By Meg James July 27, 2018 | Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox Inc. shareholders on Friday overwhelmingly approved Disney’s proposed $71.3-billion takeover of much of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox — a milestone in a merger that is expected to dramatically reshape the entertainment industry. The deal’s contours began to form nearly a year ago over wine between Disney Chief Executive...
By Carolyn Giardina July 26, 2018 | Technicolor is shutting down its feature film sound and immersive sound units by the end of the year, after honoring current commitments to clients, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The company intends to refocus its sound resources on sound for episodic series and other streaming content. It will also concentrate its production services on VFX and color...
By Tara Lachapelle July 25, 2018 | No, AT&T probably isn’t going to ruin HBO. John Stankey, the longtime AT&T Inc. executive appointed to run its recently acquired Time Warner division (now called WarnerMedia), caused quite a stir this month in his and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson’s early days as media moguls. The New York Times got its hands on a recording of Stankey speaking alongside HBO...
By Todd Spangler July 23, 2018 | Sony Pictures Television is looking to sell a piece of Crackle, with the aim of growing revenue at the free, ad-supported streaming network and making it more competitive. Mike Hopkins, the former Hulu chief who joined Sony Pictures Television as chairman last fall, outlined the potential move to bring in an equity partner for Sony Crackle in a memo to staff...
July 23, 2018 | comScore's new State of OTT report paints a picture of OTT Streaming as a longtail situation, with a few high-reach apps and many low-reach services. Of the roughly 70 OTT services tracked by comScore, more than 1/3 reach less than 1% of OTT Streaming Households – in absolute numbers, fewer than 600K households using the service....
By Todd Spangler June 20, 2018 | Walt Disney Animation Studios will debut its first virtual-reality short film next month, marking a new experiment by a major studio to use the power of VR to enhance storytelling. The short film, “Cycles,” is directed by Disney Animation lighting artist Jeff Gipson, marking his VR directorial debut. Read more on Variety. Related Articles: Next UP “Alternate Realities” | How...
By Cynthia Littleton Jul 19, 2018 | As it moves closer to completing its acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets, Disney is preparing to overhaul the leadership of Disney/ABC Television Group. 21st Century Fox president Peter Rice and Fox Television Group chairman Dana Waldenare slated to relocate to Disney in senior posts overseeing TV operations. Current Disney/ABC TV Group president Ben Sherwood is expected to transition to a new role at...
By Gerry Smith and Anousha Sakoui July 19, 2018 | Following a bidding war with Disney, Comcast concluded that the price for the Fox assets was too high, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the decision process was private. Another hurdle was the regulatory requirement to divest Fox’s regional sports networks as part...
By Todd Spangler July 19, 2018 | Walmart is in fact looking at entering the subscription-video space to compete with Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, sources confirmed — and the retailing giant is planning to launch the service through its Vudu digital-entertainment division, Variety has learned. Vudu has set plans to launch a low-cost subscription video-on-demand package in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to sources. The SVOD service would...
