Comcast has hired former DirecTV and Apple executive Jon Gieselman to take on the newly created role of chief growth officer for the residential domestic businesses of its Connectivity Platforms unit that reaches more than 64 million homes and businesses in the U.S. Hell be responsible for driving growth across the companys broadband, wireless and video products, as well as...

Sony Pictures Entertainment has named Jay Levine executive VP and chief strategy officer, overseeing the companys MA activities, as well as corporate development and investments. Levine joins Sony from Kevin Harts Hartbeat productions, where he had been CEO. Levine joined Hartbeat only a year ago from Warner Bros. He had previously overseen Warners corporate development team, and will now do...

How do you stand out in a crowded upfront environment that now includes tech giants alongside legacy entertainment companies? Going early helps, and so is being a bit different. So this week AMC Networks plans to gather its brand marketing partners and clients, and in an unusual twist its distribution partners (think pay-TV companies and other platforms that distribute AMC...

As Hollywoods employment crisis deepens with no relief in sight, more than one thousand rallied on Sunday in support of amplified incentives intended to convince more film and TV productions to stay in Southern California. At the Stay in L.A. event at a studio services complex in Sun Valley, politicians shared stories of constituents in dire circumstances, industry professionals detailed...

SAG-AFTRA and advertisers have once again decided to extend the expiration date of their current contracts as they hash out successor agreements. The performers union and the Joint Policy Committee, which bargains on behalf of advertisers and advertising agencies, together pushed the conclusion of their current deals through April 11. The deals had previously been set to expire by the...

The tariff-driven market turmoil is delaying one of the entertainment worlds most closely-watched IPOs. The online ticketing giant StubHub has put its planned IPO on pause, a source says, just a few weeks after first filing to go public. The company is said to be waiting for the markets to quiet down and clarity to resume, at which point it...

President Trump has signed another executive order to keep TikTok operating by giving the popular social video app owned by Chinas ByteDance another 75 days to find a buyer. The TikTok parent had until April 5 to divest by finding a U.S. buyer. The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am...

Rahwa Ghebre-Ab has been promoted to executive vp and chief human resources officer at Lionsgate, starting on May 1. She succeeds Ross Pollack as he retires after serving as CHRO since 2014. Before that, Pollack was CEO of Celestial Pictures and spent 13 years at Sony Pictures Entertainment. He oversaw the merger of the Asian pay TV channel brand with...

Oz is officially coming to Las Vegas later this summer. Sphere Entertainment, the company behind the Las Vegas Sphere, says that it will launch a fully immersive version of the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz beginning in August. The company says it worked with Warner Bros. Discovery; Google; and Magnopus to develop a version of The Wizard of Oz...

One fateful day in 1997, when Dan Scharf was a young attorney working as a public defender in Northern California, he spotted a job listing he thought might change his life. SAG in L.A. was looking for a lawyer. He typed up a rsum, stuffed it in a mailbox and crossed his fingers. And he might have even gotten a...

Universal Music Groups planned $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, the parent company of independent distributors Fuga and CD Baby, could face European Union (EU) scrutiny after the Dutch regulator made a referral request for a competition inquiry. The European Commission, the main executive body of the EU, has not announced any official decision on the topic though. Universal...

Last month, shortly before Silver Lake completed its $25 billion deal to take Endeavor private, Carl Icahn disclosed that he had acquired a massive stake in Endeavor. By appearances, it was an unusual buy. Endeavor had been trading above the $27.50 per share stockholders were slated to receive as part of the deal for most of the past year. He...

Alison Asaro and Asheley Dean have been named Partner at Yorn Levine. Derek Reynolds has joined the firm as Senior Counsel. Asaro, whose clients list includes Graham Yost and Ramy Youssef, has been with the firm for six years. Dean, who joined the firm in 2022 from studio business affairs, advises clients that include Chris Rock, Snoop Dogg and Sanaa...