Spain’s Movistar Plus+ Relaunches, Offering a Strengthened Basic Tier Streaming Service to Any Telco Client

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney, trying to swing its streaming business into the black, has set substantial price hikes for Disney+ and Hulu standalone premium plans in the U.S. — while also rolling out a heavily discounted Disney+/Hulu ad-free combo bundle. As of Oct.

Naman Ramachandran Revenues at Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based RTL Group, a media giant which owns Fremantle, slid 5.1% to €3.1 billion ($3.4 billion) for the first half of 2023, financial results released on Tuesday have revealed. Adjusted EBITA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, and Amortization) was down to down to €250 million compared to €501 million during the same period in 2022 and group profit was at €132 million, more than 50% down €304 million in 2022. The company attributes this to “challenging TV advertising markets, in particular in Germany.” RTL group’s TV advertising revenue declined 12.5% to €1.18 billion (H1/2022: €1.35 billion).

MrBeast is being sued after first filing a lawsuit – Just Jared Jr Jeremy Allen White was photographed kissing someone new amid his divorce – Celebitchy Gymnast Suni Lee has made her elite comeback – Popsugar Noah Schnapp reveals how BFF Millie Bobby Brown reacted when he came out to her – Just Jared Jr

UK Agency Insanity Group Restructures Entertainment Team

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent LOCARNO — Spain’s Vertigo Films has boarded “All the World Drops Dead,” committing to co-produce the next scarefest from Austrian Kevin Kopacka, director of 2021’s noteworthy “Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes.” Set up at Germany’s Manderley Films, which oversaw VFX on “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “All the World Drops Dead” has been brought to market at Locarno’s Match Me! Forum by producer and co-writer Lili Villlányi. Also produced by Manderley Films’ founder Rebekka Garrido, “All the World Drops Dead” ranks as one of the biggest genre plays on offer at this year’s Swiss festival – not an idle boast as distributors worldwide turn to genre, as well as family animation, as a reaction to plunging cinema theater audiences for arthouse cinema through and after the pandemic.

A passenger who took unwell on a flight from Spain to Scotland was helped by a nurse after quick-thinking Ryanair staff rushed to their aid.

Naman Ramachandran Declining TV advertising revenues in the German-speaking region have contributed to revenues and profits plunging at media giant ProSiebenSat.1. Quarterly results published on Thursday reveal that the group’s revenues declined from €1.04 billion ($1.14 billion) in 2022 to €868 million ($950 million) this year.

Shawn Mendes is soaking up the sun in Ibiza, Spain.

Manchester City take on Spanish side Atletico Madrid as they bring down the curtain on their pre-season tour of the Far East.

announced it would be raising the price on it US plans by $1.A student plan will now cost $5.99 per month, a single premium plan will star at $10.99 and families can expect to pay $16.99.The music and podcast streaming app has embarked on a number of drastic cost cutting moves in recent months. In January, it cut 800 jobs, and it laid off additional 200 people in June.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Music and Music Women* Germany (MW*G), the nationwide umbrella music organization of all female-identifying and non-binary individuals, have revealed the 2023 winners of the Female* Producer Prize. The prize aims to support and promote the careers of emerging female-identifying producers from across the country. The winners include Mimski, who broke through via the Novembars competition and is currently working on her first album, which will be released on the RUNTLIFE Records label; Evîn, a German/Kurdish singer and producer in alternative R&B who combines elements from different genres like soul and hip-hop with her Kurdish roots; and Kota No Uta, who works mainly in jazz, soul and neo and has recently released a song, “Autumn Leaves.”

The UK Foreign Office has issued a travel warning to anyone heading to Greece this summer. The Government alert comes as temperatures have soared across southern Europe, with heatwaves in many popular British family holiday hotspots such as in Spain, Italy and Greece.

British travellers are being warned to be cautious while on holiday over a potentially deadly stomach bug that is spreading in European destinations.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In the run-up to Locarno, Paris-based MPM Premium has swooped on world sales rights to “On the Go,” a showcase of the acting talents of “Elite’s” Omar Ayuso, here playing a Grindr addict with vengeance in his heart. Set to world premiere in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente, “On the Go” also has a first trailer, shared in exclusivity with Variety.  The trailer captures much of the spirit of the freewheeling road movie through an Andalusia of music, dance, sex and sensuality –though none of the film’s nudity – of a feature, written-directed by Maria Gisèle Royo and Julia de Castro, which revisits from a female perspective an extraordinary Andalusian feature, 1982’s “Corridas de Alegría.”  

Bayern Munich are reportedly willing to listen to offers for Joshua Kimmich this summer who has been linked with a move to Manchester City.

Naman Ramachandran German media giant ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s continuing realignment after it acquired streamer Joyn in 2022 will result in the loss of 400 jobs. “A realignment of the organization is now taking place, particularly in the entertainment segment. The aim is to achieve a more efficient structure, a competitive cost base, and processes clearly geared to digital transformation. This is a priority in order to continue investing consistently in the future of the group, especially in content and digital offerings,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday. “Against this background, also a reduction in the number of jobs in the group has become necessary: This will affect around 400 full-time positions. The job cuts will be made in a socially responsible manner through a voluntary redundancy program in order to avoid compulsory redundancies as far as possible. The company had agreed on this in talks with employee representatives,” the statement added.

Latto is making it very clear that you better not mess with her.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Oscar winner Fernando Trueba (“Belle Epoque”), “The Secret Life of Words” director Isabel Coixet and “Veneno” writer-director-producers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo feature among talent behind Spanish titles at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival, the highest profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world.  Coixet will compete for the first time in San Sebastian’s main competition with “Un Amor,” a probing village-set tale of emotional dependence starring Laia Costa (“Lullaby”) and “Money Heist’s” Hovik Keuchkerian.    Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal will present as a special screening animated feature “They Shot the Piano Player,” a joyful and finally devastating portrait of the life and fate of pianist Francisco Tenorio Jr. narrated by Jeff Goldblum. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In a coup for the still growing film-TV event, Rome’s October MIA Market will host the second Spanish Screenings on Tour, Spain’s biggest international industry platform launched last year at Ventana Sur.  Forming part of Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), the Screenings mark one testament to governments’ attempts around the world to leverage the world’s content production revolution to help power post-pandemic recovery.  MIA’s Spanish Screenings will pack several dozen Spanish titles and a weighty delegation of Spanish producers and creatives to Rome. If the Screenings play out as they did at their first edition in Argentina’s Ventana Sur, attended by a 100+ Spanish delegation, they should help galvanise proceedings at this year’s MIA Market. 

A Land Rover Discovery driver was taken aback after being bombarded by "anti-car" notes - including one offering a free penis enlargement. Adam Chester, visiting a friend, parked his 4X4 near the junction of a busy residential area.