Playbill is a monthly U. S. magazine for theatregoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of Playbill are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's program. Playbill was first printed in 1884 for a single theatre on 21st Street in New York City; the magazine is now used at nearly every Broadway theatre, as well as many Off-Broadway productions. Outside New York City, Playbill is used at theatres throughout the United States. Circulation as of September 2012 was 4,073,680; the Playbill, as it was called until 1957, was billed as "The Magazine of the Theatre" and was published by an entity known as the New York Theatre Program Corporation. Each issue features articles focusing on actors, new plays and special attractions; this "wraparound" section is the same for all Playbills at all venues each month. Within this wraparound, the Playbill contains listings and biographies of the cast, it lists the number of intermissions and "At This Theatre", a column with historical information on the theatre housing the production.

The Playbill distributed on opening night of a Broadway show is stamped with a seal on the cover and the date appears on the title page within the magazine. In lieu of the cast and show information, the subscription edition of Playbill contains listings of Broadway and Off-Broadway productions and news from London productions and North American touring companies; the Playbill banner is yellow with black writing. Each June since 2014, the yellow banner has been replaced with a rainbow banner for LGBT Pride Month; the Playbill banner has changed the yellow to another color on rare occasions in its history: October 2008 – green for the fifth anniversary of Wicked October 2011 – royal blue for the tenth anniversary of Mamma Mia! October 2013 – green for the tenth anniversary of Wicked April 2018 - white and red for the 5th anniversary of Kinky Boots Playbill launched Playbill Online in January 1994; the free website offers news about the theatre industry, focusing on New York shows but including regional theatre and international stage happenings.

It is read by show fans and theatre practitioners, is updated regularly. It offers discounts on tickets and dining for its members. In 2000, Playbill added www.playbillstore.com, an online shopping store offering official Playbill merchandise and merchandise from most current Broadway and touring productions. In 2006, Playbill released its first records on Playbill Records, an imprint of SonyBMG. Releases included Brian Stokes Mitchell's eponymous solo album and two compilations of show tunes entitled Scene Stealers, The Men and Scene Stealers, The Women. Playbill Radio, a 24-hour Broadway-themed internet radio station featuring news, a musical library of over 20,000 titles, premiered in 2007. In 2011, Playbill launched a comprehensive online database of Broadway history. Playbill Vault provides records of Broadway productions from 1930 to the present. Information on the website includes original and current casts, actor head shots, production credits, Playbill cover images, scanned Playbill Who's Who pages, production photos, videos.

In 2012, Playbill launched Playbill Memory Bank, a website that allowed theater-goers to track their memories of their theater attendances by entering dates they attended a show, along with information like ticket scans. The site provided information about cast members, including which performer had each particular role, for roles that may have had several replacements over the life of the show. Playbill Memory Bank shut down December 31, 2016. Playbill launched its first app, called Playbill Passport, on January 4, 2016. For decades, Playbill concentrated on Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters, while Stagebill focused on concerts and dance in venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. However, by the late 1990s, Playbill was profitable. To increase revenue, Stagebill entered Playbill's turf; the truce was first breached in 1995, when The Public Theater defected to Stagebill, more noisily in 1997, when Disney contracted Stagebill for its musical The Lion King at its newly reopened New Amsterdam Theatre.

The main point of contention in the latter case was control over advertising content: Playbill is distributed free to theaters, relying on advertising revenue, under its authority, per company policy, Disney required a program without cigarette or liquor ads. In response to Stagebill's upstart incursion, Playbill began to produce Showbill, a sister publication that conformed to Disney's advertising requirements for all publications distributed in its properties. Now with an alternative, Disney switched from Stagebill to Showbill for The Lion King late in its run at the New Amsterdam; the Ford Center for the Performing Arts commissioned Showbill for its inaugural production of Ragtime to exclude other automakers' ads. In a different circumstance, the producers of the Broadway revival of Cabaret wished to maintain the atmosphere of a sleazy nightclub at its Studio 54 venue, insisted on handing out Playbills after the performance. Playbill, sensing missed exposure for its advertisers, offered the show's producers "Showbill" instead.

Additionally, Playbill responded further by producing publications for classic arts venues, aggressively courting many venues

EchoStar V was a communications satellite built by Space Systems/Loral based in Palo Alto, CA and operated by EchoStar. Launched in 1999 it was operated in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 148 degrees west. EchoStar V was used for direct-to-home television broadcasting services; the launch of EchoStar V made use of a Atlas rocket flying from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, United States. The launch took place at 06:02 UTC on September 23, 1999, with the spacecraft entering a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Launch mass: 3,602 kilograms Power: 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries Stabilization: 3-axis Longitude: 148° West 1999 in spaceflight

General Ralph Gore, 1st Earl of Ross, known as Sir Ralph Gore, 6th Baronet from 1746 until 1764, subsequently as The Lord Gore until 1768 and as The Viscount Belleisle until 1772, was an Irish soldier and peer. Born at Belle Isle Castle, he was the second son of Sir Ralph Gore, 4th Baronet and his second wife Elizabeth, only daughter of St George Ashe, at that time Bishop of Clogher. Gore was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and in 1744, he purchased a lieutenancy in the 33rd Regiment of Foot. In 1746, he succeeded his older brother St George as baronet. In the middle of the War of the Austrian Succession, Gore joined the regiment in Flanders in 1745 and took over a company. At the Battle of Fontenoy on 11 May, he was hit on his right arm by a shot, however recovered. During the Battle of Lauffeld on 2 July 1747 all his superior officers were killed or wounded, so command of the battalion fell to Gore, who performed so well, that on the following day he received the thanks of the British commander Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.

In 1760, he raised the 92nd Regiment of Foot and became its lieutenant-colonel until the regiment's dissolution three years later. Gore was promoted to colonel in 1772 and to major-general in 1777. Two years thereafter he was admitted to the Irish general staff and in 1781 obtained colonelship of the 32nd Regiment of Foot. In the following year, he was made a lieutenant-general and in 1788 during the absence of Sir William Augustus Pitt was acting Commander-in-Chief, Ireland. Gore was promoted to a full general in 1796. In 1747, Gore entered the Irish House of Commons, sitting for Donegal County, the same constituency his father and brother had represented before, until 1764, when on 30 June, he was ennobled in the Peerage of Ireland with the title Baron Gore, of Manor Gore, in the County of Donegal, he took his seat in the Irish House of Lords in 1767 and was created Viscount Belleisle, of Belleisle, in the County of Fermanagh on 25 August 1768. Gore was advanced as Earl of Ross, in the County of Fermanagh on 4 January 1772.

He served as High Sheriff of Donegal in 1755 and as High Sheriff of Fermanagh in 1760. On 23 February 1754 he married firstly Katherine, eldest daughter of William Conolly and Lady Anne Wentworth. After her death in 1771, Gore remarried Alicia Clements, youngest daughter of Nathaniel Clements and Hannah Gore on 22 August 1773, his only son by his second marriage, predeceased him in 1789. Alicia was buried like her son at Clifton Church in Bristol. Gore was succeeded in the baronetcy by his nephew Ralph. Belle Isle had been in the Gore family for generations, but it was Lord Ross' father who built the castle, his son, born there, spent many years improving and expanding Belle Isle Castle and creating a magnificent garden