Mediagazer: Cox Enterprises buys back Dayton Daily News and two other Ohio daily papers from Apollo Global Management, ensuring they can continue 7-day publication (daytondailynews)

12:40 PM ET, February 11, 2020

Top News:

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

WaPo's digital subscriber growth doesn't seem to be making expected gains on NYT despite a mass-oriented strategy, and WaPo hasn't posted the numbers since 2018 — But will the Journal and The Washington Post be able to catch up to the market leader going forward? Or is the Times preparing to lap the field?

Discussion: Press Gazette, What's New in Publishing, @jbenton, @deardara, MediaPost, THEFUTURE and The Guardian

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Source: Spotify is paying close to $200M upfront for the Ringer, to be followed by more than $50M later — - Streamer has spent more than $600 million on podcast deals — Sports columnist Bill Simmons founded the Ringer in 2016 — Spotify Technology SA is paying close …

Sara Fischer / Axios: Sources: podcast subscription service Luminary is expanding to New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Sources close to Elisabeth Murdoch say she has no interest in the job of BBC director and is focused on launching a production company — Sources say Rupert's daughter not interested in job, after press reports made her the favourite — Elisabeth Murdoch has made clear she has no interest …

Adam Sherwin / inews:
Sources: the BBC is almost certain to appoint its first female Director-General, with Elisabeth Murdoch and ITV CEO Carolyn McCall as two top contenders

Discussion: careerssearch.bbc.co.uk, @jbenton, @markdistef, Press Gazette, @emilybell, @rmcunliffe, @arusbridger, @janinegibson, @jimwaterson, @jamesrbuk, @markdistef, @peterjukes, @taraconlan, @adamsherwin10, @tcmbigcheese, @adamsherwin10 and Digital TV Europe

Liam Knox / NBC News:

Black News Channel, a 24/7 cable channel featuring black anchors and co-founded by former Republican congressman J.C. Watts, launches in select US markets — The Black News Channel, founded by a former Republican congressman, will try to win the growing Black cable news audience.

Discussion: American Press Institute, Fox Business, NPR, @nbcblk, @placebo90511492, @mayaaking, @eviefordham, @mvgal92691, @ronkelawal, @liamhknox, @spj_tweets, BBC, CNN, Mashable, The Hill and The Root

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:

Nielsen: streaming makes up 19% of US TV watching, with Netflix comprising 31% of streaming on TVs, followed by 21% on YouTube, 12% on Hulu, and 8% on Amazon — Netflix is big and it's getting bigger. And we're not just watching it on our phones and tablets: That dominance translates …

Discussion: Adweek, MediaPost, The Wrap, Variety, Reuters, VentureBeat and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Janko Roettgers / Protocol:

Redbox has begun testing its ad-supported live TV online streaming service, powered in part by Xumo, with preprogrammed channels like USA Today and TMZ — Cord-cutting is driving a rush toward free video, but experts caution not to expect Netflix-size results.

Discussion: Media Play News, @richlightshed and Cord Cutters News

Tim Arango / New York Times:

Profile of Carl Butz, a 71-year-old retiree who stepped in at the beginning of the year to save The Mountain Messenger, California's oldest weekly newspaper — High in the Sierra, Downieville, Calif., was about to become the latest American community to lose its newspaper.

Discussion: @jswatz, @emilybell, @livmqhenry and The Rural Blog

Freddy Mayhew / Press Association:

UK-based PA Media Group buys stock image company Alamy for an undisclosed sum — PA Media Group, which owns the PA news agency, has bought leading stock images company Alamy for an undisclosed amount. — Alamy was founded 20 years ago and boasts almost 200m stock photographs …

Discussion: PR Newswire

Sara Fischer / Axios:

YouTube is funding TYT Academy, a Young Turks online course focused on the creation of digital-first local news; sources: investment is in the mid-six-figures — The Young Turks (TYT), one of the largest progressive digital publishers on YouTube, is receiving funding from Google-owned YouTube …

Discussion: @oliverdarcy, National Review and @jon_allsop

Tony Maglio / The Wrap:

The 2020 Oscars drew 23.6M viewers, an all-time low and down 20% YoY; the 2018 Oscars held the previous all-time low of 26.5M viewers — Audience for 92nd Academy Awards declines 20% — The 2020 Oscars drew 23.6 million viewers on ABC, down a whopping 6 million viewers — or -20% from last year.

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Netflix won only two Oscars despite 24 nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern and Best Documentary Feature for American Factory from Obamas' studio

Discussion: @barackobama, The Wrap, 5ish from M.G. Siegler, @stevepasquale, @scottfeinberg, @lawrence, Broadcasting & Cable, @web, @jonerlichman, @sarahwhit10, Ad Age, Business Insider, The Wrap, /Film, Fox News, CNBC, The Streamable, Variety and Observer

Irene Wangui / International Journalists' Network:

A look at WanaData Africa, a pan-African network of around 100 women journalists and data experts, who have collectively published over 100 stories since 2017 — A growing network of African women journalists is leading data-driven projects that are elevating female voices and shedding light on under-reported stories.

Discussion: American Press Institute

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Sirius XM invests $75M in SoundCloud in exchange for a minority stake and two seats on the board — The audio entertainment giant puts money into the open audio platform. — Audio entertainment giant SiriusXM Holdings said Tuesday it has invested $75 million in open audio platform SoundCloud …

Discussion: Radio & Television …, TechCrunch, Variety, Music Business Worldwide, PR Newswire, Wall Street Journal, @pkafka, @ldignan and @pkafka, more at Techmeme »

NBC News:

Sources: Condé Nast is planning on suspending its Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit this year as the conference is losing money — Moving the Market: Deutsche Telekom chief Tim Höttges and T-Mobile chief John Legere are on the verge of winning their long-sought merger of T-Mobile and Sprint …

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Stars & Stripes:
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daytondailynews:
Cox Enterprises buys back Dayton Daily News and two other Ohio daily papers from Apollo Global Management, ensuring they can continue 7-day publication

Discussion: @madbair, @sensherrodbrown, @scalzi, @sgdoesit, @hollyzachariah, @joshsweigart, @daytonb2b, @lynnhulseyddn and @larryobhof

Elaine Low / Variety:
Sony Pictures Television Chairman Mike Hopkins will exit this month to oversee Amazon's video entertainment operations, including Amazon Studios and Prime Video

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David Streitfeld / New York Times:
After Amazon removes Nazi and neo-Nazi books, some third-party booksellers say it seems to operate under vague or nonexistent rules regarding prohibited books

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Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
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Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January

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