from New York Attorney General’s Office settlement. Paramount Global and former CBS chief Leslie Moonves have reached a $30.5 million settlement with New York state as part of an investigation that uncovered new allegations of a cover-up and insider stock sales within CBS as sexual misconduct accusations against Moonves began to come

HBO’s highly anticipated “The Last of Us” TV series, based on the popular PlayStation video game, will debut on Jan. 15, 2023, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, the company confirmed Wednesday. Season 1 will consist of nine episodes. The official date announcement comes after eagle-eyed HBO Max users spotted an accidental leak on the streaming site

After two and a half years, the wait is almost over. Netflix released the first trailer for Season 3 of “Dead to Me,” which premieres on Nov. 17. The dark comedy series, which debuted in 2019 and had its second season in 2020, follows the friendship of Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini), who

Paramount Global chief Bob Bakish made it clear Wednesday that Showtime Networks’ days as a standalone unit within the conglomerate are numbered. Comments during the company’s third-quarter earnings call with Wall Street analysts indicated strongly that the operations of Showtime and Paramount Plus will be more fully blended in the coming months. The Showtime brand

Comcast and Charter Communications have settled on Xumo as the name of their streaming platform joint venture, as the two biggest U.S. cable operators look to take on the likes of Roku, Amazon, Apple and Google in the space. Xumo, pronounced ”ZOOM-oh,” is the name of the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service that Comcast

Trevor Noah railed against Elon Musk’s controversial Twitter takeover during the latest episode of “The Daily Show,” calling it “ridiculous” that Musk plans to charge users $8 per month to have a blue check mark as part of Twitter Blue (via The Daily Beast). Referring to Musk as “the guy who always looks like a

German producer Isabel Hund will serve as the CEO of the recently formed joint venture between Legendary Entertainment and Tobis. Hund, who spent much of the last decade leading German production and acquisition for Studiocanal GmbH, will lead the venture’s efforts to develop, produce and distribute premium German language series content. At Studiocanal GmbH, Hund

Paramount and Virgin Media have set a new multi-year distribution agreement, extending their existing long-term partnership across Paramount’s streaming services and linear channels in the U.K. The renewed partnership will see streamer Paramount+ debut on Virgin TV in 2023. Free, ad-supported TV (FAST) service Pluto TV will also gain wider UK distribution on Virgin Media’s

Knicks and Rangers fans in the New York area don’t need to seek out a national feed to fuel their gaming ambitions. MSG Networks, which airs games from both New York team, will launch a series of simulcasts focused on sports betting for select Knicks and Rangers games this season. The alternative broadcasts will be

WWE and video entertainment platform MultiChoice have revealed a broadcast partnership that will see the latter’s streamer Showmax become the new home of WWE Network in Africa. The partnership incorporates all WWE premium live events, including WrestleMania, as well as WWE Network’s extensive library of original and archived programming available to stream on demand. Additionally,

On the occasion of its 40th birthday, U.K. public service broadcaster Channel 4 has rebranded its VoD service All4 as Channel 4. The service used to be known as 4oD and it was renamed as All4 in 2015. The rebranding, which will begin from spring 2023, is to “help audiences better navigate the abundance of

All Brad Schwartz has to do now is find the next version of the types of things he’s discovered in the past: a new “Schitt’s Creek, the next Billy Eichner or the next smart revival of fondly-remembered favorites like “One Day At a Time” or “Degrassi Junior High.” Easy, right? He will have ample time

Amazon’s Prime Video has set a multiyear, global distribution agreement with the 16-to-20-year-old players basketball league Overtime Elite, which will see the streamer exclusively air 20 live games per season for the next three seasons. Additionally, Prime Video will launch a season-long unscripted series focused on the YA league Overtime Elite (OTE) in mid-2023. Under

The run-up to the midterm elections has hit Hollywood close to home. The industry is split between candidates Rick Caruso and Karen Bass for the office of Los Angeles mayor, and smaller races are being watched just as closely.  One such contest that has many industry types taling is the city council race in District

Netflix has announced six upcoming natural history documentary series, starting with “Our Universe,” narrated by Morgan Freeman, on November 22. The shows all focus on different aspects of the natural world, from an expansive look into the universe’s origins, to life on planet Earth and how its oceans operate and exist. Additional new series include

Netflix’s “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” will have a new host. When the franchise is extended, JoAnna Garcia Swisher will guide the couples, instead of Nick and Vanessa Lachey, who hosted the first season (and lead Netflix’s “Love Is Blind.)” “She’s in the Netflix family, and I think she did a great job,” creator Chris Coelen

Anthony Reyes has joined WME as the company’s vice president of corporate communications. He will report to Marie Sheehy, WME’s head of corporate communications. Reyes comes to the agency after most recently running an independent communications firm representing clients across politics, business, tech, and entertainment including Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also previously worked at Mercury Public

Nexstar has named Beth Feldman the senior vice president of network communications at the CW, replacing Paul Hewitt, the longtime comms chief at the younger-skewing broadcaster. Feldman will oversee internal and external communication and program publicity effective immediately, taking over for Hewitt, who is leaving the network after 22 years at the job in the

With Halloween finished, it’s time to countdown to Christmas on Freeform. The network’s “25 Days of Christmas” month-long event returns on Thursday, Dec. 1, with a mix of holiday favorites — including “Home Alone,” “The Santa Clause” trilogy, “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” — and classic hits like “The lIttle Drummer Boy” and “Miracle of 34th Street.”

Nexstar laid off between 30-40 staffers at the CW network Tuesday, marking the first sweeping staffing overhaul at the “Walker” broadcaster since it changed ownership, according to a source familiar with the situation. Among those cuts were Paul Hewitt, the longtime CW comms chief, who has been replaced by Beth Feldman. Additionally, multiple execs in

SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from Season 2 of “Young Royals,” now streaming on Netflix. Well, that is certainly one way to get the attention of the entire country of Sweden. In the Season 2 finale of Netflix’s global sensation “Young Royals,” Sweden’s teenaged Crown Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) used a nationally broadcasted speech at

The Zoe Saldaña-led limited series “From Scratch” was Netflix’s top title between Oct. 24 and Oct. 30, bringing in 72 million hours viewed. This viewing period marks the romance’s first full week of availability on Netflix; last week, it debuted at No. 3 with 32.2 million hours viewed after three days on the streamer. “From

Did James Corden steal Ricky Gervais joke? It’s a question comedy fans were asking on social media after the Oct. 31 episode of “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” During his opening monologue, Corden mocked Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. “When you see Elon Musk talk about Twitter he does this thing where he goes,

The “Dead Boy Detectives” show at HBO Max has added Caitlin Reilly and Max Jenkins to its cast in recurring roles, Variety has learned exclusively. The eight-episode series was ordered at HBO Max back in April. It is based on the DC comics of the same name as well as “The Sandman,” from characters created

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has already prompted a slowdown of ad dollars to the much-scrutinized social-media venue. Interpublic Group, the advertising giant, has advised clients that work with its large Mediabrands ad-buying group to “pause” spending on Twitter for the next week, according to a person familiar with the matter. Executives at the media-investment

The upcoming comedic thriller series “Based on a True Story” at Peacock has added three new cast members, Variety has learned exclusively. Tom Bateman (“Thirteen Lives,” “Behind Her Eyes”), Liana Liberato (“Scream 6,” “To the Bone”), and Priscilla Quintana (“Good Trouble”) have joined the show as series regulars. They will star alongside previously announced cast

Nominations have been announced for the first-ever Children’s & Family Emmys, which will include around 50 categories. Netflix led the pack with approximately 85 nominations across the board, while the combined mix of Disney+, Disney Channel and Disney Junior was next, with around 78 nods. Some of this year’s races have moved over from the

Generational differences are among the few very predictable wellsprings of mainstream comedy; done right, they make for universally relatable humor. (After all, both kids and their parents will “feel seen” if it’s done well.) So it’s too bad “Lopez vs. Lopez,” a new sitcom on NBC, doesn’t clear the bar. Here, George Lopez, star of

The owner of the Television City studio is accusing developer Rick Caruso of “hypocrisy” for claiming to support the entertainment industry while opposing the $1.25 billion development of the studio, which is next door to Caruso’s The Grove shopping center. Caruso is running for Los Angeles mayor in the Nov. 8 election. He has touted

Paramount Global is shaking up the way it communicates with Madison Avenue. Karen Phillips, Chris Simon and David Lawenda were given new duties under a team that is now being directed by John Halley, who was named president of the operation in September. The moves effectively merge ad-sales teams that had been devoted separately to