Paramount Global Taps Former Activision Blizzard, Snap IR Chief Kristin Southey To Head Investor Relations

The ultimate wedding date! Kristen Doute’s romance with Luke Broderick started as a summertime hookup, but quickly became something more.

The CW has tapped Roku Senior Director Ashley Hovey as its first chief digital officer, the network announced Tuesday.Hovey, who will begin responsibilities for the newly created role April 17, will oversee business strategy and day-to-day operations of the network’s digital operations and streaming platforms. She will report to The CW Network president Dennis Miller.After serving in roles across the entertainment industry at Comcast, where she served as senior director of advertising strategy and development, as well as British Telecom and Nielsen, Hovey joins the network from Roku, where she spent five years overseeing ad-supported business for The Roku Channel, encompassing both on-demand and FAST channel content as well as audience engagement and growth.In her role as a senior director at Roku, Hovey is credited with building and managing the Kids and Family, FAST, Music and Espacio Latino businesses, as well as driving overall partner strategy and monetization.“We are thrilled to have an all-star digital business strategist like Ashley Hovey join our senior leadership team,” Miller said in a statement. “Ashley is a trailblazer who knows what it takes to build a successful entertainment brand from the ground up and we look forward to having her play a vital role in helping us expand and monetize The CW Network’s digital footprint.”The CW App, which has logged over 92 million downloads to date, features the network’s primetime programming, livestream of sports content and other on-demand TV and film content.

The CW Network has named Ashley Hovey chief digital officer, a newly created position, starting April l7 reporting to President Dennis Miller.

Activision Blizzard regarding its handling of salaries in Call Of Duty and Overwatch professional scenes.In the lawsuit, the US Government stated that Activision Blizzard’s Competitive Balance Tax in its Overwatch and Call Of Duty leagues limited competition and “suppressed esports players’ wages”.The Competitive Balance Tax forced competing teams to adhere to a salary cap implemented by Activision, meaning they were fined if any of their players were paid above a certain amount.In October 2021, Activision Blizzard told Call Of Duty and Overwatch teams that the Competitive Balance Tax would no longer be enforced, following an investigation by the DOJ.“The Competitive Balance Tax substantially lessened competition between teams in the Overwatch and Call Of Duty Leagues for esports players and limited the players’ compensation,” alleged the DOJ, who added that teams who used most of their salary cap on more expensive players drove down wages for everyone else.If successful, the lawsuit would hit Activision with a financial penalty and order the company to avoid reimplementing anything like the Competitive Balance Tax again.“Professional esports players – like all workers – deserve the benefits of competition for their services,” said Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

Snoop Dogg showed off his wrestling skills at Wrestlemania last night – delivering ‘The People’s Elbow’ during an in-ring appearance. See footage below.The legendary rapper attended the famous wrestling event on Sunday (April 2), and turned heads by launching a surprise attack on American wrestler, The Miz.Taking place at California’s SoFi stadium, the pay-per-view event saw Snoop bring out Shane McMahon as a surprise competitor for the Ohio-born fighter – whose real name is Michael Gregory Mizanin – but then decided to get involved himself.Not only did the 51-year-old rapper take on the WWE wrestler and dish out a good amount of showboating, he then ended the battle The Rock’s legendary move The People’s Elbow – dropping on him, elbow first.According to TMZ, the announcers declared the event to be “humiliating” for The Miz, who has been part of the WWE world for 20 years now.Hey @TheRock, @SnoopDogg just delivered a #WrestleMania style People's Elbow to @mikethemiz and it was AWESOME!!! pic.twitter.com/H0FiZo30Vw— WWE (@WWE) April 3, 2023This may not be the last time that the ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ rapper makes an appearance on our screens.

boygenius have released their long-awaited debut album, titled The Record, and to accompany it is a short film (The Film). The 15-minute short is directed by Kristen Stewart, best known for her roles in Spencer and Crimes of the Future. The Film essentially stitches together videos for three The Record songs.

Kristen Bell stunned in an all-black look from Reiss while posing on Instagram. Hailey Bieber wore the Frankies Bikinis Rehearsal Mini Low Waist Skirt with an oversized leather jacket and sneakers while out in Los Angeles, California. Bryan Cranston enjoyed dinner including potato and zucchini chips, grilled swordfish and sautéed scallops at Fresco by Scotto with his wife in New York City before posing for a photo with the restaurant’s owners, Elaina and Rosanna Scotto.Meghan Trainor wore a matching Nadine Merabi bra and blazer to film the finale of . Jessica Alba wore a Falconeri Sweater while attending Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France. Halle Bailey wore DMY by DMY sunglasses while out and about in Los Angeles, California. Gordon Ramsay visited Miami’s Stubborn Seed for dinner in Miami, Florida. Sherri Shepherd and Celebrity Chef Melba Wilson lead Celebrity Story Time for school children at the New York Public Library’s Schwarzman Building in New York City.Kris Jenner shared her new antique sink-turned-planter from Olive Ateliers and a miniature tree styled by Olive Ateliers’ plantscape partner, The Haus Plant, on Instagram.Alix Earle was announced as the the face of the new Forever 21 x Juicy Couture collection, the third collaboration between the brands, available on the Forever 21 mobile app, in Forever 21 stores, and on Forever21.com.Emma Stone wore a Patou Fall/Winter 2023 look while out and about at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Jennifer Lopez drank Gorgie Sparkly Peach Keen while on set for her Intimissmi Spring/Summer 2023 campaign photo shoot. Kendall Jenner wore DMY BY DMY sunglasses while out and about in Los Angeles, California. Jennifer Hudson wore Jane Win's Hearts Find Me Love pendant during an episode of

Coronation Street has been flooded with "make it happen" messages after rap megastar Snoop Dogg said he fancies starring in the ITV soap. The Drop It Like It's Hot rapper, real name Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, has revealed his love for Corrie and would be willing to swap Long Beach, California for the Weatherfield cobbles.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Tanya Giles is stepping down as chief programming officer for streaming at Paramount Global. Giles was promoted in June 2021 to help oversee all streaming content programming efforts for the media conglomerate that has invested heavily in its Paramount+ streaming platform. News of Giles’ departure was first reported by Deadline. The move comes as Paramount Global has been taking steps to further streamline its content, production and network operations under an increasingly smaller number of leaders. In late January, the company unveiled the plan to consolidate its stalwart pay TV cabler Showtime with the Paramount+ platform.

The Motion Picture Association said Josh Levin starts today as VP of State Government Affairs for the Northeast Region, reporting to Kathy Bañuelos, SVP of State Government Affairs. His hiring creates an office for the region as the MPA pursues a shift in strategy for its state government affairs work, bringing in top executives across key U.S. production hubs to maximize advocacy.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Rob Wilk, most recently global head of advertising at Microsoft, joined Snap as the first president of Americas overseeing the Snapchat parent company’s sales in the region. Wilk, who is based out of Snap’s New York offices, reports to Snap COO Jerry Hunter. In the new role, Wilk will run sales across the U.S., Canada and Latin America and will be responsible for supporting and managing its largest advertising partners in the region. Wilk steps into the Snap job after the departure last summer of the company’s two top ad sales execs, Jeremi Gorman and Peter Naylor, who joined Netflix. “We were impressed not only with Rob’s hands-on experience building a large and growing advertising business, but also his approach to leading customer-centric sales teams and developing strong, sustained customer relationships,” Hunter wrote in an internal memo to Snap staff Monday.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Republic Pictures, an historic movie label founded in 1935 and shuttered in 1967, has been revived by parent company Paramount Global. The banner will function as an acquisitions play, releasing titles acquired by Paramount Global Content Distribution. “We’ve chosen to revitalize the Republic banner given its storied history of delivering popular movies to a global audience, ” said Dan Cohen, Paramount chief content licensing officer and newly-named president of Republic Pictures. “With our best-in-class global distribution teams working to identify the best homes around the world, we aim to continue that legacy by offering audiences great entertainment across all genres.”

Nick Cave will be embarking on a run of North American tour dates later this year.The tour will kick off on September 19 in Asheville, North Carolina before making stops in another 18 cities throughout the US. Cave will then sign off at the end of October with a pair of shows at LA’s Orpheum Theatre.The pre-sale for tickets will go live on Monday (March 27) at 10am local time, before the general sale commences on Friday (March 31), also at 10am local time.You can see the full list of dates below and buy your tickets here.SEPTEMBER19 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium21, – Durham, NC – DPAC23 – Washington, D.C. – Lincoln Theatre25 – Cleveland, OH – Playhouse Square27 – Milwaukee, WE – Riverside Theater29 – Chicago, IL – Auditorium TheatreOCTOBER2 – Minneapolis, MN – State Theatre6 – Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre7 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre10 – Boston, MA – Wang Theatre12 – Montreal, QC – Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier14 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall15 – Detroit, MI – Masonic Cathedral Theatre17 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium20 – Atlanta, GA – Atlanta Symphony Hall22 – Dallas, TX – Majestic Theatre23 – Austin, TX – ACL at The Moody27 – Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum Theatre28 – Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum TheatreCave recently made headlines when he described the late poet and novelist Charles Bukowski as “the bukkake of bad poetry.”“I just don’t like Charles Bukowski.

Shari Lynette Carpenter, Miko Lim and Oscar Rene Lozoya have been selected to participate in the 2023-2025 Paramount Directors Initiative, Paramount Global announced on Thursday.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Three projects pitched at CPH:FORUM – the industry program of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen-based documentary festival – have been awarded cash prizes. They are Robin Petré’s “Only on Earth,” Iryna Tsilyk’s “Red Zone” and Yegor Troyanovsky’s “Cuba & Alaska.” The filmmakers were awarded at a ceremony in the Danish capital on Thursday. Petré’s “Only on Earth” garnered the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award worth €20,000 for best pitch. The docu, produced by Signe Skov Thomsen, and Malene Flindt Pedersen, depicts a journey deep into one of Europe’s hottest fire zones, Galicia, where wild horses roam the mountains under the watch of local cowboys. These horses are excellent at fire prevention, but now they are vanishing in the clash between humans and nature.

Snoop Dogg arrived in Scotland this week and was met at the airport by a bagpipes player giving a rendition of ‘Still D.R.E.’ – see it below.The rapper is currently on his ‘I Wanna Thank Me’ tour of Europe, which has been rescheduled a host of times since its initial announcement in 2019.On Thursday (March 16), he played Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, and upon landing at Glasgow Airport, a bagpipe player broke into a rendition of ‘Still D.R.E.’ on the runway.Clearly enjoying the show, Snoop danced away on the tarmac before pointing at the musician and giving him a thumbs up before departing in a car.You can see the video below via Snoop Dogg’s Instagram, alongside details of Snoop Dogg’s remaining UK tour dates –  buy any remaining tickets here.A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg)Snoop Dogg will play the following shows:MARCH 202321 – London, O2 Arena26 – Dublin, 3Arena27 – Leeds, First Direct Arena28 – Birmingham, Resorts World ArenaLater this year, the rapper will join Wiz Khalifa and head out on a massive joint tour of North America titled ‘High School Reunion’.Snoop announced the 33-date run via a poster on Instagram on March 7. The tour will kick off on July 7 in Vancouver before wrapping up the run in Irvine, California on August 27.

Bob Bakish, chief executive of Paramount Global, saw total compensation in 2022 of $32 million, up from $20 million the year before.

Paramount Global is shuffling its board of directors, including the addition of Dawn Ostroff, who will serve as an independent non-executive director, the company announced Friday. The filing also noted that Bob Bakish would be making $31.5 million.Ostoroff’s seat is pending a stockholder vote that will take place at Paramount’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders later this year. Bakish, who serves as Paramount Global’s president will be receiving a pay boost to $31.5 million as a result of $16 million stock awards grant.

William Earl Former Spotify, Conde Nast and CW executive Dawn Ostroff is set to join the board of directors for Paramount Global in May. Ostroff is poised to join the board as an independent director at Paramount Global’s annual meeting on May 8. Incumbent board members Candace Beinecke and Ronald Nelson will not stand for re-election at that meeting, which will bring the number of board members to 11, including Ostroff. “We are thrilled to welcome Dawn to Paramount’s Board at such an exciting moment in our evolution,” said Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone. “We believe her leadership, diverse expertise in content strategy and her long track record of driving transformation will prove invaluable as we seek to continue building on the success of Paramount’s global multiplatform strategy.”

Dawn Ostroff, a seasoned media executive who most recently served as chief content and advertising business officer at Spotify, will joining the Paramount Global board, the company announced today.