Mediagazer: Sources: the NFL wants to finalize new TV rights soon; Fox, ViacomCBS, NBC, and ESPN currently pay ~$6B/year total, and DirecTV adds $1.5B for Sunday Ticket (Jabari Young/CNBC)

4:40 PM ET, February 11, 2021

Top News:

NYT Opinion editor says it was her decision to spike a Bret Stephens column criticizing Baquet's reasons for firing McNeil, not Sulzberger's as Stephens claims — A top New York Times columnist claims the paper's publisher shelved his opinion column defending Donald McNeil …

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:

HBO Max to launch in Latin America and the Caribbean in June; existing HBO-branded streaming services in Europe will shift to HBO Max later this year — WarnerMedia's streamer HBO Max is set to launch across 39 Latin American and Caribbean territories in June.

Discussion: Observer, MediaPost, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, The Verge, The Streamable, Hollywood Reporter, Light Reading, FierceVideo, @departedaviator, Cord Cutters News, C21Media and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Oliver Darcy / @oliverdarcy:

Bloomberg is laying off employees as part of a “new structure to elevate editing”; sources: layoffs will affect about 90 employees — Bloomberg EIC John Micklethwait confirms layoffs in a memo to staff: “I am not going to pretend today is a happy day for the newsroom. It is always painful to tell journalists that they are losing their jobs.” I'm told the layoffs are affecting about 90 employees. https://twitter.com/...

Discussion: Insider, @perlberg, Talking Biz News, @vtuss, @caleweissman, @ejacqui, @jhilburg, @mattrosoff, @heathat, @ericlach, @fmanjoo, @aleksnotalex, @derekahunter, @oliverdarcy, @kerrymflynn, @froomkin, @perlberg and @tombevanrcp

Sheila Dang / Reuters:

Kantar: CBS generated a record $545M in ad spending during the Super Bowl, which had a record 57 minutes of ad time — (Reuters) - ViacomCBS' CBS network generated a record $545 million in advertising spending during the NFL's Super Bowl LV this past Sunday, according to preliminary estimates from research firm Kantar.

Discussion: Digital TV Europe, @readdanwrite and @sheila_dang

Jabari Young / CNBC:
Sources: the NFL wants to finalize new TV rights soon; Fox, ViacomCBS, NBC, and ESPN currently pay ~$6B/year total, and DirecTV adds $1.5B for Sunday Ticket

Discussion: Awful Announcing, Observer, Front Office Sports and ProFootballTalk, Thanks:@mattrosoff

Reuters:

BBC World News has been barred from airing in mainland China — (Reuters) - BBC World News has been barred from airing in China, the Chinese state media CGTN said bit.ly/2Z51L43 early on Friday, citing the National Radio and Television Administration. — Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Etan Vlessing / Hollywood Reporter:

Ted Sarandos says Netflix plans to open a corporate office in Canada and will hire a content executive to deal directly with local Canadian producers — “Canada is an amazingly diverse country and growing our presence locally will help us share more authentically Canadian stories with the world …

Discussion: About Netflix, The Wrap, @gregobr, Deadline, IndieWire and Variety

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: a deal for full control of Tribune Publishing by Alden Global Capital could be reached this month — The hedge fund already owns a big stake in the newspaper chain behind titles including the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News — A hedge fund that owns a big stake …

Discussion: @kimjnews, @mattgertz, @brynstole, @royalpratt, @nwi_jsp, @petersagal, @localcelebrity, @byalisonbowen, @royalpratt, @rexhuppke, @lenfestinst and @lalpert1

Angela Fu / Poynter:

Three Gannett newsrooms in New Jersey have announced they are jointly unionizing and forming the Record Guild, part of the NewsGuild of New York — The new union will include the Bergen Record, the Daily Record and the NJ Herald. — Three Gannett-owned newsrooms in New Jersey announced Wednesday morning they are jointly unionizing.

Discussion: @mcdiduch, @poynter, @angelanfu, @kaitlynkanzler8, The NewsGuild - CWA and nyguild.org

Caroline Davies / The Guardian:

Meghan Markle wins her privacy case in summary judgment against the Mail on Sunday, which published extracts from a letter she wrote to her father — Judge gives summary judgment in favour of royal over extracts of letter to estranged father, Thomas Markle

Discussion: Financial Times, New York Times, @shentonstage, Reuters, The Mary Sue, Observer, @stopfundinghate, @valeriefoxxx, @jasminedotiwala, @katewilliamsme, Associated Press, Vanity Fair, CNN, BBC, @jane_samuels, @jxb101, @chrisshipitv and @judiciaryuk

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Disney beats as Disney+ reaches 94.9M subscribers globally, 30% of those from Disney+ Hotstar, while revenue dropped to $16.25B, down 22% YoY — Disney Plus had the wind at its back to close out 2020: The streaming service notched 94.9 million customers worldwide as of the end of the year-end quarter, the company announced.

Discussion: Yahoo Finance

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

LightShed Partners' Rich Greenfield and others have launched a $75M tech and media investment fund and invested in Podchaser and audio startup Slipstream — The venture arm has already made investments into startups Podchaser, Slipstream and Antenna Analytics.

Discussion: GlobeNewswire, Bloomberg, Barron's Online, @rameeztase, @richlightshed, @richlightshed, @richlightshed and Variety

Sara Fischer / Axios:

The New York Times is testing NYT Kids, a standalone, ad-free digital subscription product for kids aged 8-11, which will feature a lot of “how to” content — The New York Times is in the early stages of developing a digital subscription product for families called NYT Kids, executives tell Axios.

Discussion: @matthartman, @mikeorren and @sarafischer

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Jess Barnes / Cord Cutters News:
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Discussion: The Streamable, Light Reading and FierceVideo

Kerry Flynn / CNN:
Staffers at Medium in editorial, engineering, design, and product units say they're unionizing; a majority of about 140 employees signed union cards with CWA

Discussion: @mediumworkers, @lordravenscraft, The Verge, @jordanuhl, @lainnafader, @alex, @andreagonram, @davegershgorn, @meganmorrone, @emilylmullin, @mediumworkers, @alainakafkes, @kerrymflynn and @kerrymflynn, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy B. Merrill / The Markup:
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Sara Fischer / Axios:
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Diep Tran / Backstage:
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Constance Grady / Vox:
With the release of “Framing Britney Spears”, the idea that the media treated her unfairly is accepted but it's revisionism to say it didn't know it was wrong

Discussion: Esquire, CAFE, @constancegrady, @voxdotcom and The Media Nut

The Information:
Sources: Stir Money, whose software helps video and audio producers, writers, and performers manage their income, raises Series A led by a16z at $100M valuation

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Internal data shows only 11.3M US households regularly watch NBCU's Peacock; sources: NBCU has pitched ViacomCBS about bundling their streaming services

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Paul W. Valentine / Washington Post:
Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine and a self-proclaimed First Amendment champion, has died at his home in Los Angeles at 78

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E. Tammy Kim / Columbia Journalism Review:
Q&A with Burmese journalist Swe Win, who fled the country after being shot in the leg, about reporting on the coup, future of journalism in Myanmar, and more

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The Atlantic:
The Atlantic launches Inheritance, a multiyear project to make oral histories and other artifacts of Black history and ancestry widely accessible

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Saqib Shah / Engadget:
Google launches Google News Showcase in UK and Argentina, after debuting the service in Australia last week, and says it now has over 450 publications globally

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Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
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From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
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Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

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