Megan Thee Stallion has released a new song titled "Hiss." The song is her second snake-themed single after "Cobra," which was released late last year. The new song opens with Megan stating, "I just wanna kick this shit off by sayin' fuck y'all.
17.01.2024 - 00:25 / deadline.com
The peak TV era may be over, but free, ad-supported streaming television is continuing to boom.
With more than 1,500 FAST channels now operating in the U.S., though, is there a risk of that vast array of offerings overwhelming consumers and bogging down the programmers and distributors trying to manage them all?
The consensus among five executives speaking on a panel Tuesday at NATPE: The risk is indeed real, but as with all industry booms, the glut of channels is forcing all stakeholders to raise their games. The result could be improved financial results and a better experience for viewers.
“There were channels when we started that were really just slapped together,” said Laura Florence, SVP Global FAST Channels for Fremantle. The test for any channel should be, she added, “Will viewers stay through a 2-minute ad break for it?” As the multi-billion-dollar FAST segment continues to evolve, programmers, advertisers and distributors should look to tried-and-true models of how the experience has worked best on commercial TV. “Things that have a beginning, middle and end” help keep audiences tuned in, Florence said. “I don’t think everything can last with 1,500 channels,” she added, given the ever-rising bar for execution.
Sam Harowitz, VP of content acquisition and partnerships for Fox Corp.’s Tubi, said FAST has “been in this period of growth and now we’re at, or almost at, the point of shifting into optimization. … You’re going to see, I think, over the next 12 to 18 months, a culling of channels.” Platforms, among them smart-TV makers and connected-TV distributors are “really taking a hard look” at their FAST lineups. The 1,500 to 1,600 channel level of today’s marketplace will likely drop to 1,000, he predicted.
Megan Thee Stallion has released a new song titled "Hiss." The song is her second snake-themed single after "Cobra," which was released late last year. The new song opens with Megan stating, "I just wanna kick this shit off by sayin' fuck y'all.
Diego Ramos Bechara editor Apple announced plans to provide grants to the Sundance Institute Indigenous Program and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, as a part of the company’s Empowering Creatives program. The grants aim to “continue Apple’s work to support and partner with Indigenous communities” by “supporting organizations that help people in underinvested communities unlock their creative potential.” Per Apple, both grant recipients are “dedicated” to amplifying the voices and experiences of Native and Indigenous peoples.
There are few talent-representative partnerships in Hollywood that have lasted a career. CSI creator Anthony Zuiker had that with manager Margaret Riley, most recently a partner at Lighthouse Entertainment, who died Tuesday of ovarian cancer at age 58.
EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of Focus Features‘ February 23rd release of Drive-Away Dolls, the road-trip caper marking her first collaboration with Academy Award winner Ethan Coen, Margaret Qualley has been set to star in Honey Don’t!, the filmmaker’s latest for the same studio.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor For more than 40 years, Aardman Animations has been producing classics like “Wallace & Gromit,” “Chicken Run” and “Shaun the Sheep.” Now, following in the footsteps of pioneers such as Peter Lord, David Sproxton and Nick Park, new recruits have come on board at the company’s headquarters on Spike Island in the port city of Bristol, in the West of England, replenishing its creative treasure chest. Variety steps along the gangplank to meet some of the more recent additions to the crew: Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, the creators of Oscar-nominated “Robin Robin” (see here); kids’ comedy series “Lloyd of the Flies” creator and director Matthew Walker, and co-director and voice director Jane Davies (see here); and Lucy Izzard, the creator, writer and director of “The Very Small Creatures,” a BAFTA nominated preschool series (see below).
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Following in the footsteps of Aardman Animations legends Peter Lord, David Sproxton and Nick Park, a new wave of creators are driving the company forward. While its celebrated franchises, such as Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run are still much loved, and it has four Oscars wins with nine further nominations under its belt, Aardman is also focused on nurturing new talent, such as the creators of Oscar nominated short film “Robin Robin,” and series, such as “Lloyd of the Flies” and “The Very Small Creatures.” Speaking to Variety from Aardman’s headquarters on Spike Island, Bristol, in the West of England, two of the creative minds behind “Lloyd of the Flies,” Aardman’s first CGI series, explain how the show evolved. In other articles, Variety speaks to Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, the creators of “Robin Robin,” and Lucy Izzard, the creator of “The Very Small Creatures.” “Lloyd of the Flies,” a comedy series for 7-11 year olds, premiered on CITV, the kids’ platform run by U.K.
Saturday Night Live is back! And jam packed with famous faces!
Addie Morfoot Contributor In 2013, Angela Patton gave a TEDWomen talk that described a father-daughter dance for incarcerated dads and their daughters. That talk was viewed over a million times and inspired the documentary “Daughters,” which has its world premiere Monday at the Sundance Film Festival. In the film, Patton, who in the past decade has helped arrange approximately 15 Daddy Daughter Dances across the nation, and co-director Natalie Rae follow four young girls preparing for the event with their fathers in a prison in Washington, D.C.
In the years since One Tree Hill aired its final season in 2012, its talented cast of stars has grown up.
The Kitchen might be an early contender for one of the year’s best.Directed by Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares, the sci-fi drama follows the lives of Izi (Kane ‘Kano‘ Robinson) and Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman) in a dystopian future London where social housing has been shut down. The community of the Kitchen, however, refuse to abandon their home.Other cast members include Hope Ikpoku Jr, Teija Kabs, Demmy Ladipo, Cristale, BackRoad Gee, Rasaq Kukoyi and former footballer Ian Wright in the role of Lord Kitchener.After a short run in cinemas, the film was released on Netflix on January 19, 2024.Labrinth collaborated with Alex Baranowski on the film’s score.
Theo Bair admits comparisons with Lionel Messi from Motherwell fans gave him a chuckle after copping flak earlier in the season.
Bethesda and MachineGames have shared the first full trailer for Indiana Jones And The Great Circle as part of Microsoft’s most recent Xbox Developer Direct – check it out below.The 3-minute gameplay video sees Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones headbutt Nazis, explore crypts, assemble ancient puzzles and use his whip to escape life-threatening situations as he tries to uncover the truth about The Great Circle. Despite the likeness to Ford, he hasn’t returned to voice Indiana Jones with Troy Baker stepping up instead.“Uncover one of history’s greatest mysteries in Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, a first-person, single-player adventure set between the events of Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Last Crusade,” reads the game’s official description.
If you’ve been online recently, you might have seen a rumor that Taylor Swift is the mysterious author of a novel.
Addie Morfoot Contributor Given the current dismal political and cultural climate as well as streaming services’ massive appetite for celebrity driven content, it comes as no surprise that the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival is chock full of portrait documentaries. Frida Kahlo, Christopher Reeve, Luther Vandross and Tammy Faye are just a few of the boldface names that are being examined in various docus featured in the Sundance nonfiction lineup. The festival is no stranger to star-driven docus.
Matthew Perry’s tribute at the 2024 Emmys almost looked a lot different — but the wound left behind by his death is just too “fresh.”
The 75th prestigious Emmy Awards took place on Monday night (January 15) in California after a delay from September due to industry strikes. If you were watching the much-anticipated ceremony that awards the best in TV, you may have spotted an unusual green goblin striking a pose on the red carpet.
Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Is that photo or article someone posted on the internet claiming it came from Fox News actually from Fox News — or is it bogus? Fox Corp. has created a technical protocol called Verify, designed with two objectives: to let media companies register content and grant usage rights to AI platforms; and to allow consumers to verify the content is authentic. The company is releasing Verify on an open-source basis, in the hopes that others sign on to the blockchain-based content verification system.
Fans think they’ve figured out why Kylie Jenner won’t go on the red carpet with her man!
EXCLUSIVE: With the almost impossible-to-believe Post Office scandal bedecking the front of most UK national newspapers this week, the writer of the ITV smash drama about the saga has said it “tapped into” frustrations with the “politics of the moment.”
being published Tuesday by Bantam Books/Penguin Random House under the pseudonym “Elly Conway,” and it’s already been adapted into a $200 million film starring Dua Lipa, Henry Cavill, John Cena and Bryce Dallas Howard. Directed by Matthew Vaughn — whose previous hits include the “Kingsman” movies and “X-Men: First Class” — it hits theaters February 2. But the truth about the book’s authorship, and the film’s source material, is as twisted, conspiracy-filled and globe-trotting as a massive Hollywood franchise.