Federal Communications Chairman Brendan Carr has committed to appearing before the Senate Commerce Committee following remarks about Jimmy Kimmel that set off a free speech firestorm last month. The official will testify in front of the Senator Ted Cruz-chaired committee at an unspecified date, a committee representative confirmed. Semafor was the first to report the news. Carr has been in...

A group of protesters exercised their freedom of speech directly at FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Tuesday. Members of Our Revolution a political action committee started by Bernie Sanders in 2016 for his first presidential run staged a disruption inside the Federal Communications Commissions first open meeting since Carr controversially (and illegally) pushed ABC affiliates to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live!...

Disneys Jimmy Kimmel affair may be over for now, but the company may have to grapple with the repercussions for some time: To what extent did the Kimmel suspension impact what has become the companys key growth driver, Disney+? While much of the talk about Kimmel has focused on the role of the FCC and local station owners like Sinclair...

Hamilton brought in $3.8 million last week as the Leslie Odom Jr.-boost continues. The musical, which recently saw Odom return to the role of Aaron Burr, was the top-grossing show in the industry last week, as ticket prices also inched up to $350 and attendance stayed above 100 percent. Among the new entrants on Broadway, Art, starring James Corden, Neil...

Argentinian actress Luisana Lopilato (Chiquititas, Rebelde Way, Pipa, The Marriage App), whose husband is Michael Bubl, made her presence felt at the fifth edition of Iberseries Platino Industria in Madrid on Tuesday evening, discussing her transition to not only starring in but also producing movies. I would wait for projects that would never come, the star explained of her decision....

Fubo shareholders have approved a deal with Disney to merge its business with the video service Hulu With Live TV to shake up the streaming TV business. The approval secured at a special meeting of shareholders held by Fubo on Tuesday still requires regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions for a deal that aims to create a much bigger...

For broadcasters in the twentieth century the century when broadcasting was the main transmission belt for mass communications in America, unlike the present century the phrase they all knew by heart sounded less like a reminder than a threat. The granting of a broadcast license by the Federal Communications Commission was contingent upon the licensee operating in the public interest,...

Saudi Arabia has increased its private investment in state-backed film production by securing financial backing from Universal and Columbia Pictures. On Tuesday, during the Cultural Investment Conference 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia unveiled two new film investments totaling SR32.5 million (US$8.7 million) with backing from foreign film production companies. That includes Universal and Columbia Pictures as they look to grow...

Respect for the theatrical window, co-productions, and the upcoming rebrand of the Disney+ Star tile to Hulu in international markets on Oct. 8 were in focus during a keynote session featuring Sofa Fbregas, vp of original production at Disney+ Spain, on Tuesday, the opening day of the fifth annual Iberseries Platino Industria. Fbregas took the stage five years after the...

French film and TV production powerhouse Gaumont (Narcos, Lupin) may be celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, making it the worlds longest-running continuously operating studio, but it is not resting on its laurels. That was one of the messages during a Tuesday keynote appearance by Gaumont USA president Nicolas Atlan at the fifth annual Iberseries Platino Industria. Atlan addressed the...

Add YouTube to the list of tech and media companies to settle a lawsuit from President Trump after the start of his second term. The Alphabet-owned company agreed to pay $24.5 million to resolve a lawsuit over the suspension of Trumps account after a mob of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in 2021, according to court papers filed on...

Days before a government shutdown deadline, Donald Trump is raising the vague, if consequential, specter of a 100% tariff aimed at Hollywoods feature film development pipeline. Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, the President wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding a few digs at California Gov. Gavin Newsom before...

In a major move atop one of the worlds largest entertainment companies, Comcast has named Mike Cavanagh co-CEO, joining Brian Roberts atop his familys communications conglomerate. Cavanagh was most recently president of the company, and also effectively ran NBCUniversal, with all of the media companys executives reporting to him. He joined Comcast as CFO in 2015. Cavanaghs elevation will be...