Variety reports: “Hooq, the multi-territory streaming service in Asia backed by WarnerMedia and Sony, filed Friday for voluntary liquidation in Singapore. In recent weeks it had been reported that the company had failed to make full remittances to some of its in-production original series.”
The Hollywood Reporter reports: “David Hyman, The Hollywood Reporter’s 2020 Raising the Bar honoree, has survived (and thrived) on the front lines of the streaming revolution.”
TechCrunch reports: “Consumers now have their first chance to sample the wares of a short-form streaming service — and it’s not Quibi. Ficto, a streaming service without a paywall offering interactive dramas, film adaptations, comedies, documentaries, talk shows, game shows, and news, is now live on iOS and Android.”
The Verge reports: “Almost every single major professional sports league across the globe is on indefinite hiatus due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. There’s no NBA, no Champions League, no Olympic Games. But an unlikely option has started to fill that void for viewers: competitive video games.”
The Hollywood Reporter reports: “Radio and audio giant iHeartMedia on Thursday withdrew its 2020 financial guidance “due to heightened uncertainty related to the novel coronavirus pandemic” and said it has shored up its liquidity by $350 million by tapping into a revolving credit facility to boost its financial flexibility.”
Gamesindustry.biz reports: “Epic Games has launched a new multi-platform publishing label, with Remedy Entertainment, Playdead, and gen Design as its first partners.”
Billboard reports: “This moment in time is about connection,” says Atlantic Records exec Paul Sinclair. “We’re all humans suffering through a really gnarly human thing right now.”
Variety reports: “Dish Network’s over-the-top Sling TV service is offering free access to its 45-channel live TV bundle for 14 days. The company is positioning the move as a “public service” as millions of Americans are quarantined at home during the COVID-19 crisis.”
Variety reports: “ViacomCBS parent National Amusements Inc. has set an amended credit agreement with its lenders that gives the company some breathing room in liquidity amid the broader coronavirus-induced economic crisis.”
The Hollywood Reporter reports: “Even in the best of times, Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s $2 billion mobile video platform was a high-stakes gamble. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic turning the country upside down, they are about to find out whether the millions of potential users under quarantine are a subscriber-boosting blessing or a platform-derailing curse.”
