Todd Spangler Ny Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UPDATE, 3/8, 1:15 p.m. ET: In an about-face, Apple restored Epic Games‘ developer account for Sweden, two days after terminating it over what the tech giant said was Epic’s “egregious breach of its contractual obligations to Apple.” Epic said Apple’s reversal will allow it proceed with plans to launch battle-royale game “Fortnite” and the Epic Games Store in European countries.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Marilyn Monroe, who died 62 years ago, has been reincarnated as a “hyper-real” AI-generated digital avatar that lets fans engage in a conversation with the late actor — who can answer questions “in Marilyn’s signature voice and style,” according the company behind the project. AI technology firm Soul Machines unveiled Digital Marilyn, an interactive experience in which she “shares anecdotes and even delivers personalized greetings, creating an unforgettable experience for Marilyn fans.” The AI-generated chatbot lets you interact with the late actor “in real-time using advanced natural language processing, deep learning and GPT 3.5,” Soul Machines said in announcing the project Friday.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor When Hollywood accurately depicts work-family and gender-equity scenarios on screen, it’s good for business by driving up viewership and engagement, according to a new research study. The vast majority of engaged streaming viewers in the U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok, the massively popular video app owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, apparently has an ally in Donald Trump. The former U.S. president expressed opposition to a national ban of TikTok not for, say, First Amendment reasons but because such a move would likely boost the fortunes of Meta’s Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor With American lawmakers sounding the alarm again over TikTok‘s ties to China’s communist regime, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce committee unanimously voted to approve a bill that would give China’s ByteDance 165 days to divest its ownership of TikTok — or effectively face a U.S. ban.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” epic biopic — the frontrunner to win the best picture Oscar on Sunday — was the biggest spender among this year’s 10 films nominated in the category. According to data from TV and streaming ad measurement firm iSpot, ads for “Oppenheimer” led the field among 2024 Oscars best picture nominees, with $25.7 million in estimated national TV media value from Jan. 1, 2023-Feb.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor ESPN+ is now available to Charter’s Spectrum TV Select Plus customers nationwide at no additional cost — coming after the cable operator added Disney+ for free earlier this year. The addition of ESPN+, which regularly costs $10.99 per month, comes under Disney and Charter’s distribution agreement reached in September 2023 — following a 12-day blackout of ESPN and other Disney networks on Charter.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor J.J. Abrams is taking a look back at “Felicity,” the beloved series he co-created that premiered 25 years ago, in a difference kind of rewatch podcast featuring guest appearances by the show’s stars, including Keri Russell, Scott Speedman and Scott Foley. “Dear Felicity,” from Abrams’ Bad Robot Audio and Spotify’s The Ringer, is set to debut Wednesday, March 13.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Vince McMahon, the founder of WWE who resigned from the board of TKO Group earlier this year amid sexual assault allegations against him, filed to sell $411.95 million worth of TKO stock, according to a regulatory filing. McMahon’s sale comprised 5.35 million shares of TKO, per an SEC filing Monday. That came after he sold 8.4 million shares of Class A common stock in TKO — in sale worth $670.3 million — last November.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney CEO Bob Iger acknowledged that the company is behind Netflix in terms of technical capabilities — and that the Mouse House is in the process of catching up. “We need to be at their level” of technical capability, in order to reduce marketing expenses and cut churn rates, Iger said about Netflix, speaking Tuesday at the 2024 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. Iger reiterated that Disney is on track to achieve profitability in the streaming business — which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — by the fiscal quarter that ends September 2024.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Facebook appeared to be experiencing widespread technical problems Tuesday, with thousands of users logging errors in accessing the social media service. Users reported problems including being logged out of Facebook.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The “face with tears of joy” emoji represents “a crying with laughter facial expression,” according to Wikipedia. “The emoji is used in communication to portray joking and teasing on messaging platforms.” Elon Musk, the multibillionaire tech baron who owns X (formerly Twitter), on Monday was sued by four former Twitter executives, whom Musk fired immediately after (reluctantly) closing the $44 billion takeover of the company in October 2022.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Will Shortz, the longtime crossword puzzle editor of the New York Times and NPR’s “puzzlemaster” for more than three decades, suffered a stroke last month and has spent the last several weeks rehabilitating. Shortz revealed the injury in a recorded message aired on on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” on March 5. He has been absent from the show in recent weeks, and at the end today’s puzzle segment, “Weekend Edition Sunday” host Ayesha Rascoe shared an audio clip from Shortz to let fans know the situation.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The 8th annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards just concluded in Tokyo — with “Jujutsu Kaisen” Season 2 wining a total of 11 honors, including the top prize of anime of the year. Crunchyroll revealed the winners during a live ceremony Saturday, March 2, featuring celebrity presenters and musical performances.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UTA is tucking a small acquisition into its marketing division: The company announced the acquisition of JUV Consulting, a marketing, creative services and research agency that helps clients target Gen Z consumers. The JUV operations, to be rebranded as Next Gen, will become a new practice within UTA’s entertainment marketing division. About a dozen of JUV Consulting’s employees will join UTA, including CEO Ziad Ahmed (pictured above), working at UTA’s offices in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Fubo chief David Gandler took the gloves off in lambasting the joint venture formed by Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corp.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The descendants of Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney have weighed in on the bid by two activist investment firms to win seats on the board of the Walt Disney Co. Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who runs hedge fund Trian Partners, is waging a proxy-fight battle to install himself and ex-Disney CFO Jay Rasulo as directors; Peltz’s stated aim is to drive up the price of Disney’s stock.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Dwayne Johnson now officially owns title to the sobriquet “The most electrifying man in sports and entertainment.” The actor and entertainment mogul, who broke out as a star in the WWE ring two decades ago, has gained rights to a number of nicknames, insults and catchphrases from his time in the ring in the 90s and early 2000s — including “Candy Ass,” “Jabroni,” and “If you smell what The Rock is cooking.” The transfer of the intellectual-property rights to the names and phrases to Johnson came under his deal to join the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings, the company formed by Endeavor that merged WWE and the UFC. As announced last month, Johnson officially has the rights to his famous ring name, “The Rock.” In its 10-K filing Feb.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Oprah Winfrey will leave the board of WeightWatchers after almost 10 years, following the entertainment mogul’s revelation that she is using a weight-loss drug. Winfrey informed the company this week that she decided to not stand for reelection at the annual meeting of shareholders to be held in May 2024. She has served on the company’s board since 2015.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor SiriusXM named industry veteran Sarah van Mosel to the newly created position of senior VP of podcast strategy. It’s a return to SiriusXM for von Mosel, who previously served as chief revenue office at its subsidiary Stitcher.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Tubi has given its logo an overhaul and a new coat of vivid paint — and has introduced a buoyant sonic logo akin to Netflix’s “tudum” — as the Fox Corp.-owned streamer prepares to launch into more international markets. The free, ad-supported streaming service’s new brand identity was developed in partnership with London design consultancy DixonBaxi. The new logo and sonic brand will begin rolling out across all supported platforms, including in the Tubi user interface, starting Wednesday, Feb.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor David Duchovny is diving deep into screwing up in “Fail Better,” marking his first foray as a podcast host. The actor, writer, director, author and singer-songwriter’s seasonal weekly series is produced by podcast network Lemonada Media. “Fail Better” is slated to premiere in May 2024, to be available across all major audio platforms.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Stephen A. Smith, known for his no-filter commentary on sports, politics and culture, has a new podcast partner. “The Stephen A.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries has set up “Jockular,” a podcast from three queer best friends Katie Kershaw, Tien Tran and E.R. Fightmaster — who, along with their guests, will discuss all things queer, trans and women-forward in the world of sports. “Jockular” will dispense “equal doses of sports commentary, cultural criticism and light-hearted gossip,” per Hyperobject Industries, spanning sports including collegiate basketball, professional soccer and “power slapping” (which, weirdly, is an actual thing).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Whoopi Goldberg, famed EGOT and business mogul, is adding another entry to her résumé: streaming entrepreneur. Goldberg is an equity investor in Blkfam, billed as the first and only Black-owned and Black-focused family streaming platform. The free, ad-supported service launches Feb.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor It’s the end of the road for Warner Bros. Discovery‘s MotorTrend+ automotive streaming service. The media company announced that MotorTrend+ will be shut down after content from the service is fully migrated to Discovery+ and Max at the end of March.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Timothée Chalamet’s magical, musical candyman is coming to Max. “Wonka” will make its streaming debut exclusively on Max on Friday, March 8, Warner Bros.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Reddit, the popular internet discussion “community of communities,” filed a registration statement Thursday for its long-awaited initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Reddit intends to list its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “RDDT.” In the S-1 filing with the SEC, Reddit reported 2023 revenue of $804.0 million, up 21% year over year, and a net loss of $90.8 million in 2023, compared with a $158.6 million loss the year prior.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix says its ad-supported plan includes “the vast majority” of TV shows and movies available on the standard no-ads tiers — but more than a year after the streamer introduced the cheaper option, several popular titles remain unavailable to customers with the ad plan. Most recently, Netflix customers noticed that Eli Roth’s horror film “Thanksgiving” (pictured above), added Feb. 17 for subscribers on ad-free tiers, is unavailable on the ad plan.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After critics slammed Google‘s “woke” generative AI system, the company halted the ability of its Gemini tool to create images of people to fix what it acknowledged were “inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions.” Google’s Gemini, formerly known as Bard, began offering text-to-image generative features this month. The problem appeared to be that, in trying to compensate for gender- and racial-representation bias in AI, the system was creating ahistorical images of people.