HBO Max Launches Lower-Priced, Ad-Supported Subscription

 

HBO‘s HBO Max streaming platform has launched a lower-price, ad-supported subscription tier. Priced at $9.99 USD a month as opposed to $14.99 USD a month for a standard subscription, the new plan allows viewers to get into the HBO network for a lower price, but doesn’t boast all the features of its higher-priced counterpart.

Snoop Dogg Working On New HBO Series

During Snoop Dogg’s SXSW keynote address, he revealed that he is developing an HBO drama with Allen Hughes, director of Menace II Society and Rodney Barnes, writer for The Boondocks. Fader reports that the series will center around a family living in L.A. in the early 1980s under the specter of Reaganomics with some inspiration from the Long Beach rapper’s experience coming up. According to a statement about the as-yet-untitled show the focus will be on the family ”whose seemingly idyllic life is turned upside down by the collision of their community and American politics.”

Snoop will hold the title of executive producer. “This is like a dream come true, to tell a story in the right way on the right network,” he said. HBO and the West Coast native seem to be in a happy fit. Snoop is featured on Catch the Throne: The Mixtape Vol. 2, Game of Thrones’s second installment of the Catch the Throne mixtape series. With the fifth season of the HBO hit show premiering on April 12, fans can now stream and download the mixtape now via SoundCloud and download it for free at iTunes. The other artists on the tape are Ty Dolla $ign, Talib Kweli, Method Man, Kap G, Estelle, Melanie Fiona and many more.  The tape plays on the series’ themes of fire and ice .Catch the Throne: The Mixtape Vol. 2 was produced by Launch Point Records and features samples of music used during Season Four of Game of Thrones.

Snoop Dogg dropped the video to “Peaches N Cream” featuring Charlie Wilson and Pharrell recently. The song is off of OG’s Pharrell-produced album. Bush is Snoop’s 13th studio album, and is expected to drop May 12. Check out the trailer for the album here.

Will The Show ‘Leaving Neverland’ Be A Disgrace To Michael Jackson?

I hope this show HBO is about to premier don't bring tears to both me and my kids eyes. In the letter to HBO’s CEO Richard Plepler, the estate’s counsel deem Leaving Neverland “an admittedly one-sided, sensationalist program—referred to as a ‘documentary'” and defend Jackson against the accusations brought forth by the film’s two accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck.

“The Estate spent years litigating with Robson and Safechuck, and had four different lawsuits by these two men dismissed with prejudice,” the estate said. “Today, Robson owes the Estate almost seventy thousand dollars in court costs, and Safechuck owes the Estate several thousand dollars as well.”

Read Full Article on RollingStone

The letter states that, two years later, after the estate turned down Robson, a noted choreographer, for a Michael Jackson-themed Cirque de Soleil show, Robson came forward with his “fabricated” allegations against Jackson.

In response to the 10-page letter, HBO said in a statement to Rolling Stone, “Our plans remain unchanged. The two-part documentary, Leaving Neverland will air as scheduled on Sunday, March 3rd and Monday, March 4th. Dan Reed is an award-winning filmmaker who has carefully documented these survivors’ accounts. People should reserve judgment until they see the film.”

The letter to HBO continued, “As for Safechuck, by his own admission, he did not ‘realize’ that he had been abused until after he saw Robson on the Today Show in May 2013 being interviewed by Matt Lauer about Robson’s newly-concocted story of abuse. All of a sudden, Safechuck realized that he had been abused."

The Notorious B.I.G. honored by Jay-Z, Nas, Diddy & more

 

Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G., T. Rex, Whitney Houston and The Doobie Brothers were all inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday (11/7) during a virtual ceremony that's rewatchable on HBO Max.

Biggie was inducted by his longtime producer and Bad Boy Records label boss Diddy, who said, "Big just wanted to be biggest, he wanted to be the best, he wanted to have influence and impact people in a positive way, and that clearly has been done all over the world. Nobody has come close to the way Biggie sounds, to the way he raps, to the frequency that he hits. Tonight we are inducting the greatest rapper of all time into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

The Biggie segment also included archival interview and performance footage of Big, and Jay-Z, Nas, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Biggie's family members also spoke about him as well.

Chris Rock Signs $40M Deal

Fans can anticipate fresh material from Chris Rock in the near future, as Netflix announced that the comedy great has signed on with the entertainment giant. The deal will reportedly pay Rock $40 million to deliver two stand-up specials.

2016 marks 20 years since Rock shot to stardom with the released of his second HBO special, with 1996's "Bring The Pain." The show is noted for having elevated Rock, who was already an established comedian/actor, into the conversation of elite mainstream comedians. A world tour is currently being planned to precede the taping of the first show in 2017, which likely means it will become available during the holiday season, if not in early 2018. It'll be his first since the release of his fifth HBO Special "Kill the Messenger" in 2008.

"Chris Rock is a beloved actor and director, and his remarkable stand-up makes him comic royalty. There is no one like him, and Netflix offers the global platform and creative freedom that will serve as a perfect home for someone with his incredible talent,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said of the signing, Thursday [October 13].

Netflix's offer sums up to be a more lucrative package than those that have been commanded by fellow comedians Jerry Seinfeld, Louis C.K. and Amy Schumer. In agreeing to the deal, Rock joins a roster of talent on the service that includes John Mulaney, Patton Oswalt, Cedric the Entertainer, Iliza Shlesinger, Ali Wong, Mike Epps, Aziz Ansari, Anjelah Johnson, Chris Tucker, Chelsea Handler and David Cross, Joe Rogan, Dana Carvey, Michael Che, Gabriel Iglesias, Reggie Watts and Colin Quinn.

What Is The Streaming War All About?

 

Media companies have launched direct-to-consumer video services to compete with Netflix. All of them have been following category leader Netflix with global expansion and investing billions of dollars in content.

Will Amazon Buy MGM Film Studio?

 

Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy MGM, the vaunted film studio that was a staple of Hollywood's Golden Age. A tie-up would give the tech firm a big brand to wield as competition in streaming grows fiercer by the day.

MGM's iconic logo of a roaring lion has played before tons of classic films, including the "James Bond" series, and the studio could be valued at between $7 billion and $10 billion.

Roku Streaming Service Now Challenging Amazon Prime

Roku just unveiled new streaming TV changes that sound a lot like what Apple is planning. The change gives Roku's media partners a chance to include ad content inside of the Roku app instead of leaving it inside separate apps where fewer viewers can see the ads.

The Roku Channel, a separate section of the Roku user interface on TVs with Roku software and Roku products, will soon let users subscribe to paid content from Showtime, EPIX, Starz and a handful of other, lesser-known networks. Customers will be able to see all of the shows and movies available on those platforms before they subscribe, and can access the movies and TV shows from other devices, such as phones and tablets. They'll also be able to pay for all the services through one bill paid to Roku, instead of a separate bill for each service.

But there's a lot of missing content in Roku's new offering. HBO, Hulu and Netflix aren't available. Those apps are still available outside of "The Roku Channel," but users will need to navigate to the home screen and away from "The Roku Channel," which is clearly where Roku is going to try to keep its users' eyeballs.

The move also sounds similar to what Apple is planning. CNBC reported in October that Apple will mix its free original content with subscription channels inside of the TV app , which is available on iPhones and iPads. Apple may introduce its service as soon as this year.

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Def Comedy Jam with Eddie Griffin

 

Eddie Griffin has built an ever-growing fan base since jumping onto the comedy scene in 1990 and hasn’t looked back since. His Stand-Up Comedy Specials have received rave reviews.

Gansta Marcus - Slick Rick Album

Gansta Marcus "Slick Rick" album was released due to the producer clearing out old projects thats was never released. Following that came The Vault.

Slick Rick by Gansta Marcus on Apple Music

Gansta Marcus - Ecoute gratuite sur Deezer

Gansta Marcus - Music on Google Play

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Netflix Prices Set To Rise

Prices for its popular standard plan, which allows streaming on two devices at the same time, will be increased to $12.99 per month from $10.99. The company's top-tier plan, which allows streaming on four screens in high definition, will be raised to $15.99 from $13.99 per month, while fee for its basic plan will rise to $8.99 from $7.99.

Netflix is raising monthly fees for its U.S. subscribers by between 13 percent and 18 percent, the video streaming pioneer's first price increase since 2017 as it spends heavily on original content and international expansion.

Time Warner Inc's HBO Now streaming service charges $14.99 per month, while Hulu's no-advertisements plan is priced at $11.99 per month.

Netflix has been pouring money to bolster its original content, which boasts award-winning shows such as "The Crown", "Black Mirror" and "Wild Wild Country", to fend off intensifying competition from players such as Amazon.com's Prime Video service and Hulu.

The company is expected to have a debt level of $8.33 billion in 2018, according to Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Co, which owns 15,019 shares of Netflix.

"With Netflix frequently tapping the debt markets on several recent occasions, the price hike could help ease concerns with a growing deficit on free cash flow to fund a likely continued escalation in Netflix's content spending, which likely topped $13 billion in 2018."

Whats Your #FavoriteSong From Nine Inch Nails?

 

Nine Inch Nails, is an American industrial rock band formed in 1988 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1994, Nine Inch Nails played at the Woodstock 94 concert in New York. After that, they became one of the most famous bands in the world.

Nine Inch Nails were honored during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2020 Induction Ceremony on HBO. Nine Inch Nails has received four awards from 25 nominations, including two Grammy Awards for the songs "Wish" and "Happiness in Slavery" in 1993 and 1996 respectively. Nine Inch Nails have received two Kerrang! Awards honoring the band's overall contributions since 1988.

Apple Introduces New Spatial Audio and Automatic Switching

Apple has quietly continued to improve upon the AirPods Pro with firmware updates that have tweaked their noise cancellation and sound quality. The company rarely details or comments on the changes that come in each release of AirPods firmware; there are no update notes that spell out what’s new.

But last month, the AirPods Pro picked up a pair of new features that Apple did announce: spatial audio and automatic switching. Automatic switching is the simpler one, and it’ll probably make a bigger difference to your day-to-day use of the AirPods Pro.

Without you having to do anything, the AirPods will automatically switch between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac whenever you start using one of them. This handoff is nearly instantaneous; you can be listening to music on your phone, pause it, pick up your iPad and start playing a video, and the AirPods will be ready for that audio.

Showtime Anytime Now On Xbox One

Xbox 360 quietly rolled out its Showtime Anytime app, as its latest streaming provider. Xbox One finally receives the popular app, to complement its recent release of HBO GO a few weeks ago. Users will be able to enjoy all over their favorite hit-shows over the past from the channel in the likes of Californication, Weeds, Dexter, Beverly Hills Bordello, The L Word and the United States of Tara. The Affair and Homeland highlight current series; but Showtime is pushing users to catch-up on House of Lies, Shameless, and Episodes before their latest season premieres arrive this January 11th 2015.

Jay-Z Talks DMX

 

In another promo clip of the upcoming season premiere of HBO's The Shop, Jay-Z recalled how intimidating it was having to perform after the late great DMX. During the episode, Hov recounted how tough of a task it was following X. 

Tina Turner Sells Catalog For $50 Million

 

Music company BMG claimed it secured its single largest artist acquisition ever by purchasing Tina Turner's entire musical catalog for at least $50 million.

The deal includes Turner's name, image, and likeness as well as her publishing and neighboring rights. While BMG declined to disclose the exact value of the deal, music insiders estimate that Turner was paid at least $50 million.

Dominique Larue - Ultimate

Dominique Larue is ending 2015, and setting up 2016 as she means to go on, with a brand new video and single titled "Ultimate" taken from her upcoming Dub MD presented EP "Blitzkrieg" due for release sometime in 2016. 

It's been an extremely productive year for Columbus, Ohio lyricist Dominique Larue, having landed music placements on a myriad of TV shows/channels including HBO, BET, Oxygen, VH1, TLC and MTV.

Jay Z Celebrates Scoring Big Off Bet

(Not only is Cotto Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports client, but Jay-Z put up a whopping $100,000 against Oscar De La Hoya that says Cotto will win. If Cotto loses, Jay has to donate the $100,000 to the White Memorial Medical Center’s cancer unit. However, if Oscar’s client, Alvarez, comes out on top, Oscar has to cough up $100,000 towards Jay’s Shawn Carter Foundation.

Miguel Cotto will be fighting Canelo Alvarez next week in Vegas, and it’s in Jay-Z’s best interest if Cotto ends the match victoriously. Let’s get ready to rumble! The fight airs live on HBO pay-per-view from Las Vegas on November 21st.

Why Oprah Is Being Attacked By Michael Jackson Fans

Oprah's interview with Jackson accusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck is set to air Monday night on HBO after Part 2 of "Leaving Neverland." Oprah Winfrey is getting inundated with hate-filled messages from Michael Jackson fans ahead of her big interview.

Ricky Harris Dies

Ricky Harris, a comedian known for both his racy stand-up act and his appearances in family-friendly fare such as the TV series “Everybody Hates Chris,” died Monday, his manager said. He was 54.

The cause was not immediately known. But Harris’ manager, Cindy Ambers of Art/Work Entertainment, said Harris had suffered a heart attack two years ago.

Fellow performers posted condolences on social media, including comedians Sinbad and Cedric the Entertainer — the latter of whom Tweeted: “Devastated!!! #RIP to the One and Only #RickyHarris.”

Harris, the son of a preacher, was raised in Long Beach. He made a name for himself as a performer on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” in the 1990s with a pop culture-inflected routine that touched on subjects such as horror movie sound effects and movie sex.

He made his acting debut in the 1993 drama “Poetic Justice,” which starred Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur. Two years later he appeared in “Heat,” a heist film directed by Michael Mann.

Harris appeared on TV series such as “Moesha” and Chris Rock’s “Everybody Hates Chris,” where he played the charming neighborhood ne’er-do-well, Malvo. Other recent appearances included roles on the 2015 dramedy “Dope” and “The Tracy Morgan Show.”

Harris was also known for doing raunchy skits on the albums of rapper Snoop Dogg, a childhood friend from Long Beach. (The pair sang in their church choir together.)

Snoop Dogg posted a short, mournful video to Instagram calling the actor “my big brother, my homeboy” and a “Long Beach original” — saying that he was “on his way to heaven now.”

Harris is survived by his mother, his ex-wife and two daughters.