Mediagazer: WNYC is leading public radio's transition to public podcasting (Jack Murtha/Columbia Journalism Review)

1:35 AM ET, January 14, 2016

Top News:

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: @brianstelter, Columbia Journalism Review, Al Jazeera English, Re/code, TVNewser, Talking Points Memo, The Intercept, TVNewser, The Atlantic, Business Insider, Slate, Reuters, @ajplus, Bloomberg Business, Wall Street Journal, Mashable, @bgrueskin, Hollywood Reporter, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, @s_m_i, @jayrosen_nyu, @jayrosen_nyu, Forbes, @matthewkeyslive, The Desk, Guardian, @brianstelter, @reformedbroker, Los Angeles Times, Fortune, @justinpeligri, Washington Times, @indiabtl, @rosental, @petersterne, @charlesarthur, Mediaite, @saramorrison, @hadas_gold, @hadas_gold, @brianstelter, The Verge, @brianstelter, @tomgara, @chrislhayes, The New York Observer, @wajahatali, NPR, @wyoumans, @jasonleopold, Mediaite, @petersterne, @eriks, @jaredbkeller, RT, @azmatzahra, @reddy, @felixsalmon, @ggreenwald, @mims and @ggreenwald

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: New York Times, USA Today, Politico, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable, Financial Times, @paulxharris, Radio & Television …, Fast Company, Agence France-Presse, Variety and Talking Points Memo

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, ProFootballTalk, @sarahmirk, @chuckmodi1, The Daily Caller, @jaspar, Bleacher Report, @tomkutsch, @janearraf, @hadas_gold, Ad Age, FishbowlNY and The Week

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, @mathewi, Forbes, Hollywood Reporter, @davewiner, @iamjoonlee, @bomani_jones, @mikegianella, EW.com, Vox, Variety, @reagangomez, @eleven8, @owillis, @nycjim, Deadline, Broadcasting & Cable and Mashable

Jessi Hempel / Wired:

Snapchat makes it difficult to find new things outside of Discover, missing revenue opportunities — Snapchat's Missing Out on Millions Because It Sucks to Find Stuff on Its App — Branden Harvey is really good at Snapchat. If his account were a cable channel, it would be '90s era MTV.

Discussion: Ad Age, Bloomberg Business, @jzheel, @kylesheldon, Business Insider, Fortune and VatorNews

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, AppleInsider, New York Times, The Next Web, Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat and Fortune

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, AdExchanger, MacRumors, The Next Web, Fortune, @drbarnard, @jason_kint, @jackmarshall, Business Insider, App Advice, Engadget, The Verge and 9to5Mac

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, Racked, Mashable, Vibe, Billboard, The Verge, Complete Music Update, Co.Create, Digital Spy, Ubergizmo, Fortune, PC Magazine, SocialTimes, VentureBeat, Complex UK, App Advice, The Next Web, The Independent, NBC News and TIME

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 …

Discussion: @jeffjohnroberts, @fmanjoo and @sub8u

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, Fortune, Current.org, New York Times, Gizmodo, @nytimes, New York Times, @charlesmblow, App Advice, Washington Post, CityLab and Variety

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

Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:

SoundCloud strikes licensing deal with Universal Music that includes tracks from labels and artists, and also user-generated content and remixes — SOUNDCLOUD HAS BAGGED A LICENSING DEAL WITH ITS SECOND MAJOR LABEL: UNIVERSAL MUSIC, FOLLOWING ITS AGREEMENT WITH WARNER MUSIC IN NOVEMBER 2014.