Top News:
Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:
Politico announces it is acquiring E&E News, a high-price subscription trade publication focused on the energy industry and environmental news — Purchase comes as Politico looks to expand its overall professional news business — Politico is adding some energy to its game.
Discussion:
@raju, @michellemanafy, @lydiadepillis, @tmannwsj, @joshluger, @matthewkeyslive, @sammy_roth, @digitalbond, @jaycodon, @jakesherman, @rickdunham, @cbudoffbrown, @harrispolitico, @natbullard, @bkingdc, @bradplumer, @harrispolitico, @vtg2, @rafat, @bbuchman_cns, @yayitsrob, @timothy_cama, @bdayspring, @reddy, @tonyromm, @politicopress, @lalpert1, The Hill and Talking Biz News
Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
Nielsen: Fox News tops all news and basic cable channels for the fifth consecutive year, averaging 1.9M viewers/day; CNN had its most-watched year in history — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ratings for Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel topped all news and basic cable channels for a fifth straight year in 2020 …
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Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
Interviews with 15 longtime Fox News loyalists on why they switched to Newsmax, often seeking programming that denies Joe Biden's victory — On the morning after Election Day, Greg and Jenny Brethen, loyal viewers of Fox News who watched the channel religiously for almost 20 years …
Discussion:
@ericbolling, @donal_okeeffe, @jeremymbarr, @jayrosen_nyu and Mediaite
Will Thorne / Variety:
First ever NFL game streamed exclusively had an average minute audience of 4.8M on Prime, Twitch, and others, almost as much as traditional TV viewership — The first ever NFL game to be shown exclusively on streaming platforms scored solid numbers, showing encouraging signs for future streaming-only games.
Discussion:
@crupicrupicrupi, The Streamable, @aquinas82nd, @jason_kint, @richarddeitsch, Sports Business Daily and MediaPost
McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:
Washington reporters, including Olivia Nuzzi, Jim Acosta, and Yamiche Alcindor, on being recast as “resistance heroes” during the Trump era and what comes next — The day after the 2016 election, I got a phone call from an old friend. Neither of us had slept much …
Discussion:
@kenvogel, And another thing, @dandarling, @exumam, @jchaltiwanger, @dlind, @mattdizwhitlock, @genepark, @jayrosen_nyu, @kylegriffin1, @senhorraposa, @mckaycoppins, @wajahatali, @bobsalera, Free Political Newsletter, @stevekrak, @emptywheel, @yossigestetner, @omriceren, @jchaltiwanger, @hadleyfreeman, @holden114, @byronyork, @theatlantic, @schmittnyc, @tzipshmil, @mckaycoppins, @jackmjenkins, @mckaycoppins, @mckaycoppins and Fox News
Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is tying the fate of $2,000 stimulus checks to the repeal of Section 230 — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is tying the fate of $2,000 stimulus checks to the repeal of Section 230, an effort that will likely doom both pieces of legislation in the Senate.
Discussion:
Washington Post, @jbarro, @mattyglesias, Fox News, The Daily Cartoonist, @jbarro, @jimmy_wales, @jimmy_wales, @waveturtlejake, @lexalexander, @dangillmor, @jess_miers, @chrismessina, @jimmy_wales, @yashar, @ryanunderdev, @jank0, @oneunderscore__, @chutry, New York Times, @lpackard, @dangillmor, @dangillmor, @birnbaum_e, @protocol, @oneunderscore__, @dangillmor, Reason, @jimmy_wales, @martinsfp, @dangillmor, @jimmy_wales, @jimmy_wales, Techdirt, Washington Post, National Review, CNBC, The Verge and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
Dave Lee / Financial Times:
FactSet: Amazon's “other” business unit, which is made up almost entirely of its ads business, will make $21B in revenue in 2020, up 47% YoY — Ads unit is growing faster than retail or cloud computing divisions — The surge in online shopping triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic …
Discussion:
@read_cap, @financialtimes, @hughhewitt, @juokaz and @tonytassell, more at Techmeme »
Kristin Robinson / Variety:
A loophole in Spotify's copyright infringement detection tactics is allowing unauthorized remixes and bootlegs of songs to be uploaded as podcasts — Spotify has joined the ranks of streaming services like SoundCloud and YouTube as a hub for bootlegs of popular songs.
Discussion:
@delgotloud and Engadget
Wall Street Journal:
Unredacted draft version of the lawsuit filed by 10 states earlier this month details a Google-Facebook ad deal that allegedly constituted illegal price fixing — Lawmakers have called for an investigation into the tech giants' contract, dubbed ‘Jedi Blue,’ which allegedly allowed for auction rigging
Discussion:
@bowknowsbiz, @johnvoorhees, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @bikehugger, @jason_kint, @repkenbuck, @moonalice, @jonspaihts, @bowknowsbiz, @jason_kint, @halsinger and New York Post
Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Over Christmas holiday, Apptopia says HBO Max had ~554K app signups; Sensor Tower says Disney+ had ~2.3M global app installations, up 28% from prior weekend — AT&T Inc.'s HBO Max streaming platform set a single-day record for downloads of its mobile app following the release of the superhero sequel …
Discussion:
Cord Cutters News, The Desk, DIRT, ScreenRant, The Streamable, TechCrunch, @michael_calia and Variety, more at Techmeme »
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Ampere: UK streaming subscribers grew 34% YoY in 2020, with a combined 32.4M for Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+, the top three services — Britons spent 40% of their waking hours watching TV during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, fuelling the biggest year for new subscribers to streaming services.
Discussion:
@scottygb and Matt on Audio
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Verizon is telling Fios TV customers that nine local Hearst stations may go dark on Fios on Jan. 1, saying Hearst is demanding carriage fee hikes of 45%+ — In a new end-of-the-year TV carriage fight, Verizon on Tuesday began notifying Fios TV customers that Hearst Television stations …
Discussion:
Radio & Television …