Top News:
Barry Wilner / Associated Press:
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.
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Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:
Gawker to sell minority stake to Columbus Nova Tech Partners, pending shareholder approval, to fund video and e-commerce growth, lawsuit defense — Gawker Media Plans to Sell Minority Stake to Investment Company — Gawker Media plans to sell a minority stake to the investment company …
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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.
Discussion:
Tampa Bay Times, Awful Announcing and Fortune
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
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Kurt Wagner / Re/code:
News Corp denies rumors stemming from CNBC segment that it's interested in buying Twitter — Twitter's Stock Surged, Then Slipped on Takeover Speculation — Twitter's stock received a healthy boost Wednesday afternoon thanks to market speculation that the media giant News Corp may be interested …
Discussion:
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ExaroNews:
Leaked 500 page draft report into Jimmy Savile scandal criticizes “deferential culture”, “untouchable stars”, and “above the law” managers at BBC — Jimmy Savile: Janet Smith's damning review leaked to Exaro — BBC's ‘deferential culture’, ‘untouchable’ stars and ‘above the law’ managers blamed
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 …
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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 — Google Debuts ‘Real-Time Ads’ To Drive Live Engagement — Google sounds more and more like Twitter, heralding ways marketers can tap into live events for engagement.
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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 …
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Shannon Bond / Financial Times:
Panoply launches Megaphone, offering podcasters hosting, distribution measurement and ad placement — Panoply launches advertising technology for podcasts — Panoply, the podcast network owned by digital publisher Slate, is launching a technology that will enable the company to track …
Jasper Jackson / Guardian:
The Sun drops standalone politics site — Sun Nation, launched as a ‘loud and disruptive’ force before the general election, has been absorbed into the main website now the paywall has been axed — The Sun has called time on its standalone politics site, less than a year after it launched as a …
Discussion:
Guido Fawkes
Sky News:
Around 900 jobs are under threat at telecoms firm Virgin Media after it announced plans for a shake-up. — The group, owned by US giant Liberty Global, warned that the redundancies were likely over the next two years as it undergoes a structural shake-up. — Chief executive Tom Mockridge said …
Discussion:
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