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8:55 PM ET, December 16, 2020

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Substack launches Substack Reader, an RSS reader for tracking newsletter subscriptions and other feeds, in beta  —  Substack Reader is now available in beta  —  If you're worried about all your newsletter subscriptions getting lost in your inbox, Substack may have a solution.
RELATED:
Jacob Cohen Donnelly / A Media Operator:
A publisher of newsletters on digital media discusses the product and philosophical reasons he is leaving Substack, including lack of control over email lists  —  It was almost a year ago that I wrote a piece about me getting ready to leave Substack.  I was spending the holiday season rebuilding the site on WordPress.
Axios:
Texas AG says the state and nine others have filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming Google illegally hurt competition in the ad tech market  —  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday that he's leading a lawsuit against Google, accusing the search giant of taking illegal actions …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku and WarnerMedia have reached an agreement to distribute HBO Max on the Roku platform, starting Thursday  —  Roku and WarnerMedia have reached an agreement for the distribution of the HBO Max on the Roku platform — nearly seven months after the streaming service launched.
RELATED:
Hollywood Reporter:
Inside Warner Bros.' plan to debut movies on HBO Max, as CEO Ann Sarnoff says partners were not told before because of fears the news would leak  —  As the long-delayed DC Comics sequel finally debuts  —  on HBO Max and in theaters  —  it serves as the litmus test for an unprecedented release strategy.
Discussion: ScreenRant, IndieWire and PC Gamer
Jack Morse / Mashable:
Twitter says it will stop prompting users to Quote Tweet, restoring the standard RT functionality, and says QT use increased but overall sharing dropped by 20%  —  Well, it was worth a shot.  —  Twitter announced Wednesday that it will cease prompting users to quote tweet in lieu of the standard retweet.
Tatiana Siegel / Hollywood Reporter:
Sources: Biden is considering Bob Iger for a key ambassadorship, either to China or the UK, and Jeffrey Katzenberg is also being considered  —  The Disney executive chairman is at the top of the president-elect's wish list for a diplomatic assignment with the DreamWorks and Quibi mogul also in the mix.
David Pierce / Protocol:
A look at Reelgood, which lets users watch content from 300+ streaming services in the same app and says it now has 6M users, up from 2M at the start of 2020  —  David Sanderson's journey to fix the future of TV started with a simple and extremely familiar problem: He canceled cable and suddenly couldn't find anything to watch.
Discussion: @pierce
Bloomberg:
Facebook attacks Apple in full-page newspaper ads, claiming upcoming iOS 14 changes that limit data gathering and targeted ads are bad for small businesses  —  - Ads criticize Apple's plan to require opt-in for ad tracking  — Facebook placed ads in the NYT, WSJ and Washington Post
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Google says its new Chromecast with Google TV will get an Apple TV app in early 2021, giving users access to TV+ originals and iTunes purchases  —  Coming in early 2021 to the Chromecast with Google TV  —  Google's latest Chromecast with Google TV is filling in one of its biggest missing apps …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify signs a deal with NPR to distribute 26 podcasts in most of its 92 markets outside the US, with exceptions like Turkey and India  —  The streaming-audio company inked a deal with NPR to distribute 26 podcasts — including “NPR News Hour,” “Planet Money,” “Car Talk” and “Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!”
 
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 More News: 
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Ben Smith's latest NYT column only hinted at Tim Cook's reasons for killing a Gawker-related TV+ show, and buried the lede on Apple's “don't offend China” rule
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Fox News says it has extended Laura Ingraham's contract with a “multi-year deal”
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Digital Content Next, a representative for NYT, NPR, Vox, WaPO, and others, joins the Coalition for App Fairness, which is pushing for regulation of app stores
 Earlier Picks: 
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:
Hulu + Live TV drops Sinclair's 23 local CBS affiliates, after failing to reach a deal in the latest carriage dispute
Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed News:
At an end-of-year, company-wide meeting, Facebook said it is working on TLDR, an AI tool that would summarize longform articles in bullet points
LaToya Drake / The Keyword:
The Google News Initiative is funding 33 projects in the second round of its North American Innovation Challenge, focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion
Angela Fu / Poynter:
Tiny News Collective, a LION Publishers and News Catalyst initiative, seeks to start 500 local newsrooms in three years by offering resources and training
Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:
Condé Nast names Anna Wintour chief content officer, in charge of its brands worldwide and of Vogue's 25 global editions; she will remain EIC of Vogue US
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sign an exclusive multiyear deal to host and produce podcasts for Spotify via their production company Archewell Audio
 

 
From Techmeme:

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Cisco details a hacking campaign that penetrated multiple governments' networks using two zero-day flaws in its VPN and firewall Adaptive Security Appliances

Ben Glickman / Wall Street Journal:
IBM agrees to buy HashiCorp, which helps companies manage cloud infrastructure, in a deal valuing HashiCorp at $6.4B and expected to close by the end of 2024

Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:
US prosecutors charge two founders of the Samourai Wallet crypto mixing service, saying it facilitated more than $100M in money laundering transactions

 
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