Mediagazer: The rate of decline in pay TV subscriptions slowed in Q1, analyst Craig Moffett says, with cable operators losing 323K subscriptions and satellite losing 418K (Jeff Baumgartner/Broadcasting & Cable)

5:15 PM ET, May 10, 2018

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Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Spotify announces a hateful content and conduct policy to distance itself from controversial artists and introduces AudioWatch tool to scan its back catalog — Spotify has announced a new hate content and hateful conduct policy as it looks to distance itself from controversial music artists …

Discussion: Billboard, newsroom.spotify.com, Bloomberg, Ad Age, The Hill, @buzzfeedben, @danrys, @pitchfork, The Muse, Associated Press, @mtfiii and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:

Medium abruptly ends feature that let publishers use the platform to collect revenue from their own subscriptions, affecting 21 publishers — “Could we have a better metaphor for the way Silicon Valley considers local journalism?" fumed the owner of one of these remaining publications.

Discussion: @fara1, TechCrunch, Fast Company, New York Times, @jayasax, @fara1, @chillmage, @halimahmarcus, @cheriehu42, @alexeheath, @noahchestnut, @triketora, @jasonabbruzzese, @holdenthepage, @backertools, @adamconner and @mathewi, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

House Democrats release 3,519 Facebook ads from Russia-linked accounts, spanning 2015 to 2017, showing a coordinated campaign to sow distrust in US politics — - House Intelligence Committee Democrats publish 3,519 ads — Posts targeted specific groups to inflame civil discord

Discussion: NBC News, Facebook, Adweek, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Variety, Associated Press, Wired, @firstdraftnews, @facebook, @sarahfrier, @nbcnews, USA Today and @oneunderscore__, more at Techmeme »

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

IAB report: online advertising exceeded total spent on broadcast and cable TV in 2017, reaching $88B, a 21% increase from 2016; mobile rose 36% YoY to $49.9B — Online advertising reached $88 billion last year, a 21 percent increase from 2016 and a new high, according to the latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report.

Discussion: MediaPost, MediaPost, Ad Age, Adweek, AdExchanger and IAB

Brianne O'Brien / BuzzFeed:

BuzzFeed to launch a new Saturday podcast, The News, where BuzzFeed staffers add context to news — Don't get lost in the chaos. Join BuzzFeed News reporters and editors every Saturday for news that's smart, not stuffy. — We get it. — With the news alerts constantly blowing up our phones …

Discussion: @janelytv

Simon Dumenco / Ad Age:

The Onion's Clickhole launches Resistancehole to parody the Trump “resistance” the same way Patriothole, started last year, parodies the conservative right — Do you oppose President Trump? And do you have a sense of humor about your opposition? (Or do you not have a sense of humor about it but don't realize it?)

Discussion: ClickHole and @jenniferm_q

Sahil Patel / Digiday:

Sources: Facebook Watch is proposing annual budgets from $5M to $10M for daily news programming and $1M to $2M for weekly shows, based on per-episode costs — As Facebook looks to recruit news publishers for daily and weekly shows for Facebook Watch, the company is proposing a wide range …

Jeff Baumgartner / Broadcasting & Cable:

The rate of decline in pay TV subscriptions slowed in Q1, analyst Craig Moffett says, with cable operators losing 323K subscriptions and satellite losing 418K — ‘Conversion rate’ from traditional pay TV to OTT TV a particularly good trend for major programmers, analyst says

Discussion: MediaPost and FierceCable

New York Times:

Broadway's version of To Kill a Mockingbird is back on after two lawsuits over the Aaron Sorkin adaptation were settled Thursday — Atticus Finch is coming to Broadway. — A blistering pair of federal lawsuits over a $7 million stage adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird” were settled on Thursday …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter and BroadwayWorld.com

Matt Yoder / Awful Announcing:

A look at the declining relevance of ESPN's public editor job, which it has ended, saying it “outlived its usefulness” and citing similar moves by NYT and WaPo — ESPNBy Matt Yoder on 05/10/201805/10/2018 — Once upon a time, the regular ESPN ombudsman column was a must-read for anyone passionate about sports media.

Discussion: Poynter, @poynter, Deadspin, HuffPost, iMediaEthics and ESPN Front Row

David Shepardson / Reuters:

FCC says that the Obama-era net neutrality rules from 2015 will end on June 11; Senate to vote as early as next week on whether to reject the FCC repeal — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission said in a notice Thursday that landmark 2015 U.S. open-internet rules will cease on June 11.

Discussion: MediaPost, Techdirt, 9to5Mac and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:

Gannett reaches deal to buy search marketing company WordStream for $130M in cash plus up to $20M in earnout through 2020 if revenue goals are met — WordStream, the paid search software company that helps advertisers manage their PPC campaigns, has been acquired by the Gannett Company for $150 million.

Discussion: MediaPost, Business Wire, WordStream, @adammedros and Editor & Publisher, more at Techmeme »

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Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
AMC Networks' Q1 revenue grew 2.9% YoY to $741M with a 10.8% gain in content licensing and distribution revenue that offset a 8.8% drop in ad sales

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Jeffery C. Mays / New York Times:
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Kerry Flynn / Digiday:
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Matt Labunka / Facebook:
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Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
A look at the redesigned Google News: a “For You” briefing including local sources, Newscasts similar to Twitter Moments, headlines, and “subscribe” buttons

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CNNMoney:
Democratic lawmakers press AT&T for details about payments to Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer, in light of Time Warner merger and net neutrality repeal

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CNNMoney:
Internal emails show that executives at conservative Salem Media Group pressured radio hosts to be more pro-Trump amid 2016's election

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Nicole Nguyen / BuzzFeed:
Despite Amazon's efforts, paid reviewers who organize via Reddit, Slack, Discord, and Facebook are still flooding the site with fake reviews

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Brian Steinberg / Variety:
NBCUniversal releases internal report on Matt Lauer probe, says “Today” managers had no prior knowledge of inappropriate conduct

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From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Donald Trump announces that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at a16z, will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House OSTP

Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January

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