Former Amazon Video Exec Soumya Sriraman to Lead Streaming for QVC, HSN

Sharon Osbourne is once again addressing her firing from The Talk.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix is establishing an internal games studio in Helsinki, Finland, announcing that it will be led by former Zynga and Electronic Arts exec Marko Lastikka as studio director. “This is another step in our vision to build a world-class games studio that will bring a variety of delightful and deeply engaging original games — with no ads and no in-app purchases — to our hundreds of millions of members around the world,” Amir Rahimi, Netflix’s VP of game studios, wrote in a blog post announcing the studio’s launch. Rahimi joined Netflix in November 2021, after serving as president of games for Scopely; before that, he was SVP and GM of FoxNext.

Ukraine’s health care system, with items donated by the likes of Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran and Ellie Goulding. With starting prices at £10 or £5, fans can win signed merchandise and personal items donated by the stars. Harry has provided a signed vinyl LP of Harry’s House, while Ed has given a tour brochure and signed T-shirt and Ellie two signed merchandise bundles.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Charlie Collier, after more than two decades in broadcasting and cable TV, has jumped ship from the traditional television biz — betting that TV’s future is all about streaming. As first reported by Variety, Collier is leaving his post as CEO of Fox Entertainment, departing from the Murdochs’ fiefdom to head up Roku Media, where he’ll oversee content and ad sales for the Roku Channel starting next month. For Roku, recruiting the high-profile TV exec who brought such hits as “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead” to the small screen can be viewed as a shift toward more strategic — rather than tactical — spending on original content. Not incidentally, Collier also is familiar with the content economics of the free-streaming space: Fox Corp. spent $440 million to buy Tubi in 2020, which has served as a monetization outlet for Fox TV programming.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The iconic music video for R.E.M.’s 1991 hit “Losing My Religion” has surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube — one of only a few songs from the decade to hit the milestone. The alternative band’s official video for “Losing My Religion” has averaged more than 300,000 views globally per day across YouTube so far this year, according to the video platform. It was first uploaded to YouTube in July 2011. Other videos from the ’90s in the YouTube Billion Views Club are Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” (1992); Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991); and The Cranberries’ “Zombie” (1994).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Twitch said that, starting next month, it will ban the streaming of certain gambling websites that aren’t licensed in the U.S. or “other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection.” The move by the Amazon-owned livestreaming platform, most popular among game creators, comes after reports that a streamer called ItsSliker had scammed fellow Twitch creators out of hundreds of thousands of dollars to support a “gambling addiction,” as the Verge reported. In a tweet Tuesday, Twitch announced that as of Oct. 18, it will ban livestreaming sites that provide dice games, slots and roulette. It identified four sites that will be banned — Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com and Roobet.com — and said “we may identify others as we move forward.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ryan Spicer, after more than 14 years with WarnerMedia and Turner Broadcasting, is joining Atmosphere, which operates a national out-of-home streaming news and entertainment network, to lead ad sales in the role of chief revenue officer. Most recently, Spicer served as VP of sales and partnerships for WarnerMedia Digital, which is now part of Warner Bros. Discovery, covering the CNN Digital portfolio as well as the HBO Max with ads streaming platform. Prior to joining Turner Digital in 2008, he worked as a sales exec at MTV Networks. At Atmosphere, Spicer reports to chief operating officer Blake Sabatinelli. Spicer officially started in the role on Sept. 6.

EJ Panaligan editor The Los Angeles LGBT Center has announced the hire of Phillip Picardi as the organization’s chief marketing and communications officer. “I am so excited to be joining The Los Angeles LGBT Center at this urgent moment in our community’s history,” Picardi said in a statement Thursday morning. “After working for over a decade in the media, I know how powerful storytelling can be as a cultural salve. I’m thrilled to take the Center’s marketing and communications initiatives to new heights.” Picardi joins as a member of the Center’s executive team, working alongside newly-appointed CEO Joe Hollendoner, chief impact officers Terra Russell-Slavin and Sharon Brown, chief financial officer Ricardo DeLeon, chief development officer Saurabh Bajaj and chief health officer Dr. Ward Carpenter.

Is the court still open? Serena Williams praised Tom Brady for his un-retirement. The tennis champion opened up on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on her own retirement and hinted at whether she will “pull a Tom Brady.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Roku unveiled a software update to its streaming operating system — OS 11.5 — that among other features will introduce a new section on its streaming devices called “The Buzz,” stocked with short-form promotional content from entertainment partners. The goal: to provide another entry point for users to discover and watch new TV shows and movies. On the hardware side, the company is launching minimal changes to its product family for the 2022 holiday shopping season, with upgraded models of the Roku Express entry-level streaming player and its wireless subwoofer (now called Roku Wireless Bass). In addition to The Buzz, Roku OS 11.5 will add two “significant updates” to its What to Watch feature — a Continue Watching option and an expanded platform-wide Save List — along with updates to Roku Voice, expanding Bluetooth private listening to be compatible with the Roku Ultra, Roku Streambar and Roku Streambar Pro; the addition of categories to the Live TV Channel Guide and a redesigned, “more visual” Roku Store section.

Super Bowl ads for cryptocurrency brokers. “The White House is saying for a long time they didn’t know if Biden was gonna go to the funeral. Finally said just a few hours ago he is.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The YouTube Streamy Awards are coming back this year in-person for the first time since 2019. The 2022 Streamys — the annual awards recognizing the internet’s most notable video creators, shows and brands — will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Dec. 4. The show will stream exclusively on YouTube for the fifth straight year. Marking its 12th year, the 2022 Streamys will feature more than 45 award categories, including Creator of the Year, Show of the Year and Breakout Creator. The program also features the Streamys Brand Awards, launched in 2018, which spotlights brand advertising innovation.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amazon will bow a new laugh lead-in for its exclusive “Thursday Night Football” NFL games package, enlisting “Saturday Night Live” alum Taran Killam as the host of “The NFL Pile On” — the league’s first official comedy show. “The NFL Pile On” will premiere Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video, airing each Wednesday throughout the NFL season one day before Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” coverage. In the half-hour show, Killam will riff on “funny and unexpected moments” from the across the NFL the week prior, from mic’d up players during pregame warmups to postgame press conference zingers, and from epic fumbles to off-the-field blunders — according to Amazon, “everything from studio shows, social media and fashion faux pas will be fair game.”

Qurate Retail Group, the John Malone-backed owner of video screen shopping mainstays QVC and HSN, has installed former Amazon exec Soumya Sriraman as president of streaming.

Sharon Stone stepped out with a much younger man in Los Angeles last week.MORE: Sharon Stone talks Botox and reveals surprising reason she got dumped by younger boyfriendAccording to celebrity sightings publication Deux Moi, the Basic Instinct actress enjoyed a PDA-packed date with a mystery man thought to be in his 20s or early 30s.WATCH: Sharon Stone gives sneak peek into Italian vacationThe 64-year-old star was spotted outside west Hollywood's Mediterranean restaurant Soulmate, where she was joined by a young gentleman. In a sweet display of affection, the mystery man reportedly spun Sharon around before gently kissing her.MORE: Sharon Stone is a vision is stylish bikini selfie - but she has one complaintMORE: Sharon Stone dons a swimsuit for fun day in the poolThis isn't the first time the film star has been linked to a much younger man.

Serena Williams had a well-deserved weekend of relaxation. Two days after losing to Ajla Tomljanović in the third round of the U.S.