Submit your Article

After enjoying a long reign as the king of streaming, Netflix faces a tough fight to keep its crown, BBC reported.

It lost almost 1m subscribers between April and July, as the number of people quitting the service accelerated.

But that was not as many as the streaming giant had feared. 

Asked what may have stopped subscriptions sliding further, the firm's chief executive, Reed Hastings, said: "If there was a single thing, we might say 'Stranger Things.'" 

The new season of the hit drama has been a phenomenal success, and may have helped stem the exodus of Netflix customers.

The company reported its first subscriber loss since 2011 in April, news that was followed by hundreds of job cuts.

Rivals are challenging its dominance, while price hikes have taken a toll.

The subscriber losses reported on Tuesday were the biggest in the firm's history, with the US and Canada home to the highest number of cancellations in the quarter, followed by Europe, according to BBC.

Guy Bisson, executive director at Ampere Analysis, said it was "inevitable" that Netflix would start to see its grip on the market loosen.

"When you're the leader, there's only one direction to go, especially when a large amount of competition launches, which is what Netflix has seen in the last couple of years," he said. 

It is a stark change for Netflix, which enjoyed years of seemingly unstoppable growth, as it revolutionised the way people around the world consumed entertainment.

Its position as a global behemoth was cemented when the pandemic hit in 2020 and people, stuck at home with few other options for entertainment, flocked to monster hits like Squid Game and The Crown.

But as pre-pandemic habits return, Netflix has struggled to attract new sign-ups - and maintain the loyalty of existing members, especially as the cost of living crisis leads to belt tightening.

The company also faces fierce competition from the likes of Apple TV, HBO Max, Amazon Prime and Disney+. Netflix was once the disruptor, making video rental stores like Blockbuster redundant. But the disruptor is fast becoming the disrupted, BBC reported.

Nteflix's move to make its service more expensive has also put off some customers.

Adele has said the "brutal" reaction to the postponement of her Las Vegas residency earlier this year left her feeling like "a shell of a person," BBC reported.

In January, the singer scrapped her dates 24 hours before opening night, telling fans the show was not ready.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, Adele said postponing her three-month residency left her "devastated", but said she stood by the decision.

On Friday, she told fans the shows would be rearranged "very, very soon".

Speaking to Desert Island Discs presenter Lauren Laverne, the 34-year-old said: "I definitely felt everyone's disappointment and I was devastated and I was frightened about letting them down.

"I thought I could pull it together and make it work and I couldn't, and I stand by that decision."

She continued: "I'm not going to just do a show because I have to or because people are going to be let down or because we're going to lose loads of money. I'm like, the show's not good enough."

The singer, who released her fourth album in November, was criticised online after breaking the news in a tearful last-minute Instagram video that the Caesar's Palace shows would not take place as planned.

"Of course I could be someone on TikTok or Instagram Live every day being like, 'I'm working on it'," she explained. "Of course I'm working on it! I'm not gonna update you if I ain't got nothing to update you with because that just leads to more disappointment, according to BBC.

"I was a shell of a person for a couple of months," she continued. "I just had to wait it out and just grieve it, I guess, just grieve the shows and get over the guilt, but it was brutal."

In February, Adele told TV host Graham Norton she was working hard with her team to prepare and confirm new dates, saying the Vegas gigs would "absolutely 100%" happen this year.

Announced late in November, the Weekends With Adele series was scheduled to see the singer perform two shows every weekend from late January until April.

The postponement meant her shows in London's Hyde Park on Friday and Saturday were her first proper ticketed concerts for five years, BBC reported.

She also told Laverne how exercising, which contributed to her weight loss, had helped her deal with her anxieties; and also spoke about her relationships with her partner, US sports agent Rich Paul, and her ex-husband Simon Konecki, with whom she has a son, Angelo.

US singer R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for using his celebrity status to sexually abuse children and women, BBC reported.

The R&B artist, 55, was convicted last September in New York of racketeering and sex trafficking crimes.

He had faced years of allegations and the judge on Wednesday said he had an "indifference to human suffering".

Lawyers for the singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, say he will appeal. 

Ahead of his sentencing, a handful of women took the stand to confront Kelly.

A woman identified only as Angela called the singer a Pied Piper who "grew in wickedness" with every new victim, while others who were not named testified he had broken their spirits.

"I literally wished I would die because of how you made me feel," said one, according to BBC.

Dressed in prison khakis and dark glasses, Kelly declined to make a statement of his own and did not react as the verdict was handed down.

US District Judge Ann Donnelly said the celebrity had used sex as a weapon, forcing his victims to do unspeakable things and saddling some with sexually transmitted diseases.

"You taught them that love is enslavement and violence," she said.

The court heard how Kelly - known for hit songs like I Believe I Can Fly and Ignition - used his influence to lure women and children into sexual abuse over two decades.

Jurors at his six-week trial in Brooklyn heard how he trafficked women between different US states, assisted by managers, security guards and other members of his entourage.

The court also heard how Kelly had illegally obtained paperwork to marry singer Aaliyah when she was 15 in 1994, seven years before the singer died in a plane crash.

The certificate, leaked at the time, listed Aaliyah's age as 18. The marriage was annulled months later.

Jovante Cunningham, a former backup singer for Kelly, said she never believed this day would come, BBC reported.

"There wasn't a day in my life up until this moment that I actually believed that the judicial system would come through for black and brown girls," she told reporters. 

"I stand here very proud of my judicial system, very proud of my fellow survivors and very pleased with the outcome."

Federal prosecutors had recommended that Kelly be sentenced to more than 25 years in prison, given the seriousness of his crimes and "the need to protect the public from further crimes".

But his lawyers called for a sentence of 10 years - the mandatory minimum for his conviction - or less.

They portrayed Kelly as growing up poor in a household rife with domestic violence and suffering sexual abuse from a young age.

They said he was "devastated" by the sentence and planned to appeal.

Lizzette Martinez, who met Kelly when she was 17, said that there were "so many things he could have done to stop himself."

"He had all the resources; we don't have resources like that. He could have gotten help," she told BBC News.

She said he avoided justice for years due to the "power of celebrity".

"I believe that he was just making so much money for so many powerful people that they protected him."

Kelly has been in custody since he was indicted by federal prosecutors in New York and Chicago in July 2019.

His three years behind bars have been eventful, including a beating from a fellow inmate in 2020 and a bout with Covid-19 earlier this year, according to BBC.

The singer faces further legal action in August, when he goes on trial again, this time in Chicago on child sex images and obstruction charges.

He is also due to face sex abuse charges in courts in Illinois and Minnesota.

Singer R. Kelly could face decades in prison when he is sentenced on Wednesday, nine months after being found guilty of running a scheme to sexually abuse women and children, BBC reported.

In September, a New York jury convicted the disgraced pop star of racketeering and eight counts of sex trafficking.

The 55-year-old R&B singer will spend at least 10 years in prison, with the maximum possible sentence being life.

Prosecutors have said he should spend at least 25 years behind bars.

The singer - known for the hit songs I Believe I Can Fly and Ignition (Remix) - was found to have been the ringleader of a violent and coercive scheme to lure women and children for him to sexually abuse.

The six-week trial heard how he trafficked women between different US states, assisted by managers, security guards and other entourage members, over two decades, according to BBC.

Prosecutors said he showed a "callous disregard" for his victims and showed no remorse.

"Indeed, the defendant's decades of crime appear to have been fuelled by narcissism and a belief that his musical talent absolved him of any need to conform his conduct - no matter how predatory, harmful, humiliating or abusive to others - to the strictures of the law," they said.

The court also heard how Kelly had illegally obtained paperwork to marry singer Aaliyah when she was 15 in 1994, seven years before the singer died in a plane crash.

The certificate, leaked at the time, listed Aaliyah's age as 18. The marriage was annulled months later.

After several delays, he will be sentenced at the US District Court in New York on Wednesday, BBC reported.

Kelly is separately facing trial in Chicago on child sex images and obstruction charges. He is also due to face sex abuse charges in Illinois and Minnesota.