The desire to replace writers with AI is a symptom of the larger problem that the guild is fighting for—which is that companies do not value writers and their work.

The streaming industry has been facing a reckoning for a while. This week, it hit.

We’ve noted repeatedly that as the streaming sector grows and consolidates, it’s revealing many of the same problems we saw inherent in traditional, shitty, cable TV. As in the need to …

The Hollywood writers’ strike continues, and with each day more people in the film industry lend their voices to the call to reach a reasonable settlement. Just yesterday we reported on The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman hitting the picket lines and laying into the practice of mini-rooms, where writers are brought in for a few weeks to outline and script a series before being shut out of the rest of the production process.

Netflix has hired Terminator, Predator, and Jingle All the Way star Arnold Schwarzenegger as its chief action officer. Announced in a promotional video on Netflix's YouTube, Schwarzenegger can be seen arriving at the streaming giant's headquarters in a tank. "No one loves action as much as I do," he said in the video. "That's why I've accepted the big new job as Netflix's chief action officer."

Hollywood backstabbing, conspiracy theories, and the devastating murder of a star behind the TV alien-invasion sensation.

At this point in the streaming wars, bundling, rather than M&A, is back in the spotlight. During a May 18 investor conference, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was asked whether he would be interested in exploring a sports- and news-led “skinnier bundle” with content from the streamers.

"When I sold all the scripts I sold ... I didn't sell them so that they could be thrown into a computer with other people's and be used again by a corporation," 'The Wire' writer said.

Entertainment writers are striking coast to coast. The clever signs they’re holding up on the picket lines (“Don’t pay us peanuts to write ‘Billions’”) are often as creative as their work. Every three years, the Writers Guild of America, the TV and film writers’ union, negotiates a contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. It’s intended to cover issues such as minimum pay for various projects, health insurance and workplace safety.

The writers strike of 2023 is on. Now that the die has been cast, there’s one question on everyone’s lips: Who can ride out the storm? VIP+ has conducted an analysis of the leading U.S. TV and streaming entertainment companies to assess how reliant they are on scripted content, which is most vulnerable to being disrupted by a strike. We examined the volume of scripted comedy and drama the companies program versus more secure unscripted genres, including documentaries, true crime, reality, pop culture and lifestyle.

Chief executive Jonah Peretti says in company-wide email BuzzFeed ‘can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News’

Amongst the billion weird things people are addicted to, Reality TV can be one of the most dangerous. More often than not, claims of these shows are nothing but empty promises and lies of a nonexistent “reality”. The take over is widespread and goes beyond a single theme. From celebrity shows like The Kardashians to storylines that just don’t make sense like Survivor.

Peacock has added another 3 million paid users since early October and now touts 18 million subscribers, double the 9 million with which it finished 2021, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell told investors Monday morning. “That’s real subscribers paying us real American dollars,” Shell told the UBS TMT Conference.

With the balance of power in Washington on the line, and hotly contested races in states from coast to coast, there was no shortage of drama as the mid-term election results came in Tuesday night, and viewership was high—with more than 19 million viewers watching across the broadcast and cable news networks. NBC’s coverage just edged ABC for most-watched on the broadcast side, with NBC delivering 3.1 million viewers and NBC right behind with 3 million. CBS’ coverage delivered a total audience of 2.6 million viewers.

Alex Jones’ media company Free Speech Systems, which operates the rightwing conspiratorial outlet Infowars, has filed for bankruptcy in the latest in a string of financial maneuvers by the prominent rightwing conspiracy theorist. The move came at the end of the first week of testimony at a trial in Texas set to determine how much he will have to pay the families of two Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting victims who sued for defamation and won a default $150m judgment against him.

I grew up believing that following the news makes you a better citizen. Eight years after having quit, that idea now seems ridiculous—that consuming a particularly unimaginative information product on a daily basis somehow makes you thoughtful and informed in a way that benefits society. But I still encounter people who balk at the possibility of a smart, engaged adult

The vacancies at cable news companies are piling up as networks and journalists begin to eye streaming alternatives. Why it matters: Primetime cable slots and the Sunday shows are no longer the most opportunistic placements for major TV talent.

Murdoch’s News Corp has spent the past 15 years mitigating its own climate risk while giving media outlets like Fox News carte blanche to deny climate change altogether.

China’s government banned effeminate men on TV and told broadcasters Thursday to promote “revolutionary culture,” broadening a campaign to tighten control over business and society and enforce official morality. President Xi Jinping has called for a “national rejuvenation,” with tighter Communist Party control of business, education, culture and religion. Companies and the public are under increasing pressure to align with its vision for a more powerful China and healthier society.

In a speech delivered at the Munich Security Conference on 15 February 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that “fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous”. In fact, we are in a middle of what the WHO calls an infodemic: “too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak”.