Syfy has ordered six episodes of "The Pole" for its animated TZGZ late-night block. The comedy, involving a political scandal in Santa's workshop, stars Jillian Bell and Bobby Moynihan and will likely start airing next year.

AT&T will begin to deploy a standalone 5G network this year with plans to establish the technology in scale during 2021, the carrier's Igal Elbaz said at an industry event. He added that, while the new infrastructure's benefits won't all be available at once, "customers will be able to benefit from day one gradually."

The respective parent companies of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter announced a joint venture Wednesday that effectively merges the two oldest and biggest show business trade publications, housing them in a joint venture controlled by Variety owner Penske Media Corp. (PMC).

DivX LCC, a part of notorious patent litigator Fortress Investment Group, says Samsung and LG smart TVs and other streaming video hardware infringe on four of its patents.

Betty Bushman, who made history as the first female announcer for a Major League Baseball team in 1964, passed away earlier this month after suffering a stroke at the age of 89. Bushman, who previously went by the name Betty Caywood, announced 15 games for the Kansas City Athletics.

ViacomCBS will reinvent the format of its Paramount Network to focus largely on original movies, the company's Chris McCarthy said. The Paramount Movie Network, as it will be called by the end of 2021, will air a new movie each week and a miniseries each quarter.

ViacomCBS leader Bob Bakish said that Showtime will remain an independent service and that he does not intend to sell it, despite pressure from analysts. Bakish added that the channel's streaming platform has shown especially strong growth this year.

Apple TV has begun distributing Starzplay to countries in the Middle East and North Africa with a lineup that include Arabic films and original content. Viewers in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain can access the video-on-demand service through various devices via the Apple TV app.

Microsoft has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to test a millimeter-wave private network for mobile wireless at its Washington State campuses, a filing shows. Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T would provide spectrum for the trial, which would use the 37GHz and 24GHz frequencies.

Qualcomm has unveiled its Snapdragon 750G, saying that it improves on the 730G's graphics processing, CPU speeds and artificial intelligence capabilities. The 5G X52 modem integrated into the chip also works with millimeter-wave as well as sub-6GHz spectrum.