Top News:
The Walt Disney Company:
Disney to acquire 21st Century Fox, including stakes in Sky and Hulu, after spinoff of certain businesses like Fox News, for $52.4B in stock — 21st Century Fox to spin off Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News, Fox Business, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network to its shareholders
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Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Post-merger, “New Fox” to include live news, sports, and the Fox brand, as a return to “our roots as a lean, aggressive, challenger brand”, per Lachlan Murdoch — Sale of 21st Century Fox assets includes stakes in Sky in the UK and Hollywood film studio as tycoon focuses on Fox News and newspapers
Amy Chozick / New York Times:
With Disney deal, Murdoch's decades-long acquisition streak comes to an end in the face of the rise of streaming, despite past and current efforts to scale — For a while, Rupert Murdoch seemed invincible. — First, the mogul emerged relatively unscathed from a 2011 phone hacking scandal involving …
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Wall Street Journal, @jbflint, Stratechery, The Guardian, Splinter, @nytimesbusiness, @jimrutenberg, @markdistef, @cnn, @sarahlellison and The Daily Caller
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
FCC votes to dismantle Obama administration net neutrality rules in a 3-2 vote — WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to dismantle landmark rules regulating the businesses that connect consumers to the internet, granting broadband companies power to potentially reshape Americans' online experiences.
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The Wrap, Media Matters for America, The Verge, corporate.comcast.com, Politico, Media Matters for America, Recode, CBS News, Washington Post, @agschneiderman, Techdirt, Broadcasting & Cable, Fast Company, VentureBeat, Business Insider, Ars Technica, Forbes, Free Press Blog, NBC News, The Verge, The Guardian, Radio & Television …, ThinkProgress, Broadcasting & Cable, Mother Jones, Wired, WTVR-TV, Motherboard, Politico, @mattyglesias, @chrisdunntv, @markberman, The A.V. Club, CBS Los Angeles, @cnet, @danielschuman, @speakerryan, @corybooker, @b_fung, @digiphile, @mclyburnfcc, @jrosenworcel, @digiphile, @binarybits, CBS13, The Verge, Kotaku, GeekWire, @ceciliakang, @puiwingtam, TorrentFreak, FOX6Now.com, Bustle, UPROXX, act.freepress.net, Business Insider, abc7ny.com, Bustle, Fast Company, The Week, Techdirt, Cord Cutters News, Multichannel News and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Sydney Ember / New York Times:
Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. to retire as New York Times publisher on Dec. 31 but remain as chairman, as his son, Arthur G. Sulzberger, replaces him — In a generational changing of the guard, Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, 37, will become the publisher of The New York Times on Jan. 1.
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The Wrap, Ad Age, @nytimes, Mediawire, Poynter, @gabrielsnyder, @nickkristof, Business Insider and @sewellchan
New York Times:
Four women detail violent sexual behavior by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons between 1988 and 2014, and three say he raped them; Simmons denies rape allegations — Mr. Simmons, a powerful gatekeeper in the entertainment and media worlds, damaged careers and self-confidence with his pattern …
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The New York Observer, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, @drewsings, Salon, The Ringer, UPROXX, NPR, People.com, Highsnobiety, Miami New Times, The Daily Caller, The Week, @latimes, @carleyroney, Variety, @yashar, @nytimes, CBS New York, The A.V. Club, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, AOL, Bustle, Mediaite, The Wrap, @evansiegfried, @danielnmiller, @mattdpearce, @nytimesarts, The Grapevine, @yashar, Deadline and @jamilsmith
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook confirms it will stop subsidies for Facebook Live publishers, encouraging them to use mid-roll ads, and says pre-roll ads are coming to Watch — Everyone's least favorite ads are coming to Facebook, but six-second pre-rolls will only appear on original Watch tab videos you purposefully view and not in the News Feed.
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Facebook Media, Digiday, Multichannel News, Ad Age, Variety, @bmorrissey and Recode, more at Techmeme »
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Business Insider to drop “business” from its name in January to expand beyond corporate and financial news; Insider to launch niche verticals like Insider Wine — The company will rebrand as Insider Inc. as part of a strategy to expand into niche coverage areas on social media and elsewhere
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Business Insider, @stevekovach, @larakiara, @4evrmalone, @jackmarshall and @mdudas
Jason Schwartz / Politico:
NYT hires fact-checker for DC desk, an unprecedented move for a newspaper, in response to political weaponization of reporting errors and the volume of news — As news errors become fodder for Trump's attacks, the venerable daily makes an extra push for accuracy.
Mike Shields / Business Insider:
Internal memo: Refinery29 is laying off 34 staffers, or about 7.5% of its workforce, and sees “a correction” in digital media — - Refinery29 is letting go of 34 staffers, or 7.5% of its workforce. — It's the latest sign of a turbulent market for digital publishers battling the duopoly of Facebook and Google.
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, @willoremus, @toreyvanoot and @mattdpearce
Committee to Protect Journalists:
CPJ: record high 262 journalists jailed globally in 2017 in relation to their work, with half of those imprisoned in Turkey, China, and Egypt — For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed …
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@pressfreedom, New York Times, Mashable, Mediaite and Journalism News
Selina Wang / Bloomberg:
Alibaba's video streaming unit, Youku Tudou, has signed multiyear content licensing deals with NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures — Multiyear agreements give Youku subscribers access to movies — Deal comes as Alibaba doubles down in entertainment, Hollywood
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
UK lawmaker calls on Twitter to provide more info about Russia-linked accounts' activity during Brexit referendum, saying its initial response was inadequate — Social media platform listed just six tweets to UK parliamentary committee looking into claims that Russia meddled in referendum campaign
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