Entertainment:
·
ESPN is rolling out a completely redesigned site in time for
its 20th anniversary
·
Amazon and Bleecker Street have struck a multi-year content
licensing agreement that will see the Prime Instant Video service be the
exclusive subscription home for Bleecker Street theatrical releases
·
Raptr launched Play.tv, a free service makes it easy to
capture a 20-second video game clip and upload it to a website so that you can
share it with friends, and raised $14MM in the process
·
Adaptive Studios, which recently rebooted HBO's “Project
Greenlight” with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, has signed an overall deal with
actress-writer-blogger Amy Main to develop and adapt her viral blog “40 Dates
& 40”
·
All3Media has confirmed the news it has acquired Sam Mendes’
Neal Street Productions
·
Lionsgate said Tuesday it will partner with Dubai Parks and
Resorts to bring “The Hunger Games” to Motiongate Dubai, the Hollywood-themed
park slated to open in October 2016.
·
Two made-for-TV shows – the iHeartRadio Music Awards and the
Kids’ Choice Awards – snagged the top spots on Nielsen’s Twitter TV ratings for
the week ended Sunday
·
Following a three-month period without a distribution deal,
the kiosk company and studio said today that they’ve agreed to a two-year
renewal of a previous arrangement that enables Redbox to rent Warner DVDs and
Blu-ray discs 28 days after they’re released
·
On the heels
of the magical success of Disney's live-action “Cinderella” the studio is
eyeing another live-action retelling: “Mulan”
·
Artsy private club Soho House's plan for an expansion from
West Hollywood into downtown L.A.'s burgeoning Arts District is already riling
up the artists who work there
·
If launching her own beauty line and record label wasn't
enough, YouTube beauty guru Michelle Phan announced today that she's partnering
with Endemol Beyond USA for their new lifestyle network, ICON
·
See below for an article on the Justin Bieber Roast
·
White-label video publishing company thePlatform is
celebrating contract wins for its flagship mpx platform with Canada's shomi and
Stan in Australia.
Tech:
·
Amazon is announcing today the Dash Button, a one-touch way to
re-order common things in your home, along with the Dash Replenishment Service,
a wildly futuristic program that’s designed to automatically and intelligently
keep you from ever running out of things again
·
The new Microsoft Surface 3, the affordable tablet/laptop
hybrid was announced today
·
Facebook has moved into a massive new complex on its property
in Menlo Park, complete with a garden roof
·
Google has created a new Easter Egg for Google Maps (pretty
much just in time for actual Easter) which lets you play Pac-Man in real-world
locales on the company’s Maps apps for desktop and mobile devices
·
The Alcatel OneTouch Watch, which got its debut at CES this
year, is officially going on sale today with pre-orders starting at $149.99
directly from the company’s U.S. website
·
The New York Times will offer single-sentence stories on the
Apple Watch, here’s what that might look like
·
Amazon announced this morning the launch of a new store on its
site that’s dedicated to selling STEM toys and games
·
IBM outlined a major Internet of Things strategy tonight with
a series of announcements that included a $3B investment to establish an
Internet of Things unit inside of Big Blue along with a partnership with The
Weather Company
·
Facebook’s move to turn Messenger into a platform for
third-parties has been one of the company’s most important decisions to date
·
Tidal has partnered with SoftBank in its rollout, details are
still to come
·
Sonos said this morning that it has tied into the new,
streaming music service TIDALHiFi, letting subscribers to that new music
service stream their music directly to their Sonos Wireless HiFi System
·
Tesla will introduce a new product line separate from cars on
Thursday, April 30 at 9 PM PT according to founder and CEO Elon Musk
·
NASA is behind an event coming up in Pasadena on April 11, the
International Space Apps Challenge, saying it is looking for participants in a
"mass-collaboration" hackathon to develop apps both related to life
on earth an in space
·
Today, Microsoft is putting Spartan, its new browser, at the
center of Windows 10 to slay off the old, weak, and beleaguered Internet
Explorer
Deals:
·
Charter Communications said Tuesday
that it had agreed to acquire Bright House Networks for $10.4B, in the latest
consolidation of cable television operators to reshape the media landscape
·
GoDaddy (GDDY), perhaps best known
for its Danica Patrick Super Bowl ads, is expected to price its 22.0 million
share IPO within a range of $17-$19, with Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and
Citigroup acting as lead underwriters on the deal
Business:
·
Asian equities are off to a winning start this year, with
China and Japan stealing the show in the first quarter
·
McDonald's says it will begin table service in Germany as part
of its transition to a modern burger company under new CEO Steve Easterbrook
·
See below for an interesting article on how venture capital is
entering Indian startups
·
Blackrock raised $14.5B fund for its real estate business
·
Comcast Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis is leaving
the cable giant to launch a new Comcast-funded investment company that will
focus on investing and operating “growth-oriented” companies, the company said
Tuesday
o http://recode.net/2015/03/31/comcast-cfo-to-step-down-and-run-4-billion-investment-arm-for-comcast/
Exec Moves:
·
Royal Bank of Scotland Chairman leaves
the company weeks after ‘boring’ Snapchat pictures were put on Instagram by his
daughter
·
Looking to lift off its drone
program, Amazon has hired the former number-two executive at the Air Line
Pilots Association
·
Tumblr has hired its first chief
marketing officer, Stephanie Dolgins
Startups:
·
Sprinklr just announced that it has
raised $46MM in new funding, at what it says is a valuation of more than $1B
·
DroneDeploy.com, which is a smart
drone management platform that helps users get tasks done using drones, raised
$9MM in its Series A
Government:
·
A new bipartisan think tank with a focus on creating better
opportunities for startups and small businesses is launching in Washington,
D.C. today with backing from Silicon Valley
·
A far-left Turkish group took an Istanbul prosecutor hostage
and threatened to kill him, prompting Special Forces to enter the courthouse
and police to evacuate the building
·
Giving his second speech on the topic since Friday, Fed Vice
Chairman Stanley Fischer declared that regulators must better monitor and
consider new rules for the growing proportion of lending being done within the
shadow banking sector
·
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence addressed the controversy around his
state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act during a press conference Tuesday
morning and said he wants forbid anti-gay discrimination with new legislation
Other:
