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Dish's Sling TV now has 2.5M subscribers, losing 94,000 in Q4, the first time it lost subscribers since its 2015 launch; Dish revenue dropped 2.1% YoY to $3.2B — Dish Network continued to feel the cord-cutting sting in the fourth quarter of 2019: While its total subscriber losses in the period …
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TechCrunch, Multichannel News, @valleyshook, The Verge, The Streamable, Broadcasting & Cable and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »
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During its Q4 earnings call, Dish chairman Charlie Ergen said that he believes the merger between DirecTV and Dish is “probably inevitable” — DISH Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen believes it is “probably inevitable” that DISH and AT&T Inc.'s DIRECTV, as the two largest U.S. satellite pay TV providers, should merge.
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Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, Multichannel News and The Streamable


China revokes press credentials of three WSJ reporters, ordering them to leave the country within five days as punishment for a recent opinion piece in the WSJ — China's Foreign Ministry says move was punishment for a recent opinion piece published by the Journal
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@secpompeo, New York Times, Axios, @wsjpr, CNBC, CNN, Breitbart, @brianstelter, Foreign Policy, globaltimes.cn, @erinhale, @georgikantchev, @danielflitton, @sentomcotton, @ourobororoboruo, @davidramli, @davidpaulk, @felixsalmon, @edwardlucas, @arifleischer, @isaacstonefish, @theresaafallon, @crtejada, @suzannenossel, @gillianwong, @janisfrayer, @simon_nixon, @gillianwong, The Week, @panphil, Committee to Protect …, @ramyinocencio, @cassvinograd, @katmyu, @kenroth, @birdyword, @nytimesbusiness, @meghara, @georgikantchev, @dylanbyers, @ewong, Mediaite, @ananthkrishnan, ABC17NEWS, @jennystrasburg, The Wrap, The Hill, National Review, VICE, New York Post, Fast Company, International Press Institute, Newser and Talking Biz News


The Hill posts its review of 14 John Solomon columns, says in some cases the sources were his own attorneys and he should have been labeled an opinion columnist — On Nov. 18, 2019, The Hill announced it was reviewing John Solomon's opinion columns on Ukraine after State Department diplomats …
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Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, @owillis, @jayrosen_nyu, @buhhhhlieevmeee, @froomkin, @mattgertz, Politico, @jonahfisherbbc, @cjcmichel, @msmacb, @djlavoie, @urbanachievr, VICE, @oliverdarcy, @dandrezner, @jettgoldsmith, @froomkin, CNN, @bradmossesq, @markhertling, @zacharybasu, @digiphile, @digiphile, Mediaite, @natashabertrand, @20committee, @nycsouthpaw, @kyledcheney, @elwasson and @froomkin


Facebook has 17M users in Australia but just seven fact checkers, from AFP and Australian Associated Press, who completed 220 fact checks since April 2019 — “It's incredible the sheer speed at which lies travel, particularly when they're targeted at groups," one fact checker said.
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@firstdraftnews, @rmac18, @cdibona, @mantzarlis, @broderick, @mhbergen, @tonyromm, @anguslivingston and @ryandeto, more at Techmeme »


The Markup says it will begin publishing on February 25 and announces its board of directors — The Markup, a nonpartisan and nonprofit newsroom investigating how powerful institutions are using technology in ways that impact society, today announced its Board of Directors ahead of its February 25th launch.
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@juliaangwin, @simko_bednarski, @sashak, @mharrisperry, @themarkup and @danielpmcdermot


E. Jean Carroll, the Elle magazine advice columnist who last year accused Trump of rape, says she was fired because of Trump's repeated insults against her — The longtime columnist blamed her departure from the magazine on Mr. Trump, who she said in a defamation lawsuit had damaged her reputation by calling her a liar.
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Bloomberg, @ejeancarroll, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Boing Boing, Vox, @jeffjarvis, Mediaite, @felicianista and The Hill


Vox claims it owns a SB Nation blogger's Twitter account with ~10K followers after an exec took over the contractor's account and changed login credentials — On Friday, Feb. 14, a senior executive from Vox Media managed to break into a sports blogger's Twitter account and change the login credentials …
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@motherboard, @goldenblogs, @derektmead, @jordansarge, @blazersbysagar, @timmarchman, @anchorlines, @mikeisaac, @felixsalmon, @drewmcweeny, @dan_cancian, Reclaim The Net, @laurawags, @vice, @cristela9, @annathebold, @_ben_clemens, @linzsports, @jasonrenker, @therealbradg, @gregotto, @derektmead, The Wrap and @yoda


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.
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@mccanner, @moorehn, Adweek and @stanfordc


Study: in Germany, news was the top genre on Apple Podcasts at 23.5% but on Spotify it was the fifth most popular genre at 8.36%, behind comedy and sports — We've written a lot (well, Nick Quah has written a lot) about Spotify's efforts to move in on Apple's 15-year position as the undisputed No. 1 platform for podcasts.


The Information and Bloomberg are testing a digital subscription bundle which offers access to both publications, streams, newsletters, more, for $499 per year — The Information and Bloomberg Media are the next set of publishers to test out a digital subscription bundling model.
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@jessicalessin, @martinsfp, @martinsfp, @benthompson, @kerrymflynn, @sarthakgh, @bradmichelson and @whatthebit


An Edinburgh Evening News editor will oversee six Scottish newspapers, including The Scotsman, as JPI Media restructures newsrooms to focus on digital growth — One editor will oversee six Scottish newspapers, including The Scotsman, as JPI Media restructures its newsrooms to focus on digital growth.
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Behind Local News UK