The Washington Post has launched a channel on livestream service Twitch. The channel will feature news and political coverage, as well as the series "Playing Games With Politicians," which will feature political reporter Dave Weigel interviewing politicians as they play video games.
Comcast likely will not make another bid for 21st Century Fox assets, and the company is now focused exclusively on acquiring Sky, sources report. With a Disney filing Friday indicating that Fox would need Disney's consent to increase its bid for the UK pay-TV provider, Fox appears unlikely to advance its bid further, as Disney might not provide such consent.
Nickelodeon has ordered 26 new episodes of animated series "Rugrats." Paramount Players has also announced plans for a live-action film featuring CGI versions of the characters from the series, which originally aired in the 1990s.
The 13-week Comcast NBCUniversal Lift Labs Accelerator began this week in Philadelphia. Local startup Orai made the top 10, as did companies from New York, Los Angeles and Toronto.
CNN is planning to combine business websites CNN Money, CNN Media and CNN Tech under the umbrella of CNN Business this fall. The company also plans to hire several journalists to work from a new San Francisco bureau and report on tech giants, including Google, Netflix, Facebook and Apple.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Friday that Comcast's bid for 21st Century Fox assets could be hurt by the Justice Department's appeal of the court's approval of its merger. Stephenson added that the appeal "changes nothing" about AT&T's strategy and that the company will be proceeding as planned.
YouTube is forever changing the way celebrities and talent are discovered, says Maany Peyvan, former writer for Google, YouTube's parent company. "There is an entirely new class of entertainers and creators and educators who are not going through the Hollywood system, not being anointed by gatekeepers, but putting themselves out there on video and drawing massive fans," Peyvan said in an interview.
Online video viewing rose 91% from 2015 to 2017, and consumers will likely spend an average of 67 minutes each day watching video online this year, Zenith data indicate. Online video ad spend hit $27 billion last year and is expected to grow by 19% this year, the study indicates.
Atlantic Broadband's parent company, Cogeco Communications, is gearing up to launch a wireless service in Canada. The company is eyeing the launch of services including voice, internet and data, as well as researching opportunities in technologies including autonomous vehicles, the internet of things and smart cities, says Cogeco's Louis Audet.
The UK's takeover panel has raised Sky's share price as bidding between Comcast and Disney for 21st Century Fox assets heats up. If Disney's bid for Fox assets, including Sky, is approved, the company will have to make an offer to purchase the remaining 61% of Sky within 28 days.