Top News:
Manori Ravindran / Variety:
Comcast appoints Dana Strong to succeed Jeremy Darroch as CEO of Sky Group; Strong was previously president and COO of UK's Virgin Media — Comcast Cable executive Dana Strong is set to succeed Jeremy Darroch as CEO of Sky Group in what is a major restructure at the European pay-TV operator.
Discussion:
The Desk, Financial Times, Reuters, The Wrap, nexttv.com, Digital TV Europe, C21Media, Hollywood Reporter, Broadband TV News and @claireatki
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
NBCU Ad Chief Linda Yaccarino named chair of the Ad Council's board of directors, succeeding David Fischer, chief revenue officer of Facebook — Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal's chairman of global advertising and partnerships, has been named chair of the Ad Council's board of directors.
Discussion:
Ad Age, The Drum, MediaPost, Adweek and @adcouncil
Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Sources: UK to announce former Goldman Sachs banker Richard Sharp as the next BBC chairman — Richard Sharp is to be named as Sir David Clementi's successor at the BBC as soon as Thursday, Sky News learns. — City editor @MarkKleinmanSky — Created with Sketch.
Discussion:
Variety, Press Gazette, BBC, The Guardian, @raju, @markkleinmansky and Broadband TV News
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
C-SPAN says Steve Scully, the host placed on leave for “Twitter-related controversies” ahead of the second presidential debate, will return to work this week — C-SPAN says that Scully will return to work this week, producing for its television programming and hosting ‘Washington Today’ and ‘The Weekly’ for C-SPAN Radio.
Discussion:
@yashar, Deadline, Poynter, @erikwemple, @donaldjtrumpjr, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @pwthornton, Mediaite, Fox News, The Hill and TVNewser
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Reuters EIC Stephen J. Adler announces that he will retire in April 2021, after ten years at the head of the newsroom — Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen J. Adler announced Wednesday that he will retire in April 2021, after ten years at the head of the award-winning global newsroom.
Discussion:
Reuters and @brianstelter, Thanks:@talkingbiznews
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook says it will resume its political ad ban in Georgia after the polls close in the Georgia runoff elections — Following the Georgia runoff elections, the Facebook ban that restricts ads on social issues, elections and politics nationwide will be reimplemented in the state, the company said on Tuesday.
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Corin Faife / The Markup:
Study of 58 Facebook users' feeds in Georgia found partisan content elbowed out traditional news sites after Facebook reversed its political ad ban
Study of 58 Facebook users' feeds in Georgia found partisan content elbowed out traditional news sites after Facebook reversed its political ad ban
Discussion:
@juliaangwin, @borthwick, Columbia Journalism Review, CNBC, @mikeelgan, @themarkup, @marietjeschaake, @fromtga, @rasmus_kleis, @randfish, @wadhwa, @chanceyfleet, @corintxt, @billypuntove, @stevemullis, @niemanlab, @hari, @emilybell, @saraheneedleman, @lkfazio, @whet, @jason_kint, @ceciliakang, @craignewmark, @michellemanafy, Yello, Fast Company, The Verge and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Press Gazette:
UK's GB News raises new funding from investors including Dubai-based Legatum, says it will hire 120 journalists; sources: the channel raised £60M in this round — Bosses of news channel GB News have confirmed two new backers for its 24-hour TV and online service set to launch …
Discussion:
@ian_fraser, @pressgazette, @emmakennedy, @edmundheaphy, @bakerstherald, @sturdyalex, @joncstone and @peterjukes
Anthony Wood / Roku Blog:
Roku says it now has 51.2M active user accounts, up by about 14M in 2020, and users streamed 58.7B hours in 2020 — Today, we shared a significant milestone for Roku and the industry. We announced preliminary estimated data for the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, 2020, of 51.2 million active accounts …
Discussion:
MediaPost, The Desk, The Streamable, Variety and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Cameo says it sold 1.3M personalized videos in 2020, had ~$100M in video transactions, and 150 personalities earned $100K+/year — Cameo, the app that lets fans pay for personalized videos from celebrities, has hired a slew of new C-suite executives from media and tech companies …
Discussion:
@marklittlenews, @glenngabe, Filter Coffee ☕, musically.com and @sarafischer, more at Techmeme »
Apple:
Apple says Books now has over 90M MAUs — As the world navigated an ever-changing new normal of virtual learning, grocery deliveries, and drive-by birthday celebrations, customers relied on Apple services in new ways, turning to expertly curated apps, news, music, podcasts, TV shows, movies …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, CNBC, Bloomberg and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »
Wendy Lee / Los Angeles Times:
A look at the evolution of YouTube's relationships with media companies like Disney under Kelly Merryman, the platform's VP of content partnerships — When Kelly Merryman arrived at YouTube six years ago, the dust had just cleared on a contentious $1-billion lawsuit with Viacom that had dragged on for years.
Discussion:
Context is King, @latimes, @latimes and Business Insider
Benjamin Butterworth / inews.co.uk:
Sources: YouTube reinstated the channel of UK's talkRadio after personal involvement by Rupert Murdoch to have the ban reversed — The digital station had faced criticism for some presenters' questioning of the science behind lockdowns and the use of face masks
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @risj_oxford, @rasmus_kleis, @benjaminbutter and Reuters
Jem Aswad / Variety:
The Grammy Awards are being postponed from Jan. 31, likely until sometime in March; sources said a combination of health and travel issues have led to the delay — Further details are expected shortly. Sources say the show may be moved to March, although no date was confirmed at the time of this article's publication.
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, Ad Age, Los Angeles Times, @scottnevins, @chrisantonacci1, @katysprismlight, @krazy_flower, New York Times, @courtneyesmith, @thewomencountry, @samontv, @variety, @nicolewboyce, @tvanita, MediaPost, NPR, Los Angeles Magazine, The Week, Vanity Fair, The A.V. Club, Daily Maverick and Full Feed