Roku Inks Deal for Jellysmack’s First Free Linear Streaming Channels, With Lifestyle and True-Crime Shows From 17 Top Creators

There will be no strike at Saturday Night Live.

A mum who lived an 'extravagant' lifestyle funded by her drug boss boyfriend avoided jail as a judge told her the career criminal had 'ruined her life'. Georgia Harkness, 27, began a relationship with Salford drug dealer Ashley Blackett after they met in prison, while he was serving time and she worked as a prison nurse.

The Crown will take the series from the late ’90s to the early 2000s, encompassing the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997. Here's what we know about so far, including the first look at the actors portraying Prince William and Kate Middleton.On September 2, 2022, broke the news that, following an exhaustive casting process, The Crown had cast the roles of Prince William and Kate Middleton for season six.

Cinemark Theatres, announced in January. An Imax representative could not be immediately reached for more details.Imax reported last month that it was once again profitable during the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to mega-hits “Avatar: the Way of Water” and Disney’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Its success drawing key audiences had helped cement its role in the success of blockbusters.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Rhett & Link are taking shows produced by their Mythical entertainment company — including the hugely popular “Good Mythical Morning” — and packaging them in a TV-like, around-the-clock stream on Roku Channel. The duo’s Mythical launched Mythical 24/7, an always-on free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel with a curated feed of its shows, which include flagship talk show “Good Mythical Morning,” “Good Mythical More,” “Mythical Kitchen” and “Ear Biscuits.” It also features “Mythical Specials,” comprising content from the company’s archives and other special projects like Rhett & Link’s comedy sketches and music videos.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Me want… nonfungible token? Sesame Workshop is introducing the first digital collectibles based on the iconic Sesame Street kids’ brand. The first NFTs from the initiative will feature Cookie Monster, the beloved blue cookie fiend from the show, with the initial drop scheduled for March 19 on the VeVe digital collectibles app. There will be one Cookie Monster NFT collectible with 5,555 editions for sale, priced at $60 each. According to Sesame Workshop, additional Sesame Street collectibles will be released later this year. NFTs are unique identifiers that verify ownership of digital content. The craze for NFT collectibles kicked off in earnest in early 2021 and has continued since. A number of studios, TV networks, sports leagues and athletes, actors, musicians, artists, gaming companies and more have launched NFT initiatives, looking to generate revenue and engage with fans.

2023 Oscars on Sunday.Will Smith didn’t return to violently clobber Chris Rock. He couldn’t.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor CNN has scored its first Oscars win: “Navalny,” the harrowing film following Russian dissident and former presidential candidate Alexei Navalny, took the prize for documentary feature film at Sunday’s Academy Awards. The documentary, directed by Daniel Roher, gained new relevance after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The CNN Films/Warner Bros. documentary is a fly-on-the-wall account of the rousing populist who was once a presidential candidate — and posed such a threat to Putin that Navalny was poisoned in a botched assassination plot ordered by the Kremlin in 2020. Navalny was detained in January 2021 and currently is serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian gulag. He has spent much of the sentence in solitary confinement.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor About one-fourth of Roku’s cash and equivalents — nearly half a billion dollars — has been held in Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which was shut down by financial regulators Friday after it collapsed. And the streaming platform company said it’s unsure the extent to which it will be able to recover that cash. SVB, after it faced a run on deposits and failed to raise capital to make up the shortfall, was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the FDIC as receiver of its assets. Roku disclosed in an SEC filing that about $487 million of its $1.9 billion in cash and equivalents is held at SVB, or about 26% of the company’s cash and cash equivalents balance as of March 10. The remaining $1.4 billion is “distributed across multiple large financial institutions,” Roku said in the filing.

slap heard around the world — but the world won’t get to hear one of Chris Rock’s jokes about it.A joke about Will Smith in Rock’s Netflix special “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage” was edited out after the comedian messed it up during the live show.Rock, 58, was joking about Smith, 54, and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, 51, toward the end of his March 4 show, specifically discussing a conversation he claims to have had with them about his hosting gig for the 2016 Oscars when he botched the joke.“Years ago, his wife said I should quit the Oscars; I shouldn’t host ’cause her man didn’t get nominated for ‘Emancipation,’ the biggest piece of s–t ever!” Rock said during Netflix’s first-ever global live-streaming event. “No, not ‘Emancipation,’ I f–ked up the joke.”The comedian meant to refer to the 2015 sports drama “Concussion,” a film based on the true story of neuropathologist Dr.

With the Academy Awards this weekend, one can’t help but think about last year’s ceremony. And last year’s Oscars will forever live in infamy, thanks to Will Smith getting onstage and slapping Chris Rock in the face for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Verizon and Netflix — both looking to reel in new subscribers — are relaunching their special promotional offer giving the telco’s customers 12 months free of Netflix’s Premium plan. Starting March 12, Verizon wireless, 5G Home and LTE Home customers can get one year of Netflix’sPremium plan for no extra charge through Verizon’s +play subscription hub. In the U.S., the Premium plan is regularly priced at $19.99/month; it includes up to four simultaneous streams and access to Ultra HD content. The offer, which represents a $240 annual value, will be available for a limited time, according to the telco. Verizon previously launched the same limited-time Netflix deal in December.

Netflix has edited out a mistake made by Chris Rock in his comedy special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage.In the special, the comedian addresses the moment at last year’s Oscars where Will Smith slapped him in the face onstage.At one point, Rock claims Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith were upset with him beforehand when he hosted the Oscars back in 2016.“Years ago his wife said I should quit the Oscars, I shouldn’t host ‘cause her man didn’t get nominated for Emancipation, the biggest piece of shit, ever,” Rock told the crowd in Baltimore, Maryland (via Decider).After naming the wrong movie, Rock quickly corrected himself, adding: “No, not Emancipation, I fucked up the joke. She started this shit. She said that me, a fucking grown ass man, should quit his job because ‘My husband didn’t get nominated for Concussion’.”The correction was pointed out by Vulture’s Jesse David Fox on Twitter, who wrote: “They fixed the Concussion–Emancipation slip up in the version that’s now on Netflix.”He added: “It makes me wonder if there has been other tweaks!”Speaking about the Oscars slap, Rock said: “Everybody knows it happened.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Roku announced that Dan Jedda, a 15-year veteran of Amazon and former CFO of Stitch Fix, will join the streaming platform company as chief financial officer effective May 1. He will report to Roku founder/CEO Anthony Wood. Jedda will succeed current CFO Steve Louden, who announced last year he would leave Roku. According to the company, Louden will work closely with Jedda during transition period before Loudon exits the company in August 2023. Louden had previously planned to step down as CFO in late 2019 but later decided to remain at Roku. Jedda joins the company as Roku’s revenue growth slowed dramatically at the tail end of last year — and the company expects overall revenue to decline about 5% in the first quarter of 2023. Amid macroeconomic headwinds, Roku’s operating expenses have soared, and the streaming platform company has made layoffs and taken other cost-cutting steps.

Owen Wilson is channeling Bob Ross in his new movie!

IFC Films has unveiled a new poster for “Paint”, an upcoming comedy starring Owen Wilson as a public television painter strikingly resembling the iconic Bob Ross.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has been a huge success and the film even garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, but the only way to watch the movie at home right now is through a $19.99 digital download.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” starring Austin Butler as the gyrating rock ‘n’ roll icon, has been streamed for a total of about 2.7 billion minutes by HBO Max viewers in the U.S. since it came to the platform Aug. 8, 2022, according to new data from Nielsen. That makes “Elvis” the most-streamed title on U.S. subscription services among the films nominated for in the Oscars best picture category this year — but only if you are looking at the platforms for which Nielsen reports metrics. What’s important here: Nielsen’s Streaming Content Ratings do not include Paramount+, which added “Top Gun: Maverick” on Dec. 22, whereupon it became the service’s most-streamed movie premiere to date. Nielsen also does not report streaming estimates for Showtime, which has the rights to best-picture frontrunner “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Jon Burlingame editor In what may be the most difficult-to-predict score competition in years, the original-music Oscar could go to a sentimental favorite, a past nominee or the newcomer to the race. Academy members begin voting today. Legendary composer John Williams broke records again by becoming the most nominated living person (53 nominations, winning five), earning the highest number of nominations ever in the music categories, and (it is believed, per the Academy) becoming the oldest nominee ever for a competitive award. He is 91. His nomination for “The Fabelmans” surprised some outsiders, as his fairly spare score is often overshadowed by the several classical pieces performed by Mitzi (Michelle Williams), the character based on director Steven Spielberg’s piano-playing mom. But it passed the 35% rule — that is, more than a third of the total musical content must be original dramatic score — or it would have been disqualified by the Academy’s strict music-branch executive committee.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media is launching a podcast featuring one-on-one conversations between the production company’s execs and key creative partners — with Coogler sitting down with longtime partner Michael B. Jordan for the first episode. The “In Proximity” podcast promises listeners a deep dive into the creative process of making movies, TV, music and podcasts, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Proximity’s projects and future titles. The show premieres with Coogler and Jordan’s episode on Sunday, March 12, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms as well as proximitymedia.com, with new episodes to be released weekly.