Tag: Media Play News

Nomination Period Is Open for 2026 Home Entertainment Media Play Awards

Nominations are now being accepted for the annual Home Entertainment Media Play Awards, which for the ninth year is being presented by Media Play News.

Nominations for the awards — which honor the best movies, series and other content aimed at home audiences released during 2025, from streaming to TVOD to disc — are due from participating studios, distributors and content creators Feb. 6.

Winners in all categories will then be determined by a blue-ribbon panel of industry experts in conjunction with a consumer vote. Voting will take place in March and the winners will be announced in April.

The awards cover a wide array of home entertainment options, including streaming, from SVOD to AVOD and FAST; DVD, Blu-ray Disc and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray; premium video-on-demand (PVOD) and digital sellthrough.

Submit your entries for the 2026 Home Entertainment Media Play Awards here

“Best of show” winners are then selected from among all eligible submissions for Packaged-Media Title of the Year, TV Disc Release of the Year and Best Blu-ray Disc. A “Fan-Favorite” trophy also will be awarded for the single title receiving the most consumer votes. Judges may also present awards based on special merit.

Last year’s Home Entertainment Media Play Awards saw the Warner Archive Collection’s remastered 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray edition of director John Ford’s 1956 Western classic The Searchers starring John Wayne winning in five categories, taking the top prize of Title of the Year, as well as Blu-ray Disc of the Year, Best Restoration, Best Audio/Visual Quality, and Best Release of a Western.

Overall, this is the 16th edition of the annual home entertainment awards.

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Frankel and Bloom Talk YouTube and the Oscars on MPN’s New Video Podcast Series on, Well, YouTube!

The rise of YouTube as a global force in the connected living room took another big step this week when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences signed over exclusive global TV rights to the Alphabet-owned company for four years starting in 2029.

This means the Oscars, which averaged a still-very-impressive 19.7 million viewers on ABC back on March 2, will be available in the U.S. only via virtual pay-TV service YouTube TV and internationally via free-to-use, ad-supported YouTube.

What does this mean for streaming? For broadcast? For viewers? Next TMT’s David Bloom and Daniel Frankel ponder the possibilities here in the second installment in a series of thought-provoking video podcasts brought to you by Media Play News on MPN’s YouTube channel and, soon, audio podcasts on Spotify and other top platforms.

Subscribe to Media Play News’ FREE daily newsletter here for your daily dose of what’s happening in streaming and home entertainment.

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Check Out Frankel and Bloom on Media Play News’ YouTube Channel!

Media Play News is pleased to announce a partnership with Next TMT co-founders Daniel Frankel and David Bloom, who will star in a new series of thought-provoking video podcasts available exclusively on our YouTube channel and, soon, audio podcasts on Spotify and other top platforms.

Their first podcast addresses the hot issue of the day: the proposed sale of Warner Bros. Discovery, or at least the studio and streaming part of the huge media conglomerate, to Netflix.

WBD’s board of directors on Dec. 17 advised its shareholders to reject a $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance and approve the deal with Netflix, which the board has already approved. That deal values the venerable Hollywood media company at $82.7 billion sans its linear cable networks.

Media Play News has been tracking this story closely, and in their debut on the Media Play News YouTube channel, Frankel and Bloom try to make sense of what just unfolded … and predict what happens next.

With not just David Zaslav turning on him, but also seemingly President Trump, will Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison regroup and re-approach WBD investors with another, even bigger hostile bid?

Subscribe to Media Play News‘ FREE daily newsletter here for your daily dose of what’s happening in streaming and home entertainment.

Sign up for the free NextTMT.com newsletter to get the latest news and analysis on what’s happening in technology, media and telecom.

Nominations Now Open for Fourth Annual ‘Top Indie Power Players,’ Honoring Independent Film Distributors

Media Play News this year will once again honor the top players in independent film distribution, with nominations being accepted through March 3.

The 2025 edition of “Top Indie Power Players” will be published in the March issue of Media Play News, which will be published in both print and digital editions on March 25. The feature also will run online a week later.

Top Indie Power Players 2025 Entry Form

Once again, MPN editors will profile the top executives in independent film distribution, who have played a vital role in the home entertainment industry for nearly 50 years.

Indie distributors have long excelled at multi-platform releasing, with a particular focus on home audiences across the three core platforms we cover: streaming, disc and digital (TVOD and electronic sellthrough).

“The spotlight is always on the creative side of the independent film business, but we believe the distribution of films is just as essential to the independent film community,” said MPN publisher Thomas K. Arnold. “And with streaming and FAST dominating the way films are delivered into the home, both the opportunities and the challenges are far greater than they have ever been — which is why it is so important to provide our readers with a directory of the top players in distribution.”

Nominations are being accepted through Monday, March 3. The official entry form may be accessed here.

Vizio’s Katherine Pond Selected as Media Play News’ 2025 Fast Forward Honoree

Katherine Pond, Group VP, Platform Content & Partnerships at Vizio, will be this year’s Fast Forward Award honoree, Media Play News announced Jan. 30.

The Fast Forward Award is presented each year by Media Play News, one of the five major Hollywood trades and the only one to focus on “last mile” home distribution of films and shows, to people, technologies, organizations, products or services that move the home entertainment industry forward.

Pond, who will be saluted in the February 2025 issue of Media Play News, is a key driver in the CTV realm. She heads distribution, content acquisition, programming, platform partnerships and marketing at Vizio, a top smart-TV maker and leader in the CE industry’s embrace of streaming. Pond has played a key role in getting Vizio to leverage platform data to gain insight into what consumers want to watch and make the right content choices for Vizio’s WatchFree+ FAST service.

“Katherine was an easy choice,” said Thomas K. Arnold, publisher and editorial director of Media Play News. “She’s smart, savvy and strategic, and when we asked industry leaders who they would nominate for this honor Katherine was at the top of virtually everyone’s list.”

Pond said, “Throughout my career, I have taken inspiration from so many technology leaders and entertainment trailblazers, several of whom have received this award before me. I’m truly honored to be named among those who have shaped and formed this industry I am so passionate about.”

Past honorees include Danny Fisher, CEO of FilmRise; Andrea Downing, president of PBS Distribution; and Eddie Cunningham, at the time president of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

The February 2025 issue of Media Play News becomes available in both print and digital editions on Feb. 24.

Nomination Period Is Open for 2025 Home Entertainment Media Play Awards

Nominations are now being accepted for the annual Home Entertainment Media Play Awards, which for the eighth year is being presented by Media Play News.

Nominations for the awards — which honor the best movies, series and other content aimed at home audiences released during 2024, from streaming to TVOD to disc — are due from participating studios, distributors and content creators Feb. 7.

Winners in all categories will then be determined by a blue-ribbon panel of industry experts in conjunction with a consumer vote. Voting will take place in March and the winners will be announced in April.

The awards cover a wide array of home entertainment options, including streaming, from SVOD to AVOD and FAST; DVD, Blu-ray Disc and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray; premium video-on-demand (PVOD) and digital sellthrough.

Submit your entries for the 2025 Home Entertainment Media Play Awards here

“Best of show” winners are then selected from among all eligible submissions for Packaged-Media Title of the Year, TV Disc Release of the Year and Best Blu-ray Disc. A “Fan-Favorite” trophy also will be awarded for the single title receiving the most consumer votes. Judges may also present awards based on special merit.

Last year’s Home Entertainment Media Play Awards saw Universal Pictures Home Entertainment’s Oppenheimer take six trophies including the top prize of Title of the Year, as well as Blu-ray Disc of the Year, Best 4K Ultra HD Disc, Best Audio/Visual Quality, Best New Movie Home Release and Fan-Favorite Title of the Year.

Overall, this is the 15th edition of the annual home entertainment awards.

Celebrating 2024’s 40 Under 40 Honorees

Members of the Media Play News 40 Under 40 in Home Entertainment, class of 2024, were honored the evening of July 30 with a gala reception at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, hosted by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group and sponsored by Lionsgate. Many of the industry’s top executives turned out to share in the fun, including Disney+ president Alisa Bowen, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment president Michael Bonner, Sony Pictures’ Jason Spivak, Lexine Wong and Jill Allen, Lionsgate’s Adam Frank and Mark Sgriccia, Studio Distribution Services president Eddie Cunningham and new Paramount Pictures head of home entertainment Andres Alvarez, along with SVP of worldwide market intelligence and strategic planning Jeremy Enos.

Read all about the 40 Under 40, Class of 2024

Buy high-resolution photos from the reception here

‘MPN’ 40 Under 40 to Be Honored at Tuesday Night Reception Hosted by DEG

Media Play News‘ 40 Under 40, Class of 2024, will be honored Tuesday, July 30, at a reception hosted by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group.

The event will be held at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and begins at 5:30 p.m. The reception is sponsored by Lionsgate. 

The 40 Under 40 celebration comes at the tail end of the DEG’s EnTech Summer Symposium, a new event in the digital entertainment trade association’s EnTech series. The symposium starts at 2 p.m. and is designed as a more compact and collaborative working conference than DEG’s EnTech Fest in February.

The EnTech Summer Symposium is focused on current technology use cases. Sessions include a keynote CTO panel and discussions about legal and ethical considerations around AI; driving revenue by using AI in the media distribution supply chain today; innovation in catalog restoration and archiving; and how AI is being used to further gender representation in localization.

A highlight of the afternoon event will be an 8K broadcast of the The Olympic Games Paris 2024, courtesy of Intel. Paris 2024 is the first Olympics to bring 8K/60FPS/HDR broadcast using next-generation H.266/VVC standards to over-the-top media distribution.

FAST30 Honorees to be Hailed at Reception Hosted by Whip Media

This year’s inaugural FAST30 will be honored at a reception hosted by Whip Media on Thursday, July 11, at the members-only Rendition Room in Studio City, Calif.

The exclusive event will not only celebrate Media Play News‘ first-ever FAST30, which appeared in the trade publication’s May issue, but also present honorees and their associates the opportunity to network with with fellow honorees, industry peers, and emerging leaders in the FAST space —all while enjoying cocktails and bites. 

For more information, contact Saj Jayasinghe, Whip Media’s EVP of global revenue, at sjayasinghe@whipmedia.com.

Honorees and their associates who have not yet registered for the event may do so here.

The FAST30 is part of Media Play News’ ongoing initiative to bring attention to the people, and faces, behind the various components of the digital entertainment industry, from content to technology.

“We consider it our mission to monitor not just where the business is heading, but who’s driving it,” said Thomas K. Arnold, Media Play News‘ publisher and editorial director.

Nominees for the FAST30 were submitted by MPN readers and then narrowed down to 30 finalists by editors in partnership with Whip Media, an entertainment software content performance reporting platform and data provider.

A recent Whip Media study found that public awareness of FAST platforms such as Tubi, Pluto and Freevee has gone up 43% over the past two years, while nearly half of respondents said they watched FAST channels at least a few times a month.

‘MPN’ Opens Nominations for FAST30, Honoring Key Players in FAST

Media Play News is launching a new annual feature in the May issue of its monthly magazine that will spotlight 30 key players in the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) segment of the streaming entertainment business.

It’s part of the publication’s ongoing initiative to bring attention to the people, and faces, behind the various components of the home entertainment industry, from content to technology.

“As one of the five major Hollywood trades and the only one to focus on home entertainment distribution, it’s our mission to let everyone know not just where the business is heading, but who’s driving it,” said Thomas K. Arnold, publisher and editorial director of Media Play News.

For what’s being called “FAST30,” Media Play News is partnering with Whip Media, an entertainment software content performance reporting platform and data provider. Whip Media will host a party for the honorees and assist in the judging.

Nominations are now open for FAST30, and a panel of judges will then narrow does the list of nominees to 30 finalists, who will be profiled in the May 2024 issue of Media Play News. A week after the feature appears in the magazine, it will be posted online to the Media Play News website.

“Whip Media is thrilled to partner with Media Play News in honoring 30 key people in FAST,” said Carol Hanley, CEO of Whip Media. “FAST is revolutionizing the way we consume media, democratizing access to content and offering viewers a wealth of choices without the price barrier. It’s imperative we recognize and honor the visionaries behind these FAST platforms and channels.”

The nomination form may be accessed here. Nominations close April 12.

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