The retailing-giant-turned-streaming-giant already has a $1 billion-per-year deal for NFL games and a similar deal for the UK's Premiere League soccer. Now Amazon has acquired British as well as German and Italian rights for UEFA Champions League matches, which feature Europe's top soccer teams. - The Hollywood Reporter
"They almost certainly see themselves as comedians, not media critics, but they haven't hesitated to judge the content they discuss. They cover an arena influential among young people but sometimes ignored by traditional media. Knowingly or not, they have begun teaching their audiences media criticism." - The New York Times Magazine
The underlying logic of brain-rot, a messy mutual entanglement between brain and culture, endures. In particular, the idea that lower, popular forms of culture might dangerously intermingle with the physical structures of the brain is remarkably persistent. - Psyche
"Now that the law is on the verge of going into effect, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, the studios have gone quiet. ... For Hollywood in particular, Georgia's $1.2 billion tax credit for film and TV production may be too good to pass up." - Variety
The deal reduces the number of top agencies to three dominant players: CAA, WME and United Talent Agency. ICM is the fourth largest firm. The combination of the two companies will give the emerging entity the heft to better compete against Beverly Hills-based Endeavor. - Los Angeles Times
"The bulk of the sound in film is typically added in postproduction. ... Foley effects are custom to a film, and are synchronized to characters' movements. They might include the sound of someone walking across a room, stirring a pot, typing, fighting, eating, falling, or kissing." - The New Yorker
"Thousands of staffers and freelancers working for France's public broadcasting groups, spanning France Télévisions, France 24, Arte and Radio France, went on strike on Tuesday in Paris to protest against the government's proposed bill to eliminate a TV license fee that finances nearly 85% of their annual budgets." - Variety
A sea of change has hit the daytime format this year as a slew of veteran hosts call it a day. As audiences flock from broadcast to streaming, the format has not seen such a shakeup since Oprah left her mantle as the queen of daytime in 2011. - CBC
"The CRTC chair has acknowledged that the law will allow the government to do indirectly what it says it can't do directly, by pressuring platforms to manipulate their algorithms to prioritize certain content over others." - CBC
There was a boycott of the Globes last year when it became public that the HFPA had zero black members. "But now that the organization ... has been knocked down, not everyone in Hollywood wants to help them get back on their feet." - Variety
Why does this matter? Stocks are down though subscriptions to Disney Plus are up, and interest in Disney-owned properties is strong. But, one analyst says, "This has been probably the most dramatic and difficult CEO transition that I’ve ever seen in my career." - Los Angeles Times
Marcel the Shell was "one of YouTube’s earliest sensations—'Gangnam Style' was still two years away, after all—and now, more than a decade later, its hero has his own film, one about the perils of the internet that made him famous." - Wired
In part to counteract the skills of filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, who wasted her great talents on supporting fascism and the Nazis, Hollywood filmmaker George Stevens went to war. - Open Culture
Many Hollywood companies, and the unions SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild, say they will pay for employees' costs if they need to travel from states like Georgia to other states where a full range of healthcare reproductive services will, for now, be legal. - Los Angeles Times
