‘GTA 6’ Leak: Rockstar Games Confirms Hack, Says It’s ‘Extremely Disappointed’

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Has Peacock regained its forward momentum? NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell claimed the media company’s flagship streamer notched healthy growth in the third quarter — thanks to a strong content lineup, including Peacock’s reclaiming day-after-air rights to episodes of NBCU shows from Hulu. Shell, in an appearance Tuesday on CNBC, said Peacock added more than 2 million paid subscribers in Q3, to top 15 million. Overall, Peacock’s active user accounts is now at 30 million, he said, up more than 3 million in the September quarter. “If you have the right content, and you offer a broad distribution platform, your consumers are going to find you — and that’s what we’re doing with Peacock,” Shell said.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ari Emanuel, the legendary Hollywood agent who is CEO of Endeavor, reportedly got involved in the dispute between Twitter and Elon Musk over Musk’s attempt to nix his takeover of the company — but it’s not exactly clear why. Within the “past few weeks,” Emanuel had reached out to Twitter board member Egon Durban to suggest the social network work with Musk to “find a solution” to their legal fight ahead of a trial scheduled to commence Oct. 17 in Delaware Chancery Court, according to a report by Bloomberg Law citing anonymous sources. Emanuel has ties to both Durban and Musk. Durban, co-CEO of tech investment firm Silver Lake, currently sits on Endeavor’s board. Musk had been on Endeavor’s board of directors before resigning in March 2022.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After three years, Google Stadia is exiting the arena. The internet search giant, which launched the streaming games service in November 2019, announced that Google Stadia will be winding down over the next few months. Players will continue to have access to their games library and be able to play through Jan. 18, 2023. Google said it will refund all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, as well as all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia store. While Stadia’s approach to streaming games “was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service,” Phil Harrison, VP and GM of Stadia, wrote in a blog post Thursday about the decision.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Lionsgate is now looking at spinning off its studio business — rather than kicking out the Starz premium network and streaming business. The company, in an SEC filing Wednesday, said that “Despite the volatile market environment” Lionsgate remains “on a path to separating our Starz and studio businesses.” However, Lionsgate is increasingly focused on divesting the studio side of the house. “As negotiations progress, we have increased our focus on the possibility of spinning our studio business, creating a number of financial and strategic benefits,” the company said in an SEC filing Wednesday. “In that regard, we are continuing productive negotiations with prospective strategic and financial partners on both sides of our business.”

First Brady un-retired from football. Now, Hugh Jackman is bringing back the adamantium claws for Deadpool 3.

Hugh Jackman is clawing his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Ryan Reynolds confirming that the Australian actor will be reprising the role of “Wolverine” in Reynolds’ upcoming “Deadpool” sequel.

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.

GTA 6 to appear online.A statement from City of London Police confirms that on Thursday evening (September 22), it “arrested a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire on suspicion of hacking, as part of an investigation supported by the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit.”The male teen remains in custody.When asked if the arrest was made in connection to the recent hacks at Uber and Rockstar Games, City of London Police told NME that they can’t add any further detail at the moment.On the evening of Thursday 22 September 2022, the City of London Police arrested a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire on suspicion of hacking, as part of an investigation supported by the @NCA_UK’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU). He remains in police custody.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok can add jet fuel to entertainment marketers’ messages — but they have to learn how to speak the language of the platform to effectively harness the creativity of its creators. That was one of the key takeaways from the Variety/TikTok Culture Catalysts Dinner, held in West Hollywood on Sept. 20. Paramount Pictures’ approach with its TikTok campaign for blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” — 2022’s top-grossing movie at the box office so far — was to introduce the nearly 40-year-old flyboy franchise to Gen Z, said Danielle De Palma, EVP of global marketing for the studio. With TikTok, its biggest goal was to reach “younger audiences that didn’t have that same emotional, nostalgic connection to the film that so many of the older audiences did,” De Palma said.

Sharing her story. A new promo for season 2 of The Kardashians gives a first look at Khloé Kardashian confirming baby No. 2 with ex Tristan Thompson — and it’s bound to be an emotional ride for the reality star.

pic.twitter.com/T4Wztu8RW8More than 90 videos and images of the next edition of the popular driving video game were leaked online by the hacker, according to BBC News and the New York Post.According to Bloomberg, the hacker posted the never-before-seen videos on an online message board over the weekend. The user’s name was teapotuberhacker, an alias that also took credit for the hacking of Uber Technologies Inc.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Yara Shahidi will kick it with celebrity peers in a new show premiering on Facebook Watch later this month. The actor, model, activist and self-proclaimed “music nerd” — best known for starring on “Black-ish” and “Grown-ish” — stars in and executive produces Facebook Watch original series “Yara Shahidi’s Day Off.” In each episode, Shahidi will participate in a range of activities with her celeb guests that reflect “their authentic interests outside of their fame,” spanning horseback riding, gymnastics, golfing, soccer and game night. “Yara Shahidi’s Day Off” premieres Thursday, Sept. 29, at 9 a.m. PT, on Facebook Watch, Shahidi’s Facebook page (2.2 million followers) and her Instagram page (7.6 million followers).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Is there a bidding war brewing over Hulu? Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts called Hulu a “phenomenal business” — and said that if Disney were willing to sell it, the cable and media company would be interested in buying it out. “Hulu’s a phenomenal business. Its scale is fantastic. It has wonderful content,” Roberts said, speaking Wednesday at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia + Technology Conference 2022 in San Francisco. “If it was up for sale, Comcast would be interested” in buying 100% of Hulu, and “others would I think as well.” Disney currently owns 66% of Hulu and Comcast holds the remaining 33% stake. As of July 2, 2022, Disney recorded Comcast’s interest in Hulu as being worth $8.6 billion, implying a valuation of $25.8 billion. In an auction-style sale of Hulu in its entirety, Roberts suggested, Hulu may fetch more than that.

in “The Music Man” on Broadway. He’s fulfilled that dream — but all things must come to an end.On the red carpet at the Toronto Film Festival, Jackman told The Associated Press that the revival will play its last performance at the beginning of the new year,“Jan. 1 is going to be the last show.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk keeps finding new reasons why he believes he can back out of his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter. In a Sept. 9 letter to Twitter, Musk’s lawyers called out the social network’s separation agreement with Peiter “Mudge” Zatko — its former head of security who was fired in January — under which Twitter made severance payments to Zatko and his counsel totaling $7.75 million. That, according to Musk’s legal team, violated a provision of the acquisition agreement under which Twitter agreed to not “grant or provide any severance or termination payments or benefits to any Company Service Provider other than the payment of severance amounts or benefits in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice” without first getting approval from Musk. The definition of “Company Service Provider” includes Twitter’s former employees, per the letter.