entertainment
EQ Tickets combines cheaper sports and event tickets with a social network
A startup that aims to combine the ticket-buying experience online with a social network, EQ Tickets, is today emerging out of stealth to help make discovering shows and other live…
Netflix’s ad-supported plan gets support for 1080p quality and two concurrent streams
Netflix is upgrading its ad-supported plan in terms of streaming quality and concurrent streams. The company said users subscribed to this plan will be able to see content in 1080p…
As regulation heats up, will gaming studios’ gamble on loot boxes pay off?
Loot boxes, a way for players to receive random in-game rewards in exchange for real money, have been disparaged for a while now, and they’re now increasingly subject to government…
SiriusXM acquires Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco podcast company for $150 million
SiriusXM Holdings, Inc. announced the acquisition of Team Coco today, the Conan O’Brien-led podcast network and digital media business. The $150 million deal (valuation first reported by The Wall Street…
Candle Media, the new media company co-backed by former Disney execs, acquires Gen Z-focused ATTN: for $100M
Candle Media, the new media company headed by former Disney execs, Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, has made another acquisition — this time with an eye on social storytelling and…
Google is moving the ‘Movies & TV’ tab from the Play Store to Google TV
Google is removing the “Movies & TV” section from the Play Store and moving it to the Google TV app, the company announced in a blog post. The upcoming change…
HearHere raises $3.2M to scale its immersive storytelling road-trip app
Santa Barbara-based HearHere, the company behind an audio entertainment and immersive storytelling road-trip app, has raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by RV and outdoor retailer Camping World. The…
Netflix launches a website dedicated to news about renewals, exclusive interviews and more
Netflix has launched a new website called “Tudum,” which will host consumer news about renewals, release dates and extra content featuring its TV shows and movies. The company is marketing…
Tinder is partnering with Spotify to launch a new ‘Music Mode’ feature
Tinder is partnering with Spotify to launch a new “Music Mode” feature where users will hear a 30-second looped preview of a potential match’s chosen song while checking out their…
Spotify debuts a ‘Netflix Hub’ featuring music and podcasts tied to Netflix shows and movies
Looking for the soundtrack from your favorite Netflix show? Now, it will be easier to find thanks to an expanded partnership between Netflix and Spotify. The streaming music service today…
Taiwan-based FunNow, an instant booking app, raises $15M Series B
FunNow is a booking app for spontaneous people. For example, you can reserve a manicure or restaurant seat and head right over. As people start to spend more time outside…
Pikmin Bloom, an AR mobile game, is Niantic’s next collaboration with Nintendo
Niantic announced yesterday that its next augmented reality mobile game will be Pikmin Bloom, a collaboration with Nintendo. The free game was first released for iOS and Android in Singapore…
Netflix employees stage a trans solidarity walkout, pose list of demands
Netflix employees staged a walkout yesterday in response to the company’s handling of a Dave Chappelle special that premiered on October 5. At the same time, Los Angeles-based trans activist…
Netflix fired the employee who organized a walkout in solidarity with trans workers
Netflix fired an employee who led the company’s trans employee resource group and planned a walkout on October 20, a current and former Netflix employee with knowledge of the situation…
South Africa’s telecommunication provider Telkom SA SOC Ltd has since October discontinued Netflix Inc. from its phone and internet set-top box, said a Bloomberg report. Telkom’s Content Executive Wanda Mkhize…
Netflix acquires its first games studio, “Oxenfree” developer Night School
Night School Studio, the independent game developer known for narrative-driven titles like Oxenfree, announced today it has been acquired by Netflix. This makes it the first games studio the streaming…
INKR draws in $3.1M to make more comics accessible to worldwide audiences
INKR is a digital comics platform that crosses cultural and language divides, enabling creators to reach global audiences with its proprietary localization technology. Previously bootstrapped, the company announced today that…
Spielberg’s Amblin inks multiyear feature film deal with Netflix
In something of an about-face, Amblin Partners, Steven Spielberg’s long-running film production company, will produce several films per year for Netflix. The deal reflects Netflix’s rising star and arguably acceptance…
Women-led sports media startup The GIST raises $1M to challenge sports reporting norms
The three co-founders of The GIST are all themselves sports fans, but realized in 2018 that sports media in general left a lot to be desired when it comes to…
The gaming industry needs more than just coders
If you never considered a career in the gaming industry — or thought that your skill set wouldn’t translate — know that this expanding job market needs employees from all types…
Serial fiction app Radish acquired by Kakao Entertainment for $440M
Serialized fiction app Radish will be acquired by Kakao Entertainment in a transaction valued at $440 million. Kakao Entertainment is owned by Kakao, the South Korean internet giant whose services…
How 4 New Jersey pools turned into a startup that just raised $10M
As the oldest of 12 children, Bunim Laskin spent much of his teen years looking for ways to help keep his siblings entertained. Noticing that a neighbor’s pool was often…
Featured Article
What the MasterClass effect means for edtech
MasterClass, which sells a subscription to celebrity-taught classes, sits on the cusp of entertainment and education. It offers virtual, yet aspirational learning: an online tennis class with Serena Williams, a cooking session with Gordon Ramsay. While there’s the off chance that an instructor might actually talk to you — it has happened before — the…
Featured Article
Garry Kasparov launches a community-first chess platform
Four years ago, MasterClass, a platform that sells celebrity-taught classes, invited chess legend Garry Kasparov to teach a class. He said yes, but soon realized that creating a message that could satisfy a majority of players was a “struggle throughout the process.” While the class did pretty well, Kasparov found it “a little bit annoying”…
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 invests $160M in media localization provider Iyuno-SDI Group
Iyuno-SDI Group, a provider of translated subtitles and other media localization services, announced today it has raised $160 million in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The company said this…
Flowhaven raises $16M to evolve brand licensing management beyond emails and spreadsheets
The media licensing business is a massive market, but much of the work involved is still handled manually through emails and spreadsheets. A startup called Flowhaven is working to change that.…
Former Disney and Discovery execs to launch Struum, a ‘ClassPass for streaming services’
Former Disney and Discovery execs are teaming up to launch a new streaming service called Struum, arriving in the spring, that aims to take the ClassPass model and apply it…
YouTube Kids, the video platform’s version of its service that lets families set age categories, viewing timers and other controls, is now available on Apple TV. Country availability is listed…
Puppet names former Cloud Foundry Foundation executive director Abby Kearns as CTO
Puppet, the Portland-based infrastructure automation company, today announced that it has named former Cloud Foundry Foundation executive director Abby Kearns as its new CTO. Current Puppet CTO Deepak Giridharagopal will…
Magic Leap’s $2.6 billion bait and switch
Intended or not — I assume it wasn’t — Magic Leap became a $2.6 billion bait-and-switch, the consequences of which are now all too apparent.
