How VFX Houses Are Dealing With Remote Work, Security Concerns Amid Virus Crisis

Entertainment companies this earnings season have spent much time discussing the novel coronavirus pandemic's impact on TV advertising revenue, film units and theme parks divisions. But audio entertainment trends have surprised Wall Street on the upside, providing a bright spot amid the virus crisis.

By Tim Dams

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch will give up 100 percent of his cash bonus in the current fiscal year at News Corp., the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, News U.K. and Australian pay-TV firm Foxtel, of which he is executive chairman, while News Corp.

Movie theater giant Cineworld has weighed in on the growing controversy regarding Universal's decision to release Trolls World Tour on premium VOD instead of waiting for cinemas to reopen post-coronavirus pandemic, claiming that the studio took advantage of the crisis.

European movie theater giant Vue International has made a bold plea to its landlords in a bid to survive the novel coronavirus crisis. In a letter sent earlier this month and seen by The Hollywood Reporter, the multiplex chain — which operates almost 2,000 screens across 10 countries, including the U.K., Germany, Italy, Denmark and Taiwan — asked for a "complete waiver of all rent and service charge," which would have been due for the period of closure.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds announced the birth of a baby boy Wednesday morning, just days after Johnson returned to work after recovering from the new coronavirus disease. Johnson was reportedly present for the birth of his son at a hospital in London. A spokesman for the couple said both mother and child were doing well.

Telecom giant Verizon on Friday reported that it lost 84,000 net pay TV subscribers for its FiOS consumer video service in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 55,000 in the year-ago period and a loss of 51,000 in the fourth quarter. The company cited "the ongoing shift from traditional linear video to over-the-top offerings," saying it ended March with 4.07 million consumer video connections.

Birdman is giving back to his hometown in a big way.

TV station group Tegna on Monday said that "the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with regard to the broader advertising industry, remains uncertain" and suspended its full-year 2020 guidance. "We continue to carefully monitor business impacts and to be diligent in implementing cost saving measures to reduce expenses and reducing non-critical capital expenditures," the company, which has 62 stations in 51 markets and reaches 39 percent of all U.S.

French entertainment and telecom conglomerate Vivendi on Monday said its first-quarter revenue rose 11.9 percent, or 4.4 percent assuming constant currencies, to $4.20 billion (3.87 billion euros) on the strength of its music division.

As President Donald Trump has been holding daily press briefings to provide updates on the COVID-19 pandemic, Piers Morgan is speaking out against his "friend," criticizing how he's been handling leading the nation amid the virus crisis. Speaking on Sunday morning to Brian Stelter on CNN's Reliable Sources, the British talk show host admitted that he's been watching Trump's daily briefings with "mounting horror." "I've known him a long time.

As Americans ordered to self-quarantine increasingly go online for TV fixes, MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson on Friday touted Netflix as the leader in Hollywood's streaming wars over peers Amazon Prime, YouTube, Hulu and Disney+. "The world is trapped indoors, live sports on TV is non-existent, theaters are closed, unemployment is spiking to terrible levels, and new content is impossible to produce.

Germany's 2020 summer of rock is no more. New coronavirus restrictions mean every music festival on the German summer circuit, from giant events like Rock am Ring and the Wacken heavy metal fest to electronic dance music festival Parookaville have been called off for this year.

Germany's 2020 summer of rock is no more.

The WWE says that it is taking significant steps to reduce costs amid the coronavirus pandemic. While the company resumed its live wrestling matches this week on USA and Fox, like most media companies it is expecting the pandemic to impact its financial outlook.

Pay TV giant Dish Network has decided to cut an undisclosed amount of jobs and evaluate its business strategy amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The company had 16,000 employees as of the end of 2019 and didn't say how many of them were affected by the job cuts.

Amid an unprecedented crisis, Bob Iger's hopes of finally stepping away from the Walt Disney Co. were all but totally dashed.

By Anita Bennett

Australian pay TV giant leader Foxtel, which is majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has laid off 200 employees and put 140 additional staffers on leave until June amid the new coronavirus pandemic. The company's sports unit, which has been lacking fresh content amid the novel coronavirus' spread that has led to sports events being postponed or canceled, was hardest hit.

"This is an opportunity that’s born from chaos." So says Ben Kusin, co-founder and co-CEO of VENN, a new network focused on the video game and streaming industries and cultures, of his newly-formed company's decision to move up its launch from this fall to July amid the coronavirus pandemic."VENN is the nexus of gaming and media and, while most industries have stagnated, these two have taken off," he tells The Hollywood Reporter.