Elon Musk’s X Jumps Into Sports Gambling Arena With BetMGM Pact (but Won’t Let You Place Bets Directly)

Another celebrity has just announced they’re changing their child’s name.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor David Duchovny is diving deep into screwing up in “Fail Better,” marking his first foray as a podcast host. The actor, writer, director, author and singer-songwriter’s seasonal weekly series is produced by podcast network Lemonada Media. “Fail Better” is slated to premiere in May 2024, to be available across all major audio platforms.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries has set up “Jockular,” a podcast from three queer best friends Katie Kershaw, Tien Tran and E.R. Fightmaster — who, along with their guests, will discuss all things queer, trans and women-forward in the world of sports. “Jockular” will dispense “equal doses of sports commentary, cultural criticism and light-hearted gossip,” per Hyperobject Industries, spanning sports including collegiate basketball, professional soccer and “power slapping” (which, weirdly, is an actual thing).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor It’s the end of the road for Warner Bros. Discovery‘s MotorTrend+ automotive streaming service. The media company announced that MotorTrend+ will be shut down after content from the service is fully migrated to Discovery+ and Max at the end of March.

In his first public comments about a planned sports streaming joint venture with Disney and Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said it will increase the companies’ reach and not add to their cord-cutting woes.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Timothée Chalamet’s magical, musical candyman is coming to Max. “Wonka” will make its streaming debut exclusively on Max on Friday, March 8, Warner Bros.

EXCLUSIVE: An eclectic collection of upcoming projects ranging from Guy Ritchie‘s debut TV series to Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Famous Five to an Italian-language series for Netflix are tied together by one constant: Moonage Pictures.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Reddit, the popular internet discussion “community of communities,” filed a registration statement Thursday for its long-awaited initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Reddit intends to list its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “RDDT.” In the S-1 filing with the SEC, Reddit reported 2023 revenue of $804.0 million, up 21% year over year, and a net loss of $90.8 million in 2023, compared with a $158.6 million loss the year prior.

Amazon is joining the upfronts crowd, scheduling an event on May 14, in the midst of a series of presentations to ad buyers by TV networks and streamers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix says its ad-supported plan includes “the vast majority” of TV shows and movies available on the standard no-ads tiers — but more than a year after the streamer introduced the cheaper option, several popular titles remain unavailable to customers with the ad plan. Most recently, Netflix customers noticed that Eli Roth’s horror film “Thanksgiving” (pictured above), added Feb. 17 for subscribers on ad-free tiers, is unavailable on the ad plan.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Fubo, which bills itself as a sports-first TV subscription streaming service, is suing Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery over the trio’s plans to launch a sports streaming bundle.

X/Twitter temporarily suspended the account of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, in what the platform said was a mistake.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Pinterest is readying the launch of its first-ever streaming show, cooking and lifestyle series “Deliciously Entertaining” — aimed at whetting the appetite of users to engage with the image-sharing social platform. “Deliciously Entertaining” is one of Pinterest’s biggest original productions to date, developed and produced in partnership with media company Tastemade.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor HBO is no longer giving away free next-day looks to the popular “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” comedy talk show. With the Season 11 premiere of the show on Feb. 18, HBO has ceased sharing the main feature and other segments from “Last Week Tonight” on the show’s YouTube channel the following day.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Two professional esports players are demanding at least $680 million in aggregate monetary damages in a lawsuit against Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard, alleging the game company holds an “unlawful 100% monopoly” over professional leagues and tournaments for first-person shooter “Call of Duty.” Activision Blizzard has used its “unlawful monopoly power to prevent would-be competitors from entering the market, as well as to coerce the market’s other participants — in particular, professional ‘Call of Duty’ players and team owners — to acquiesce to extortionate financial terms,” the lawsuit said. The two esports players suing Activision are Hector Rodriguez (known by his “Call of Duty” handle “H3CZ”), founder of the OpTic Gaming team; and Seth Abner, known by his gamer tag “Scump.” No Call of Duty League teams are named as plaintiffs — and the lawsuit calls the other teams in the CDL “co-conspirators” in perpetuating Activision’s alleged monopoly and says “plaintiffs reserve the right to name as defendants some or all of the entities or individuals who acted as co-conspirators with Defendant in the alleged offenses.” In a statement, an Activision Blizzard rep said, “Mr.

William Earl Variety veteran Todd Spangler has been promoted to Business Editor, overseeing coverage of corporate and financial news, mergers and acquisitions and other deal activity for media and entertainment’s largest conglomerates. Spangler will also continue to drive Variety‘s coverage of digital media and Silicon Valley tech giants. Based in New York, Spangler is a pillar of daily breaking news coverage.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After more than a year away from the mic, Dr. Brené Brown is bringing back her two podcasts — “Unlocking Us” and “Dare to Lead” — under a new partnership with Vox Media. Brown, a renowned researcher, author and speaker whose work explores emotional facets of the human experience, on Wednesday announced a deal to bring her shows to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Mickey Mouse, kickin’ ass for the working class? Employees who work in Disneyland’s Characters and Parades departments announced they are unionizing with Actors’ Equity Association. Actors’ Equity represents some 51,000 professional actors and stage managers on Broadway and in live theatre across the U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meghan Markle is back in the podcast game — with a new partner. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, inked a partnership with podcast network Lemonada Media. That comes after Spotify‘s exclusive podcast deal with Prince Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Productions ended in mid-2023 with the couple having had delivered just one show — the Markle-hosted interview series “Archetypes” — under the agreement.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor At the 2024 Super Bowl, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Usher soaked up the limelight as the Kansas City Chiefs became back-to-back champions with their overtime defeat of the San Francisco 49ers. And of course, the Super Bowl was again a venue for dozens of advertisers — who spent up to $7 million for a 30-second spot in CBS’s telecast — to try to break through on the noisiest night on TV.