PunchUp Live, a ticketing and live entertainment platform focused on stand-up comedy, has raised a new $2.3 million seed round led by Social Leverage. The funding will allow the company to expand into new sectors such as music, magic, and live podcasts, while continuing to support comedians and live performers. The company had previously closed a $1 million pre-seed round in November, with participation from Heracles Capital, Hustle Fund, Evil Twin Capital, and several angel investors. Founded by former Meta [...]

Warner Bros. Discovery has announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies through a tax-free transaction, with the goal of unlocking the full value of its diverse portfolio and enhancing operational agility in a rapidly evolving media landscape. The new Streaming & Studios company will include: Warner Bros. Television and Motion Picture Group DC Studios HBO and HBO Max (including its international sports offering) Warner Bros. Games, Retail, Tours, and Experiences Production facilities in Burbank (California) and Leavesden (UK) [...]

Live Nation is making a bold statement about the future of live entertainment, announcing a $1 billion investment to build or upgrade 18 new venues across the United States over the next 18 months. This expansion spans a variety of formats—from intimate clubs to large-scale amphitheaters—and targets mid-sized cities like Allentown (PA), Birmingham (AL), and Riverside (MO), helping bring top-tier live experiences to new audiences. This marks one of the largest infrastructure investments in Live Nation’s history, and it comes [...]

Companies developing generative AI models use massive amounts of training data. This often includes copyrighted content used without the consent or compensation of the rights holders. But little is known about exactly which works are being used, and that’s why many are now asking for more transparency. Several countries — including the UK, the U.S., and the European Union — have introduced laws or proposals that would require AI companies to publicly disclose the data used to train their models. [...]

For the first time,  Netflix streamed its global fan event TUDUM live from the U.S.A., broadcasting directly from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Los Angeles, transforming what was once an occasional in-person gathering into a full-scale entertainment show. Named after the sound that plays before a Netflix program begins (“tuh-dum”), TUDUM is both a celebration of fandom and a global marketing platform. But this wasn’t about releasing new episodes of Stranger Things, Squid Game, or Wednesday. Instead, fans tuned in [...]

Director Darren Aronofsky, known for films such as Black Swan and The Whale, has announced a new narrative project titled Primordial Soup, which will harness cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies to tell stories in innovative ways. The announcement coincides with Google’s launch of two new AI-powered tools: Veo 3—a video model capable of adding sound, dialogue, and ambient noise to scenes—and Flow, an app designed to help creators build videos step by step. Aronofsky and his team will employ both tools [...]