Mansha Daswani

NEW YORK: BET Play, a direct-to-consumer SVOD offering for the Viacom-owned channel BET, is being made available outside of the U.S., rolling out to some 100 markets.

LOS ANGELES: Mr. Robot and The People v. O.J. Simpson have landed four nominations each for this year's Television Critics Association (TCA) Awards, taking place this August.

The new State of Online Video report from Limelight Networks reveals that pricing has become less of a factor for consumers when making the decision to cut the cord, while the availability of their preferred content has become more important. Seven out of ten consumers subscribe to at least one streaming video service, the survey says.

LAS VEGAS: Hot Topic picked up the Retailer of the Year award for the BBC's Doctor Who at last night's 2016 LIMA International Licensing Awards, while Entertainment One's Peppa Pig won for animated film/TV/entertainment licensed program.

Retail sales of licensed products hit $251.7 billion worldwide in 2015, representing a 4.2-percent increase on the previous year, with entertainment/character licensing remaining as the largest category. Those numbers were released as part of the 2016 International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association’s (LIMA) Annual Global Licensing Industry Survey conducted by Brandar Consulting.

NEW YORK: With its acquisition of Cablevision Systems Corporation complete, Altice USA is now the fourth-largest cable operator in the U.S.

The economic problems plaguing a number of Latin American markets have led Zenith to lower its forecast for global ad expenditure, which it now projects will rise by 4.1 percent this year as compared with the 4.6 percent gain predicted in March. Zenith said the downward revision was a result of recession and currency devaluation in LatAm territories, including Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela, which account for more than half of the region's ad spend.

Key findings in PwC’s latest five-year outlook on entertainment and media revenues, which points to “unprecedented challenges” for companies in this changing landscape, include internet advertising overtaking broadcast in the U.S. for the first time next year and China becoming the world’s box-office leader.

René Rechtman, the head of international, explains how the company is looking at new partnerships across the globe.

CULVER CITY: Sony Pictures Entertainment has unveiled changes to the leadership structure at its television division in the wake of Steve Mosko's exit as chairman.