Mediagazer: Hearst Television says its stations will sell ads based on audience impressions instead of ratings, a method NBCU/Telemundo local stations are using as well (Jon Lafayette/Broadcasting & Cable)

1:00 PM ET, September 19, 2019

Top News:

Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund makes first grants: $5.25M to three Philadelphia recipients to support new models for local journalism — Fund's first grants to support new local journalism models, advanced technology for newsrooms — The Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund …

Discussion: @pilhofer, @lenfestinst, Inquirer.com, Talking Biz News, @tylrfishr, @tylrfishr, @tylrfishr, @tylrfishr, @lenfestinst and @jroxann

Patricia Nilsson / Financial Times:

Google is investing “several million dollars” in Project Neon, a three-year partnership with UK news publisher Archant, which will launch three local news sites — Google is investing “several million dollars” into a joint venture with a British local news publisher …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Press Gazette, The Keyword, Talking Biz News and @updatesneon

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: AT&T is considering parting ways with its DirecTV unit, including spinning it off into a separate public company or combining assets with Dish — Telecom giant considers fate of DirecTV satellite unit — AT&T Inc. is exploring parting with its DirecTV satellite unit …

Discussion: CNBC, NBC News, Light Reading, Talking New Media, @brianstelter, Ad Age, @the___spy, Ars Technica, Los Angeles Times, Multichannel News, The Wrap, CNN, Engadget, The Streamable, CNBC and CNET, more at Techmeme »

David Cohen / Adweek:

Nielsen Social Content Ratings, which measure talent's promotion of TV shows on social media, now include Instagram in addition to Twitter and Facebook — Facebook and Twitter were already being tracked — The Nielsen Social Content Ratings now measure talent's promotion …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable

Omar Sanchez / The Wrap:

Acorn TV, AMC's British film and TV show streaming service, has passed 1M subscribers in Canada and the US — Acorn TV, AMC's streaming service featuring British film and television programs, has passed one million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, the network has announced, calling it a …

Discussion: The Streamable, Broadcasting & Cable and Deadline

Marcela Kunova / Journalism.co.uk:

BBC tests a browser extension that blurs out text, images, and headlines of articles based on personalized trigger words that can prompt anxiety in readers — As one third of audience switches off from news, the public broadcaster is testing a tool that would allow readers to blur out stories that may impact their mental health

Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:

Survey of nonprofit outlets: foundations supplied under 50% of funding for the first time on record in 2018, as earned income and individual giving increases — “Nonprofit news organizations have much in common even if their scope or mission differs. Their journalistic missions …

Discussion: Talking Biz News and @jcstearns

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Roku OS 9.2 will feature Roku Zones, which aggregate content from particular genres, sorting it according to whether it's free, available for rental or purchase — The Ultra's remote can open whatever app you want with a single button press — Roku is unveiling its fall 2019 lineup …

Discussion: Variety, Roku Online Newsroom, TechCrunch, Multichannel News and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Medium adds a “Save to Medium” bookmarking feature that lets users save articles to a reading list via sharing extensions on mobile and in Chrome — Most sites don't load in reading mode — Medium's “Save to Medium” bookmarking feature is now live, letting you save articles …

Discussion: blog.medium.com, @medium, @ckrewson, @caseynewton and Medium Help Center, more at Techmeme »

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Hearst Television says its stations will sell ads based on audience impressions instead of ratings, a method NBCU/Telemundo local stations are using as well — Hearst Television said its stations will begin selling TV ads based on audience impressions, a shift away from traditional ratings.

Discussion: Radio & Television …

Robert Iger / Vanity Fair:

Book excerpt: as he exits Apple's board, Disney's Bob Iger recounts talks with Steve Jobs before Disney bought Pixar, and how their friendship grew — As he exits Apple's board, the Disney chief reminisces about his relationship with its mercurial founder—and how their radical visions aligned to save two companies.

Katie Deighton / The Drum:

GroupM forms New Majority Ready Coalition with media and tech companies, excluding Facebook, to help brands adapt to US's changing demographics in advertising — The biggest players in US media - Facebook excluded - have formed a cross-industry coalition to better understand multicultural audiences …

Discussion: MediaPost, Adweek and Multichannel News

Hilary Russ / Reuters:

DAZN reaches distribution deal with Comcast, its first in North America; Xfinity Flex box users will have access to DAZN starting today — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Media and communications giant Comcast Corp has struck a distribution deal with digital global sports provider DAZN Group …

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Comcast will give internet-only customers free access to Xfinity Flex, its streaming platform with 10K+ movies and shows, which used to cost $5 per month

Discussion: Associated Press, @xpangler, The Verge, corporate.comcast.com, The Wrap, Deadline, Multichannel News, TechRadar.com, Fast Company, Engadget, Deadline, The Streamable, The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

After Corey Lewandowski pronounced his freedom to lie to media, a look at how a Fox News “straight news” anchor interviewed him and sidestepped the lying issue — Fox News and its peers in the mainstream media seldom find common cause, though extraordinary circumstances occasionally give them opportunity to do so.

Discussion: @politidope, @theplumlinegs, @oliverdarcy, @rachellarris, @sophiatesfaye, @badfoxgraphics and Mediaite

Aaron Rupar / Vox:
CNN booked Corey Lewandowski for an interview just hours after telling Congress he has “no obligation to be honest with the media”

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Accounting Specialist Editor, Remote US — Reuters

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Asia Credit Reporter, Seoul — Bloomberg

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Assistant Editor - Digital, NC — SBJ

Video Producer - YouTube, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Managing Ed. - Daily Desk — The Athletic

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

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More News:

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Tumblr and WordPress.com parent company Automattic raises $300M Series D from Salesforce Ventures at a post-money valuation of $3B

Discussion: TechCrunch, Matt Mullenweg and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Dylan Byers / NBC News:
HBO's five-year deal for The Big Bang Theory is the clearest sign yet of AT&T's intention to transition HBO from a premium brand to a mass-market broadcaster

Megan Graham / CNBC:
CBS, Viacom, and WarnerMedia say they will no longer run e-cigarette advertising on their networks, a week after WarnerMedia's CNN announced a similar ban

Discussion: New York Times, Times of India, The Wrap, The Verge, USA Today and The Hill

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Researchers: many smart TVs and streaming dongles from Roku, Samsung, Amazon and others are sending user data to companies like Netflix, Microsoft, and Facebook

Discussion: Washington Post, @geoffreyfowler, ZDNet, @dhh, @ilvestoomas, @mmnjug, @justinbrookman, @geoffreyfowler, @faizsays, @upma23, @hoofnagle, @valaafshar, Wired, The Mac Observer and Slashdot, more at Techmeme »

Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Nielsen acquires a minority stake in OpenSlate, which evaluates brand safety of video content on YouTube and Facebook; source: deal values OpenSlate at $100M+

Discussion: @bjqool, @roomnoise, @nielsen and @digitalshields, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Washington Post:
Congress grills Google, Facebook, and Twitter again as lawmakers weigh creating a commission with subpoena power to study and monitor social media weaponization

Discussion: The Verge, @tonyromm, @tonyromm, Newser, Mashable, CNET, Engadget and MarketWatch, more at Techmeme »

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Only one of The Correspondent's five full-time hires for its English-language version is based in the US, with others in Italy, Nigeria, India, and London

Discussion: @jbenton and @niemanlab

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Plex adds Lionsgate as a worldwide content partner for its ad-supported streaming service, joining Warner Bros., which was previously announced as a US partner

Discussion: Variety, @media_evan, Windows Central, The Streamable and 9to5Mac

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Facebook debuts $149 Portal TV, a streaming box supporting Prime Video, Showtime, and CBS All Access that can also make video calls while viewing Facebook Watch

Discussion: Vox, Morning Brew, Facebook, @auchenberg, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, @davezatz, @mikedrucker, @ow, @amahnke, Fast Company, Fortune, CNET and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »

Tal Axelrod / The Hill:
NYT announced Tuesday that it is shutting down its Spanish-language platform, NYT en Español, which debuted in 2016, saying it was not financially successful

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Vox, @niemanlab, The Wrap, American Press Institute, New York Times, @raju, @hshaban, @hugobalta, @hechaenchicago, The Hill and RealClearPolitics

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is exploring a push into smart glasses by conducting an internal study, codenamed Atlas, to gather employee feedback on products on the market

Bloomberg:
Sources: Canadian authorities arrested Alexander “Connor” Moucka, who is allegedly behind hacks in June and July of up to 165 Snowflake customers including AT&T

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
The second developer beta of iOS 18.2 shows a “daily limit” for free access to “advanced” ChatGPT via Siri and an option to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus in Settings

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