Top News:
Joe Pompeo / Politico:
Al Jazeera America to shut down by April 30, 2.5 years after launch, because the cable channel's business model is “no longer sustainable” — Al Jazeera America shutting down — Al Jazeera, which made a massive investment in covering the United States less than three years ago …
Discussion:
New York Times, @brianstelter, CNNMoney, Al Jazeera English, The Intercept, The Atlantic, TVNewser, Columbia Journalism Review, Radio & Television …, Forbes, Fast Company, Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite, @ajplus, Mashable, @alexjamesfitz, Multichannel News, The Wrap, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer, USA Today, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, @matthewkeyslive, The Desk, Boing Boing, Agence France-Presse, Broadcasting & Cable, @reformedbroker, Financial Times, Flavorwire, @mathewi, Media & Entertainment, Variety, @justinpeligri, @paulxharris, Ad Age, FishbowlNY, @indiabtl, @rosental, @petersterne, Top Digital Journal News, @charlesarthur, @hadas_gold, Fortune, @emilybell, @saramorrison, ProFootballTalk, The Daily Caller, RT, Talking Points Memo, Bleacher Report, @jyuanathan, NPR, @wyoumans, @hale_a, @kbsmoke, @felixsalmon, @mims, @eriks, @jaredbkeller, @tomgara, @brianstelter, @azmatzahra, @reddy, @brianstelter, The Verge, @hadas_gold, @brianstelter, @ggreenwald, @chrislhayes, @gmpaiella, @jasonleopold, @mathewi, @ggreenwald, @janearraf, @robertrayajam, @petersterne, @jaredbkeller, @wajahatali, @jaspar, @hadas_gold, @tomkutsch, Washington Times, The Week and The Stranger …
RELATED:
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Reporters who investigated doping in baseball and football will not be affected by Al Jazeera America shutdown — Al Jazeera unit that did doping documentary unaffected by Al Jazeera America shutdown — Just after Christmas, a U.S. media outlet made big waves with a well-hyped investigation …
Discussion:
Al Jazeera America and @chuckmodi1
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
President of Herring Broadcasting, the parent of One America News Network, says he's hired a bank to explore buying assets of Al Jazeera America — Al Jazeera America Already Has A Suitor: Herring Broadcasting — The news that Al Jazeera America will cease operations as of April 30 is just hours old …
Discussion:
Multichannel News
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
HBO Takes On Netflix With A New Kids Section Featuring “Sesame Street” And More — HBO's quest to more directly compete with streaming service rivals like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu is kicking off this week, with the company's launch of a new “Kids” section in its mobile application and the rollout …
Discussion:
Vulture, New York Times, New York Times, Washington Post, @nytimes, Gizmodo, Fortune, App Advice, Current.org, Variety, CityLab and Bloomberg Business
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spotify partners with Genius to show backstory and commentary annotations for selected songs, only on iPhone for now — Spotify And Genius Team To Stream The Backstory On Music Tracks — Spotify, the popular music streaming app with 75 million users, wants to ramp up its profile as a platform for more than just music listening.
Discussion:
Genius, news.spotify.com, TechCrunch, Mashable, Billboard, Vibe, The Verge, Racked, Complete Music Update, Co.Create, Digital Spy, The Independent, Ubergizmo, Complex UK, Fortune, SocialTimes, VentureBeat, The Next Web, PC Magazine, App Advice, TIME, NBC News and Engadget
John Koblin / New York Times:
‘Serial’ Podcast, Needing More Reporting Time, Goes Biweekly — At the beginning of every episode of “Serial,” the host, Sarah Koenig, opens with these words: “From This American Life and WBEZ Chicago, it's ‘Serial,’ one story told week by week.” — Well, make that every other week.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Serial, Mashable, Flavorwire, The A.V. Club, TIME, The Federalist, Engadget, NBC News, The Verge, @marisa_carroll, Daily Express, Antiwar.com Original, Inverse, Silicon Republic, EW.com, PBS NewsHour, FishbowlNY and ABC News
John Paczkowski / BuzzFeed:
Sources: Apple phasing out in-house iAd sales team as it updates platform to be more automated — Apple Steps Back From Its iAd Advertising Business — Six years after launching its advertising platform, Apple is moving to phase out its in-house iAd sales team in favor of a new publisher-driven system.
Discussion:
AppleInsider, Fortune, The Verge, MacRumors, The Next Web, 9to5Mac, Business Insider, Engadget, App Advice and @jackmarshall
Noah Kulwin / Re/code:
Sources: The Verge's co-founding editor Joshua Topolsky is raising $5M-$10M for ad-supported digital media project, covering politics, culture, and business — The Verge Co-Founder Josh Topolsky Is Raising Money to Launch a Media Startup — Joshua Topolsky, co-founding editor …
Discussion:
@m_delamerced
Jim Brady / Billy Penn:
Billy Penn, PolitiFact partnering to fact check Pennsylvania — Billy Penn is expanding ... sort of. No, we're not announcing a slew of new hires, or launching in another city. At least not yet. But, beginning in February, we will be able cast our gaze a bit wider …
New York Post:
Bewkes nixes HBO spinoff but open to Time Warner sale — Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes told investors in a series of closed-door meetings Monday that he's against a sale or a spinoff of HBO but hinted he would entertain a sale of the New York media giant, The Post has learned.
Discussion:
New York Post, Fortune, @pkafka, Quartz, Fast Company, Daily Mail, Engadget, Bloomberg Business, 9to5Mac, Business Insider, Ubergizmo, MacRumors, AppleInsider, C21MediaC21Media, @richbtig, App Advice, USA Today, @jyarow, Variety, Media Wire Daily, Reuters, The Wrap, Benzinga and @alexweprin
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
PewDiePie Launches Creator Network With Maker Studios — Revelmode will feature videos, games, philanthropic initiatives, merchandise and more. — YouTube star Felix Kjellberg, who is known by the username PewDiePie, has launched a new online network in collaboration with Disney's Maker Studios.
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Facebook and Google Move Execs to Work On Virtual Reality — In a sign of the growing importance of virtual reality (VR) for tech companies, both Google and Facebook have tasked seasoned executives to work with their respective VR divisions. — Google's VP of product management Clay Bavor …
Discussion:
Re/code, Computerworld, UploadVR, Mashable, The Verge, VentureBeat, 9to5Google, TechCrunch, Beyond Search, Reuters, Tubefilter, Peter X. Deng, NBC News, Computerworld, USA Today, Forbes, The Drum, USA Today, The Drum, VentureBeat, SiliconANGLE, Wall Street Journal, 9to5Google, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Fortune, The Next Web, @marshallk, SlashGear, @willoremus and Engadget
Canadian Press:
Shaw to sell Global TV, specialty channels to Corus for $2.65 billion — Shaw, Corus controlled by Shaw family through its multiple-voting shares; deal will help fund Wind Mobile purchase — Shaw Communications is selling its media division, which includes Global TV, to Corus Entertainment.