Top News:
The Atlantic:
Four additional men accuse Bryan Singer, director of X-Men and Bohemian Rhapsody, of seducing or raping them as minors — Over the past two decades, Bryan Singer's films—The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie, Superman Returns, four of the X-Men movies—have earned more than $3 billion at the box office …
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Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
Condé Nast will put all its titles behind paywalls by the end of the year, after success with metered paywalls for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Wired — Magazine publisher expects subscription revenue to increase significantly — Magazine publisher Condé Nast said it would put …
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MediaPost, The Wrap, Adweek, @newley, @mmasnick, @espiers, @jarroddicker, @mathewi, @mdudas and Fashionista
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Reporters Maya Kosoff and Anna Breslaw leave the new Gawker after Bustle Digital Group refused to oust editorial director Carson Griffith over offensive remarks — The new site's only two full-time writers exited Wednesday in protest of editorial director Carson Griffith's offensive remarks about everything from race to penis size.
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Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
The Economist will launch The Intelligence, a 20-minute daily news podcast on Jan. 29, which has taken a year to create and is supported by eight new staffers — The Economist is the latest publisher to launch a daily news podcast in order to broaden its reach in audio and ultimately drive people to subscribe.
Discussion:
Journalism.co.uk, RAIN News and Talking Biz News
Chris Welch / The Verge:
After Netflix price hikes, Hulu will lower the price of its base, ad-supported subscription plan to $5.99/mo, down from the current $7.99/mo, starting Feb. 26 — The core service is getting cheaper, but live TV now costs more — Hulu just announced that it will lower the price of its base …
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Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Microsoft is automatically installing NewsGuard, a plug-in that guides users on which news websites can be trusted, on mobile versions of its Edge browser — Mail Online rated one out of five for credibility by new feature to fight fake news — Microsoft's internet browser is warning users …
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Press Gazette, Mashable, @jbenton, The Drum, GeekWire, @stopfundinghate, MacRumors, Everything about Android, @shoaibmkhan, The Verge, Engadget and @carnage4life, more at Techmeme »
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Two-time Pulitzer winner Russell Baker, whose Observer column appeared in The New York Times and other papers for 36 years, has died at 93 — Russell Baker, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose whimsical, irreverent “Observer” column appeared in The New York Times and hundreds …
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Chris Welch / The Verge:
Google launches YouTube TV in 95 new US markets, says it now covers 98% of US households — 98 percent of US households are covered as of today, with the rest coming soon — YouTube TV is finally nearing nationwide availability. The streaming TV service first launched in February 2017 …
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The Wrap, Variety, TechCrunch, Broadcasting & Cable, CNBC, YouTube Blog, TechCrunch, Light Reading, @backlon, Forbes, Engadget and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Patreon says it has 3M+ patrons, up by 1M+ in 2018, who support 100K+ creators; the company will pay creators $500M in 2019, reach $1B paid since launch in 2013 — Membership services platform Patreon now has more than 3 million patrons who pay to support any of its over 100,000 creators every month, the company announced Wednesday.
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Fast Company, VentureBeat, Tubefilter, Patreon Blog and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Viacom to acquire Pluto TV, a free, ad-supported streaming service, for $340M in cash; Pluto TV to operate as an independent subsidiary when the deal closes — Viacom announced Tuesday that it has agreed to buy Pluto TV — one of the fastest-growing free, ad-supported TV streaming services in the U.S. — for $340 million in cash.
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
Consumer finance journalist Martin Lewis drops his lawsuit against Facebook over scam ads, after the company agrees to donate £3M to set up an anti-scam project — Consumer finance journalist drops action as firm agrees to give £3m to anti-scam project
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Press Gazette, The Verge, TechCrunch, MoneySavingExpert, The Irish News, @alexhern, mirror, BBC, @alexhern and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
Elaine Low / Variety:
WarnerMedia debuts an incubator to “combine emerging technologies with content” starting with an NBA partnership and an initial focus on AR, VR, mixed reality — WarnerMedia is launching an incubator meant to “combine emerging technologies with content from across its operating units …
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MediaPost, Broadcasting & Cable and @jesseredniss