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.

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.

Google announced that Disney Plus is now available on smart displays like the Nest Hub and the Nest Hub Max. All Google Assistant-enabled smart displays will natively support the feature and users can use voice navigation to launch programs. Netflix started streaming on Google's smart displays in July.

Samsung is expanding the streaming service it includes with its smart TVs, Samsung TV Plus, to its Galaxy smartphones. Available online starting Wednesday at the Galaxy Store and Google Play Store, the Samsung TV Plus app will run on Galaxy Note20, Galaxy S20, Galaxy Note10 and Galaxy S10 series mobile devices. (It apparently won't be compatible with other Android-based smartphones.)

AT&T and Microsoft have combined to develop a module that leans on 4G and LTE-M services to allow connected devices to circumvent public Wi-Fi networks by relying on private networks to send data to Microsoft's Azure cloud computing service. The module will protect internet of things by tapping into the enhanced security from mobile networks, Microsoft said.