NBCUniversal Inks Deal With Meta to Bring Peacock, ‘The Office’ and More to Quest VR

At 15 million paid subscribers, Peacock isn’t on the same level as other streaming services, but NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell says that’s no accident.

Meta Platforms shares lost further ground in after-hours trading Wednesday in light of a mixed third-quarter earnings report.

Making it special. While celebrating Diwali, stars including Mindy Kaling, Priyanka Chopra and more made sure to offer a glimpse at their festivities.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A fairy-winged Vanessa Hudgens wants to lure unsuspecting trick-or-treaters into the “ultimate haunted house” in a new virtual-reality experience created by horror wizard Eli Roth exclusively for Meta. “Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick-VR-Treat,” from his Crypt TV banner, will take viewers on a Halloween adventure that goes horrifically awry — culminating in a frighteningly immersive haunted house. Written and directed by Roth, the 30-minute, 180-degree VR experience will premiere in Meta’s Horizon Worlds and Meta Quest TV on Friday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. PT. If you don’t have a Meta Quest 2 VR headset, the experience also will be available to watch on Crypt TV’s Facebook and Instagram pages. (Watch the trailer below.)

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor SPOILER ALERT: This story references a major reveal that is included in the end-credits scene for “Black Adam.” As often happens, footage from Dwayne Johnson’s “Black Adam” — specifically, the DC superhero movie’s end-credits scene with a very spolier-y reveal — has been leaked onto social media platforms. There’s a bit of “dog bites man” about this. Such leaks happen with regular occurrence online. However, the end-credits scene, which has leaked out a week ahead of the Warner Bros. movie’s Oct. 21 theatrical release, does spoil one of the main reasons people may want to buy a ticket to see “Black Adam” in theaters.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix has taken peak TV to a new peak. In a data point sure to fuel more quantity-versus-quality debate, Netflix broke its own record for number of original episodes released in a single quarter — with 1,026 in the third quarter of 2022, according to a tally by Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson. That’s more than five times any other streaming rival: Amazon Prime Video and Hulu released 223 and 194 episodes, respectively, and Disney+ debuted 140 original episodes, per the report. HBO Max, now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, released 114 episodes in the third quarter — significantly fewer episodes than usual and comprising the lightest slate for the service since Q2 2020, the second quarter after launch. WBD has been paring back HBO Max’s content slate in recent months as it looks to cut costs.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Streaming soon on Roku devices: your front door? Roku is expanding beyond its streaming-media players, Roku-branded TVs and home-entertainment speakers with the launch of an array of new smart-home products. The smart-home products include security cameras, video doorbells, smart lightbulbs and smart plugs. Walmart is the exclusive bricks-and-mortar retailer for the Roku Smart Home line, which will be available in nearly 3,500 Walmart stores in the U.S. beginning Oct. 17. The smart-home products also will be sold via roku.com and walmart.com. At launch, customers with Roku devices will be able see who is at their door with their the Roku video doorbell. Users will also be able to view live streams from their Roku cameras or use a Roku voice remote to bring up video feeds.

Kanye West has reportedly been banned from Instagram, leading him to make a comeback on Twitter after two years away.NBC News confirmed that the rapper was barred from the social photo-sharing platform, with a representative for Meta – the company that owns Instagram – saying he was restricted from posting, and had content removed by a moderator, after violating the rules and guidelines. It was not specified exactly what posts were removed by Meta, but as NBC noted, one deleted yesterday (October 8) saw West share anti-Semitic sentiments.It came after Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs responded to West’s recent gaffe at this year’s Paris Fashion Week – where he wore a shirt emblazoned with the phrase “White Lives Matter”, a slogan tied to white supremacist movements – and West shared screenshots of a text exchange between the two rappers to Instagram.

NBC News Saturday that West had violated Instagram’s rules and guidelines, though it did not specify exactly which posts were deemed a violation. But on Friday, the rapper posted texts that he sent to Combs concerning West’s decision to wear a shirt that read “White Lives Matter” at a fashion show he was hosting.

J. Kim Murphy Instagram has placed a restriction on Kanye “Ye” West’s account after deleting content for a violation of the platform’s policies. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the decision to Variety, sharing that temporary restrictions on posting, commenting and messaging are standard practice for accounts that regularly violate the social media platform’s policies. The company did not indicate which specific posts were the cause behind the restriction. West, who uses the handle @kanyewest on the platform, recently shared a now-deleted post featuring a screenshot of a message, allegedly sent to rapper Diddy, that had been criticized as antisemitic by Jewish advocacy groups like the American Jewish Committee.

EXCLUSIVE: Gang Dong-Won, the South Korean actor whose credits include the Train to Busan sequel Peninsula and most recently the Hirokazu Kore-eda-directed Broker, which premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, has signed with Range Media Partners.

The Wall Street Journal called “its most ambitious attempt yet to prove that its metaverse aspiration actually has some legs,” with a reveal of its latest efforts in virtual reality slated for next week, the social media company is in the midst of extensive cost cutting, including closing offices, freezing hiring and layoffs. And its stock has lost 58% of its value over the last 12 months, making it the 10th worst performer on the S&P 500 in that time, the Journal noted.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UDPATED: A Delaware judge granted mega-billionaire Elon Musk’s motion to halt Twitter’s upcoming trial — seeking to compel him to pay what he promised for the company — until Oct. 28 in order to allow the parties to close on the $44 billion deal. Musk, after trying for three months to exit his deal to buy Twitter, in the last few days has grown frustrated that Twitter wasn’t calling off its lawsuit. Lawyers representing Musk, in a filing Thursday with the Delaware Court of Chancery, requested that the trial, slated to commence Oct. 17, be suspended while he works out a deal to finalize the required debt financing to swing the acquisition. Musk expects that to happen by Oct. 28, per the court filing.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Twitter at long last will give users in the U.S., its biggest geographic region, the ability to edit their tweets. However, for now, the company will limit access to the “Edit Tweet” feature only to subscribers of Twitter Blue, its service with enhanced features for power users that costs $4.99 per month in the U.S. The tweet-editing function will roll out to Twitter Blue users starting Thursday, according to the company. That came after it opened up the option to edit tweets on Oct. 3 for Twitter Blue members in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Edit Tweet button, which for years has been the most-requested feature among Twitter users, will let you edit tweets a few times within a 30-minute window after they’re posted. Twitter said it is limiting the ability to make edits to only the first 30 minutes to “help protect the integrity of the conversation and create a publicly accessible record of what was said.”

EXCLUSIVE: eOne has struck a multi-year first-look deal with BAFTA-winning writer-director Paul Andrew Williams.

Big Little Lies producer Bruna Papandrea’s production company, Made Up Stories, is expanding with a new UK office run by Sarah Harvey, who has joined the company as a producer and creative director. Harvey officially began her new position in August.

Depeche Mode‘s Dave Gahan has spoken to NME about returning from the brink to make new album ‘Memento Mori’, and life after the loss of bandmate Andy Fletcher. Watch our video interview with the frontman above.Yesterday (October 4) saw the electro icons announce details of their 15th album and an upcoming world stadium tour from a press conference in Berlin.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Yahoo announced the appointment of Kat Downs Mulder, a 14-year veteran of the Washington Post, as senior VP and GM of Yahoo News, one of the biggest news and information sites in the U.S. At the Washington Post, Downs Mulder most recently served as chief product officer and managing editor of the publication, which is now owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Downs Mulder as GM of Yahoo News will oversee global products, editorial and strategy for the content vertical, which including the Yahoo homepage, news, entertainment and lifestyle content. She reports to Yahoo president of home ecosystem Matt Sanchez.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk looks ready to get his hands on Twitter: The world’s richest person has agreed to his original $44 billion acquisition of his favorite social network, after a three-month legal fight trying to nix the deal. And that has renewed worries among some that he’s going to make drastic changes to Twitter’s content-moderation policies — and unleash a flood of right-wing misinformation and harassment. Musk informed Twitter on Oct. 3 that he will go forward with the takeover at $54.20 per share. The deal could close as soon as Friday, CNBC reported. When he announced his $44 billion deal for Twitter, Musk said he was primarily interested in protecting “free speech” on the platform, and he has criticized the company for allegedly having a left-leaning political bias.

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.