Company Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Shares in EchoStar, which just completed a long-anticipated merger with Dish Network, have jumped more than 35% today after the company said it is officially reviewing its strategic options.

Shareholders of Disney and Apple will be given the chance to vote on proposals regarding the use of artificial intelligence, the Securities and Exchange Commission has determined.

EXCLUSIVE: Meta, parent company of Facebook, is closing its Frank Gehry-designed London base, Deadline has learned. It will further reduce the number of offices it occupies in London, where the tech giant has its largest staff presence outside of the U.S.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The founder of VideoAmp, a measurement-technology start-up that has been vying with Nielsen and others to create a new means of tabulating video audiences, is stepping down from his CEO role just as the company plans to lay off nearly a fifth of its staff, Ross McCray, who led VideoAmp as it struck deals with titans such as Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, will remain as a shareholder and board member at VideoAmp, but will be replaced by Peter Liguori, an industry veteran who has led Fox Entertainment, FX and Tribune Media, among other companies. Peter Bradbury,, a former Nielsen executive, was named VideoAmp’s chief commercial and growth officer.

EXCLUSIVE: Shout! Studios has taken exclusive worldwide rights to Jim Henson’s beloved fantasy adventure movies Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, as part of a new multi-year distribution alliance with The Jim Henson Company, Deadline has learned.

Caroline Brew editor Nick Viall, host of the award-winning “The Viall Files” podcast, has announced the launch of Envy Media, an audio-first lifestyle company focused on pop culture and relationship-themed shows. The media company will produce a podcast titled “Disrespectfully,” hosted by “Vanderpump Rules” stars Katie Maloney and Dayna Kathan, set to launch on Jan.

Michaela Zee Nigel Lythgoe has become the subject of an investigation led by Sony Pictures Television’s 19 Entertainment, which co-produces “So You Think You Can Dance” with Dick Clark Productions, an insider tells Variety. Sony declined to comment on the investigation. The executive producer of “So You Think You Can Dance” and “American Idol” was recently hit by two sexual assault lawsuits, including one filed by Paula Abdul on Dec.

Two months before Season 18 of So You Think You Can Dance is slated to premiere on Fox, the series’ co-creator, lead judge and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe has become the subject of two sexual misconduct lawsuits, including one filed by Paula Abdul who accused him of assaulting her twice over the past 20 years. Now, Lythgoe is also the subject of a probe, led by Sony Pictures TV’s 19 Entertainment, which co-produces SYTYCD with Dick Clark Productions, sources close to the situation confirm to Deadline.

Renee Poche has filed a suit against Netflix and production companies Kinetic Content and Delirium TV.

Fidelity, which helped Elon Musk acquire the platform formerly known as Twitter in late 2022, announced that its stake in the company has fallen 72% in that time, according to an analysis by Bloomberg.

Kids Company charity founder Camila Batmanghelidjh has died aged 61, according to reports. The Iranian-born social justice campaigner founded Kids Company in 1996 to support vulnerable children and young people in London and Bristol.

The four members of the K-Pop group BLACKPINK are seemingly setting the stage for furthering their solo careers… which they will not be doing with YG Entertainment.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Paul Schrader wrote Martin Scorsese‘s “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” and it appears he would’ve handled things differently had he been the one to pen “Killers of the Flower Moon.” In a recent interview with France’s Le Monde, Schrader called “Flower Moon” a “good movie” but one that could’ve been better had DiCaprio been playing the FBI agent investigating the Osage murders. “Marty compares me to a Flemish miniaturist.

A Dumfries couple enjoyed a Christmas carol concert in the company of members of the royal family.

A.D. Amorosi The members of Blackpink suddenly seem like they’re almost angling for the title of Queens of Christmas, as the holiday season has seen a flurry of three big announcements or releases — including Lisa choosing Christmas Eve to drop her cover of a Britney Spears holiday perennial, “My Only Wish (This Year).” The group has big plans for the day after Christmas, too, with a virtual-reality concert showcase, “Blackpink: A VR Encore,” set to stream on Dec.

A teenager with hopes of being a professional golfer showed he had a great drive - by turning his side hustle on eBay into a multi-million pound company

Russell Brand’s production company has posted a profit of £5million ($6.35m) in the last tax year, which finished at the end of 2022, nine months before he faced multiple allegations concerning historic sexual assault offences.

Travis Kelce is revisiting The Eras Tour — and this time he’s bringing some company along!

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Really, a company that creates augmented reality content for theatrical release movies has hired veteran media executive Peter Gaida as its chief commercial officer in Asia Pacific. The appointment is part of a wider expansion into Asia by the AR company. Founded by media entrepreneur James Andrew Felts in 2017, Really creates “highly functional, large-scale AR content” that it delivers weekly.

Old habits die hard. So Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav just sat down with Paramount Global chief executive Bob Bakish to talk about merging, and the media business yet again confronted the possibility of a spasm of mega-deals reshaping the landscape.

Dead & Company could be playing a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere next summer, according to reports.The New York Post reports the supergroup – consisting of Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann alongside John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti – are in talks for a potential residency that would take place “next summer”. However, it stressed that negotiations are “still in the works and not 100%.”The Sphere opened in September with a residency featuring U2 playing ‘Achtung Baby’ in full, which was recently extended into March.

EasyGroup, the U.K.-based company behind the popular low-cost airline easyJet, has launched an infringement lawsuit against Finn Keane, a producer and DJ who has released music as EasyFun. PC Music, the soon-to-be-dormant label EasyFun released music on, is named as a co-defendant in the suit alongside label founder A.G.

EXCLUSIVE: Kingdom Story Company, the production shingle behind Lionsgate‘s cash cow Jesus Revolution among other hits, has appointed Kevin Downes as CEO and Andrew Erwin as Chief Creative Officer ahead of its 2024 theatrical film slate with the studio.

EXCLUSIVE: Judy Greer (White House Plumbers) and Pete Holmes (Crashing) have entered production in Winnipeg on The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, an inspirational comedy that The Chosen’s Dallas Jenkins is helming for Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company.

Matt Roe has been named head of unscripted for production company Dirty Robber, The Unreasnble, led by Travon Free, Martin Desmond Roe, and Mickey Meyer.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with action franchise smash John Wick: Chapter 4. The fourth installment in the Chad Stahelski-directed series was penned by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch (based on characters created by Derek Kolstad) in their first turn with Baba Yaga — even if the titular revenge artist, played by Keanu Reeves, speaks only 380 words of dialogue.

With The Morning Show named today as one of the AFI Awards’ 2023 honorees for television program of the year, the question arises, how will the Apple TV+ show possibly up the ante for Season 4?

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery cable warrior Kathleen Finch is heading into her Super Bowl: the holiday season at Food Network.

Caroline Brew editor Director and choreographer Adam Shankman has been named chief creative officer of DanceOne, a new brand from TZP Group. DanceOne will serve as the world’s largest dance holding company, featuring the nation’s leading dance education and competitions. “The whole team is beyond excited to make DanceOne the biggest global dance brand available to everyone in all markets.