Know What's Happening in Entertainment
Know What's Happening in Entertainment
Nintendo and Illumination target $200M-plus Easter opening for “Super Mario Galaxy”
The upcoming “Super Mario Galaxy” film is being positioned to generate more than $200 million domestically over the Easter holiday weekend, leveraging the franchise’s multigenerational appeal. Analysts reference the 2015 “Avengers: Age of Ultron” $191 million opening as a performance benchmark.
Also developing:
By the numbers: K‑Love seeks FCC approval to acquire WFCC
Rockstar Games announced that NBA 2K26 will join the GTA+ library from March 10 to April 20, offering subscribers a 5,000‑VC content pack and a 20% discount if they keep the game after removal. GTA+ originally launched in 2022 as a GTA Online perk and expanded in 2023 to a broader Rockstar game catalog, with its monthly fee rising to $8 in 2024. The temporary inclusion of a 2K title marks the first non‑Rockstar game in the service, suggesting Take‑Two may be testing a cross‑brand subscription bundle. Analysts see this move as a potential challenge to Ubisoft’s and EA’s subscription ecosystems.
New rule: if you use the word “efficiency” to try and sound better/smarter/more caring than saying “layoffs” or “jobs lost,” immediate big kick in the butt. Immediate. And repeated.
ESPN is launching an unprecedented 650+ hours of live coverage across 20 NCAA winter championships this March and April, streaming everything from women’s basketball and wrestling to gymnastics and ice hockey. The programming will be distributed across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2,...
Australian streaming service Stan Sport has secured a sub‑licensing agreement with beIN Sports to broadcast the entire WTA Tour, covering every 250, 500 and 1000‑level tournament as well as the season‑ending WTA Finals. The rights add a year‑round women’s tennis pillar to...
Walmart Canada announced a multi‑year sponsorship with Canada Soccer and the Canadian Premier League, aiming to make the sport more accessible nationwide. The partnership features forward Jonathan David as Walmart’s official ambassador and includes grassroots initiatives, match‑day activations, and fan‑engagement offers....
Music Box Television has signed a distribution deal with AzamTV, bringing its Music Box Hits and Music Box Dance channels to nine East and Southern African countries. The channels launch in Full HD across AzamTV’s IPTV, OTT and DTH satellite...
Audiochuck, the true‑crime podcast network behind hits like “Crime Junkie,” has appointed Matt Shanfield as Head of Television and Film to spearhead a new division. The unit will adapt the company’s podcast catalog for global streaming platforms while also developing...
Devsisters announced a 2026 launch of "Roblox CookieRun Card Game," extending its CookieRun: Braverse TCG onto the Roblox platform. The TCG has already moved 50 million physical cards and entered the North American market earlier this year. Development is co‑led with...
Frank Biancuzzo, who has led Hearst Media Production Group since its 2021 launch, announced he will retire in mid‑2026, concluding more than four decades with Hearst Television. Under his stewardship, HMPG expanded from the Litton Entertainment acquisition to a catalog...
CBC/Radio-Canada announced that its all‑news channels, CBC News Network and French‑language ICI RDI, are now available on Amazon Prime Video as add‑on subscriptions. The service costs $5 per month and includes a seven‑day free trial, delivering 24/7 live breaking‑news coverage....
Indie distributor Bleecker Street turned the K‑pop concert film “Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience” into an event‑cinema hit by limiting showtimes to a single evening per theater. The scarcity tactic drove $1.4 million in ticket sales within 24 hours and the film...
Broadcast Electronics, a longtime provider of transmitter systems and media management software, has been acquired by its CEO Rich Redmond and majority investor The Alzana Group. The undisclosed‑price transaction will re‑organize the business under the legal name BE Systems Inc.,...
Riot Games announced two new expansions for its League of Legends Trading Card Game, Riftbound: Vendetta and Radiance. Vendetta arrives on July 31, adding over 160 cards, new rival‑themed mechanics, and the first two‑player Showdown Decks featuring Zed versus Shen....
Carlos Vela has joined Los Angeles FC as a limited partner, purchasing a 6% equity stake in a transaction that valued the club at $1.25 billion, one of MLS’s highest ever stake sales. The deal also saw longtime investors Joe Tsai and...
Listen Notes reports a 12% decline in new podcast launches in February, dropping to 12,852 from January's 18,863. The figure marks the lowest monthly addition in the past 13 months, though it still adds nearly 13,000 titles to the global...
Cumulus Media, the third‑largest U.S. radio broadcaster, filed a voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization in Houston on March 5, 2026. Judge Alfredo Perez has been assigned to oversee the case, which the company labels as "complex" due to multiple subsidiary filings. Co‑counsel from...
Kimberly and Kenneth Smith have created Ice Cream Castle LLC in West Union, Ohio, and are set to purchase two FM stations: a Class A outlet serving Georgetown and its Class C3 sister station in Ripley. The acquisition marks the...
Disney is looking to crank up its streaming subscriber numbers for the first quarter of 2026 — introducing a 62% price discount on the ad-supported Disney+/Hulu bundle for a three-month period https://t.co/ThNJ10Kpe2 via @variety
The News Movement, launched in 2020, built a newsroom that creates journalism native to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts, targeting Gen Z. Its reporters are “triple‑threat” video journalists who shoot, edit and publish stories directly on social feeds, bypassing traditional websites....
The article argues that pre‑release audience intent data can forecast a film’s performance across theatrical and at‑home windows. Using Pixar’s *Hoppers* and Warner Bros.’ *The Bride* as case studies, it shows how theatrical intent and home‑viewing intent percentages, plus willingness...
Natalia Dyer, fresh from the Stranger Things finale, has signed representation with Creative Artists Agency. The move follows her casting in Amazon MGM’s upcoming romantic comedy “Goodbye Girl,” alongside Kiernan Shipka and Cole Sprouse. Dyer also retains representation from Circle...
Nexstar Media Group announced a cash tender offer to repurchase its 5% senior notes due 2029, a move directly tied to the pending acquisition of TEGNA. The offer, managed by BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, and Goldman Sachs, will remain open...
Wuthering Heights just hit $200 million at the worldwide box office. A good number for a period drama, but the movie cost Warners about $85 million, so still not a big moneymaker for the studio.
After nearly a decade in development, Riot Games' free‑to‑play fighting game 2XKO launched at the end of January and briefly hit third on PlayStation's free download chart. In February, the title fell out of the top‑10 in both North America...
Veritone has signed a multi‑year, global licensing agreement with The Washington Post to distribute the newspaper’s video journalism. The AI‑driven platform will make both current reporting and archival footage searchable for media companies, producers, and digital creators. Executives say the...
Universal Music Group announced it is putting its planned secondary listing on a U.S. exchange on hold, citing turbulent market conditions that have created a valuation dislocation. The decision follows a confidential Form F‑1 filing and a $500 million commitment from Pershing...
Spain’s recorded music market posted €409.5 million in wholesale revenue for 2025, up 13.7 % year‑on‑year. Subscription streaming drove most growth, generating €214 million and rising 19.2 % YoY, representing 71.3 % of streaming income. Physical formats rebounded, with vinyl sales up 44.9 % and overall...
DHD Audio will showcase firmware 10.4 at the 2026 NAB Show, extending capabilities of its DX2, RX2, SX2, TX2 mixers, RM1 portable unit, and XC3/XD3/XS2 processing cores. The update adds flex channels, mic preamp control, and channel categories, enabling more...
Seven’s commercial late‑night bulletin The Latest, launched in 2018, was axed in early 2025 and has not been replaced. The network now only airs occasional updates for breaking stories, leaving it as the sole Australian commercial broadcaster without a regular...
Spanish tech firm Konodrac has introduced Smart Self-Promotions, an automated platform that turns traditional TV self-promotion into data-driven campaigns for linear, HbbTV and OTT environments. The solution leverages census-level audience data to segment viewers, deliver interactive calls-to-action, and provide full-funnel...
Universal Music Group posted Q4 2025 revenue of €3.605 billion ($4.19 billion), a 10.6% year‑over‑year increase at constant currency. Recorded‑music revenue climbed 13.9% to €2.769 billion, led by a 7.7% rise in subscription streaming and a 21.3% jump in physical sales driven by vinyl....
Tenetic, an AI‑powered insights platform for advertising buyers and sellers, announced the hiring of former Comscore innovation head David Algranati as Chief Research and Production Officer. Algranati is known for leading initiatives aimed at attracting Nielsen’s customers. The move is...
The City of Bellevue, Iowa, announced it will discontinue its municipal cable television service on October 1, 2026 after nearly twenty years of operation. The decision cites mounting competition from streaming platforms and rising financial pressures. Residents were notified through...
What’s News in Earnings: Merger News Dominates the Entertainment Business -- @benfritz and I discuss quarterly results and challenges ahead. https://t.co/sZopc3Z4Bf
Dolan, former VP of Agency and Retail Partnerships at Consumable, has left a 12‑year tenure at Crystal Media Networks to join Compass Media Networks in a senior advertising sales role under President Paul Gregrey. The move positions her at the...
Get After It Media (GAIM) has renewed its technology partnership with BroadView Software for a seven‑year term, extending the collaboration that underpins its suite of multicast channels. The agreement emphasizes a fully converged broadcast and streaming revenue operation, aligning linear,...
Advertisers struggle to monetize brand‑building efforts, with only 53% confident in ROI measurement. Amazon Ads introduced Long‑Term Sales (LTS), a metric that assigns monetary value to shopper actions across the full journey using its authenticated identity graph. LTS combines short‑term...
Net Insight will unveil its Nimbra Live Intelligence platform at the 2026 NAB Show, positioning it as a unified solution for live‑media production, distribution and protection. The system‑level platform promises predictable behavior across on‑premise networks, public internet and cloud environments...
Mistplay has introduced Playtime Events, a hybrid reward system that blends time‑based incentives with event‑driven milestones to extend mobile gameplay sessions. Early testing in North America showed a 30% increase in average playtime and a 20% lift in D30 return...
The New York Yankees have announced that 21 of their 2026 regular‑season games will be streamed exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video for fans within the team’s local broadcast footprint. YES Network will produce the telecasts, including a 30‑minute pre‑game show,...
Blackmagic Design has launched the Ultimatte Smart Remote 4 G2, a lower‑cost controller that retains the full feature set of its predecessor while dropping the price to $2,579. The device can manage up to eight Ultimatte 12 processors over 10/100/1000 Mb/s Ethernet and now...
Epic Games filed a lawsuit in North Carolina against former contractor Hayden Cohen, known as “AdiraFNInfo,” accusing him of leaking unreleased Fortnite content. Cohen allegedly breached a September 2025 NDA by posting confidential details about upcoming collaborations with brands such...
The episode dissects the Trade Desk’s ongoing tension over its OpenPath platform, agency relationships, and high margin model, especially in light of recent earnings and competition from Amazon DSP. Guest Sarah Caputo argues that the Trade Desk’s effective take rate...
Ground Control Touring has added Nashville‑based agent Tommy Alexander, bringing an Americana and folk‑heavy client list to the agency. Alexander, who started in 2018 and most recently booked at Wasserman Music, joins Head of Festivals Keith Richards, expanding GCT’s Nashville...
Chance The Rapper and former manager Pat Corcoran are in a five‑year Illinois court fight over an alleged sunset clause in an unwritten 2013 management agreement. Corcoran claims the clause entitles him to 15% commissions for three years after their 2020...
Harmonic will debut its next‑generation Spectrum X media server at the 2026 NAB Show, showcasing a suite of AI‑enhanced video appliances and SaaS solutions. The new server streamlines ingest and playout, while the XOS Advanced Media Processor adds ATSC 3.0 and DTV+...
Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon agreed to sell a 12.5% minority stake, valuing the NHL franchise at $2.66 billion. The transaction introduces three undisclosed partners and may provide liquidity for Dundon's pending $4.25 billion acquisition of the Portland Trail Blazers. The Hurricanes'...
Vigloo unveiled Vigloo Studio, an AI‑powered creator dashboard tailored for microdrama producers. The platform consolidates viewership statistics, regional breakdowns, episode completion rates, and paid‑viewership data into a single interface. It also delivers a revenue hub showing coin and subscription earnings,...
Elizabeth Stone, Netflix's chief product & technology officer, said most gen-AI video platforms don’t operate from a filmmaker's perspective. She said InterPositive's tools are designed to help produce higher-quality content — not make it faster or cheaper https://t.co/w8xyM2pXhz
Netflix will offer access to InterPositive’s AI-powered tech to its creative partners and does not have plans to sell it commercially in the marketplace https://t.co/w8xyM2pXhz via @variety
