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Memo: in 2018, BuzzFeed generated $100M+ from business lines that didn't exist in 2017; Facebook video platform revenue grew from $500K in Q1 to $3M in Q4 2018 — - BuzzFeed CEO Says Company Is Generating Over $200 Million Annually From Businesses That Didn't Exist Two Years Ago
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Business Insider, Digiday, Adweek, BuzzFeed, @lucas_shaw, MediaPost, @xpangler and ZDNet, more at Techmeme »


Sources: Amazon teams up with the NY Yankees, Sinclair Broadcasting, and others in a bid to buy the YES sports network from majority owner 21st Century Fox — Amazon is coming to New York — to grab a piece of the Yankees sports network. — Jeff Bezos' tech giant has teamed …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Fox Business, Associated Press, @darrenrovell, Bleacher Report, Broadcasting & Cable, Awful Announcing and New York Post
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An overview of Amazon's media strategies, which include partnering with channels, expanding sports rights, and connecting content to products it sells — - Jeff Bezos gives the Amazon Studios team a massive budget to win “Lord of the Rings” and even sends Echo speakers to the Tolkien estate.


Australian court case puts media outlets on notice that they could face large compensation claims, after The Age was found liable for a reporter's PTSD — A landmark ruling by an Australian court is expected to have international consequences for newsrooms, with media companies on notice …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @lindsaycohen, @seanrobinson1e4, @jbenton and NEWS.com.au


White House Communications Director Bill Shine has resigned to serve as senior adviser on Trump's re-election campaign — Bill Shine, the former Fox News executive who joined the White House staff last summer to manage President Trump's communications operation, has resigned and will move …
Discussion:
TVNewser, Bloomberg, @clarajeffery, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, @gabrielsherman, New York Magazine, @tripgabriel, Ad Age, @maggienyt, The Daily Beast, KNSD-TV, @poniewozik, CNBC, @timobrien, Boing Boing, CNN, @timobrien, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, @karenyourish, @acosta, The Week, Fortune, Splinter, Newsy and Washington Post

Facebook's shift to more private sharing will make misinformation harder to track and raises questions about the company's liability for its diffusion — On Wednesday, in what seemed like a major shift, Mark Zuckerberg wrote that he wants to reorient Facebook around private, encrypted …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @zeynep, New York Times, American Press Institute, New York Times, The Guardian, New York Times, MIT Technology Review, @alexstamos, The Verge, @jayrosen_nyu, @evanselinger, @jason_kint, Parse.ly, @sivavaid, @sivavaid, Stratechery, Techdirt, @jessefelder, @willoremus, @_maditla, The Verge, Memex 1.1, @jayrosen_nyu, Wired, Wired, ClickZ, WIRED UK, Business Insider and The Week, more at Techmeme »


Serial Box, a digital publisher of serialized fiction that publishes stories in text and audio formats, raises $4.5M in seed funding, led by Boat Rocker Media — Serial Box, a startup bringing back the tradition of serialized fiction, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding.


Q&A with Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini on Miel Brudow's fight with the site after it posted Brudow's video without credit: “we really botched” the response — On Monday, writer and performer Miel Bredouw took to Twitter to disclose publicly how her content had been misappropriated …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, Deadspin, Deadspin, @onlxn, @rezac1 and The Daily Beast


NBC News and MSNBC plan to expand their podcasts team; one goal is a podcast focused on the 2020 election, starting out weekly and expanding into a daily show — NBC News and MSNBC are spending more to make podcasts. — On Monday, NBC News is announcing the first of several hires this year …


FCC docs: Apollo Global Management's Terrier Media will pay $3.1B for Cox TV/radio stations, combining them with others and owning 77%; Cox keeps minority share — According to FCC filings, Terrier Media, a new company created by an Apollo private equity fund, will pay $3.1 billion …


Former DOJ lead spokesperson Sarah Isgur, who CNN said would be hired as a political editor, says on Twitter that she will be a CNN political analyst instead — Sarah Isgur, hired last month as a CNN political editor, will instead serve in a more analytical role.
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, @whignewtons, The Wrap, Bloomberg, @benmullin, NBC News and @amescg


Disney CEO Bob Iger says streaming service Disney+ will include the entire Disney film library soon after launch this year, essentially ending Disney's “vault” — Exclusivity and availability is a tremendous advantage — Disney+, the company's upcoming streaming service …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Vulture, MTV, CNBC, Jezebel, Polygon, MacRumors, Engadget, @heyjonanderson, @kimscorcher, @drewmcweeny, @ceilidhann, @loudmouthjulia, @tasharobinson, @scalzi, @jank0, Fast Company, Ars Technica, 9to5Mac and Cord Cutters News