Mediagazer: Amazon marked some free podcasts as $8.95 with a discount for Audible subscribers as part of a “limited deal”; pricing disappeared after asking for comment (Ashley Carman/The Verge)

1:05 PM ET, January 6, 2021

Top News:

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

Peacock's signup page breaks down tiers according to the degree of access to The Office, as annoyed users complain of ads in the Premium Plus tier — Just buy the box set — Chances are if you're looking into signing up for Peacock ("Ugh, another streaming service!") …

Discussion: @itsretronemo, @parismartineau, @dgoforth918, @betterwithbears, @tvaziri, @filmfatale_nyc, @bergmayer, @sherman4949, @waltmossberg, @waltmossberg and @loudmouthjulia

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, nexttv.com, The Wrap, Reuters, Digital TV Europe, FierceVideo, C21Media, @claireatki, Broadband TV News and Hollywood Reporter

Dave Sebastian / Wall Street Journal:

Wyndham Destinations, which runs resorts, buys Travel + Leisure from Meredith for $100M; Meredith will continue publishing the magazine under a licensing deal — Meredith to continue publishing Travel + Leisure under licensing agreement; Wyndham to rebrand itself

Discussion: New York Post, @rafat, @lowrytom, @byerussell, @wanderlust13, @bmorrissey, Skift, Moderns Comms, @depsebastian, @ashkan, @wyndestinations, @blackamazon and Context is King, Thanks:@ashkan

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

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Amazon marked some free podcasts as $8.95 with a discount for Audible subscribers as part of a “limited deal”; pricing disappeared after asking for comment — Trying to sell those Audible subscriptions — Charlie Harding, the host of the podcast Switched On Pop …

Discussion: @bzamayo

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:

Discovery partners with VOD company Starzplay to launch Discovery Plus in 18 countries and territories across the Middle East and North Africa — Discovery has struck a strategic partnership with VOD player Starzplay to launch streamer Discovery Plus in 18 countries and territories across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

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: BBC, Reuters, Press Gazette, Variety, The Guardian, @markkleinmansky, Broadband TV News and @raju

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: @acgrayling, @alixwiltonregan, @greenslader, @edmundheaphy, @ian_fraser, @pressgazette, @bakerstherald, @emmakennedy, @sturdyalex, @joncstone and @peterjukes

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: The Wrap, Reuters, Mediaite, Thomson Reuters, @wadenyc, @craignewmark and @brianstelter, Thanks:@talkingbiznews

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: @risj_oxford, TechCrunch, @rasmus_kleis, @benjaminbutter and Reuters

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

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.

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Variety, Media Matters for America, @benjancewicz, Gizmodo and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

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

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More News:

Apple:
Apple says Books now has over 90M MAUs

Discussion: TechCrunch, CNBC, Bloomberg and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »

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

Discussion: MediaPost, The Streamable, The Desk, Variety and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:
Julian Assange denied bail by UK court as judge says there is a risk he may abscond while the US tries to secure his extradition

Discussion: The Guardian, CNBC, National Review, Hollywood Reporter, Fox News, CNBC, Bloomberg, New York Times, SPLICETODAY.com, Daily Maverick, New York Post and The Week

Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Monica Lozano, the CEO of College Futures Foundation who spent 30 years as editor and publisher of La Opinión, has been elected to Apple's board of directors

Discussion: @monicaclozano, Variety, Apple and CNBC

Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Vizio, the No. 2 maker of smart TVs sold in the US, says viewing in 2020 grew 20.3% YoY, with streaming of ad-supported programming growing 226%

Discussion: Cord Cutters News and The Streamable

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Cameo says it sold 1.3M personalized videos in 2020, had ~$100M in video transactions, and 150 personalities earned $100K+/year

Discussion: @marklittlenews, @glenngabe, Filter Coffee ☕, musically.com and @sarafischer

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
In email, new JPI Media owner outlines plans to decentralize editorial and sales responsibilities to locally based teams and focus on “bespoke” local UK content

Discussion: @thejoelycarey, @jesstaylor1993, @domponsford, @pollyrippon, @petebarronmedia and @domjoly

Earlier Picks:

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

Reuters:
BBC says it will broadcast its biggest education offering ever, with many hours of programming for primary and secondary students, amid new pandemic lockdowns

Discussion: @bbcpress, @bbcpress, @lauraph222, @genellealdred, @scottygb, @scottygb, @scottygb, @emma_c_williams, @aapiccini, @publicradionerd, BBC and The Guardian

Rob Schmitz / NPR:
How Poland's government is tightening control over private media and using public media outlets, including the state broadcaster TVP, against political foes

Discussion: @npratc, @rob_schmitz, @risj_oxford, @xmagdalena, @molenews1, @davidfolkenflik and @npr

Reuters:
Ethiopian police release Reuters cameraman Kumerra Gemechu after detaining him without charge for 12 days

Discussion: @arkebesaba and @khoureld

Lindsey Ellefson / The Wrap:
Keith Poole named EIC of News Corp's New York Post Group; Poole is currently deputy EIC of UK tabloid The Sun

Discussion: News Corp, Mediaite, @mattgarrahan, @pressgazette, @markdistef, @noahmanskar, Daily Front Row, WWD, New York Times, MediaPost and Reuters

Social Media Week:
Adweek acquires Social Media Week, a conference and industry news service for marketers, founded in 2009

Discussion: Adweek, @juliangumbo, @brynatweets, @thewebbyawards, @saneel, @joshsternberg, @tobyd and @socialmediaweek

Khanh Vu / Reuters:
Vietnam court sentences two freelance journalists to 11 years and one to 15 years after finding them guilty of spreading anti-state propaganda

Discussion: Al Jazeera, @hrw, @globalfreemedia, @zachabuza, @ejlfox, New York Times, Committee to Protect …, Variety, newslaundry.com and Bloomberg

From Techmeme:

Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg:
Alphabet closes above a $2T market cap for the first time, reaching a valuation of $2.15T after rising 10% on April 26, its biggest one-day jump since July 2015

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has renewed discussions with OpenAI about using its technology to power some features in iOS 18; talks with Google on using Gemini remain ongoing

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a board for advising the DHS on deploying AI safely within US critical infrastructure

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