Mediagazer: Report: traditional pay TV operators in the US lost ~6M subscribers in 2019, a decline of 7% YoY, dropping to about 83M by the year's end (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Top News:

Daniel Cooper / Engadget:

ViacomCBS to expand CBS All Access with content totaling ~30K episodes of TV and ~1K movies from Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, Paramount, and others — ViacomCBS' rumored new streaming service isn't a new service so much as a massive expansion of CBS All Access.

Discussion: Multichannel News, Variety, Adweek, Broadcasting & Cable, Broadcasting & Cable, MediaPost, Forbes, @viacomcbs, Cord Cutters News, @viacomcbs, @viacomcbs and The Verge

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

ViacomCBS revenue fell 3% to 6.87M in Q4, its first post-merger quarter, with a net loss of $273M; company anticipates merger savings of $750M, up from $500M — UPDATED with stock drop: — Viacom share have plunged after quarterly numbers and a call with analysts.

Discussion: The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, The Streamable, The Wrap, Yahoo Entertainment, Reuters and @saraevans83

The New York Times Company:

NYT announces it has added a breaking news team in London, expanding its Express Desk; the team of five editors and reporters will be led by NYT's Erin McCann — The New York Times continues to strengthen its presence in the U.K. with the addition of a breaking news team in London to expand The Times's Express Desk.

Discussion: Digiday, Adweek, @mccanner, @sarahmarshall, @moorehn, What's New in Publishing, @stanfordc and @adweek

Tony Romm / Washington Post:

Streamers like Roku and Hulu are subject to much less stringent political ad transparency rules than broadcasters even as campaigns and PACs buy ads on them — With more Americans cutting the cord, watchdogs worry that voters lack a full understanding of who's trying to influence them

Discussion: @tonyromm

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Time Magazine expands its Time 100 Summit to two days with revenue from sponsors and access largely limited to members, who pay at least $1,750 — Time is doubling down on its elite, invitation-only events business. — The mag's second annual Time 100 Summit in New York …

Marc Tracy / New York Times:

Polk Award winners announced, including The Wichita Eagle, The Baltimore Sun, WaPo's The Afghanistan Papers, and a special award for NYT's The 1619 Project — The New York Times received four George Polk Awards on Wednesday, the most of any news organization, including one for The 1619 Project …

Associated Press:

President of broadcaster BeIN Sports, a major sports content buyer, is indicted in connection with Swiss bribery investigation into World Cup television rights — The Paris Saint-Germain president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, was charged on Thursday by Swiss federal prosecutors in connection …

Discussion: Reuters, CNN and New York Times

Reuters:

Sources: Thomson Reuters is close to naming former Nielsen president Steve Hasker as its next chief executive, succeeding Jim Smith — (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) (TRI.N) is close to naming former Nielsen Holdings Plc (NLSN.N) president Steve Hasker as its next chief executive …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Matthew Kassel / Mediaite:

Q&A with Chris Lehmann, who became editor of The New Republic last year, about its redesign, leaning in to its historic role as a magazine of the left, and more — When Chris Lehmann became editor of The New Republic last year, he inherited a magazine that was somewhat rudderless.

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Report: traditional pay TV operators in the US lost ~6M subscribers in 2019, a decline of 7% YoY, dropping to about 83M by the year's end — The U.S. satellite and cable TV business declined at an unprecedented rate last year — with traditional pay-TV providers dropping a staggering 6 million customers, a 7% decline year-over-year.

Discussion: MediaPost and @mcproulx

Peter Winter / A Life of Fiction:

How distribution monopolies, unchecked power to hike ad rates, and owner families using newspapers as personal cash machines led to bankruptcies like McClatchy — Why McClatchy Newspapers went under, and other local newspapers will too — In ancient Greece there was an official called the “Remembrancer.”

Discussion: @ckrewson, @dancow and @dancow

Journalism.co.uk:

Study: 18 to 34 year-olds spent just over a minute a day reading news during the 2019 UK election, compared to more than three minutes a day that over-35s read — With the under-35s spending less than eight minutes a week reading news, the media need to rethink the news agendas …

Discussion: @themurdochtimes, @niemanreports and @spj_tweets