Meaning of っていうことで

Question

In an interview, a band member replied to a question about why they decided to release 2 songs at the same time. So she said that it was their manager who told them that the band was contacted to write 2 songs for two different TV shows. So, the band was happy and then she said :

「でも、そのドラマはいつから始まる？」っていうことで（ABCテレビ制作「パーフェクトクライム」。

There is an english translation of the interview, and there is one part that is confusing me.

I was like, “Wow! So happy! ... But, wait, when does this drama start airing...? " ("Perfect Crime" produced by ABC TV begins airing from January)

っていうことで was translated as "I was like". I know there is a grammar point "ということです" that means "I’ve heard that…; rumor has it that…; it appears as if; it means that" but it doesn't look like it's this usage. I found this question Meaning of ということで? and again, I'm not sure if it's the same usage or not.

Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

「Xということ」literally means "thing that says X", but that's really a metaphor for how we say "thing that can be described as X" in English.

From this we can get various extended meanings, including:

• A thing (こと) that can be described as X exists -> (This is known because) I've heard someone else describe an X こと -> Rumour has it that X.
• A thing (こと) that can be described as X exists -> My reaction that can be described as X exists -> I was like X.

So both meanings are extensions from the same basic meaning. I guess you could call them different usages though, because each meaning requires you to view「Xということ」from a different perspective.