1. APPLE TO ANNOUNCE NEW SERVICES ON MONDAY: Apple is scheduled to broadcast an announcement from its Cupertino headquarters at 1 p.m. ET on March 25. Many believe the tech giant will reveal a video streaming service (a possible competitor to Netflix) and a news-focused paid subscription service, but no new hardware launches are anticipated. Mashable: “From the look of things, Apple will launch its currently unnamed streaming service with a powerful lineup of celebrity talent. Steven Spielberg, M. Night Shyamalan, Kristen Wiig, and Jennifer Aniston were just a few of the names linked to Apple's service when it was reported early last year.” 2. CAN WOODSTOCK 50 CAPTURE THE MAGIC OF THE FIRST FEST?: On Tuesday, the official lineup for Woodstock 50 was announced, with Jay-Z, Dead & Company, and the Killers set as headliners. Other performers include Miley Cyrus, Imagine Dragons, the Black Keys, and Chance the Rapper. The music festival, which will take place August 16-18 in Watkins Glen, New York, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original fest. But will this updated version capture the greatness of the first one? NPR: “’They're trying to recreate the magic and some of the cultural dominance that the original Woodstock did,’ NPR Music's Stephen Thompson says, noting that organizers are not only working in the shadow of the behemoth that was the original event, but also in the shadow of ‘the debacle that is Woodstock 99’ which was notorious for violence, destruction, and sexual assault cases. In the years since the original Woodstock, the festival's symbolism of peace and love has been romanticized in pop culture. As Thompson notes, no matter who's on the bill, carrying on the legacy of the original Woodstock is incredibly hard. ‘They're trying, I think, to feed a lot of mouths at once,’ Thompson says of the variety in this year's lineup compared to the gathering of 400,000 people back in 1969. ‘In order to attract 400,000 in this market place, you have to please a lot of people at once.’” 3. NETFLIX WILL BE ABSENT FROM CANNES FILM FESTIVAL: Despite ongoing negotiations between Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival, the streaming platform, once again, won't have any films screened in or out of the competition this year. Netflix withdrew from last year's Cannes after the festival ruled that films that weren't going to be released in French theaters couldn't compete. Variety: "The ongoing talks between the two sides have been friendly, including a dinner in Los Angeles just over a week ago with Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Scott Stuber and Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux, who was in town for a summit hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press, one insider said. The meeting was one of several held since Netflix and Cannes’ bitter spat before last year’s festival, which led the streamer to take Roma to Venice instead, where it won the Golden Lion. ... The Cannes-Netflix relationship has continued to obsess industry players and journalists, leading some to make fanciful speculations as to how their standoff might end. One scenario entailed an extended local run in French theaters for Cannes award-winning Netflix films before the titles are made available on the streaming service; another suggested that those films be temporarily removed from Netflix’s platform in France for the duration of their theatrical release. But neither of these scenarios is conceivable for local exhibitors, according to a source at the Federation of French Exhibitors." 4. ARIANA GRANDE FANS CAN REGISTER TO VOTE AT CONCERTS: Ariana Grande has teamed up with HeadCount to allow concertgoers to register to vote during her Sweetener World Tour, which kicked off Monday night at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York. HeadCount works with artists to set up voter registration booths at concerts. CNN: "'Together, we designed #thankunextgen, a program to help Ariana's fans make their voices heard,’ the organization said on Twitter. Fans can register at Grande's concert, but can also text ARIANA to 40649 to register, volunteer, contact legislators, or get a reminder on their 18th birthday to register to vote.” 5. FYRE FESTIVAL MERCH TO BE AUCTIONED OFF: To help pay back some of the $26 million that Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland owes to victims, the U.S. Marshals Service will auction off two boxes of festival merchandise, including branded T-shirts, sweatpants, sweatshirts, hats, wristbands, and medallions. The money from the sale will then be distributed to vetted victims. A date for the online auction has not been set yet. Vulture: "'Our objective always is to get the funds back to the victims as fast as we can in cases where there are victims,' the Marshals also said. Since proceeds from T-shirts and whatever else found thus far won’t cover everything McFarland owes to victims, they would get a percentage 'based on their respective losses,' according to prosecutors."
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