Top News:


ESPN announces plans to shut down ESPN The Magazine in September after 21 years; the company is considering publishing standalone print issues — ESPN, the sports-media giant with an influence that extends across several types of media, is getting out of one particular venue: print.
Discussion:
Sports Business Daily, Adweek, Awful Announcing, The Spun and The Big Lead


Cable operator Altice USA agrees to acquire streaming-video network Cheddar for $200M; Cheddar founder Jon Steinberg to become president of the Altice News unit — Cheddar founder and CEO Jon Steinberg is set to become president of Altice News, overseeing Cheddar, News 12 and i24News
Discussion:
@melisoncheddar and @arashmassoudi, more at Techmeme »


Twitter announces live streaming content deals with Univision, WSJ, and Time and new initiatives with previous partners including Viacom, the NFL, and ESPN — - Twitter Expands Live-Streaming Video Lineup, Sets Content Deals With Viacom, ESPN, Live Nation, Univision, and More
Discussion:
Adweek, MediaPost, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, TechCrunch, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Tubefilter and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
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On paid email newsletter platforms, small audiences are translating to dollars for writers, such as on Substack, where the 12 top earners make $160K+ on average — As writers gravitate toward paid email newsletters, small audiences translate to meaningful dollars.
Discussion:
American Press Institute, @tonyajoriley, @rachelysanders and @elizabethminkel, more at Techmeme »


At NewFronts, The New York Times says The Daily podcast has reached 2M listeners per day, talks ad targets, smart speakers, and its upcoming food festival — The New York Times announced new ad target offerings and events, as well as an emphasis on its TV-film commitment at its NewFront this morning.
Discussion:
WWD


New York Times ends relationship with CartoonArts, the cartoon syndication service that supplied the anti-Semitic cartoon — A ‘Times’ spokesperson told The Daily Beast exclusively about the paper's decision to stop using syndicated cartoons, including those from the syndicator of the offensive cartoon.
Discussion:
Poynter, Newser, Breitbart, iMediaEthics, New York Post, New York Times and The Daily Caller

Legacy media and native streamers should focus on live news because now, as before, it will help attract and retain subscribers though it can be controversial — Searching for a way for streaming to save the news (and for the the news to save streaming) — Additional Research & Interviews: Andrew J. Zucker
Discussion:
@aobaoill

Facebook to give 60+ academics around the world access to its data for projects on news polarization, disinformation, and more — Facebook knows it screwed up, is trying to do better, and is spending some of this year actually listening to critiques and suggestions (supposedly).
Discussion:
Financial Times, @nanjala1, items.ssrc.org, Facebook, Engadget, The Week, @niemanlab, @mshannahmurphy, @kadhimshubber, @ssrc_org, SOCIAL SCIENCE ONE, The Verge, The Hill, CNET, Poynter, Adweek and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »


Profile of Chris Cox, who, despite being chief product officer for years, never drew the attention for Facebook's scandals that Zuckerberg and Sandberg did — In late 2003, during his senior year at Stanford, Chris Cox, the future Chief Product Officer at Facebook (
Discussion:
@alexeheath, @hkanji, @mathewi, @hardcorevalue, @yahoofinance, @zooko, @mikeisaac, Business Insider and Beyond Search


Former Roku executives launch Tetra TV, an advertising network that aims to connect buyers to ad inventory from 100+ streaming video channels across platforms — A pair of veterans of the OTT platform Roku are launching a new advertising network, focusing on connected TV.
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, Variety and PR Newswire


Viacom to launch 14 free, ad-supported channels on Pluto TV on May 1 with content from BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and MTV — - Twitter Expands Live-Streaming Video Lineup, Sets Content Deals With Viacom, ESPN, Live Nation, Univision, and More — For Viacom, the future of television has an increasingly online sheen.
Discussion:
Beet.TV, Deadline, NickALive!, TechCrunch, MediaPost, Adweek, The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable


Fox News dominates Facebook with 80% more engagement than CNN through a mix of traditional news and viral content, despite having 17M followers vs CNN's 31M — By the time Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference landed, the battle to spin it had already begun, with politicians …
Discussion:
@jason_koebler, @viacristiano, @caseynewton and Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check