Comcast and Fox Corp. have come to terms on a broad carriage agreement covering all of Fox’s cable channels, including Fox News, and its O&O local TV stations. The long-term deal is significant for Fox Corp. given the importance of Comcast’s distribution footprint to core earnings. The pact covers authenticated streaming rights to Fox properties
Taiwan has launched a grant scheme to boost the island’s status as a global hub for virtual reality production. It is offering finance to projects co-produced by companies established in Taiwan and internationally, but excluding those from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. The three-year Immersive Content Grant for International Joint Ventures or Co-Productions under
J.K. Rowling has launched “Harry Potter at Home,” a digital hub with a cauldron full of treats to keep young children occupied while they are held captive at home during the coronavirus crisis. The hub, which includes contributions from publishing houses Bloomsbury and Scholastic, has magical craft videos, fun articles, quizzes, puzzles and more for
T-Mobile said it officially closed its merger with rival Sprint — creating a wireless carrier with over 100 million customers nationwide — and reiterated its pledge to not increase customers’ fees for the next three years. The deal, worth more than $31 billion based on T-Mobile’s closing stock price Tuesday, ends the nearly two-year effort
In the 2015 premiere of “Schitt’s Creek,” a riches-to-rags comedy, the Rose family arrive in the tiny titular town wearing the designer clothes of their past life as protective gear. But over the show’s six seasons on Pop TV, viewers have seen the once wealthy Roses — Johnny (Eugene Levy) and Moira (Catherine O’Hara) and
At the stroke of 8 a.m. ET, Spotify and Warner Music announced that they have renewed their global licensing deal. The two companies are believed to have been out of contract for around nine months, although that is not an uncommon situation for streaming services and music companies. “Spotify and Warner Music Group are pleased
Sunday’s Elton John-hosted “Living Room Concert for America,” featuring Billie Eilish, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys and many others, has raised nearly $8 million for coronavirus relief. The musicians performed from their homes for the hour-long event that aired on Fox and iHeartMedia radio stations. It also encourages viewers to support two of the many charitable
Justin Bieber’s 2020 Changes tour has been postponed due to the growing coronavirus crisis. The 45-date stadium and arena trek was due to kick off on May 14 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle and follow Bieber’s first album in nearly five years, released on Feb. 14, and his first tour in nearly three. It is
This of course took place before COVID happened. But there is little reason to think that Constantin Television’s goals will have changed with coronavirus. On Feb. 24, on the first day of the Berlinale Series Market, Oliver Berben, Constantin head of TV, entertainment and digital media, took to the stage to host a Constantin Television
Big Hit Entertainment, the Korean music label which represents pop sensation BTS, recorded bumper profits in 2019. The Seoul-based company saw revenue nearly double to $508 million, and operating profit grow by 28% to $85.4 million. The diluted profit margin was explained by moves to diversify the company away from its reliance on BTS, through
Cardi B is the Instagram viral-video queen the internet apparently needs during the coronavirus pandemic. While Kylie Jenner dominated Instagram in 2019, Cardi B took over in March: Five of the top 10 most-viewed videos on the platform last month came from the outspoken rapper and entertainer, as tracked by Pex, an L.A.-based video and
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the U.K.’s largest arts festival and the launchpad for countless comedy and stage acts, will be shelved this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Fringe is among five Edinburgh festivals that have been canceled in light of COVID-19 concerns. This group also includes the Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh International Book
Leading London cultural center The Barbican has extended its temporary closure until June 30, but in the meantime it is focusing on its online program. Nicholas Kenyon, The Barbican’s managing director, said: “Having reviewed the current government advice and looking at how long social distancing measures are likely to be in place, we feel we’re
BMG Production Music has named Dan Pounder (pictured at right) to co-head alongside EVP and global managing director John Clifford. Pounder will head finance, operations and systems for the Berlin-based company which specializes in pre-cleared and custom production music services servicing content creators across broadcast, films, trailers, games and advertising. A separate unit within BMG,
While most of the world is on lockdown mode, Sweden has taken a different route, with schools, restaurants, some theaters and most public venues still open. The Swedish prime minister, Stefan Löfven, has asked people to behave like “adults” and not give in to the panic, advising them to work from home, as well as
For Berlin-based American writer-producer Anna Winger, creating the Netflix series “Unorthodox” offered a unique opportunity to tell a Jewish story in Germany. The show, which premiered March 26 on Netflix, is inspired by Deborah Feldman’s 2012 memoir, “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots,” and follows a young woman who leaves her husband and
Theatrical box office in the Asia-Pacific region tumbled a massive 85% in the first two months of the year. The coronavirus caused cinema closures, audience hesitation, and a halving of the number of film releases. Asia is home to the five of the top ten cinema markets outside North America. According to data from the
Play video content Exclusive The River at Tampa Bay Church The Florida pastor who got hauled in by cops for hosting a megachurch service despite quarantine and stay-at-home orders is doubling down … insisting he did NOTHING wrong. The Tampa-area minister is Rodney Howard-Browne, and he took to his own podcast/telecast shortly after being released
Phish will debut a brand new studio album, “Sigma Oasis,” during an online listening party at 9pm ET on April 1 on LivePhish.com, the band’s Facebook page as well as its SiriusXM channel. The group made the announcement Tuesday (March 31) during a video chat as part of its “Dinner and a Movie” archival concert
Nearly two weeks after revealing he tested positive for Covid-19, “The Bachelor” star Colton Underwood is well on the road to recovery. “I feel so much better,” Underwood said Tuesday on “Variety Live” on Instagram. “I was very lucky and fortunate that the medicine worked for me and all of my symptoms were manageable from home.
Lindsay Lohan is making a return to music after a 12-year hiatus. The former child star-turned-singer-songwriter-turned-Mykonos-based businesswoman posted a mysterious 30-second clip to her social media accounts today, captioning it with nothing but “I’m back!” and a pre-save link. The teaser centers in on a staticky television, flashing between moments from Lohan’s career as her
As anyone who’s ever attended a concert can deduce, musicians aren’t the only ones suffering from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the live-entertainment industry: An entire economy of roadies, technicians, security and many more have been deeply impacted by the postponement of virtually every concert tour in the world. Live Nation, the world’s
From the opening scenes of “Tiger King,” it’s clear that Joe Exotic, the star of Netflix’s latest documentary sensation, was ready to do just about anything to become famous. Throughout the series, he attempts to film his own reality show, runs for the governor of Oklahoma and even tries his hand at country music. His
“Tomboy” filmmaker Lindsay Lindenbaum spent five years following four female drummers trying to make it in a male-dominated world. Lindenbaum profiles Bobbye Hall, a drummer who started at Motown Records in the late ’60s and later toured with Bob Dylan. Samantha Maloney, whose obsession with MTV’s “Headbangers Ball” as a teenager led her to fall
With the Live+7 numbers in for the week of March 16, the first week in which the coronavirus pandemic really took hold across the country, the ratings increase due to so many people self-isolating appears to be leveling off a little bit. In terms of the key 18-49 demographic, there weren’t that many big gains
In the wake of an email sent to CBS Studios term-deal assistants informing them that their wages for the week ending March 28 would be capped at 52 hours, CBS tells Variety that the memo was sent out in error, and that there is no plan to retroactively reduce pay for those support staffers. “It
In today’s TV news roundup, Quibi released a trailer for Jennifer Lopez’s “Thanks A Million,” and Variety got an exclusive first look at the trailer for “JJ Villard’s Fairy Tales.” DATES CBS All Access has announced “Tooning Out The News” has resumed production and will now premiere April 7. The show was postponed due to
Say goodbye to blockbuster season — at least for this year. After would-be summer hits from Disney, Warner Bros., and Universal already vacated their release dates, Sony Pictures announced Monday that its comic book adventure “Morbius,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and virtually all of its upcoming tentpoles were being moved into the fall or beyond. It was
Chvrches frontwoman Lauren Mayberry was taking a break from making her band’s upcoming fourth album when she began a self-isolated quarantine at her home in Los Angeles the weekend of March 13 — the same weekend that Season 3 of the teen drama “Elite” debuted on Netflix to an especially binge-hungry audience. Though Mayberry was aware that
When “Utopia Falls” creator R.T. Thorne pitched a sci-fi hip-hop series about a group of teens living in a dystopian future and battling in a performing arts competition called the Exemplar, he knew the concept was an unusual one. “People definitely looked at me weird when I first threw it out there a few years