Crunchyroll Launches Free Games for Upper-Tier Subscribers, Taking a Page From Netflix’s Playbook

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Kelly Rizzo, TV personality and entrepreneur who is the wife of the late Bob Saget, is launching “Comfort Food,” a new weekly podcast in which she hosts intimate conversations with guests about life, love and loss — while tucking into emotionally comforting food. In January 2022, Saget died at a Florida hotel at the age of 65. The comedian, known for his starring role on “Full House,” had just kicked off a new comedy tour.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor IBM said it was immediately pulling advertising from Elon Musk‘s X, formerly known as Twitter, after a report found that ads for the tech giant had appeared next to posts supporting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. “IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” a company rep said in a statement to Variety.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Is it real — or is it YouTube‘s robot singer copying a pop star’s vocal stylings? YouTube announced new AI music experiments it has been developing with Google’s DeepMind artificial intelligence lab. The most interesting (and possibly most disorienting) of YouTube’s AI tests is Dream Track in YouTube Shorts.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Get ready for Gawker 3.0: The twice-shuttered blog site has a new owner, who plans to bring the gossipy pop-culture brand back to life — but not in exactly the same way. Meng Ru Kuok, CEO and founder of Singapore-based Caldecott Music Group, acquired the assets of Gawker from Bustle Digital Group. In an email to Variety, Kuok confirmed that he has closed the deal buying the Gawker trademarks and domain name but not its article archives.

Linkin Park have been sued by their former bassist, Kyle Christner, for royalties of “more than 20” songs from 1999.According to the lawsuit that was filed at the U.S. District Court for the Central District Of California on Wednesday (November 8), Christner has claimed that he never received “a penny” for his work with the Grammy award-winning group “nor has he been properly credited, even as [his former bandmates] have benefitted from his creative efforts.” (per Blabbermouth)Christner also alleged that his name had been removed from the “fan club edition” 2001 reissue of the band’s ‘Hybrid Theory’ EP.

Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson were so essential to the success of The Hunger Games, that they are still associated with the roles to this day.

The 2023 edition of Deadline’s live-music event Sound & Screen: Film hit the stage November 9 showcasing the songs and scores from 12 of the ramping-up awards season’s buzziest movies. Panelists and performances came from the likes of Diane Warren and Mark Ronson and from movies as varied as Barbie and Creed III to Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon. The packed crowd of industry voters saw a 60-piece orchestra perform the music live.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, one of the biggest female streamers and gaming creators in the world, has signed with WME for representation. She most recently was repped by UTA. Valkyrae is known for streaming games “Among Us,” “Fortnite” and “Valorant,” among others.

Dior has left people scratching their heads after launching a £230 fragrance for babies. It's a "scented water" which is supposed to be a "gentle reminder of sweet memories of early childhood". Bonne Étoile, which is in a pink and celadon 100ml bottle, comes in two colours and is scented with "light notes of fruit, pillowy cotton and velvety petals".

Anna Marie de la Fuente In an unprecedented move, legendary Spanish soccer club FC Barcelona, home to Lionel Messi for 21 years, has launched video game platform Barça Games, the first of its kind created by a sports club. Developed jointly by FC Barcelona, Mas Ros Media and FireSPORTS, Barça Games was unveiled Nov.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In the two years since Netflix launched its first games, the company has assembled a collection of 80-plus titles — but only a handful of those have been based on the streamer’s TV shows or movies, like a “Stranger Things” puzzle game and a “Queen’s Gambit” chess app. Now Netflix is bringing out four new exclusive games, each based on popular originals on the service, betting that the titles will play big among fans of those entertainment franchises.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney, which is in the home stretch of swinging the deal to become the full owner of Hulu, will launch a beta test of an app next month that combines Disney+ and Hulu into a single experience, CEO Bob Iger said. Disney still needs to close its deal with Comcast to buy out NBCUniversal’s 33% stake in Hulu. In a filing last week, Disney said it would pay at least $8.61 billion to Comcast for the Hulu stake, with the final price tag — which could be much higher — to be based on an assessment of Hulu’s market value by each parties’ bankers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify has launched its audiobook perk for Premium subscribers in the U.S., offering access to more than 200,000 audiobooks — available for no extra charge, but limited to only about two titles per month. The rollout comes after the audio streamer launched the audiobooks catalog for paying members in Australia and the U.K.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Jeff Bezos is relocating to Miami, moving away from Seattle — which has been his home since he founded Amazon in 1994 out of his garage. Bezos announced the decision to move to Miami in an Instagram post Thursday. He explained that his parents (who “have always been my biggest supporters”) recently moved back to Miami, where the family had previously lived and where Bezos attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School (class of 1982).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Trevor Noah is entering his next act as a podcast host. The former host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” launches his deep-dive interview show, a Spotify original podcast, next week. In each episode of the new podcast, Noah will have an extended discussion with a single guest.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Roku shares rose after the streaming-platform company beat Wall Street expectations for the third quarter of 2023 on the top line. But in providing forward-looking guidance, Roku told investors that the macroeconomic environment remains “uncertain.” The company reported Q3 revenue of $912 million, up 20%, and a net loss of $330 million (or $2.33 per share) — more than double the net loss of $122 million in the year-ago period.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Former TV news anchors Amy Robach and T. J. Holmes are going to tell their story — and discuss the news of the day — in a new podcast with iHeartMedia.

Selena Gomez is staying offline for a bit.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A year ago, tech mogul Elon Musk griped that he was “obviously overpaying” for Twitter in the $44 billion deal that the social network sued him to complete. Now we know how inflated Musk believe his bid was: X, the new name of Twitter, on Monday informed employees eligible for stock grants that they would receive shares at a valuation of $19 billion.

passed away due to a “tragic accident”. He is survived by his wife, Tasya, and his six-year-old son Max, both of whom live in Berlin.