UPDATED, 3:45 PM ET: Disney offered to temporarily provide DirecTV access to ABC News’ coverage of the presidential debate Tuesday night between VP Kamala Harris and Donald Trump — but DirecTV turned the offer down. Disney networks including ESPN and ABC remain dark on DirecTV amid a carriage feud for a 10th day (and counting). […]

The acrimony between DirecTV and Disney in their contract fight is getting more heated, as the blackout of Disney-owned networks on DirecTV is all but certain to extend into a second week. On Saturday, DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, alleging Disney has failed to negotiate in good faith. DirecTV asserted that […]

Carriage fights create some strange bedfellows. DirecTV, at loggerheads with Disney over a new deal for ESPN, ABC and other networks, announced that it would give its customers a $30 credit toward two competing streaming TV services — Sling, from longtime satellite rival Dish Network, and Fubo. Disney and DirecTV failed to reach an agreement […]

Porn-friendly creator platform OnlyFans reported record revenue and profits for its 2023 fiscal year — as the number of creators increased 29%, to 4.12 million. Gross payments made through the OnlyFans platform increased by 19% for the year ended Nov. 30, 2023, jumping from $5.55 billion in 2022 to $6.63 billion last year, according to […]

Disney — whose networks have been dark on DirecTV since Sept. 1 amid a carriage dispute — on Friday launched a campaign to alert DirecTV customers that they have “plenty of options” to get ABC, ESPN and others from rival providers. The message reads, “Hey DirecTV customers! Missing your favorite ABC and ESPN programming! No […]

Larry Ellison, the megabillionaire founder of Oracle, will be the majority shareholder of National Amusements Inc., the company that controls Paramount Global, after the expected closing of the deal with Skydance Media — led by his son, David Ellison — next year, according to a regulatory filing. Larry Ellison will own 77.5% of National Amusements […]

Warner Bros. Discovery is consolidating its Global Themed Entertainment licensing group — whose purview includes the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s theme parks — and its Studio Tours & Retail group under one umbrella. The new division, dubbed Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences, brings together the company’s worldwide studio tours, retail destinations, touring […]

Telecommunications giant Verizon Communications plans to take over smaller player Frontier Communications in an all-cash deal valued at $20 billion, as Verizon seeks to bolster its fiber footprint to battle its biggest rival, AT&T. According to Verizon, Frontier operates the “largest pure-play fiber internet” network in the U.S. with 2.2 million fiber subscribers across 25 […]

Brian Stelter is back at CNN. In an email to subscribers of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” media newsletter, Stelter said he will be returning as the lead author of the publication that he founded in 2015. He said he will relaunch the newsletter on Sept. 9. Under CNN’s previous leadership regime, the news network parted ways […]

Amazon insists that its Alexa voice-enabled assistant does not have any political opinions — and that Alexa’s responses explaining why someone should vote for VP Kamala Harris were a mistake. On Tuesday, users on social media shared videos showing Alexa providing disparate responses to the question “Why should I vote for Donald Trump?” and “Why […]

Donald Trump is the legendary Man of Steel — at least, according to a meme the Republican presidential candidate posted on his Truth Social account. The image shows Trump and various associates and supporters depicted as superhero characters from DC’s cinematic universe. The 45th U.S. president is shown as Superman, while his VP running mate, […]

Fmovies — described as the biggest pirate streaming operator in the world — has been shut down by police in Vietnam, working in coordination with the MPA-led industry antipiracy group Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment. The takedown by Hanoi Police disabled Fmovies and dozens of its affiliated piracy sites. Fmovies was launched in 2016 and […]

UPDATED, 4:58 p.m. ET: Reddit, the internet’s popular discussion hub, encountered widespread outages and errors for nearly an hour Wednesday. User reports of problems with Reddit spiked just before 4 p.m. ET on Aug. 28, when there were more than 76,000 error reports, according to monitoring site Downdetector. Error messages displayed on Reddit pages included […]

Buckle the f— up! The foul-mouthed adventurers of “The Legend of Vox Machina” are returning for a hellishly harrowing odyssey in Season 3 of the hit Prime Video animated fantasy series from Critical Role. Amazon’s Prime Video released the official trailer for “Vox Machina” Season 3, which shows our heroes literally traveling to hell and […]

Disney’s lineup of TV networks, including ESPN and ABC, could go dark for DirecTV subscribers as early as this Sunday if the two sides can’t come to terms on a renewed distribution deal. And right now, the companies are by all appearances far apart in the deal talks. DirecTV’s agreement with Disney expires Sunday, Sept. […]

Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz will sit for an interview with CNN this week — marking Harris’ first major interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. The interview will air as a primetime special on Thursday, Aug. 29, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CNN and across the news network’s platforms. Harris and […]

Jason and Travis Kelce are kicking off a rich new deal with Amazon’s Wondery, which has exclusive ad-sales and distribution rights to the popular “New Heights” weekly podcast hosted by the famous football brothers. The deal between the Kelce brothers and Wondery, which runs for three years, is worth more than $100 million, according to […]

In the latest twist in the Paramount Global M&A saga, Skydance Media is alleging the media company breached the terms of their merger agreement by engaging with a rival $6 billion bid from investors led by billionaire Edgar Bronfman Jr. Lawyers for David Ellison’s Skydance sent a letter Thursday to the special committee established by […]

Donald Trump acknowledged that images he posted online depicting Taylor Swift endorsing him for president and several supposedly showing Swifties supporting him were fake. But the ex-president did not seem concerned the pop star will sue him, saying that the AI images “were all made up by other people.” Trump addressed the controversy in an […]