More from J. Clara Chan
Longtime Amazon Executive Jeff Blackburn Elected to Roku Board of Directors
Roku has named Jeff Blackburn, the longtime Amazon executive who led the retail giant’s streaming and content business, to its board of directors. Blackburn most recently served as Amazon’s svp for global media and entertainment, where his purview included Prime Video, Amazon Studios, Amazon Music, Audible and Twitch, among other divisions. The executive retired from […]
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Nike’s RTFKT Signs With CAA
RTFKT, the design studio best known for creating virtual and digital sneakers, has signed with CAA to explore film and TV projects based on the company’s IP. The studio, pronounced “artifact,” was created in 2020 by Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le and Steven Vasilev amid the frenzy around NFTs, digital collectibles and the metaverse. In early […]
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“How Do We Pivot?”: Podcasting Turns to M&A and Cost-Cutting
In the end, was Spotify’s acquisition of Gimlet and Parcast all a waste? That’s how unionized staffers at Gimlet and Parcast described Spotify’s decision on Monday to begin shuttering the two podcast studios that the audio giant had purchased in 2019 for 221 million euros. “When Spotify purchased Gimlet and Parcast for nearly $300 million, […]
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Jemele Hill Seeks New Home for ‘Unbothered’ Podcast As Spotify Exclusive Deal Set to End
Jemele Hill is looking for a new home for her podcast, Jemele Hill Is Unbothered, as she prepares for her Spotify contract to end later this summer, according to people familiar with the matter. Hill has been an early fixture in Spotify’s podcasting strategy, having hosted Jemele Hill is Unbothered exclusively on Spotify since 2019. […]
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BuzzFeed Receives Nasdaq Delisting Notice After Poor Stock Performance
BuzzFeed has until Nov. 27 to improve the performance of its stock or risk getting delisted from Nasdaq, according to a Friday filing with the Securities Exchange Commission. The media company received a notice from Nasdaq on Wednesday warning that for the past 30 business days, the bidding price for BuzzFeed’s common stock has closed […]
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Disney Takes $1.5B Write-Down After Removing Shows Off Disney+ and Hulu
Disney is set to take a $1.5 billion write-down during the fiscal third quarter after the entertainment giant removed more than 30 shows off of Disney+ and Hulu last month in an effort to bring down costs, according to a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On May 26, Disney pulled shows like The […]
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AMC Theatres Moves Streaming Library to Fandango’s Vudu
AMC Theatres has transferred its streaming library over to Fandango’s Vudu as the theater chain prepares to sunset its own streaming platform, AMC Theatres On Demand. Beginning Thursday, AMC Theatres On Demand users will be able to transfer their accounts over to Vudu to rent and purchase films, as well as view previously purchased movies. […]
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‘The Aarthi and Sriram Show’ Nabs Podcast Deal With iHeartMedia
The Aarthi and Sriram Show, an interview show hosted by veteran tech executives and investors Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan that first debuted on Clubhouse, has landed a distribution deal with iHeartMedia. The podcast was formed after the husband-and-wife duo Krishnan and Ramamurthy first began hosting conversations with influential figures in tech and media on […]
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Viola Davis’ Ashé Audio Ventures Inks Multi-Project Deal With Audible (Exclusive)
Ashé Audio Ventures, the newly created podcast label from Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions and Maurício and Katie Mota’s Wise Entertainment, has reached an exclusive multi-project deal with Audible. Scripted and unscripted original audio programming from Ashé will begin releasing its first titles in 2024. The projects are expected to include genres like […]
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MasterClass Lowers Price of Subscription
MasterClass, the education streaming platform, is lowering the price of its annual subscription from $15 a month to $10 a month as it adds new programming from talent like Amy Poehler. The pricing change bucks the trend in streaming, where major streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu have introduced price hikes over the past […]
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Comedian Bobby Lee Sues Wondery Over Canceled ‘TigerBelly’ Podcast Contract
Comedian Bobby Lee is suing Wondery for breach of contract after the audio company allegedly canceled a multiyear ad sales and distribution deal for his podcast, TigerBelly, which he co-hosts with Khalyla Kuhn. The complaint, filed in Los Angeles on Thursday on behalf of Lee’s TigerBelly company, alleges that Wondery was “under pressure to cut […]
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Barack Obama: Studios “Wouldn’t Be Around If It Weren’t for Writers,” Says He’s “Hopeful” About Deal
Former President Barack Obama said he was “hopeful” that writers would get “a fair share of the fruits of their labor” as a result of the ongoing writers strike. During a live-streamed interview with Ira Glass in Washington, D.C., to promote his Netflix docuseries, Working, Obama opened up the conversation by sharing his support for […]
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