Top News:
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Michael Cohen drops libel lawsuits against BuzzFeed and Fusion GPS over publication of Steele dossier, which alleges he met with Russian operatives for Trump — Embattled attorney Michael Cohen has dropped a pair of much-touted libel suits against BuzzFeed and the private investigation firm Fusion GPS …
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Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite, Vanity Fair, Above the Law, NPR, NY State of Politics, East Bay Times, Law & Crime, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Newser, iMediaEthics, Bloomberg, @natashabertrand, New York Post, AOL, Washington Post, Newsy, The Wrap, The Week, @drdenagrayson, Axios, @mattmittenthal, The Daily Beast, Bustle, UPROXX, TMZ.com, VICE News, New York Times, Slate, @arimelber, @kylegriffin1 and @joncoopertweets
CNNMoney:
Investigation: 300+ organizations' ads ran on extremist YouTube channels despite many advertisers saying they use YouTube's sensitive subject exclusion filter — Advocates say YouTube is collecting kids' data — Ads from over 300 companies and organizations — including tech giants …
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Fortune, The Wrap, MarketWatch, Mediaite, The Hill, The Next Web, @donie, @gelles, @donie and @derekwillis, more at Techmeme »
CNNMoney:
In court, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says Time Warner deal would help AT&T keep up with tech giants, sending content directly to viewers and improving ad sales — Why the AT&T-Time Warner trial matters — After weeks of testimony from economists, survey experts and rival executives …
Discussion:
Variety, @hadas_gold, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Axios, @b_fung, @dallasnews, Dallas Morning News, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Multichannel News, @hadas_gold, Variety and CNNMoney
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CNNMoney:
At antitrust trial, AT&T's Randall Stephenson announced AT&T Watch, a $15/month bundle with no sports; spokesman says it will debut in “next several weeks” — Here's a different way to announce a new product — during your testimony in a federal court case.
Discussion:
@b_fung, @eriqgardner, FierceCable, BGR and Multichannel News
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Cheddar and Hulu make a deal to bring Cheddar's live linear content to Hulu Live TV, with daily news briefs and other content coming to Hulu on-demand — Cheddar isn't done making deals with the over-the-top streaming TV providers. Only yesterday, news came out that Cheddar was the first digital …
Tony Maglio / The Wrap:
SEC filing on Murdoch earnings from Disney-21st Century Fox deal: Rupert Murdoch, $66.7M; Lachlan Murdoch, $69.1M; and James Murdoch, $70.6M — The Murdochs have a lot of money, and once Disney's $52.4 billion acquisition of the bulk of 21st Century Fox goes through, Fox's top executives …
Discussion:
Variety, Business Insider, Deadline and Wall Street Journal
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Pew Research Center:
Pew: 58% in US prefer to protect the freedom to publish rather than letting government restrict false info; 56% favor tech firms restricting false information — But 56% support steps from technology companies, even if it means some limits on publishing and accessing information
Discussion:
MediaPost, Poynter, @pewjournalism, @yeyoza, @pewresearch, @pewresearch, @michaelbarthel and Pew Research Center, more at Techmeme »
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
Jen Wong, former Time Inc. president of digital and COO, joins Reddit as COO and will focus on business strategy and growth, both of revenue and users — Wong departed Time Inc. after it was acquired by Meredith Corp. in January — Digital media veteran Jen Wong has been named Reddit's …
Discussion:
Variety, Upvoted, New York Post, Recode, Mediawire, Business Insider and @onewong, more at Techmeme »
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
NBCU joins Fox, Viacom, and Turner in OpenAP consortium with a buy-in that costs $10M, sources say; OpenAP standardizes categories ad buyers can purchase — OpenAP membership can cost up to $10 million over five years — Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal has been reluctant to support OpenAP …
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, MediaPost, FierceCable, Radio & Television …, Adweek, AdExchanger, @awolk and @alexbruell
Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
Sources: Netflix has considered buying movie theaters in New York and Los Angeles; it decided not to pursue LA-based Landmark Theatres due to high price — Netflix, the global streaming giant that has dramatically changed the TV industry and clashed with movie theater owners …
Discussion:
The Verge, Gizmodo, /Film, The Playlist, Variety, Vanity Fair, @scottporch, IndieWire, @latimes, @andredoesthings, @scott_tobias, UPROXX and The Atlantic, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
MoviePass parent to sell 10.5M shares at $2.75, 28.2% below Wednesday's $3.83 closing price, as auditor has “substantial doubt” about MoviePass' future — Shares of Helios and Matheson Analytics, the majority owner of MoviePass, plummeted more than 40% in early trading Thursday …
Discussion:
Variety, East Bay Times, TechCrunch, Deadline, Engadget, The A.V. Club and /Film, more at Techmeme »
CNNMoney:
In Ireland, Facebook rolls out a new tool that gives users more information about creators of sponsored posts and political ads ahead of abortion referendum — Zuckerberg wants you to remember Facebook started in his dorm — Facebook says it has learned the lessons of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Discussion:
@transparentref, @cnn, The Irish Times and BBC
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