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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, @xpangler, MediaPost 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:
Fox Business, The Wrap, 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.


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, @elianayjohnson, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, @gabrielsherman, New York Magazine, @tripgabriel, @maggienyt, The Daily Beast, KNSD-TV, @poniewozik, CNBC, @timobrien, Boing Boing, Politico, CNN, @timobrien, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, Ad Age, @karenyourish, @acosta, The Week, Fortune, Splinter, Newsy and Washington Post


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


Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman share content plans for Quibi, their streaming service launching in April 2020, including a show on Evan Spiegel and Snapchat — Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman today announced a slate of new series and projects heading to their forthcoming video streaming service, Quibi.
Discussion:
Adweek, Fast Company, The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter

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, OneZero, New York Times, MIT Technology Review, @alexstamos, The Verge, @jayrosen_nyu, @evanselinger, @jason_kint, @sivavaid, @sivavaid, Parse.ly, @jessefelder, @willoremus, Techdirt, @_maditla, Stratechery, Memex 1.1, The Verge, @jayrosen_nyu, Wired, Wired, ClickZ, WIRED UK and Business Insider, 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.


In memo, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara apologizes for “personal actions” that embarrassed company and staff after leaked texts show entanglement with actress — “I deeply regret that I have made mistakes in my personal life that have caused pain and embarrassment to the people I love the most.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Variety, Deadline, The Week, @katiekilkenny7, @maxapotter and @joebelbruno


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 …


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


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 …