The TV industry, long measured by Nielsen, continues to offer up new yardsticks to Madison Avenue. ViacomCBS said it would take a more active role in the TV industry’s ongoing quest to develo… | Continue reading
A “Babylon 5” reboot is in development at The CW, Variety has learned. Original series creator J. Michael Straczynski is onboard to write the project. He will also executive producer un… | Continue reading
Johnny Depp was only meant to be asked questions relating to his career during a press conference preceding his Donostia Awards reception at the San Sebastian Film Festival. But in response to one … | Continue reading
Twitter disclosed a binding agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit, under which the social network will pay $809.5 million to resolve claims it provided misleading user-engagement info to inves… | Continue reading
Norm Macdonald, the deadpan comedian, actor, writer and “Saturday Night Live” star, has died after a private battle with cancer, Variety has confirmed. He was 61. Macdonald’s canc… | Continue reading
Amazon is officially in the TV set business. After years of selling Fire TV devices that plug into third-party HDTVs and teaming with TV makers for Fire TV-based products, the ecommerce giant is ro… | Continue reading
Original “Blue’s Clues” host Steve Burns has finally clued the world into why he left the popular children’s show in 2002. In a viral clip posted to Nick Jr.’s Twitter… | Continue reading
Vox Media is acquiring Hot Pod, the independent news outlet focused on the podcasting industry, as part of a bid to expand offerings from its technology site, The Verge. Under part of a deal being … | Continue reading
After being delayed a week and switched from an in-person event to a virtual ceremony, the Hollywood Critics Association revealed the winners for its first-ever HCA TV Awards — and Apple TV Plus… | Continue reading
Hollywood film franchises such as “xXx,” “Warcraft” and “Resident Evil” used to be largely sustained by their box office performance in China, which significantly exceeded their North American haul… | Continue reading
Olivia Rodrigo has retroactively added two members of Paramore to the writing credits of her hit single “Good 4 U” — the second time she’s made such a revision for songs from her blockbuster debut … | Continue reading
Mike Richards is out as “Jeopardy!” host, just nine days after he was tapped to succeed the legendary Alex Trebek as the face of the beloved quiz show. Richards, who is also executive p… | Continue reading
Chinese authorities are investigating top Chinese actor Zheng Shuang for tax evasion and a sky-high salary exceeding government-approved limits, the Xinhua news agency said Wednesday. This marks th… | Continue reading
New VIP+ Analysis: Democrats and Republicans are at odds over many issues, but on the heft of Big Tech, a majority fight the same fight. | Continue reading
AT&T has officially divested Crunchyroll, closing the sale of the anime business to Sony’s Funimation group — bringing together two erstwhile competitors under the Sony umbrella. Th… | Continue reading
Match Group, the online dating company that recently spun off from Barry Diller’s IAC, generated $2.4 billion in revenue last year. Its biggest single expense? The 30% app store “tax” charged by Ap… | Continue reading
UPDATED: Twitter is in the crosshairs of the music industry and nearly two dozen U.S. lawmakers over the issue of music copyright infringement. A bipartisan group of 22 members of the House of Repr… | Continue reading
Disney’s decision to release “Black Widow” on Disney Plus at the same time it hit theaters has sparked a legal battle with Scarlett Johansson, the actress tasked with playing the … | Continue reading
“Arthur,” the iconic animated children’s series about a lovable aardvark, is ending after its 25th season. The longest-running children’s animated series in the history of A… | Continue reading
Joseph “Dusty” Hill, ZZ Top’s bassist for more than 50 years, has died, the group’s longtime rep confirmed. No cause of death was cited. The band’s Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard issued … | Continue reading
Stephen Colbert is punchy. It is the first night of his second week back with a live studio audience doing CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” at the Ed Sullivan Theater. He’s still on an adr… | Continue reading
Mere minutes after touching the edge of space, Jeff Bezos and his fellow Blue Origin crewmates stood back on Earth, shaking champagne at the throng of cameras pointed their way with grins wide enou… | Continue reading
Apple has signed a first-look deal with AR Content, the production company led by Academy Award-nominated producer and director Alexander Rodnyansky (“Beanpole,” “Leviathan,” “Loveless”), Var… | Continue reading
Disney will raise the monthly and annual fees for ESPN Plus, one of three different subscription-based streaming services it operates in the U.S., in a maneuver that signals how much the media indu… | Continue reading
Disney and Marvel’s superhero adventure “Black Widow” captured a massive $80 million in its first weekend, crushing the benchmark for the biggest box office debut since the pandem… | Continue reading
Streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon and Disney Plus, will soon have to invest between 20%-25% of their French revenues in French content under a new decree that was just unveiled by the F… | Continue reading
Netflix has been selling its subscription products direct-to-consumer since it was founded more than two decades ago. Now the streaming giant has launched Netflix.shop — the company’s f… | Continue reading
Industry executives are stunned that Amazon is in negotiations to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in a deal that could reach $9 billion. Their shock comes from a belief that the price tag severely overvalu… | Continue reading
PepsiCo issued a lengthy new statement on the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos controversy on Friday, in which the company expressed support for Richard Montañez, the former Frito-Lay executive whose clai… | Continue reading
Rotten Tomatoes is continuing on its quest to grow into something substantially bigger than its Tomatometer movie and TV rating scores. On Tuesday, the website — owned by NBCUniversal’s… | Continue reading
Back when giant crowds could gather in convention halls, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige stood on the stage of the D23 Expo in Anaheim in 2019 to present Marvel’s inaugural slate of television… | Continue reading
NBC will not air the Golden Globes in 2022, the network said in a statement on Monday morning. This means the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will now have to decide how or if it will move forw… | Continue reading
The Teaching Co. — founded in 1990, well before Netflix or YouTube were a twinkle in anyone’s eye — has sold audio and video learning classes for decades. Now, as media companies … | Continue reading
Spotify wants to be the industry’s No. 1 distributor of podcasts — and it’s willing to forgo some revenue in order to counter Apple’s push into podcast subscriptions. Next w… | Continue reading
Amazon has said it “understands and shares the concerns raised by football fans” in regards to the proposed — and hugely controversial — European Super League. In a statement released T… | Continue reading
While Amazon is shelling out an epic $465 million for season 1 of its “Lord of the Rings” TV adaptation, the company’s games unit has canceled plans to send players to J.R.R. Tolk… | Continue reading
Twitter went down Friday for many users, with thousands of people reporting problems viewing and sending tweets on the social network site. An error message on twitter.com said, “Something we… | Continue reading
Early Friday, Apple Music sent a carefully worded letter to artists, music labels and publishers that briefly explained “how creators earn royalties” from the streaming service, which is the world’… | Continue reading
China’s internet regulator has launched a hotline for citizens to report online comments that defame the ruling Communist Party and its approved description of history ahead of the Party’s upcoming… | Continue reading
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “Promising Young Woman” took top narrative film honors on Sunday at the 73rd annual Writers Guild of America Awards. Kal Penn hosted the vir… | Continue reading
On Friday, director Chris Columbus revealed that an R-rated version of the beloved 1993 comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire” exists – though there is not a NC-17 cut of the film. The confirmation first came fro… | Continue reading
Sony’s PlayStation group is throwing in the towel on its digital movie and TV transactional VOD business. As of Aug. 31, 2021, the PlayStation Store will stop offering movie and TV show purch… | Continue reading
China has this week imposed its tightest restrictions to date on the publication of original content online via short video and “self-media” accounts, in the latest escalation of its on… | Continue reading
For years, Disney has been keeping 80% of the revenue from older shows that it distributes to streaming platforms, leaving only 20% to be available to stars and other profit participants. It does s… | Continue reading
Just days after Triller and Universal Music Group essentially declared war on each other, UMG has unveiled a global agreement with TikTok “that delivers equitable compensation for recording artists… | Continue reading
In a signal of things to come from the Biden administration, the Justice Department on Monday dropped out of a lawsuit that seeks to block California from enacting its own net neutrality law. The a… | Continue reading
After driving “Thunder Road” for decades, Bruce Springsteen is taking a detour on Madison Avenue. The musician known as “The Boss” will command two minutes of commercial time in Super Bowl LV Sunda… | Continue reading
While January 2021 will go down in the ratings record books for CNN, the last week of the month may offer a portent of what the post-Trump era will be like for the network. In the first week of the… | Continue reading