ViacomCBS Set To Sell Tech Website CNET In $500M Deal With Red Venture – Update

Chris Willman Music WriterSandbox Entertainment president-CEO Jason Owen, one of Nashville’s top management figures, has signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment’s Premium Content Division to produce long-form film, television and digital projects, with the “definitive” June Carter Cash documentary among the first of their collaborations to be announced.The companies say that over a period of years they plan to develop “a library of projects that tell the stories of music, history, and culture set in the South” — very familiar stomping ground for Owen, a leading figure in Nashville’s music industry who currently helps guide the careers of Kacey Musgraves, Dan + Shay, Little Big Town, Faith Hill and Kelsea Ballerini. The June Carter Cash doc will combine interviews with family members with archival footage culled from “unprecedented access to the Cash estate,” much of it, of course, related to her husband Johnny Cash or her lineage before that as part of the 20th century’s first family of country music.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers has cut a plea deal in his DUI case.

Neil Diamond, whose decades-long career has spawned hits like “Sweet Caroline,” has sold his song catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group.

Billionaire soccer club owner Roman Abramovich is reportedly assisting with peace efforts in Ukraine.

The Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, directed and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown (Once On This Island, Choir Boy) has announced its full cast and creative team, with performances set to begin at the Booth Theatre on Friday, April 1 and opening night on Wednesday, April 20.

EXCLUSIVE: Sam Mendes has begun principal photography on the south coast of England for his upcoming feature, Empire Of Light. From Searchlight Pictures, the drama is written by Mendes — his first solo screenplay — and stars Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Crystal Clark and Tanya Moodie.

Boris Johnson is coming under pressure to seize the super yachts of rich Russian oligarch that regularly sail in Scottish waters.

An obese Scots cat who struggled to walk after stealing food from neighbours has shed half his body weight.

KOURTNEY Kardashian looked jaw-dropping in a strapless leather dress and matching thigh-high boots in new photos. Khloe, 37, flaunted her slim figure in the sexy outfit which she completed with a raunchy leather trench coat.

Outlander's Richard Rankin, Lauren Lyle and John Bell are appearing on the red carpet at Glasgow Film Festival for an exclusive preview screening of the first episode of season six.

A British couple have become trapped in Ukraine after going over to see a surrogate mother who gave birth to twins they waited 13 years for.

The family of a Scots man who died in a tragic accident before finding out he had won the Postcode Lottery have collected thousands of pounds in his honour.

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are enjoying some late nights out together!

Just as we always suspected: Selena Gomez can make any look work!

Nathy Peluso is easily one of the most exciting artists in Spanish-language music!

Liza Foreman Hip hop is a popular pastime in Paris and its suburbs, having now made its way into many of the city’s high schools. At The Turgot high school in central Paris, hip hop is now part of the curriculum, as the Berlinale documentary “Rookies” (“Allons Enfants”), by Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai, shows.This compelling film follows some of the school’s most talented hip hop aficionados train and battle under the watchful eye of a demanding coach. It served as the opening film this year for the Generation section at the Berlin festival, a sidebar dedicated to new films exploring the lives of teens and children.

K.J. Yossman Universal Music Publishing Group  has acquired Neil Diamond’s entire song catalog, as well as the rights to all recordings from his career, the company announced Monday.The deal covers songs, masters and videos and includes 110 unreleased tracks and an unreleased album.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIn 2020, one of the first indications that all wasn’t right for a global TV industry just waking up to the threat of COVID was the Chinese delegation of buyers pulling out of the BBC Studios Showcase.As revealed by Variety on Feb. 5, 2020, around 20 Chinese companies skipped the early February event due to travel bans in place for parts of China following the coronavirus outbreak, whose death toll had just surpassed that of SARS.Two years later, world events are again affecting London Screenings. Several senior distribution sources have told Variety that most representatives from Russian streamers, broadcasters and distributors, as well as Ukrainian media companies, have canceled their trips to the U.K.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission.There are more than a few Apple Watch models that are on sale right now, but with dozens of competing sales and listing prices on different retailers it can be hard to keep track of the best deals.Currently, the best two deals are on the Apple Watch Series 5 (45% off on Amazon) and the Series 3 (40% on Walmart). Apple is notorious for rarely going on sale so you’ll want to jump on these good prices while they last through. The Series 5 debuts an always-on Retina display so it’s easy to see the time and other important information without tapping the display.

Extremely OK Games has finally acquired the Game Awards trophy that it won for Celeste in 2018 but never received.YouTuber PrestigeIsKey discovered the award on eBay when attempting to track down a replica of a Game Awards trophy that he could own. He was surprised to find an actual Game Award listed on the site (via PCGamer).The award was offered for £373 ($500 USD), and the seller’s other items were primarily car parts and key fobs, which raised some suspicion about the authenticity of the product on offer.

Euphoria has led to a rise in young people seeking help for addiction problems, according to the UK Addiction Treatment Group (UKAT).The HBO series wrapped up its second season last night (February 27), and throughout its run one of the main themes has been drug addiction, particularly shown through the perspective of Rue Bennett (Zendaya).According to UKAT’s head consultant, since the show was released there has been a small rise in young people seeking help for addiction.“What shows like Euphoria do is to raise the awareness of young people and children experiencing and in some cases, struggling with mature life situations like drug misuse,” Nuno Albuquerque told Metro.co.uk.“Thankfully there has been a very small rise in the number of young people getting in touch with our support services asking for help and guidance.”He added: “It’s naive of society to believe that our younger generation don’t use and abuse substances, or to think that we can always protect them. If shows like Euphoria manage to encourage even one young person to reach out and ask for help, then that’s wonderful.”Despite the increase, the US Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) previously criticised Euphoria‘s portrayal of teen drug use, claiming it chose to “misguidedly glorify and erroneously depict” such aspects.Zendaya subsequently defended the series, telling Entertainment Weekly: “Our show is in no way a moral tale to teach people how to live their life or what they should be doing.“If anything, the feeling behind Euphoria, or whatever we have always been trying to do with it, is to hopefully help people feel a little bit less alone in their experience and their pain.

ViacomCBS has struck a deal to sell its CNET unit to Red Ventures for $500 million. The transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

announced Monday that it has sold the tech site CNET to Red Ventures in a $500 million deal.Mark Larkin, EVP and GM of CNET Media Group, and his senior team will remain with the company to continue their leadership of the CNET Media Group team following the acquisition, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter.Red Ventures, founded in 2000, is a digital marketing outfit that also operates more than 100 digital brands with more than 3,000 employees across 10 U.S. cities, the U.K.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorViacomCBS is offloading CNET Media Group in a $500 million deal to digital-marketing company Red Ventures, which announced the deal Monday.Under the deal, Mark Larkin, EVP and GM of CNET Media Group, along with the unit’s senior team will remain with Red Ventures following the acquisition, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.CBS acquired CNET Networks in 2008 for $1.8 billion.