Piracy Could Result in $113 Billion Loss for Streaming Services by 2027

Strictly Come Dancing star Janette Manrara has been flooded with support from her former co-stars, celebrity pals and fans after sharing news of a devastating loss. The BBC One dance contest's former dancer, who is pregnant with her first child, confirmed her weekend had been hit by heartbreak as she learned of the death of her grandfather.

Drake is selling the last U.S. property that he owns.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery posted a first-quarter loss, buffeted not only by the dynamics of streaming video that are eroding traditional media-industry economics, but also by charges related to the 2022 merger that created the company out of the former WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. The owner of HBO, TNT and the Discovery Channel said its loss of $1.069 billion included $1.81 billion of “acquisition-related intangible assets and $95 million of pre-tax restructuring expenses.” The company also indicated that the debt it took on to finance the merger was affecting its financials. Warner Bros. Discovery had $836 million of “semi-annual interest payments largely attributable to merger-related debt that overwhelmed its cash flow.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday. Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Paramount Global fell way shy of Wall Street forecasts with ongoing losses in streaming exacerbated by soft advertising at its TV/Media group last quarter and a dip in filmed entertainment as well. The stock is down sharply — about 14% — in early trading

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global said it would it cut its dividend as continued investment in streaming weighed on the company while it saw declines in its traditional revenue from advertising and cable distribution. The owner of CBS, Nickelodeon and the Paramount movie studio said its first-quarter loss came to nearly $1.23 billion, or $1.81 a share, compared with a profit of $775 million, or 58 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue was essentially flat, down 1%, on shortfalls in its TV media and filmed entertainment units, while its streaming operations saw revenue rise 39%. “We are focused on continuing to drive market-leading streaming growth while navigating a dynamic macroeconomic environment,” said Bob Bakish, the company’s chairman and CEO, in a statement.

Unlike Covid, which forced a sudden and immediate shutdown of feature film productions that ultimately cost the studios anywhere north of $30 million per pic, the Hollywood majors have been planning and bracing for the WGA strike that began today since last fall.

Middleton’s old town hall could be demolished to make way for new houses and an 80-bed care home. Parkfield House, on Manchester Old Road, was the former municipal borough’s HQ before the local government shake up of 1974 put the town under Rochdale council’s administration.Later bought by the North West Water Authority, the now vacant building was most recently used as offices for security firm Chubb. It dates to the mid-1960s. Having stood empty for three years, Muller Property Group has submitted plans to demolish the ‘brutalist’ structure and replace it with 20 two and four-bed town houses, as well as an 80-bed care home.

The skin of the blood orange fruit is thick. So thick that when you finally break through it to taste the bitter sweet flesh, you realise that you had to work hard for something that tastes so good. 

While CEOs often make cameos on the upfront stage in a bid to bolster the pitch to ad buyers, Byron Allen went a step beyond Wednesday by serving as emcee for his company’s lunchtime presentation.

Joel Kinnaman (For All Mankind) is attached to star in They Found Us, an alien abduction thriller to be directed for AGC Studios and Temple Hill by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Neill Blomkamp (District 9), which will head into production in Australia later this year.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube’s advertising revenue dropped for the third quarter in a row, dragging down Google’s financial results as the video platform continues to navigate a soft ad market. Ad sales at YouTube declined 2.6% year over year in the first quarter of 2023, to $6.69 billion. Analysts expected it to come in at $6.6 billion, per FactSet. Parent company Alphabet doesn’t break out YouTube’s subscription revenue (from YouTube TV or YouTube’s other premium services). YouTube revenue was down 7.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022 following a 1.9% dip the quarter before that. In February, Susan Wojcicki stepped down as YouTube’s CEO after nine years in the role, staying on at Alphabet in an advisory capacity. Stepping in to lead YouTube was Neal Mohan (pictured above), previously the video platform’s chief product officer.

Sarandos said. “I have no doubt that our investment will strengthen our long-term partnership with Korea and Korea’s creative ecosystem.”Sarandos says the sum is double what Netflix has spent in Korea since 2016.

Tucker Carlson and Fox News have agreed to part ways, the media company said in a statement on Monday, less than a week after Fox News and parent company Fox Corp FOXA.O settled a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million.

If you grew up in the 1980s, there's a chance you may still have some classic toys boxed away that could be worth thousands.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points in the Season 3 finale of “The Mandalorian,” currently streaming on Disney+. It took all eight episodes of Season 3 for “The Mandalorian” to find its way back to itself, which is to say, back to Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his (now officially!) adopted child, Grogu. For most of Season 3, the core relationship of the series — the reason why “The Mandalorian” became an instant global phenomenon — was shunted aside in favor of tracking how Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze rallied the estranged factions of Mandalorians to take back their devastated homeworld.  Audiences have not responded kindly. Legions of reviews, tweets and YouTube videos vivisected this season of “The Mandalorian” for being “detached,” “unsatisfying,” “sloppy” and “the worst.” What had been a loose and uncomplicated story of Din and Grogu’s ongoing adventures had become instead a sprawling narrative steeped in Mandalorian lore that was brand new (and, even worse, uninteresting) to most people watching. An ironic strength of the show — audiences projecting themselves into Din’s helmet in the absence of Pascal’s deeply expressive face — became a major liability, with episodes in which dozens of helmeted Mandalorians talked to each other in a dry, monosyllabic monotones, with nary a human face to be seen.

Netflix has confirmed it will "wind down" its DVD rental service 25 years after sending its first film through the post box.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor “Subscription fatigue” among consumers is only getting worse, making it even more challenging for direct-to-streaming video providers to retain customers, according to Deloitte’s latest Digital Media Trends survey. As streaming video competition continues to intensify, subscription growth rates across the industry have slowed — and churn rates have increased, according to the Deloitte’s 17th annual Digital Media Trends report. On average, U.S. consumers pay $48 per month for subscription-video services, Deloitte’s survey found. About half of those surveyed agreed that they “pay too much” for SVOD services, while about one-third said they intend to reduce their number of entertainment subscriptions.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor The world’s largest music company, Universal Music Group, is asking major streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music to block artificial intelligence companies from using its music to “train” their technology, according to a recent report in Financial Times. Confirming the report, a UMG spokesperson told the FT: “We have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to work to prevent the unauthorized use of their music and to stop platforms from ingesting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators. We expect our platform partners will want to prevent their services from being used in ways that harm artists.”

The Wizarding World is getting a fresh take.