Verizon Bundles Netflix, Max With Ads for $10 per Month

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Aylo, parent company of Pornhub and other sex sites, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. prosecutors to settle a charge it profited from deals with porn producers who were involved in sex trafficking. Under the settlement announced Thursday, Canada-based Aylo agreed to pay a criminal fine and forfeiture totaling $1.845 million to the U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Lawyers for Ozy Media, the defunct media and entertainment company founded by Carlos Watson, allege in a new lawsuit that Ben Smith, BuzzFeed and Semafor (the media startup co-founded by Smith in 2022) misappropriated Ozy’s trade secrets “for their own benefit.” The suit additionally alleges that BuzzFeed breached a nondisclosure agreement it entered into with Ozy in 2019 as part of its efforts to buy the company. Lawyers representing Ozy Media allege that Smith, former BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief and New York Times media columnist who is currently editor-in-chief of Semafor, wrote “a series of hit pieces” about Ozy Media but that he did not disclose “his central role in BuzzFeed’s efforts to buy Ozy two years earlier” while he was at BuzzFeed.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Adobe called off plans to buy Figma, a web-based collaborative design platform, citing regulatory opposition to the proposed $20 billion deal. Adobe and Figma on Monday said they mutually agreed to terminate their merger agreement, originally announced Sept. 15, 2022.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Activision Blizzard will pay $54.9 million to settle a lawsuit by California’s Civil Rights Department alleging a pattern of pay and promotion practices that discriminated against women. The settlement, announced Friday, comes after Microsoft closed its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard in October following concessions Microsoft made to clear regulatory objections in the U.K. Activision Blizzard’s franchises include Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero and Diablo.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Hinge, the dating app owned by Match Group, has recruited Tamika Young as VP of global communications. Young most recently worked in PR for Netflix and prior to that spent more than five years at Spotify. She will lead global communications strategies across corporate, brand, consumer, trust and safety as Hinge continues to focus on reaching Gen Z and LGBTQIA+ communities around the world.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In case you didn’t get enough of Elon Musk in “Elon Musk,” the 688-page authorized biography of the tech mogul penned by Walter Isaacson, here comes a new podcast from Isaacson talking about his experience spending two years shadowing the world’s richest person to research the book. The “On Musk” podcast, produced by iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope, premieres Dec. 12 on the iHeartPodcast Network (at this link) and all major podcast platforms, with all four episodes available at launch.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney is bringing all past seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy” to Hulu — while they will remain on Netflix — coinciding with the official launch of Hulu on Disney+ in March 2024. Starting in spring 2024, Hulu and Netflix will share the co-exclusive U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix is adding another live sports event to its calendar: the Netflix Slam, featuring Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz in a special one-night tennis exhibition match. The event is scheduled for Sunday, March 3, 2024, at noon PT at the Michelob Ultra Arena at MGM Resorts International’s Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. It will stream as a duaI broadcast in English- and Spanish-language markets.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The show is over for Showtime as a standalone brand. As of Jan. 8, 2024, Paramount Global will rebrand the linear Showtime cable network as Paramount+ With Showtime — the same name as the company’s top-tier streaming package.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix‘s board has approved 2024 pay packages of its top execs, with co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters each to receive compensation worth $40 million. For Sarandos, it’s the same level of pay he is set to receive in 2023.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Game designer Hideo Kojima, creator of the hugely popular “Death Stranding,” had two pieces of news coming out of the Game Awards 2023. On Thursday evening at the Game Awards show in L.A., Kojima appeared on stage with filmmaker Jordan Peele to announce his next game project: “OD,” which Kojima describes as an “immersive and totally new style of game” that will explore “what it means to OD on fear.” It’s being produced in partnership with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube announced that the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI reached the “extraordinary milestone” of generating more than 93 million views in the initial 24-hour period on the Rockstar Games YouTube channel — shattering the previous record for a non-music video debut on the platform. Rockstar Games released GTA VI’s first trailer on Monday, Dec. 4, after it first leaked online.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amazon‘s Prime Video and Premier Boxing Champions announced a multiyear rights agreement to bring top pay-per-view boxing events to U.S. viewers. Launched in 2015, PBC features over 150 active fighters across various weight divisions, including top contenders and current world champions.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Telecom giant Verizon hired Leslie Berland, previously the top marketing exec at Peloton and Twitter, as CMO. Berland will assume the role of executive VP and chief marketing officer at Verizon, effective Jan. 9, 2024.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Get ready to see “The Kardashians” standing next to Baby Yoda on your Disney+ home screen. Beginning Dec. 6, the significant majority of Hulu content will be available on Disney+ in the U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor It’s a wonderful… robot? An AI-generated voice of Jimmy Stewart, the legendary Hollywood actor who died in 1997, reads a new bedtime story on the Calm sleep and meditation app. The voice of Stewart, who starred in films including “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Vertigo” and “Rear Window,” was recreated for the Calm story using AI voice-cloning technology. The project has the consent of Stewart’s family and his estate (managed by CMG Worldwide).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ted Sarandos is happy the twin Hollywood strikes are over — but the Netflix co-CEO claimed the streamer didn’t see significant “interruption” in its ability to launch original series and films. “We are mostly just thrilled that the strikes are behind us.

Verizon will offer the ad-supported Netflix and Max tiers in a bundle for $10 a month starting Dec. 7. The deal, available for Verizon’s myPlan customers, reps more than 40% in savings, the big telco said today.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Susan Sarandon issued an apology for controversial comments she made at a pro-Palestine rally in New York last month. At the Nov.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In its never-ending effort to try to reach younger news consumers, CNN has launched CNN Shorts — a new vertical video player on its website designed for smartphones. CNN already produces vertical-video news briefs for platforms including TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Now it sees a growing opportunity for CNN Shorts on its owned-and-operated platforms — where it can directly sell its own advertising.