Business

Utah approved a $2 million industrial assistance grant for Nuovo Film Festival Incorporated to build an AI-enabled, vertically integrated production ecosystem designed to compress timelines and cut costs. The state’s betting that AI infrastructure, workforce certification, and integrated capital networks…

OpenAI partnered with Reliance to integrate AI powered conversational search into JioHotstar, enabling multilingual text and voice discovery across live and on demand content. The deal also brings JioHotstar recommendations directly into ChatGPT, creating a two way discovery layer. The…

James Cameron warned Sen. Mike Lee that a proposed Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would accelerate the decline of theatrical exhibition, cost jobs, and weaken America’s global film leadership. He questioned Netflix’s commitment to a 17 day theatrical window…

Basics of Streaming breaks down how platforms deliver multi-audio and multi-subtitle experiences using separate audio tracks, timed text files, adaptive bitrate streaming, and metadata-driven manifests. Instead of duplicating video files, services dynamically switch tracks at playback, enabling global scale, accessibility…

Skip says the next decade of streaming will consolidate around four to six global services. Mid-tier players will either merge, specialize, or become suppliers, while B2B vendors face a tougher buying environment defined by fewer decision makers, larger contracts, and…

From the Archives revisits UltraViolet’s rise and collapse as Hollywood’s failed attempt to modernize digital ownership through a cross-retailer rights locker. Backed by most major studios, UltraViolet aimed to preserve transactional revenue and portability, but fragmentation, retailer instability, Disney’s launch…

Roku appointed Patrick Harris as SVP of Global Media Revenue, hiring the former Snap and Meta executive to lead global advertising growth and media innovation. The move follows stronger than expected quarterly results and a positive 2026 outlook, signaling deeper…

In The Streaming Wars first Industry Guide, The Future of Media Jobs, we show how consolidation, distribution volatility, and margin discipline are structurally repricing media employment. Layoff data from 2023 through 2025 points to sustained contraction, with AI raising throughput…

The NBA is up 16% year over year in national viewership through the All-Star break, averaging 1.8 million viewers per game, its best midseason mark since 2018. The jump is largely driven by a 97% increase on NBC after shifting…

Apple is upgrading Apple Podcasts with native video support, seamless audio and video switching, and built in dynamic ad insertion for video episodes. The move positions Apple more directly against YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix as video podcast consumption accelerates. By…