Machinima


Warner Bros. exec in as Machinima CEO exits

Warner Bros. has parachuted one of its top interactive executives to the top post at multichannel network Machinima, with current CEO Chad Gutstein (pictured) exiting. Russell Arons will now lead the US-based digital channels operator, which is focused on video games, as general manager. Gutstein will exit after a “multi-week” transition plan, after he is […]

PactUS plots digital expansion

The US arm of independent producers association Pact has forged a new alliance with a group representing producers of web content. The digital expansion also sees PactUS team up with a US law firm that specialises in digital programming deals. David Lyle (left), the former Fox exec who heads PactUS, is expanding the breadth of […]

Warner Bros. to acquire Machinima outright

Warner Bros. Entertainment is taking full control of gaming-focused multichannel network Machinima. The Burbank-based studio led an US$18 million funding round in Machinima in 2014, and has been consistently linked with a full takeover since then. It has now signed an agreement. Past investors include Redpoint Ventures, MK Capital, former chairman and CEO Allan Debevoise. […]

AMC buys into Funny or Die

AMC Networks has bought a minority stake in comedy online VOD site Funny or Die. AMC has long history of collaborating with Funny or Die through its US cable channel IFC on series such as the forthcoming Brockmire and 2014 miniseries Spoils of Bablyon, and has now taken a seat on the platform’s board. The […]

Hollywood heavyweights form Critical board

Mark Itkin, Lauren Zalaznick and Frank Biondi are among the big name Hollywood execs that form fledgling prodco Critical Content’s new board. LA-based Critical launched at the start of the year after Anchorage, a senior secured lender of Relativity Media, bought the assets of Relativity Television. Having secured a series of deals in its first […]

Turner, Machinima prep Adventure Time tournament

Turner’s Cartoon Network and gaming culture site Machinima are joining forces to cover Adventure Time Card Wars Kingdom, a tournament in which competitors play a trading card game based on the hit Adventure Time toon series. Machinima will live stream Let’s Play Flooping Card Wars! as the tournament take place on July 15, with top gamers taking […]

Warner Bros. creates OTT division

Warner Bros. has created a digital networks division that will house the Hollywood studio’s over-the-top assets and lead a push into OTT services. Craig Hunegs will lead Warner Bros. Digital Networks as president, a role he will fulfil alongside his Warner Bros. Television Group president of business and strategy post. Warner Bros.’s sister companies HBO […]

Forman’s Critical teams with Machinima

Critical Content has teamed with Machinima and the pair will jointly work up new drama and unscripted projects. Critical is the prodco that Tom Forman and Andrew Marcus created after the pair separated what was Relativity TV from the Relativity Media group. It will work with gaming and digital content programmer and MCN operator Machinima […]

Comcast debuts YouTube rival Watchable

US media giant Comcast has launched its ‘YouTube killer’, Watchable, a streaming site that debuts with videos from around 30 partners. Ad-funded Watchable has gone live in beta, with Comcast describing it as “a new, cross-platform video service that curates a selection of the best content from popular online video networks and shows in an […]

Machinima constructs Transformers series

Online video site Machinima and toyco Hasbro has partnered to create an animated series based on the Transformers The show is the first new original Transformers series since Transformers: Robots in Disguise (pictured) which Hasbro produced and sold to Cartoon Network earlier this year after previous home, The Hub, was rebranded as Discovery Family. The […]