Top News:
CNNMoney:
Al Jazeera America to shut down by April 30, with as many as 700 staffers losing jobs, promises to expand digital services in US — Al Jazeera America to shut down in April — Al Jazeera America will shut down on April 30 after a little more than two years on the air.
Discussion:
New York Times, Al Jazeera English, The Intercept, @brianstelter, Columbia Journalism Review, The Atlantic, Mashable, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, @jayrosen_nyu, @jayrosen_nyu, Washington Post, Financial Times, @petersterne, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, Agence France-Presse, Variety, @charlesarthur, Fortune, Talking Points Memo, @brianstelter, @azmatzahra, @indiabtl, @reddy, The Desk, @justinpeligri, @brianstelter, @hadas_gold, @brianstelter, @rosental, Mediaite, RT, @felixsalmon, @mims, @hadas_gold, The Verge, NPR, @tomgara and @wajahatali
RELATED:
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:
TVNewser, USA Today, Politico, Radio & Television …, Fast Company and Broadcasting & Cable
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 …
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, @nytimes, Gizmodo, Fortune, Current.org, @charlesmblow, App Advice, Washington Post, Variety and CityLab
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, Racked, Vibe, The Verge, Complete Music Update, Co.Create, Digital Spy, The Independent, Ubergizmo, Complex UK, Fortune, SocialTimes, VentureBeat, The Next Web, PC Magazine, App Advice, NBC News, TIME, Engadget and Re/code
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, MacRumors, The Next Web, Fortune, The Verge, @drbarnard, @jackmarshall, 9to5Mac, Business Insider, App Advice and Engadget
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:
@mtmoe1 and @m_delamerced
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Netflix's growth and strategy should be seen as a threat by TV industry insiders — Why Media Titans Need to Worry About Netflix — Imagine you run a global media conglomerate. Say you're Robert A. Iger, the chief executive of Disney, or Brian L. Roberts, of Comcast …
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
GoPro entertainment head Zander Lurie to become SurveyMonkey CEO, replacing Bill Veghte, who was there for six months — Lurie Departs GoPro to Take CEO Job at SurveyMonkey — Zander Lurie has left GoPro, where he headed its entertainment efforts, to become CEO of survey startup SurveyMonkey.
Discussion:
Re/code, Variety, Forbes, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, New York Times, Fortune and The Next Web
Jason Lynch / Adweek:
NBC research executive Alan Wurtzel: network shows compare well with Netflix and Amazon hits based on cross-platform ratings tool from Symphony Advanced Media — Why NBC Says Netflix Does Not Yet Pose a ‘Consistent’ Threat to Broadcasters — ‘Reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated’
Discussion:
The Wrap, Deadline, Broadcasting & Cable, Hollywood Reporter, Vox, EW.com and Variety
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 …
Discussion:
@jimbrady
Paul Revoir / Guardian:
Public ‘support BBC cost-savings but do not want services to be axed’ — Trust's consultation finds most of the 11,500 respondents back the BBC's plans - and want to close the ‘iPlayer loophole’ — BBC licence fee payers are “supportive” of the corporation's proposals on how to deal …
Discussion:
@rjdmc
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