Want to binge watch? New streaming TV services will make you wait

LOS ANGELES - In 2013, Netflix Inc shook up television by delivering 13 episodes of "House of Cards" in one batch, a move that helped popularize streaming video and fueled a culture of binge watching.

But Apple Inc, Walt Disney Co and AT&T Inc are largely rejecting that path as they prepare their own efforts to hook the online audiences that embraced Netflix.

Executives at AT&T's forthcoming HBO Max, a streaming service that will be unveiled to investors on Tuesday, plan to debut one new episode of its original series per week, Robert Greenblatt, chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment and the company's direct-to-consumer business, told Reuters. That mirrors the traditional TV pattern.

"We like the idea that people watch weekly and look forward to the next episode and talk about it," Greenblatt said. "Newspapers write about the storylines. There is a sense of a shared experience."

Creating buzz around a new series will be crucial in the coming weeks and months as several companies jockey to lure customers and keep them paying a monthly fee over the long term.

HBO Max may make some exceptions, according to a source familiar with the company's strategy, by putting out a few episodes simultaneously to stoke initial interest.

Apple, meanwhile, will debut its subscription video service, Apple TV+, on Friday. For dramas "The Morning Show" and "See," and most other Apple series, the company will drop three episodes at the same time, followed by one per week.

The family-friendly Disney+ will unveil episodes weekly for new series including "The Mandalorian," the first live-action TV show set in the "Star Wars" universe. Disney+ will launch on Nov. 12.

'WAIT AND EXPERIENCE'

"Mandalorian" star Pedro Pascal said he believes the once-a-week approach will make watching the show "more romantic and more classic."

"Basically you get to sort of wait and experience more collectively, and it just makes it more event television, which it deserves to be," Pascal said.

"A little courtship never hurt anyone," added co-star Gina Carano.

But to some viewers, going a week after a dramatic cliffhanger "seems like it's old school," said Brett Sappington, principal analyst at Parks Associates.

"For some consumers, that can be frustrating," he said. "Expectations are just different today."

While it started among younger viewers, binge viewing of several episodes is now common among all age groups, Sappington said.

It also has been adopted by audiences around the world.

In surveys by Ampere Analysis, 69 percent of people in the United States said they frequently watch several episodes of the same TV show back to back. The percentage was 66 percent in Britain, 65 percent in France and 46 percent in Germany.

SPIKING AT DEBUT

Various release strategies can generate hits, according to data from Parrot Analytics, which measures global demand for programming. It found interest in binge-able series generally spikes when they debut and then tapers off, while shows released weekly see interest build over time. Both level off around 10 to 12 weeks.

HBO's "Euphoria," for example, released its first installment in June at the same time that Netflix dropped the entire season of "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance."

Global demand for "Dark Crystal" peaked in the first week after it premiered, while "Euphoria" saw steady increases after each episode came out, according to Parrot Analytics. It reached its highest point around the episode eight finale.

Both shows peaked with roughly 18 million daily "demand expressions," a combination of viewership, social media mentions and online research about the shows.

Even Netflix is experimenting with intervals between episodes. For reality competition "Rhythm + Flow," the company released four installments at first, three more a week later, and the final three a week after that.

Around the world, Netflix distributes roughly 35 shows on a once-a-week basis, Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in October during the company's earnings webcast. While it does not release audience figures for most of its programming, Sarandos said Netflix customers preferred getting all episodes together.

"We actually get more viewing and cumulatively more social media buzz, more tweets, more activity on social media, around these shows for the all-at-once model," Sarandos said. 

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Additional reporting by Jane Ross in West Hollywood, California; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Cynthia Osterman)

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'Game of Thrones' named best drama at Emmys

The cast and crew of "Game of Thrones" accept the Outstanding Drama Series award onstage during the 71st Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on Sunday in Los Angeles, California. The drama series, which premiered on HBO in April 2011 and concluded after 73 episodes in May 2019, received a total of 58 Emmy awards including 4 Outstanding Drama series in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

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HBO's 'Chernobyl' sparks tours, stokes fears in Lithuania

IGNALINA, Lithuania -- Walking along the top of Lithuania's decommissioned nuclear reactor, the set of HBO's critically acclaimed "Chernobyl" TV series, tourist Vytas Miknaitis says he's not "afraid at all."

"They know what they're doing," the retired computer engineer from Chicago says, referring to organisers of the three-hour tour of the Ignalina power station in eastern Lithuania.

Similar in design to Chernobyl, some 450 kilometers away, the Ignalina reactor provided the backdrop for the show's outdoor scenes, shot last year.

The Baltic state's only nuclear power plant built in Soviet times was open to the public even before the "Chernobyl" drama first aired in May but has since seen a steady uptick in visitors on the heels of the show's success.

Tourists don white overalls, walk on top of the reactor and tour the various work stations, including a command post built to resemble the one in the series.

They can even pretend to be the protagonists pushing the various buttons.

Ignalina plant spokeswoman Natalija Survila-Glebova said that the series had attracted a new stream of visitors, mostly Lithuanians but also foreign tourists from countries like Poland, Latvia and Britain.

Last month, there were 900 visitors, she told AFP, adding that tours were "almost completely booked through the end of the year." Due to the ongoing dismantling work, tours are only open to adults.

Dark tourism

The Soviet Union's Chernobyl plant, in what is now Ukraine, was the scene of the world's worst nuclear disaster, when one of its reactors exploded in 1986 during testing.

It polluted a big part of Europe, with the area immediately around the power plant the worst affected.

In recent years, the abandoned site has become a "dark tourism" destination, even before the eponymous TV drama that has picked up 19 Emmy nominations.

Lithuania, which like Ukraine is a former Soviet republic, began decommissioning Ignalina in December 2009.

The European Union made its closure a condition of the small country's 2004 entry into the bloc as the plant had two reactors that were the same model as those at Chernobyl.

Drab is fab

"Chernobyl" tours have also sprung up in other parts of Lithuania where the series was filmed, including the capital, Vilnius.

Visitor Vytautas Kastanauskas, who works in tourism, marvelled at how the producers were able to recast parts of the picturesque city as a Soviet-era industrial outpost.

"The atmosphere of the time and the nature of the relationships between people, everything was recreated perfectly in the series," the 47-year-old, who experienced Soviet times, told AFP.

The northern Fabijoniskes neighbourhood was transformed into Pripyat, a city of nearly 50,000 people near Chernobyl that was abandoned after the disaster.

The makers of "Chernobyl" used the drab, grey district, with row upon row of Soviet-era housing blocks, as the location to shoot Pripyat's mass evacuation.

And one young Lithuanian has even refurbished his grandparents' Fabijoniskes apartment in the Soviet style and opened it up to visitors and Airbnb stays.

Jurate Pazikaite, of the Vilnius Film Office, says that the series has "focused a lot of attention" on the city of around half a million people, putting it on the map as a prime location for filmmakers.

Tax breaks for production companies introduced in 2014 have lured a growing number of crews, she said.

The BBC's 2016 miniseries adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" cast Vilnius as both 19th-century Moscow and the Austrian Alps.

A new HBO drama series, "Catherine the Great" starring Oscar winner Helen Mirren, has also partly been shot in the Lithuanian capital.

Emergency iodine, sirens

But the "Chernobyl" series is not only generating curiosity and pride in Lithuania.

It has also fed into unease that was already felt over a new nuclear plant, set to open in neighbouring Belarus.

Spearheaded by the Russian state energy corporation, Rosatom, the plant, featuring two reactors, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, is expected to go online later this year.

Lithuania says that the facility in the northwestern Belarusian town of Ostrovets, just 20 kilometers from its border, does not meet safety standards.

Minsk rejects the claim.

"The Chernobyl series has affected us deeply, my friends and I talk about this topic (nuclear risk)," says Ieva Nagyte, a 27-year-old, who works at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

"If the Ostrovets nuclear reactors exploded, I'm not sure we'd know what to do," she told AFP.

However, Lithuanian authorities are preparing for the worst -- they have stockpiled iodine tablets used to ward off certain forms of radiation poisoning, established evacuation routes and are testing emergency sirens, according to the internal affairs ministry.

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'Game of Thrones' breaks record with 32 Emmy nominations

LOS ANGELES—HBO and its medieval fantasy series "Game of Thrones" led nominations on Tuesday for the Emmy awards, the highest honors in television.

HBO got a leading 137 nominations, 32 of them for three-times best drama series winner "Game of Thrones," and recognition for lead actors Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke. The 32 nods for "Game of Thrones," which concluded its final season in May, marked a record high for a drama program in a single year.

Netflix followed with 117 nominations, led by its searing racial justice drama "When They See Us," and surreal time-loop comedy "Russian Doll."

Amazon Studio's bubbly "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel" got 20 nominations, making it a strong contender for a repeat win in the best-comedy series category, while HBO's limited series "Chernobyl," a recreation of the 1986 Russian nuclear power disaster, had 19.

Political satire "Veep" will compete for its fourth Emmy as best comedy series, along with star Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Other contenders in the comedy series category are "Barry," quirky British show "Fleabag," "The Good Place," "Russian Doll" and "Schitt's Creek."

Joining "Game of Thrones" in the top category of best drama series are "Better Call Saul," British thrillers "Bodyguard" and "Killing Eve," "Ozark," transgender show "Pose", family drama "This is Us" and media mogul dynasty series "Succession."

The Emmy awards will be handed out at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Sept. 22. (Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Lisa Richwine; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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'Game of Thrones', Netflix tipped to sweep Emmy nominations

LOS ANGELES - "Game of Thrones" and Netflix are tipped by TV industry watchers to dominate Tuesday's Emmy nominations as Hollywood gears up for awards season.

The Television Academy's 24,000 members sifted through a record number of entries for this year's Emmys, the small-screen equivalent of the Oscars.

After nominations are announced final-round voting will begin to pick winners who will be revealed at a glitzy Los Angeles show on September 22.

Here are five things to look out for:

'GAME OF THRONES'

"Game of Thrones" enraged fans with its final season, but experts still expect the HBO fantasy epic to reign over Emmy nominations one last time.

"Thrones" is the most decorated fictional show in the awards' seven-decade history, with 128 nominations and 47 wins.

The last six episodes dominated water-cooler chat and settled the question of who would sit on the Iron Throne -- sort of -- but the flood of social media anguish over its unsatisfying conclusion almost broke the internet.

Still, voters could pick the show out of "nostalgia" and because "they want to pay respect for the impact it's had on TV overall," said Indiewire TV critic Ben Travers.

"But it also could be a lack of options," he added.

MAJOR ABSENTEES

The Emmys only recognize shows that were on in the 12 months to May 31.

That means several big hitters are absent from main categories this year, including Hulu's former drama series winner "The Handmaid's Tale."

"Big Little Lies" and "Stranger Things" also just missed the cut-off -- something which may not be accidental.

"Some of the more prominent shows got out of the way fearing 'Game of Thrones' just dominating everything, and not wanting to go head to head with it," said Travers.

COMEDY REIGNS

Pundits say the comedy and limited series categories are vastly stronger this year.

In comedy, White House satire "Veep" -- another departing HBO awards juggernaut -- faces stiff competition from last year's winner "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," Amazon's story of a 1950s housewife-turned-stand up comic.

Dark hitman comedy "Barry" is also expected to challenge its HBO stablemate.

In limited series, Showtime has vigorously promoted Ben Stiller's "Escape at Dannemora," in which two real-life convicts escape a New York prison by seducing a female employee.

"When They See Us," Netflix's true story of five men wrongly accused of raping a Central Park jogger, is also likely to line up, alongside acclaimed HBO drama "Chernobyl."

NETFLIX VS HBO

The two giants are set to renew their battle for overall Emmy supremacy, after Netflix overtook HBO last year in the nomination count to end its rival's 17-year reign.

Web streamer Netflix secured a whopping 112 nods last time around, edging out HBO's 108.

"The sheer amount of programming that Netflix submits at the Emmys is daunting," said Travers. "They have so much more than anybody else to put on the ballot."

While Netflix also benefits from the exposure that comes with its huge subscriber base, HBO has vast experience mounting campaigns for its prestige offerings -- and could ultimately garner more wins.

STAR QUALITY

As movie stars continue to switch to TV, A-listers will be plentiful.

Amazon is eyeing a strong year with its Julia Roberts-powered thriller "Homecoming," in addition to "Maisel" and irreverent British comedy "Fleabag."

"Catch-22" leads Hulu's charge thanks to George Clooney, while in comedy Jim Carrey ("Kidding") and Michael Douglas ("The Kominsky Method") are tipped for acting nods.

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'Game of Thrones' reaches its end, with one or two shocks left

After eight seasons and 73 episodes, HBO's long-running smash "Game of Thrones" came to its conclusion on Sunday night, with one more shocking demise and an unlikely character named as king.

With its last episode, which ran roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes, the medieval fantasy series, based on the novels of George R.R. Martin, wrapped up the storyline for more than a dozen characters and intertwining plots.

The show's fierce competition for the fictional Iron Throne -- the seat for the show's ruler, made out of hundreds of swords -- ended first with a death, and an unexpected choice to rule the show's fictional kingdom of Westeros.

It brings to a conclusion a show that became the cornerstone of HBO's primetime offerings, but its final season was also its most divisive, with both fans and critics finding specific plot developments -- particularly its handling of one of the primary characters -- troubling.

The final season has broken records for HBO, which says it has so far averaged 43 million viewers per episode in the United States alone -- an increase of 10 million over Season 7 in 2017.

Most notable in fans' criticism was the malevolent turn by Emilia Clarke's Daenerys Targaryen, the "Dragon Queen," who used her dragon to lay waste to the show's fictional capital after her enemies had surrendered.

The move angered fans, as the episode, titled "The Bells," currently garners the weakest ratings amongst all episodes in the show's eight-season run on Rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates critics' reviews.

Clarke's character had engaged in brutal actions in previous seasons, similar to other leaders depicted in the story, but the decision to kill tens of thousands of innocent people was viewed by many as too drastic based on the character's previous actions.

From its ragged beginnings -- the show's original pilot was never aired, instead undergoing substantial re-shoots and re-casting of several characters -- it became a cultural phenomenon. Its budgets grew, with a per-episode cost in its last season running as high as $15 million per episode, according to Variety. It also won numerous primetime television Emmy Awards, including three awards for Best Drama.

It became known for unexpected, nerve-wracking moments, including the first season's death of Eddard Stark, the nobleman played by Sean Bean, featured heavily in the show's marketing campaign, and Season 3's "Red Wedding," a massacre of critical characters in the show's fictional wars that author Martin drew from medieval Scottish history.

HBO already is in the planning stages for a prequel series to take place thousands of years prior to the show's fictional timeline, while its creators, Dan Weiss and David Benioff, are slated to make the next series of "Star Wars" films. 

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'Now our watch is ended': History-making 'Game of Thrones' wraps

LOS ANGELES -- After eight epic years of chivalry, sex, death and dragons, "Game of Thrones" fans worldwide have just 79 pulsating minutes remaining Sunday to get their final fix in one of the most hotly anticipated events in TV history.

The blood-spattered tale of noble families vying for the Iron Throne has just one episode to go and buzz is at fever pitch for a ratings juggernaut that has demolished audience records like a Dothraki barbarian finishing off a skillet of horse meat. 

"We want people to love it. It matters a lot to us. We've spent 11 years doing this," Dan Weiss, who directed the 73rd and final episode with fellow showrunner David Benioff, told Entertainment Weekly. 

While many will watch at home, perhaps with a goblet of Dornish red wine and a punnet of Braavosi cockles, thousands will celebrate and mourn the show's denouement at viewing parties in bars, banqueting halls and backyards from Alaska to Armenia. 

One of the darkest and most controversial primetime series ever made, "GoT" has been the target of criticism over the years for senseless violence and its repeated use of rape as a dramatic device.

Hacked, burned, flayed

The scriptwriters have brutalized women, killed children, depicted graphic sex and had their characters hacked, stabbed, flayed, poisoned, decapitated, burned alive, eye-gouged and eviscerated -- all in glorious close-up.

Even principal character Jon Snow (Kit Harington), whose fellow Night's Watch troops would chant "And now his watch is ended" at comrades' funerals, suffered the indignity of being briefly dead after a particularly violent quarrel.

The adult themes have not deterred fans, however, nor the industry itself, which has seen fit to make it the most decorated series in history, with 47 Emmy Awards.

Airing in 170 countries under its portentous tagline, "Winter is Coming," the show is also the most expensive ever, with a budget of $15 million per episode in its final run. 

The season seven finale set an all-time US record for premium cable TV with 16.5 million people watching live or streaming on the day of transmission and 15 million more tuning in later.

Viewing records also tumbled across the world, with Britain's Sky Atlantic and OCS in France showing episodes in the middle of the night in sync with their US premieres.

Season 6 was the first to move beyond the source material, George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels, and carve its own path.

Critics said it marked a return to form, with the narrative allowing female characters to demonstrate complexity and moral agency lacking in some of the earlier seasons.

The shortened final two seasons have been more of a mixed bag, with many fans furious over what they consider poor writing.

Mass-murdering madness

Most controversial has been the rapid descent into mass-murdering madness by Emilia Clarke's fan favorite Daenerys Targaryen, arguably the lead character in an enormous ensemble that has called on the services of such luminaries as Charles Dance, Sean Bean, Jim Broadbent and Diana Rigg.

A Change.org petition called "Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers" had passed one million signatures with more than 24 hours to go until Sunday's finale. 

Assuming there is no do-over, the biggest mystery of all remains who will be sitting on the Iron Throne and ruling Westeros when "Game of Thrones" comes to an end.

To throw hackers and pirates off the scent, Benioff and Weiss shot several versions of the final episode, a tactic already used for "The Sopranos" and "Breaking Bad."

Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, has admitted that even she was fooled into believing a fake version of the ending.

Martin will himself discover the on-screen ending of his long-running masterwork before he has had a chance to conclude the fantasy on paper.

The plot lines for his long-awaited final two novels in the series -- "The Winds of Winter" and "A Dream of Spring" -- were adapted to the screen based on outlines Martin gave the show's writers. But there is no guarantee they will stick to his plan.

"Obviously, I wished I finished these books sooner so the show hadn't gotten ahead of me. I never anticipated that," Martin once told an interviewer.

The "Game of Thrones" finale premieres on HBO at 9 p.m. in the US on both coasts (Monday morning in Manila).

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'Blame of Thrones': Fans lament rushed final GoT season

NEW YORK, United States – As "Game of Thrones" suits up for one last swordfight, a phalanx of enraged viewers large enough to flatten the massed armies of Westeros is voicing its displeasure over what they consider a botched ending to the beloved show -- with some even clamoring for a do-over.

Since its first episode eight years ago the HBO show about noble families vying for the Iron Throne has picked up just about every award going on the way to becoming a global ratings smash and a cultural phenomenon.

But its legacy is under threat from an increasingly vocal section of fans furious over what they consider poor writing in the shortened final two seasons, after the script had moved beyond the source novels by American writer George R.R. Martin.

A Change.org petition called "Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers" was approaching 850,000 signatures early Friday, ahead of Sunday's finale.

"There's been a lot of negativity about the windup, but I think it's just because people don't want ANY ending," tweeted horror author Stephen King, one of the show's most high-profile fans.

"But you know what they say: All good things..."

One source of discontent is a dramatically sped-up narrative arc that has seen central character Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) descend suddenly and incongruously into atrocity-committing madness.

"Turning one of the top two heroes in the game into a villain is something that you have to really set up straight... to have the fan base just go along with it," said entertainment host A. Ron Hubbard on his top-rated "Game of Thrones: The Podcast."

"It's just that I don't think they did the job particularly well."

Other fans are equally bewildered by the moral regression of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's Jaime Lannister -- an unambiguous bad guy back in 2011 whose redemptive arc over seven seasons was one of the most interesting aspects of the show's scrupulous, patient plotting.

"It feels like some of the characters' arcs are false because they're not given enough time to play out," said University of Northern Illinois medieval history professor Valerie Garver, who accused showrunners David Benioff and D.B Weiss of "rushing" the truncated, 6-episode final season.

MILLIONS OF SICK DAYS

The effect has been to lower expectations to such an extent that many fans are complaining about a denouement they have yet to even see.

"I'm really disappointed in Next Sunday night's finale of 'Game of Thrones,'" joked Brent Spiner, who played android Data in "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

More than 100,000 people voted on the Internet Movie Database to give Season 8's penultimate episode 6.1 out of 10, a harsh rating for a show that had never rated lower than 8.1 in previous seasons.

"This show is just so good and has been so important that even if most people are upset with the ending I think still it will be held up as a show that was pretty extraordinary," said Garver.

And if the social media backlash looks harsh, it is worth remembering that the vast majority of any show's viewers do not immediately take to Twitter with their comments if they liked what they saw.

The proof of this can be found in the "Game of Thrones" audience figures, which hit a record 12.5 million live US viewers for the most recent episode -- with a further 6 million watching later.

For perspective, one of the show's nearest premium cable rivals, Showtime's "Homeland," managed 1.2 million viewers per episode in 2018 and "The Sopranos," regarded as HBO's greatest show, would pull in 11 million a week at its 2002 peak.

There's little reason to expect anything but phenomenal figures for the feature-length "GoT" finale, with an estimated 10.7 million Americans expected to skip work the following morning to catch up, according to a survey by The Workforce Institute at Kronos.

'ASH AND BRICK'

Back in the fictional continent of Westeros, the biggest mystery of "Game of Thrones" remains: who will be sitting on the Iron Throne as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms when the curtain comes down?

British bookmaker William Hill has 20-year-old Isaac Hempstead Wright's Bran Stark as favorite, closely followed by his fictional sister Sansa, played by Sophie Turner.

That assumes, of course, that the Iron Throne still exists after Mother of Dragons Daenerys went full "Mad Queen" last week -- torching most of Dubrovnik, the real-life Croatian double for the Westerosi royal seat of King's Landing.

"The Iron Throne is very much gone, as is most of the population in the capital of the Seven Kingdoms," the bookmaker said on its website.

"Is it actually possible for anyone to inherit a mountain of ash and brick?"

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Dismayed or grieving, 'Game of Thrones' fans prepare for the final episode

LOS ANGELES - Passions are running high as "Game of Thrones" nears its final episode this weekend, with hundreds of thousands of unhappy fans signing an online petition and a counseling service offering to help those grieving the end of the TV fantasy saga.

Some 600,000 fans worldwide had signed a Change.org petition by Thursday criticizing Season 8 of the HBO series and calling for a remake.

"This series deserves a final season that makes sense," said Dylan D, from Texas, who launched the "Remake Game of Thrones Season 8" petition ahead of Sunday's series finale.

The story of warring families in the fictional kingdom of Westeros has drawn to a close with ever more bloody battles and favorite characters being killed off.

"Season 8 was very disjointed and rushed. Characters were hastily written off and plots became twisted. It was not a good close to a great series," wrote Marilyn Marnell, one of those signing the petition.

HBO did not return a request for comment on the petition.

The show was created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who have taken the story beyond George R.R. Martin's source material book series, "A Song of Ice and Fire."

Despite the criticism, the eighth and final season of the Emmy-winning series has broken records for HBO, which says it has so far averaged 43 million viewers per episode in the United States alone - a 10 million increase over Season 7 in 2017.

Among television critics, reviews have gone from 92 percent positive for the Season 8 opener on April 14 to 47 percent favorable for the penultimate episode, "The Bells," which aired on May 12, according to review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com.

"The Bells" saw character Daenerys Targaryen descending into madness and destroying the Westerosi capital of Kings Landing with her dragon. Some fans thought that was too sharp a departure for Daenerys, who had previously said she wanted to create a better world.

"This is definitely not how it was supposed to go. Daenerys Targaryen has gone rogue," wrote CNN.com's AJ Willingham.

Meanwhile, British website Bark.com is launching a "Game of Thrones" counseling service offering expert advice on how fans can deal with the loss of the show, which first aired in 2011.

"'Game of Thrones' is one of the most popular TV programs of our time, so I'm not surprised that people are devastated it's going to end," Kai Feller, co-founder of Bark.com, said in a statement.

"I think there will be a fair amount of superfans out there who will need to chat with a professional when the show ends."

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'We're sorry!' says 'Game of Thrones,' as Starbucks makes a cameo

LOS ANGELES, United States - "Game of Thrones" may be a medieval fantasy but Sunday's episode had a distinctly modern touch when a stray Starbucks cup made an unexpected cameo in the fictional Westeros kingdom of dragons and zombies, sending fans into a frenzy.

The distinctive paper cup with plastic cover was spotted on a table at a feast in Winterfell within reach of characters Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen during episode 4 of the final season, "The Last of the Starks."

Bernie Caulfield, one of the executive producers of HBO's global hit television series, apologized to fans.

"I can't believe (it)," she said in an interview with New York's WNYC radio on Monday. "Our onset prop people and decorators are so on it a 1,000 percent."

"We're sorry! Westeros was the first place to actually have Starbucks," Caulfield quipped.

In a tongue-in-cheek comment, HBO said that "the latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea."

Starbucks, the world's biggest coffee chain, had its own take on the unexpected publicity in a series that is watched by more than 30 million people in the United States alone.

"TBH we're surprised she didn't order a Dragon Drink," the company said on Twitter, referring to its summer menu addition of a bright pink fruit and coconut milk beverage that contains the tropical dragon fruit, also known as pitaya.

Fans lit up social media with memes and jokes about the stray cup, with some inserting the company's green and white logo on photos of castles featured in the series.

Others were dismayed at the gaffe. "They took 2 years to shoot 6 episodes and left a Starbucks cup in a scene," tweeted a user named Dylan.

The eighth and final season of "Game of Thrones" has broken records for HBO, with more than 38 million American watching the season premiere episode that was broadcast on April 14.

The Emmy-winning series, an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of novels, comes to a conclusion on May 19.

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Record 17.4 million watch 'Game of Thrones' kickoff for final season

LOS ANGELES - Some 17.4 million Americans watched the first episode of the final season of television's "Game of Thrones" - a record audience for the medieval fantasy series, cable channel HBO said on Monday.

HBO said Sunday's live US television audience and viewers on its HBO GO and HBO NOW apps exceeded the previous series high of 16.9 million viewers for the Season 7 finale two years ago.

On social media, Sunday's premiere was also the most-tweeted-about episode of the show ever, with more than 5 million Tweets, and 11 million mentions throughout the course of the weekend, HBO said in a statement.

All of the top 10 global Twitter trends late Sunday evening were about the episode.

The series set among warring families in the fictional kingdom of Westeros, which began in 2007, has become HBO's biggest hit.

Season 7 averaged 32.8 million US viewers per episode when delayed viewing was counted and HBO said it expected the Season 8 average to "grow considerably."

"Game of Thrones" is available in over 150 countries worldwide, but HBO said viewing data is not easily retrieved in many of those markets, making a global figure impossible to calculate.

Details of the final season have been kept a closely guarded secret, boosting anticipation.

The most-tweeted moment from Sunday's show came when popular "Thrones" character Jon Snow (played by Kit Harington) learned the truth about his parents, and the fact that his love interest, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), is in fact his aunt.

Despite its avid fan base, "Game of Thrones" is far from the biggest television event in the United States. The annual NFL Super Bowl attracts about 100 million viewers and the 2019 Oscars ceremony in February was watched on television by 29.6 million Americans.

The final episode of "Game of Thrones" will air on May 19.

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Don't like surprises? AI predicts who survives 'Game of Thrones'

MUNICH - If you are a "Game of Thrones" fan and appreciate the element of surprise, stop reading now.

Students at the Technical University of Munich have developed an application to predict which character has the best chance to claim the coveted Iron Throne in the HBO hit medieval fantasy series about warring families.

They have taught the application to scour the web for information about each of the characters, which is then processed by artificial intelligence algorithms to assess their survival chances.

"We scraped the results from different Wiki pages and Wiki-like pages about the books and TV show and we took out data like gender and age of the characters," said student Christian Dallago. "We put all this together to train the algorithm to tell us when this character is going to die."

There is a good chance the application will get it right.

Back in 2016, an algorithm created by computer science students at the same university in the southern German city shortly before the start of Season 6 accurately predicted that Jon Snow would resurrect.

If you're still reading, clearly you're not a fan of plot twists and turns.

So here you go: AI says that Daenerys Targaryen has the best chance of survival in the final season, which starts on Sunday. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Michael Jackson estate sues HBO over documentary

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson's estate filed a $100 million lawsuit against HBO on Thursday over plans to air a documentary that alleges the singer sexually abused two young boys.

The 53-page suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims HBO was violating a "non-disparagement" agreement by airing "Leaving Neverland," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

"Michael Jackson is innocent. Period," the suit says. "In 2005, Michael Jackson was subjected to a trial -- where rules of evidence and law were applied before a neutral judge and jury and where both sides were heard -- and he was exonerated by a sophisticated jury.

"Ten years after his passing, there are still those out to profit from his enormous worldwide success and take advantage of his eccentricities," it adds.

The four-hour, two-part documentary that is set to air next month includes the testimonies of two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who say the King of Pop sexually abused them when they were seven and 10.

In a statement, HBO said it planned to broadcast the documentary as scheduled.

"Despite the desperate lengths taken to undermine the film, our plans remain unchanged," the statement sent to AFP reads. "HBO will move forward with the airing of 'Leaving Neverland,' the two-part documentary on March 3rd and 4th.

"This will allow everyone the opportunity to assess the film and the claims in it for themselves."

The lawsuit contends that HBO in 1992 aired a concert in Bucharest from Jackson's "Dangerous" world tour and at the time signed non-disparagement provisions that prevent the streaming service from harming Jackson's reputation.

"In violation of both basic norms of documentary journalism and the explicit terms of the agreement, HBO has disparaged Jackson's legacy by airing a one-sided hit piece against Jackson based exclusively on the false accounts of two proven, serial perjurers," the suit states.

It asks the court to compel HBO to take part in a non-confidential arbitration that could cost the company $100 million if found liable.

Jackson, who died on June 25, 2009 after being given an overdose of the anesthetic propofol, faced multiple allegations of child sex abuse during his lifetime.

In addition to his 2005 acquittal the performer paid a $15 million court settlement in 1994 over allegations involving another child.

jz/ia

source: news.abs-cbn.com

HBO throws in towel on live boxing coverage after 45 years

LOS ANGELES - HBO is walking away from professional boxing after 45 years of live fight programming, the US cable network confirmed Thursday.

HBO's long association with the sport began in 1973 when it carried George Foreman's stunning knockout of reigning heavyweight world champion Joe Frazier.

The network pioneered modern pay-per-view coverage of boxing. The fighters who have appeared in more than 1,000 bouts aired by HBO include a who's who of the sport's biggest names.

Most recently HBO produced the highly anticipated rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin for the unified middleweight title.

The only remaining fight card scheduled to air on HBO is on October 27 at Madison Square Garden, headlined by an International Boxing Federation middleweight title bout between Daniel Jacobs and Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

"Going forward into 2019, we will be pivoting away from programming live boxing on HBO," HBO Sports said in a statement. "As always, we will remain open to looking at events that fit our programming mix. This could include boxing, just not for the foreseeable future."

HBO sports noted in its statement that boxing is now available on a "host of networks and streaming services."

"In some cases, this programming is very good. But from an entertainment point of view, it's not unique," the company said, adding that it wants to focus on "storytelling" suited to unscripted series, documentaries, reality programming, sports journalism and event specials.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

‘Game of Thrones’ couple Kit Harington, Rose Leslie marry in real life

Kit Harington and Rose Leslie, who played on-screen lovers Jon Snow and Ygritte in fantasy TV saga "Game of Thrones", were married in Britain on Saturday.

The 31-year-old stars are reported to be tying the knot in northeastern Scotland, with co-stars Emilia Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen, and Peter Dinklage, who played Tyrion Lannister, arriving at nearby Aberdeen on Friday.

The couple, who met on set in 2012, announced the engagement in the Times newspaper last September, and the wedding date was submitted to the local registry office last month.

The ceremony is to be held at the remote Wardhill Castle in Aberdeenshire, which has been in Leslie's family for 900 years, according to the Daily Mail.

She left the show in 2014, but Harington's iconic character has appeared in every episode.

Harington told L'Uomo Vogue that the on-screen romance contributed to the pair getting together, after filming in Iceland in 2012. 

"The country is beautiful ... the Northern Lights are magical ... it was there that I fell in love," he said.

"If you're already attracted to someone, and then they play your love interest in the show, it becomes very easy to fall in love."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

A wedding is coming: Game of Thrones actors announce engagement

LONDON (Reuters) - "Game of Thrones" actors Kit Harington and Rose Leslie, who enjoyed an on-screen romance in the HBO television hit series, announced their engagement in Britain’s Times newspaper on Wednesday.

Harington, who plays Jon Snow in the fantasy drama, met Leslie, who played Ygritte, in 2011 while filming the second season of the Emmy-winning show in Iceland.

“If you’re already attracted to someone, and then they play your love interest in the show, it becomes very easy to fall in love,” Harington told Vogue magazine in an interview last year.

The British duo, both 30, had only a brief on-screen romance before Leslie’s character, Ygritte, died in the arms of Snow in season four. Her final words, “You know nothing, Jon Snow,” have became one of the show’s most famous lines.

(The story corrects spelling of Harington’s surname from Harrington.)

Writing by Patrick Johnston. Editing by Larry King

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Zombies, romance and revenge drive record 'Game of Thrones' ratings

LOS ANGELES - A zombie dragon, an illicit romance and satisfying revenge helped drive the season finale of "Game of Thrones" to a viewership high, HBO said Monday, as the seventh season drew record ratings.

A total of 12.1 million viewers watched Sunday's seventh season finale, titled "The Dragon and the Wolf," up 36 percent from the 8.9 million viewers who watched the season six finale. Viewership from replays and streams on HBO's on-demand apps boosted the overall Sunday ratings to 16.5 million viewers.

The seventh and penultimate season of Emmy-winning "Game of Thrones" drew an overall 30.8 million viewers, up nearly 8 million viewers from last season and cementing it as the most-watched show on Time Warner Inc's premium cable network HBO.

The record ratings came after hackers stole data and content from HBO and leaked it online, including scripts and unaired episodes of "Game of Thrones."

The seventh season saw the show's lead characters head towards a great battle over the Iron Throne reigning over the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, while a zombie army of White Walkers, led by the undead Night King, march south and threaten mankind's destruction.

Characters Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen finally came together to join forces against the White Walkers, the remaining Stark children reunite at their home in Winterfell and enact a satisfying revenge against master manipulator Petyr Baelish.

The Lannister siblings also reunite in King's Landing in a tense meeting that puts their family ties to the test.

Medieval fantasy "Game of Thrones," based on George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" books, has won numerous Emmy awards including best drama series last year. It is not eligible for this year's Emmy awards due to its summer premiere after production was pushed back to capture more winter landscapes for the storyline, but it will be back on the roster for next year's Emmy awards.

Ahead of the show's final eighth season next year, a series of spin-offs is being developed.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'True Blood' actor Nelsan Ellis dead at 39

WASHINGTON -- Nelsan Ellis, an actor best known for his role in the vampire series "True Blood," has died. He was 39 years old.

The actor died following complications from heart failure, his manager told CNN.

His portrayal of Lafayette, a gay cook and medium, helped him spring onto the acting scene after his character became a favorite of fans of the HBO drama, which ran from 2008 to 2014.

"We were extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Nelsan Ellis," the HBO network said in a statement Saturday. "Nelsan was a long-time member of the HBO family whose groundbreaking portrayal of Lafayette will be remembered fondly within the overall legacy of True Blood."

"Nelsan will be dearly missed by his fans and all of us at HBO."

As news of his death spread many fans posted a clip from the show where Ellis's character bursts out of his restaurant kitchen to confront a table of homophobic diners.

An alumnus of New York's prestigious Juilliard performing arts conservatory, Ellis's credits include silver screen appearances in 2009's "The Soloist" as well as 2011's Oscar-award winning film "The Help."

"My heart breaks for his kids and his family," wrote his co-star in that film Octavia Spencer in an Instagram post. "He was sooooo funny. I miss him."

The Illinois native also depicted Martin Luther King Jr. in "The Butler," released in 2013.

"True Blood" co-star Joe Manganiello took to Twitter to pay tribute to the late actor: "Crushed today by the loss of my friend and castmate Nelsan Ellis."

"He was a wonderful person, a pioneer, and a one of a kind artist."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

AT&T to buy Time Warner for $85 billion, create telecom-media giant

NEW YORK - AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Saturday it agreed to buy Time Warner Inc (TWX.N) for $85.4 billion, the boldest move yet by a telecommunications company to acquire content to stream over its high-speed network to attract a growing number of online viewers.

The biggest deal in the world this year will, if approved by regulators, give AT&T control of cable TV channels HBO and CNN, film studio Warner Bros and other coveted media assets. The tie-up will likely face intense scrutiny by U.S. antitrust enforcers worried that AT&T might try to limit distribution of Time Warner material.

AT&T will pay $107.50 per Time Warner share, in a combination of cash and stock, worth $85.4 billion overall, according to a company statement. AT&T said it expected to close the deal by the end of 2017.

Dallas-based AT&T said it and Time Warner were determining which Federal Communications Commission licenses, if any, would be transferred to AT&T in the deal.

Several U.S. lawmakers were already worried about cable company Comcast Corp's (CMCSA.O) $30 billion acquisition of NBCUniversal, creating an industry behemoth. They argued for close regulatory scrutiny of the AT&T deal.

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has complained about media coverage of his campaign, said at a rally on Saturday he would block any AT&T-Time Warner deal if he wins the Nov. 8 election.

"It's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few," said Trump.

Representatives of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CONTENT PLUS DELIVERY

AT&T, whose main wireless phone and broadband service business is showing signs of slowing, has already made moves to turn itself into a media powerhouse. It bought satellite TV provider DirecTV last year for $48.5 billion.

It had about 142 million North American wireless subscribers as of June 30, and about 38 million video subscribers through DirecTV and its U-verse service.

New York-based Time Warner is a major force in movies, TV and video games. Its assets include the HBO, CNN, TBS and TNT networks as well as the Warner Bros film studio, producer of the “Batman” and “Harry Potter” film franchises. The company also owns a 10 percent stake in video streaming site Hulu. The HBO network alone has more than 130 million subscribers.

The deal is the latest in the consolidation of the telecom and media sectors, coming on the heels of AT&T's purchase of NBCUniversal. AT&T's wireless rival Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) is in the process of buying internet company Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) for about $4.8 billion.

Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes rejected an $80 billion offer from Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA.O) in 2014.

5G IS COMING
Owning more content gives cable and telecom companies bargaining leverage with other content companies as customers demand smaller, hand-picked cable offerings or switch to watching online. New mobile technology including next-generation 5G networks could make a content tie-up especially attractive for wireless providers.

"We think 5G mobile is coming, we think 5G mobile is an epic game-changer," Rich Tullo, director of research at Albert Fried & Co, said in a research note, adding that mobile providers would be in position to disrupt traditional pay-TV services.

A previous Time Warner blockbuster deal, its 2000 merger with AOL, is now considered one of the most ill-advised corporate marriages on record.

(Additional reporting by David Shepardson, Liana Baker, Malathi Nayak and Diane Bartz; Writing by Bill Rigby; Editing by David Gregorio)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Charo, Piolo make historic Filipino firsts in iEmmys

NEW YORK -- New York is home to some of the Philippines' best. From Broadway to Wall Street, the "galing ng Pilipino" or the innate greatness of the Filipino shines brightly in the Big Apple.

For instance, the “Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms” exhibit at Asia Society is a testament to the Filipino's greatness that dates back to the 10th century.

Two of the exhibit's recent visitors are making historic Filipino firsts in this year's International Emmy Awards in New York.

ABS-CBN president and CEO Charo Santos-Concio will be the first Filipino to chair the 43rd International Emmys Awards Gala on Monday night, while award-winning Kapamilya star Piolo Pascual will be the first Filipino presenter at the iEmmys.

"I'm very very proud to represent my company ABS-CBN, and I'm very, very proud also that I am Filipino and I'm here to represent our country," Santos-Concio said.

"Pride, honor, you know being in the business I love and having this kind of gift is a reward," Pascual said.

At the HBO welcome cocktails Sunday, International Emmy Awards president Bruce Paisner said Santos-Concio's appointment as this year's chair was a clear-cut choice because the academy recognizes not only the excellent TV programs and actors from the Philippines but also the outstanding achievements of ABS-CBN under her watch.

"You have to be really somebody who is a person of importance in their country, in their organization as well. We think that Charo is wonderful chairman for us," Paisner said.

As chair, Santos-Concio will open the International Emmy Awards Gala at the New York Hilton with a welcome speech, while Pascual will present a telenovela award near the latter part of the awards show.

"Part of the mission of ABS-CBN is to make sure that we share stories of Filipino strength and resilience and I think it should go beyond the Philippines. Our content should reach the international shores. I hope to be able to bring that to the consciousness of the international community here at the iEmmys," Santos-Concio said.

Pascual is no stranger to the iEmmys: his teleserye "Lobo” (She Wolf: The Last Sentinel) with Angel Locsin, was nominated in the 37th International Emmys.

"I just hope it opens doors for other showbiz people to be able to penetrate the international scene," Pascual said.

Pascual will join other celebrity presenters such as Academy Award winner Michael Douglas and "Star Trek" veteran actor George Takei.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com