Top News:
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Brian Williams, the former NBC Nightly News anchor who faced a six-month suspension in 2015, will leave NBC when his contract ends in December — The former anchor of “NBC Nightly News” rehabilitated his tarnished image as the host of a popular 11 p.m. show on MSNBC.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Insider, TVNewser, Variety, CNN, The Wrap, Associated Press, Washington Post, @msnbc, @kpa2, @vinguptamd, @carolleonnig, @samstein, @elistokols, @petesouza, @mccaffreyr3, @maggienyt, @garretthaake, @edzitron, @davidfolkenflik, @andrewdesiderio, @page88, Newser, @colvinj, @matthewamiller, Poynter, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, Page Six, TVLine, Mediaite, The Hill and Axios
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Twitter Blue rolls out to the US for $2.99/month and NZ for $4.49/month with Scroll's ad-free articles across 300+ publishers and Nuzzel-like “top articles” — Twitter is expanding its premium subscription service to more users. Twitter Blue, which unlocks additional features …
Discussion:
@twitterblue, @arctictony, Twitter, @twitterblue, @caseynewton, New York Times, Nieman Lab, @arctictony, TechCrunch, MediaNama, The Drum, @balajis, @redvacktor, @ksheldongh, @sarahscire, @justinhendrix, @slpng_giants, @oranicuhh, @chrismessina, @couch, AppleInsider, @jack, @scottmstedman, @mahwashajaz_, @quinnypig, @film_girl, @shiraovide, @mims, @wongmjane, @devindra, The Verge, @caseynewton, @tuckerkristen, @nicksallon, @ericzuck, @idiplomacy, @_jackriley, @karissabe, @arctictony and @caseynewton, more at Techmeme »
Rita Liao / TechCrunch:
Tencent Music announces a deal with Apple Music, allowing Chinese musicians part of its Music Cloud program to distribute their works through Apple Music — Apple Music users around the world will soon have access to more Chinese musicians. Tencent Music Entertainment …
Discussion:
PR Newswire, ScreenRant, 9to5Mac and Music Ally
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Unity to acquire Peter Jackson's visual effects company Weta Digital, including 275+ engineers, for $1.625B; Weta Digital's FTX artists will form a new entity — Unity has just announced its intent to acquire Weta Digital, the legendary visual effects company co-founded by Peter Jackson, for a massive $1.625 billion.
Discussion:
Variety, Hollywood Reporter, @loudmouthjulia, @thebeesneeze, @grg, @briannorgard, @shaneguml, @reckless, @tylerglaiel, @parismarx, @toadsanime, @xpangler, @mikeseymour, @chornesays, @nzkoz, @devincf, The Verge, Gizmodo and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
fuboTV to acquire French multiplatform streaming company Molotov for $190M; Molotov co-founder and CEO Jean-David Blanc will become chief strategy officer — fuboTV is making a significant move in Europe with plans to acquire Molotov, a French startup with a leading television streaming service. fuboTV …
RELATED:
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Sky News anchor Adam Boulton announces he will leave at the end of the year, after more than 30 years at the channel — Journalist, 62, says direction news channel wants to go in is not ‘a particularly good fit for me’ — Adam Boulton has announced he will leave Sky News at the end of the year …
Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg:
Politico says it has reached an agreement with NewsGuild to voluntarily recognize its PEN Guild union — Politico reached an agreement to voluntarily recognize a union of its employees, extending a wave of successful organizing efforts in the media industry.
Discussion:
@josheidelson and The NewsGuild - CWA
New York Times:
By January 19, Meta aims to remove ad targeting options based on user interactions with content about health, race, political affiliation, religion, and more — Meta, the social media company formerly known as Facebook, said on Tuesday that it planned to eliminate advertisers' ability …
Discussion:
Facebook, Ad Age, New York Post, MediaPost, @ttp_updates, @byrhondal, @brycelacy, @hkreid, @mikeisaac, @kurtwagner8, @cherylhori, @johnbattelle, @ttp_updates, @heminator, @samidh, @ericziminsky, @gregbensinger, @ttp_updates, @mikeisaac, @benwessel, @mikeisaac, @joshsternberg, @danpino, @sarafischer, @alexhern, @steveolson, @jamesrbuk, Gizmodo, @authentic_hq, ZDNet, The Verge, Jerusalem Post, TechCrunch, Engadget and NPR, more at Techmeme »
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Over 300 employees at Hearst's magazine division petition against the company's plans to return to the office next week; their union has filed an NLRB complaint — More than 300 employees at Hearst's magazine division have signed a petition objecting to the company's plan to have them return …
Discussion:
@stacey_grant91 and @spencerdukoff
Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:
Digital Entertainment Group: US streaming consumer subscription revenue was up 19% YoY for the first nine months of 2021, to $18.5B — Soaring U.S. streaming consumer subscription revenue is up 19% to $18.5 billion through the first nine months of 2021 versus a year ago …
Discussion:
The Streamable
Rest of World:
Journalists and analysts talk of muted reactions to the Facebook Papers over Meta's failure to stop hate speech and misinformation in the Global South — “Very little of what I have read about the papers comes as a surprise.” — When news emerged about a leaked trove of documents …
Discussion:
@kantrowitz, @dseetharaman, @restofworld and @mvzelenks, more at Techmeme »
Monica Eng / Axios:
Illinois educators start developing the first mandated high school media literacy class in the US, after the state passed a law requiring it — This summer Illinois became the first state to require one unit of media literacy for all high school students.
Discussion:
@jenmercieca, @michaelkruse, @jayrosen_nyu and The Rural Blog
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