Mediagazer: NBCU's 42 NBC and Telemundo stations, along with its 9 RSNs, have partnered with TVSquared, which tracks response to ads to determine their effectiveness (Brian Steinberg/Variety)

2:30 PM ET, December 13, 2019

Top News:

Judge rules against The Wrap, which sued The Information for allegedly poaching a reporter, in contrast to this week's Netflix/Fox ruling on the same issue — Sharon Waxman falls flat in a poaching suit against The Information just as the entertainment industry witnesses the opposite result in a battle between Fox and Netflix.

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, @conordougherty, @thr and @jessicalessin

Variety:

Sources: NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke to step down next year, likely to be succeeded by Jeff Shell, now chairman of NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment — Steve Burke is expected to step down as CEO of NBCUniversal next year and is likely to hand the reins to Jeff Shell, who is now chairman of NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment.

Discussion: Talking Biz News, New York Post, Fox News, Fox Business, Bloomberg, MediaPost, Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal, IndieWire, @jbflint, Multichannel News, CNBC, @ashkan, @variety, @donnerkay, @slthomas, NBC News, Deadline and The Wrap

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Liberty Media, which owns 4.8% of iHeartMedia, is seeking Justice Department permission to acquire a controlling stake in the radio broadcaster — Deal would put nation's largest radio broadcaster under same umbrella as concert promoter and satellite-radio giant SiriusXM

Discussion: Radio & Television … and @matt

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

NBCU's 42 NBC and Telemundo stations, along with its 9 RSNs, have partnered with TVSquared, which tracks response to ads to determine their effectiveness — NBCUniversal's TV stations want to keep talking to their advertisers even after their commercials have already run.

Discussion: Multichannel News and Business Wire

Jennifer Brett / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Olivia Wilde, the actress who plays the late journalist Kathy Scruggs in the movie Richard Jewell, defends her portrayal of Scruggs in a series of tweets — The actress cites “independent research” which didn't include talking to Scruggs' brother or close friends

Gretchen Carlson / New York Times:

Gretchen Carlson calls on Fox to release employees from NDAs they'd been forced to sign: “buying silence instead of stopping harassment is immoral and unjust” — I still can't talk about what happened to me because of a non-disclosure agreement. — Ms. Carlson is a journalist and author.

Discussion: @timesupnow, @jwpetersnyt, @stephenjleblanc, @tamaraholder, @davidfolkenflik, @gretchencarlson, Boing Boing, Newser, Mediaite, The Week, Deadline and Slate

David Cohen / Adweek:

Pandora begins testing interactive voice ad functionality, with Nestlé, Comcast, Unilever, and others participating in the initial test group — The audio streaming service has its own native voice assistant — Audio streaming service Pandora is expanding on the Voice Mode native voice assistant …

Discussion: MediaPost and @pandorabrands

Michael Calderone / Politico:

Over 115 newspaper boards called for Clinton's resignation after the Starr report, while only 6 coastal and national outlets have called for Trump's impeachment — While coastal outlets call for Trump's removal, most of those in states Democrats need to win are still on the sidelines.

Discussion: Orlando Sentinel, @jaketapper, @karoli, @garrettventry, @binajv, @johncutter and The Hill

Karlene Lukovitz / MediaPost:

Apptopia estimates that Disney+ has been downloaded 22M+ times on mobile devices since launch; bundling with Hulu and ESPN has upped downloads of the latter two — Disney+, launched four weeks ago, has now been downloaded more than 22 million times to mobile devices alone, estimates independent app-tracking company Apptopia.

Discussion: Quartz, MacRumors and Digital Trends

Emilio Casalicchio / Politico:

BBC's reputation has been put to the test ahead of UK's general election, making the broadcaster one of the combatants rather than just a neutral arbiter — The broadcaster is fighting to keep up with the changing rules of the political game. — LONDON — The veteran BBC presenter Andrew Neil turned …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @politicoeurope, @astroehlein, @lukemcgee and @charliebeckett

Ronan Shields / Adweek:

News Corp, Insider, SHE Media, and Chegg join the independent ad-tech coalition Prebid — Other notable names to join the independent ad-tech coalition include Chegg and SHE Media — As publishers look to reduce their reliance on the ad-tech industry's dominant players …

Discussion: @slayser8, Business Wire, @rubiconproject and @pbannist

Tyler Falk / Current:

NPR approves new model for calculating member stations' programing fees, shifting one based on their total revenue and audience to one based on donor revenue — NPR's board of directors approved a new method for calculating its member stations' fees for programming and other services, moving to a model based on station donor revenue.

Discussion: American Press Institute, @underoak, @cassbasler and @nwquah

Archived Page Info:

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Deputy Politics Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Alphaville Reporter, London — FT

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More News:

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: YouTube's premium services have 800K+ subscribers in India and are growing faster than rival paid services including Spotify, Gaana, and JioSaavn

Discussion: @lucas_shaw and @bloombergquint, more at Techmeme »

Libby Cohen / The Daily Dot:
CBS News included an Infowars host in an online video of Trump fans at a PA rally, without identification; CBS later added an editor's note identifying the host

Discussion: @nickmartin, @farrukhkpitafi, @nickmartin, @nickmartin, @nickmartin, @nickmartin, @nickmartin, @nickmartin, Mediaite, Media Matters for America and Towleroad Gay News

Steven Zeitchik / Washington Post:
Netflix paid for Critics Choice Association members to take four pricey trips this year; critics call the trips a potential breach of etiquette and ethics

Kathryn Hopkins / WWD:
David Carey, who left as president of Hearst's Magazines unit in 2018, is returning as SVP of public affairs and comms, shortly after staff launched union plans

Discussion: New York Post, @bdwilliams910 and @wwd

Steve Stecklow / Reuters:
Refinitiv, which distributes Reuters news on the Eikon trading platform, has blocked 200+ Reuters stories since August in China, under government pressure

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
A look at revenue streams for local broadcast news, which stands to get ~$3B of election ad spend this cycle and benefit from rising retransmission fees

Discussion: @spj_tweets, @michaelsocolow, @poynter, @poynter and NewsLab

Earlier Picks:

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Hulu launches ads that let brands target binge-watchers, offering the brands the ability to sponsor ad-free episodes or serve personalized offers

Discussion: Variety, The Streamable, Adweek, Broadcasting & Cable, Axios and Ad Age

Wall Street Journal:
Sources describe how ISPs like AT&T and Cox push the FCC to omit unflattering data, among other tactics, to improve scores on FCC's internet speeds report

Discussion: Techdirt, @benton_inst, @benton_inst, @benton_inst, @benton_inst, @benton_inst, @benton_inst, @lilliannnn, @jrosenworcel, @gigibsohn, @karlbode, @ygetachew2, @rsingel, @shalini and @shalini, more at Techmeme »

Greg Dool / Folio:
Palm Beach Media Group, a subsidiary of Hour Media Group, acquires Gulfstream Media and its six Florida lifestyle magazines, plus FortLauderdaleDaily.com

Kali Hays / WWD:
Editors of Out magazine and The Advocate, owned by Pride Media, are leaving; sources: Pride Media CEO is also stepping down, and more departures are expected

Belinda Luscombe / TIME:
Time names Bob Iger Businessperson of the Year following Disney's Fox acquisition, box office success, and Disney+ launch

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Mashable, The Playlist, @therock, @ithacacollege, UPROXX, @time, The Wrap, CNBC, The Streamable and Talking Biz News

Caroline Porter / Shorenstein Center:
A case study of Mother Jones' revenue strategy: prioritizing investigative journalism, following reader preferences, effective campaign messaging, and more

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @clarajeffery, @andrecarothers, @rebleber, @steve_katz, @shorensteinctr, @ehansen02, @bridgebotelho, @clarajeffery, @motherjones and @clarajeffery

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Klarna has halted its planned IPO in the wake of Trump's tariffs turmoil; StubHub has also delayed its IPO plans

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Nintendo delays Switch 2 preorders that were set for April 9 due to concerns about Trump's tariffs but the June 5 launch date remains unchanged

Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Microsoft Copilot adds support for memory, personalization, web-based actions, podcast creation, camera and screen analysis, deep research, and more

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