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Every Year There Are Big New TV Shows During Ramadan, And Every Year There Are Arguments Over Them

"It may partially be due to the fact that Ramadan is a religious holiday, which makes associations with socially controversial subjects, and standard soap opera fare, more sensitive. It may also be that so many more people are paying attention. But mostly it's the increasingly intense competition." - Deutsche Welle

Regal Cinemas’ Parent Company Has A Deal To Emerge From Bankruptcy

"Movie theater giant Cineworld … said it still expects to emerge from its Chapter 11 cases during the first half of 2023, even though the process could delay this beyond the first half." - The Hollywood Reporter

UK Regulator Warns Broadcasters About Use Of Deepfakes

While acknowledging “there are clear benefits to broadcasters” from the use of deepfake technology such as the potential to increase audience engagement, the regulator warned networks to be vigilant in the growing area of “Synthetic Media,” which encompasses deepfakes. - Deadline

Remember Tetris? How It Swept The World And Continues To Fascinate Decades Later

Less familiar is the true story of how a prototype created in 1984 by a software engineer for the Soviet Union’s Academy of Sciences ended up reaching millions of players across the world. - The New York Times

Disney, Entertainment Execs To Testify In Congress About China Ties

Disney and other studios have been criticized by lawmakers for self-censorship of movies as a way of gaining entry into the Chinese marketplace. - Deadline

Kelly Reichardt On The Slow Death Of The Dreams Of Gen-X Artists

"Frustrated hopefuls like Lizzy once formed the backbone of America’s homespun cultural heritage, and without them, we’re headed toward a barren status quo of corporate art bound to leave the next wave of pioneers spiritually starved." - The Guardian (UK)

Hollywood’s Diversity Initiatives Took A Backslide In 2022

That's what a new UCLA report says. In Hollywood, "in nearly every job category, women and people of color remain underrepresented relative to the U.S. population. They’re also still likely to receive inequitable economic opportunities compared to white men." - HuffPost

The Academy Really Screwed This One Up

"Joy, in her rage and her depression and her love, anchors the Best Picture sweep. The best goddamn film of the year, and all the leads were recognized except her." (But honestly, all of the Jobu Topakis out there knew this was going to happen.) - Tor Dot Com

Now That All Social Media Is Blurring Together, Something New Can Grow

That is, after the earth is salted. "When all platforms index the same content, they’ll be desperate to differentiate. ... The apps will be programmers, not just builders, using human taste, judgment, and dealmaking skills." - Slate

The Issue Of Data Privacy, And TikTok, Goes Back To An English Victorian-Era Lawsuit

"The TikTok controversy can’t simply be chalked up to generational differences. ... It’s traceable to a watershed legal decision in 1849, when Prince Albert of England sued a printer for trying to publish a catalog about drawings he and Queen Victoria had made." - Wired

How Brands Like Nike And Pop-Tarts Suddenly Became Movie Stars

Blame Gen-X, sure, but there's more. "These movies have to do something smart: tap our innocent joy around old computer games and junk food, while also letting us feel we are more knowing now." - The Guardian (UK)

Please Please: Are We At The End Of Hollywood’s Superhero Obsession?

So far, this year's two superhero releases, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Shazam! Fury of the Gods, have underperformed at the box office and received grudging reviews (47% and 51% on Rotten Tomatoes). Nor did this decline and fall start with them. - BBC

There Was Some Backsliding In Diversity Last Year, Finds UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Report

"As Hollywood emerged from the pandemic, its biggest film productions dipped in diversity after years of incremental progress. … Opportunities were notably greater for women and people of color on streaming platforms than in theatrically released films." - AP

The BBC Is About To Cut A Lot Of Programming

"The BBC is set to slash its annual output by 1,000 hours worth of shows to cope with savings requirements that have shot up by some 40 percent to almost half a billion dollars." - The Hollywood Reporter

The Complex. Delicate Task Of Divvying Up The Radio Spectrum

"The airwaves floating across America are sliced up into chunks (some wide, some incredibly narrow) where different services and uses are permitted to broadcast and receive radio signals. It is an incredibly complex system; to explain the importance of managing this invisible resource, the NTIA publishes a wall chart." - Fast Company

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