Mediagazer: Axel Springer to launch mobile news aggregator Upday in mid-March on new Samsung Galaxy S, Note and tablets in Germany, France, UK, and Poland (Ken Doctor/Politico)

4:00 PM ET, January 21, 2016

Top News:

Facebook launches Sports Stadium, a hub for American football now, other sports soon, offers real-time chats, stats, media commentary, more — Facebook's Sports Product to Launch During NFL Championships — There's a new stadium in town. Actually, in every town. — It's on Facebook.

He Huifeng / South China Morning Post:

Weibo to expand its 140-Chinese-character limit on messages up to 2K, trial starts January 28, rolling out to all 500M users on February 28 — China's Weibo follows Twitter in controversial move to ditch 140-character limit, says users can soon waffle on for up to 2,000 — Main menu

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, BBC, Mashable, ShanghaiDaily.com, Tech Times, Fast Company, ZDNet, AndroidHeadlines.com, CCTV America, New York Magazine, Shanghaiist, Digital Spy, Engadget, The Drum, VentureBeat, BuzzFeed, The Next Web and The Verge

Alistair Barr / Wall Street Journal:

Google disabled more than 780M ads in 2015 for violating policies including ads for unapproved drugs, misleading weight-loss claims, and “trick to click” ads — Google Disabled 49% More Ads in 2015 — Google disabled 49% more ads in 2015 than the prior year …

Discussion: BetaNews, Business Insider, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Guardian, Official Google Blog, Search Engine Land, The Next Web, @wsjd, Tech Times and 9to5Google

Kelly Liyakasa / AdExchanger:
Google rolling out “Real-time ads”, pre-planned ads that appear at specific times, first for select brands, then more broadly later this year

Discussion: @joshsternberg, Awful Announcing, Adweek, Ad Age, VentureBeat, YouTube Blog, Wired, Broadcasting & Cable, Engadget and mUmBRELLA

Henry Mance / Financial Times:

Pearson unveils £320M restructuring plan that includes 4,000 job cuts, and caps dividend due to weak earnings — Pearson to cut 4,000 jobs as it warns on profits — Pearson has unveiled a £320m restructuring plan that will cut one-tenth of its workforce …

Joshua Barone / New York Times:

Welcome to Night Vale creators launch Night Vale Presents podcast platform with new fiction series Alice Isn't Dead — ‘Night Vale’ Creators to Start New Podcast Platform — The world of “Welcome to Night Vale,” the popular fiction podcast made up of dispatches from a surreal Southwestern town, is getting bigger.

Discussion: ExaroNews, Exaro, The Independent, New York Times, The Daily Dot, Tor.com, Business Insider, Gay Times, Mashable and Flavorwire

Peter Roybal / Facebook:

Facebook's new Audience Optimization tool lets publishers tag content to target readers by interest or demographic info — Introducing Audience Optimization for Publishers — Today, we're launching Audience Optimization, an organic targeting tool to help publishers reach and engage …

Discussion: @quezzymoto, @melwhetstone and The Next Web

Associated Press:

Viacom cuts Sumner Redstone's salary by 85% to $2M amid questions about his health and competence — Viacom slashes exec pay amid lawsuit over Redstone's health — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Viacom Inc. on Wednesday pre-released details about executive pay that show an 85 percent drop in compensation …

Discussion: The Wrap, The Wrap, Fortune, New York Times, Bloomberg Business, New York Post, International Business Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Reuters, Deadline, Radio & Television … and Variety

Mike Farrell / Multichannel News:
Activist shareholder SpringOwl releases 99-page report calling for Viacom chairman and management team ouster

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable

Carl Swanson / New York Magazine:

Sources: Leon Wieseltier and Steve Jobs' widow Laurene Powell Jobs teaming up for as-yet-unnamed journal — Leon Wieseltier Is Not Buying The New Republic — But He Is Teaming Up With Steve Jobs's Widow to Start a New Publication — It will be a journal focusing on how technology affects our lives.

Discussion: @mlcalderone, @noahcrothman, @carloslozadawp, @jonathanchait and @yair_rosenberg

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

IBM Confirms Acquisition Of UStream, Forms New Cloud Video Unit — IBM confirmed that it has acquired video conferencing service UStream this morning. With several cloud video acquisitions in tow, the company also announced it was forming a new cloud video services unit.

Discussion: Forbes, International Business Times, Wall Street Journal, SiliconBeat, VentureBeat, Variety and Top Digital Journal News

Ken Doctor / Politico:

Axel Springer to launch mobile news aggregator Upday in mid-March on new Samsung Galaxy S, Note and tablets in Germany, France, UK, and Poland — Upday Ups the Ante on Mobile News Aggregation — BERLIN—Peter Wuertenberger worked as Managing Director of Yahoo Germany back in the late' 90s …

Discussion: @mathewi and World News Publishing Focus …

Jordan Valinsky / Digiday:

The New York Times launches Modern Love podcast with 48 episodes planned, essays read by celebrities — Why The New York Times finds podcasting to be a ‘natural fit’ for its Modern Love column — The “Modern Love” column, arguably the Internet's favorite New York Times thing to fight …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, New York Times and Radio Boston

Peter Sterne / Politico:

Judge recommends mediation in Gawker-Hulk Hogan trial — The state court judge overseeing professional wrestler Hulk Hogan's $100 million lawsuit against Gawker Media has recommended that the parties seek mediation rather than a trial, according to court documents.