Mediagazer: A measure that could be included in Congress' must-pass spending bill would turn unauthorized streaming of copyrighted material from a misdemeanor into a felony (Nathan Grayson/Kotaku)

10:25 PM ET, December 9, 2020

Top News:

Nielsen: CNN averaged 1.73M viewers between Nov. 4 and Dec. 6, more than double a year ago, and the first time since Dec. 2001 that it beat Fox News for a month — NEW YORK (AP) — Since the presidential election, CNN has been on one of its best competitive rolls in almost two decades …

Discussion: CNN, @brianstelter, @josiensor, @edmundlee, @owillis, @brianstelter, Forbes, @johncardillo, Breitbart, @blackamazon, Vanity Fair and Axios

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Despite talk of a Trump-Fox News schism, the network persists in airing anchors who don't challenge lies and hosts who won't admit reality, with broad reach — On his Fox News show Sunday, Chris Wallace repeatedly tried to get Alex Azar to acknowledge a basic truth: that President Trump had failed to win reelection.

Discussion: Snopes.com, Al Jazeera, @oliverdarcy, Media Matters for America, @sulliview, @mattgertz and Mediaite

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Some viewers are leaving Fox News for OANN and Newsmax, both unmoored to reality, so Fox seems to be moving the same way by increasing opinion hosts' influence — With the clarity of retrospect, one can see how Fox News got into its current predicament. For the duration of President Trump's …

Discussion: Mediaite, CNN, Newser, @pbump, @gabrielsnyder, @sykescharlie, @ericagrieder, The Hill and Poynter

D. M. Moore / Polygon:

AT&T has agreed to sell Japanese anime streaming service Crunchyroll to Sony's Funimation Global Group for $1.18B — The move consolidates the anime industry in a major way — On Wednesday, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. announced that AT&T and WarnerMedia agreed to sell Crunchyroll to Funimation.

Discussion: Variety, The Streamable, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, ComingSoon.net, The Verge, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, @ykarps, @variety, @clarknova1, Engadget, Sony Pictures Entertainment, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @crunchyroll and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Sources: in an investor presentation Thursday, Disney will share growth updates for its streaming platforms and detail content release plans for Disney+ — Some big-budget movies will first go to theaters. Other offerings will debut online. All will ultimately strengthen Disney+.

Discussion: @brooksbarnesnyt, @bendreyfuss, @starwarsnewsnet, Heroic Hollywood, @richardrushfield, @richlightshed, @ennisnyt, @antovolk, Murphy's Multiverse, @edmundlee, @filmupdates and @filmupdates

Edmund Lee / New York Times:
Hollywood is upset about Warner Bros.'s decision to debut movies on HBO Max, but for owner AT&T, HBO Max serves as an incentive to keep phone customers loyal

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider, The Verge, Variety, @edmundlee, @kennethturan and @markberman

YouTube Official Blog:

YouTube says it will remove any content published from today that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the 2020 US Presidential election outcome — Over the past weeks and months, we've seen people coming to YouTube to learn more about where and how to vote or learning more about a candidate or an issue.

Luisa Beltran / Barron's Online:

Adtech company PubMatic, which develops infrastructure for programmatic ads, raises $118M in its IPO and hits a high of $33.16 after pricing shares at $20 — With all eyes on DoorDash's mammoth $3.37 billion offering, PubMatic made its public equity markets debut Wednesday. Shares soared 66%.

Discussion: GlobeNewswire and CNBC, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Internal email: Google tells its ad partners that it will lift the post-election political ad ban on December 10 — Google informed its advertising partners on Wednesday that beginning Dec. 10, it will lift the post-election political ad ban that went into effect after polls closed on Nov. 3, according to an email obtained by Axios.

Discussion: @sarafischer, CNBC, @sarafischer, @b_fung, The Hill, Business Insider, @jeffjarvis, Politico, Engadget, The Week and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »

Hamed Aleaziz / BuzzFeed News:

ICE says it “will not enforce the summons” demanding BuzzFeed News identify its sources “at this time” — “The media outlet subsequently declined to provide details regarding the sources of the unauthorized disclosure,” ICE said in a statement. “ICE will not enforce the summons.”

Discussion: @crampell, @kenbensinger, @haleaziz, @mat, @aflores, The Wrap and Committee to Protect …

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Fox News Media says it plans to launch Fox Weather, an ad-supported streaming weather service, in Q3 2021, initially as a mobile app — If the winds are shifting around cable-news in the aftermath of the 2020 election, Fox News Media intends to cover them: The company plans to launch …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, The Streamable, Fox News, Bloomberg, @joelrubin, TVNewser and The Hill

Nicole Lee / Engadget:

Amazon begins rolling out a new Fire TV UI with user profiles, a simpler design, and more — Back when Amazon announced its latest Fire TV products — namely, the third-generation Fire TV Stick ($40) and the Fire TV Stick Lite ($30) — it also said it was going to roll out a new Fire TV interface this year.

Discussion: @abeaujon and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Nathan Grayson / Kotaku:

A measure that could be included in Congress' must-pass spending bill would turn unauthorized streaming of copyrighted material from a misdemeanor into a felony — The United States government is, as we all know, extremely functional. It's so functional, in fact, that it regularly struggles …

Discussion: American Prospect, Protocol, @kebrightbill, @hasanthehun, @mitchbruzzese, @arcanefayth, @dingotech, @kz_frew, @unite4copyright and Internet Archive Blogs

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State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

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More News:

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Four top execs at DMGT, owner of the Daily Mail, took home £24M, or $32.2M, despite a profits slump in the pandemic, almost double £13M they received last year

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Netflix says it is testing new family-friendly features, including a Kids Activity Report and a Family Profile, while CBS All Access adds a Kids Mode

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Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Twitch unveils new guidelines to crack down on hateful conduct and sexual harassment, following a yearlong review, which take effect in January

Discussion: Ad Age, Twitch Blog, Kotaku, @kellen_browning, @garettsloane, Variety, Engadget, The Verge, TechCrunch, Polygon, PC Gamer, Fast Company and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Carli Brosseau / Raleigh News & Observer:
Publisher of Alamance News in NC was handcuffed in court Tuesday after objecting to a judge blocking media from a case that has been the focus of BLM protests

Discussion: @carlibrosseau and @mobilefireplace

Austin NewsGuild:
Journalists at the 150-year-old Austin American-Statesman and its six community newspapers announce plans to unionize

Discussion: @austinnewsguild, @apantazi, @blackstock360, @publici_union, @anxious_maria, @chrisbils and The NewsGuild - CWA

Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:
NBC Universal says Peacock, which launched in mid-April, now has 26M subscribers, up from 22M in October, and is seeing strong advertising demand

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Source: Some Spider Studios, one of the largest digital media publishers for parents, will have revenue of $35M this year, including $5M in profit

Earlier Picks:

Archie Bland / The Guardian:
Ofcom proposes radical shake-up of UK broadcasting rules, including encouraging streaming services like Netflix to provide public service programming

Discussion: @marklittlenews and The Independent

Lucinda Southern / Adweek:
Time for Kids now has 63,000 subscribers to its paid tier, which was introduced in August; The Week Junior had 75,000 paid subscribers in November

Discussion: @kerrymflynn, @keithgrossman and @sampjacobs

Glynnis MacNicol / New York Times:
Profile of the Feminist Press, started by professor Florence Howe in 1970 to surface forgotten female writers, and which now publishes 15 to 20 titles per year

Discussion: bookforum.com, @melissamichal16, @glynnmacn and @j_zuckerman

Angus Whitley / Bloomberg:
A proposed Australian bill to force Google and Facebook to pay publishers for news now recognizes the monetary value of traffic that platforms send publishers

Discussion: Platformer, @jason_kint, @clairlemon, @business and What's New in Publishing, more at Techmeme »

Pew Research Center:
Pew: 11% of US adults report using Google News often, and 24% say they use it sometimes; 3% say they get news from Apple News often and 10% do so sometimes

Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Substack CEO Chris Best on why it is not a media company, content moderation, making a reader app for users to easily read their newsletters, and more

Discussion: The Verge, @reckless, @niemanlab, @elanazak, @sarahnemerson, @abrams, @benedictevans, @benyt, @delia_cai, The Rebooting, @mathewi, @mathewi, @gustaf, @alex, @loudmouthjulia, @joshsternberg, @reckless, @studyhallxyz, @reckless, @mvzelenks, @reckless, On my Om and Nieman Lab

Brian Braiker / Brooklyn Magazine:
Brooklyn Magazine relaunches under EIC Brian Braiker, former Ad Age EIC; Braiker and a partner bought the outlet and The L Magazine from Northside Media Group

Discussion: @ayannaprescod, MediaPost, @slarkpope, @brooklynmag, @sizpatel, @juliannthrax, @mikerugnetta, @alexmleo, @pjsauer, @slarkpope, @merrillbro, @jarroddicker, @alexmleo, @slarkpope and @bmorrissey

From Techmeme:

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says the DOJ's “wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision”, would hurt US consumers, and jeopardize the US' global tech leadership

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

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