Sony Music Entertainment & Gospel Artist Kirk Franklin Team Up For Podcast Series

EXCLUSIVE: Clive Anderson, who hosted the UK version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, has signed up to present a biographical podcast format, produced by Stakhanov and Alaska TV.

(CNN)Cynthia Erivo is putting on the crown of the Queen of Soul in the new trailer for National Geographic's "Genius: Aretha." The Emmy award-winning series is set to return March 21 with a new installment that focuses on the life of Aretha Franklin.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music Publishing has rebranded, introducing what it describes as “a new brand identity with a redesigned logo and revitalized mission.”Under the leadership of Jon Platt, chairman & CEO since 2019, the renewal of the Sony Music Publishing name signifies an important step in the company’s evolution and further aligns the business with Sony’s entertainment brands, according to the announcement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUniversal and Sony Music, the two largest music companies in the world, have inked licensing agreements with the music streaming and discovery service Audiomack.

Anna Marie de la Fuente James Schamus (pictured, left), the former co-president of Focus Features who is best known for his laureled producing partnership with multi Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, is creating his first TV series for Netflix Mexico.Schamus will serve as executive producer and showrunner for the series, which he co-wrote with Monika Revilla (“The House of Flowers,” “Someone Has to Die”) and author Fernanda Melchor (“Hurricane Season”).The series, whose storyline is under wraps,

EXCLUSIVE: The story of the rise and fall of Jerry Falwell Jr. is to be the subject of season three of popular documentary podcast series Gangster Capitalism.

Batman: The Audio Adventures has been described as “a comedic take” on the property, per the Hollywood Reporter.Saturday Night Live writer Dennis McNicholas has written and directed the multi-episode series, which will be released on HBO Max courtesy of Warner Bros later this year.Other actors starring alongside Wright include Chris Parnell, Seth Meyers, Brent Spiner, John Leguizamo, Ike Barinholtz, Kenan Thompson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Sudeikis, Heidi Gardner, Brooke Shields, Paul Scheer, Tim

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentEagle Pictures, a leading Italian distribution and production company, has signed a home entertainment distribution deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment Italia. Kicking off April 1, the deal covers the distribution of feature films and TV series on DVD and Blu-ray Discs in Italy.

With international buyers unable to travel to Germany to scout movies at year’s Berlin International Film Festival, the event will instead bring a selection of titles from its program to them through new initiative ‘EFM goes global’.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music Entertainment announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Kobalt Music Group to acquire Kobalt’s recorded-music operations, including AWAL, and Kobalt Neighboring Rights.AWAL and Neighbouring Rights will become a new division within SME’s suite of independent artist and label services offerings and will be enhanced by the technology and network of SME’s independent music distribution company, The Orchard, according to the announcement.

COVID-19 CANCELLATIONS & POSTPONEMENTSThe Coachella festival in California has again been pushed back due to COVID-19. Originally scheduled for April last year, the festival was postponed to October and then to April this year.

Chloe Sims has been spotted out with her rarely-seen daughter Madison in Tulum, Mexico.The Only Way Is Essex star Chloe, 38, and her 15 year old daughter Madison were seen leaving the Kin Toh restaurant in Tulum, Mexico. Chloe and her daughter were accompanied by Chloe’s cousin Frankie Essex, 33, as they dined out in the picturesque eatery.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorDirector Fernando Frias new film, Mexican Oscar hopeful “I’m No Longer Here,” gives audiences a look into the American dream, and his deconstruction of it.Rather than cast well-known actors, Frias relied on his casting director to find non-actors to help tell the story of Ulises, played by Juan Daniel Garcia Treviño who goes on a journey from Monterrey, Mexico to New York for a new life, except his American dream isn’t all it’s expected to be.Frias teamed with

The current boom in music documentaries is set to continue with an emerging new player in the space.

EXCLUSIVE: Tony-winner Rachel Chavkin is behind a new podcast series aimed at tweens based on Greek myths.

EXCLUSIVE: The mysterious death of former NFL player Jim Duncan is the subject of a new narrative podcast series from publishing company McClatchy and iHeartMedia.