Adobe Abandons $20 Billion Bid for Figma, Citing Regulatory Opposition to Deal, Will Pay $1 Billion Breakup Fee

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney+ is now included as part of the pay-TV bundle on Charter’s Spectrum TV Select tier. Charter Communications and the Walt Disney Co. announced that the ad-supported version of Disney+ (called Disney+ Basic, priced normally at $7.99/month) is now available in all Spectrum TV Select packages nationwide at no additional cost.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor T-Mobile is sweetening the deal for its most expensive wireless plan with another free streamer: The carrier is making Disney’s Hulu available for no extra charge later this month. Starting Jan.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Joe Rogan claimed many Americans who voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 are regretting that decision because of the 46th president’s alleged declining acuity — but to try to prove his point, the popular podcast host incorrectly attributed to Biden something Donald Trump had in fact said. On the Dec. 21 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which is the No.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Aylo, parent company of Pornhub and other sex sites, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. prosecutors to settle a charge it profited from deals with porn producers who were involved in sex trafficking. Under the settlement announced Thursday, Canada-based Aylo agreed to pay a criminal fine and forfeiture totaling $1.845 million to the U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Lawyers for Ozy Media, the defunct media and entertainment company founded by Carlos Watson, allege in a new lawsuit that Ben Smith, BuzzFeed and Semafor (the media startup co-founded by Smith in 2022) misappropriated Ozy’s trade secrets “for their own benefit.” The suit additionally alleges that BuzzFeed breached a nondisclosure agreement it entered into with Ozy in 2019 as part of its efforts to buy the company. Lawyers representing Ozy Media allege that Smith, former BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief and New York Times media columnist who is currently editor-in-chief of Semafor, wrote “a series of hit pieces” about Ozy Media but that he did not disclose “his central role in BuzzFeed’s efforts to buy Ozy two years earlier” while he was at BuzzFeed.

Christine Lampard has shared that she makes a break for some much-needed alone time in her very own "she shed" in the garden, where she hides from her children. The Lorraine presenter and Loose Women panellist shares children Patricia, four, and Freddie, two, with her football legend husband Frank Lampard. Opening up about how tricky it can be to get any peace and quiet during stressful times at home, Christine joked that there's nowhere to "hide".

Deadline has confirmed that Byron Allen is taking another run at BET Media Group in a $3.5 billion bid sent to Paramount Global for BET and VH1. The offer followed a report that Paramount is in talks to sell BET to a management-led investor group.

NCIS will say goodbye to late star David McCallum in the show’s upcoming 21st season.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Google agreed to pay $700 million and will make certain changes to the Google Play app store for Android devices under the terms of a settlement with all 50 U.S. states, which had alleged in a lawsuit the app store operated as an illegal monopoly. As part of the settlement, Google will allow app and game developers to implement an alternative billing option alongside Google Play’s billing system for U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Activision Blizzard will pay $54.9 million to settle a lawsuit by California’s Civil Rights Department alleging a pattern of pay and promotion practices that discriminated against women. The settlement, announced Friday, comes after Microsoft closed its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard in October following concessions Microsoft made to clear regulatory objections in the U.K. Activision Blizzard’s franchises include Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero and Diablo.

Arlene Phillips has defended Strictly Come Dancing finalist Layton Williams who has faced backlash for being on the popular BBC show.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor There was a time when streamers — led by Netflix, burning a hole in its balance sheet with annual negative cash flow in the billions — were banking on double-digit subscriber growth. And they were spending on content like there was no tomorrow. Well, tomorrow came.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In case you didn’t get enough of Elon Musk in “Elon Musk,” the 688-page authorized biography of the tech mogul penned by Walter Isaacson, here comes a new podcast from Isaacson talking about his experience spending two years shadowing the world’s richest person to research the book. The “On Musk” podcast, produced by iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope, premieres Dec. 12 on the iHeartPodcast Network (at this link) and all major podcast platforms, with all four episodes available at launch.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The show is over for Showtime as a standalone brand. As of Jan. 8, 2024, Paramount Global will rebrand the linear Showtime cable network as Paramount+ With Showtime — the same name as the company’s top-tier streaming package.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk, continuing his campaign to make X a “free speech” refuge even to the detriment of the company’s business interests, said he is reinstating the account of far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Twitter banned Jones in 2018, along with his Infowars program. Last year Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to families of Sandy Hook victims over his lies about the 2012 school shooting, which left 20 kids and six adults dead.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix‘s board has approved 2024 pay packages of its top execs, with co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters each to receive compensation worth $40 million. For Sarandos, it’s the same level of pay he is set to receive in 2023.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Game designer Hideo Kojima, creator of the hugely popular “Death Stranding,” had two pieces of news coming out of the Game Awards 2023. On Thursday evening at the Game Awards show in L.A., Kojima appeared on stage with filmmaker Jordan Peele to announce his next game project: “OD,” which Kojima describes as an “immersive and totally new style of game” that will explore “what it means to OD on fear.” It’s being produced in partnership with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amazon‘s Prime Video and Premier Boxing Champions announced a multiyear rights agreement to bring top pay-per-view boxing events to U.S. viewers. Launched in 2015, PBC features over 150 active fighters across various weight divisions, including top contenders and current world champions.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Telecom giant Verizon hired Leslie Berland, previously the top marketing exec at Peloton and Twitter, as CMO. Berland will assume the role of executive VP and chief marketing officer at Verizon, effective Jan. 9, 2024.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Get ready to see “The Kardashians” standing next to Baby Yoda on your Disney+ home screen. Beginning Dec. 6, the significant majority of Hulu content will be available on Disney+ in the U.S.