Top News:
Peter Kafka / Vox:
The NYT-Athletic deal is a big bet with significant risk, as growth slows for The NYT and profit remains elusive for The Athletic — A big bet with real risk and reward. — The New York Times wants more subscribers. The Athletic has lots of subscribers but loses money.
Discussion:
The Ringer, Bloomberg, @pottsmark, @markberman, Defector, @sizpatel, MediaPost, Awful Announcing, @ylichterman, @davidgura, @shanbow, Financial Times, @arctictony, @adamlevitan, @shanbow, @jeffschultzatl, @bryancurtis, @byscottpowers, @ringer, @profblackistone, @scohensea, @mattzeitlin, @oliviawitherite, @thegridkid, @jessegranger_, @tybatiste, @travonne, @melissalockard, @aarongleeman, @zpathletic, @electricalwsop, @liam_twomey, @aarongleeman, @ken_rosenthal, @adamlefkoe, @bydavidgardner, @vosdscott, @willystaley, @maxjrosenthal, @conordougherty, @sbienkowski, @thegridkid, @gintautasd, @rafat, @freightalley, @rafat, @pkafka, Talking Biz News, @cnyari, @mathewi, @pkafka, @pkafka, @mikeorren, @nw3, @pkafka, @rasmus_kleis, @brettkollmann, @realobf, @tvgrimreaper, @rafat, @danprimack, @danprimack, @nichcarlson, @rafat, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @mattietk, @ericliptonnyt, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @daryrezvani, @keganreneau, @john_p_carvalho, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @rafat, @freddiecampion, @arashmarkazi, @jeffveillette, @chrisryan_nj, @_zeets, @mathewi, @katie_martin_fx, @dylanbyers, UPI, Sportico, Deadline, The Spun, Financial Times, Nieman Lab, The Wrap and The Hill
RELATED:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
NYT has agreed to acquire The Athletic in an all-cash deal valuing the startup at $550M; co-founders Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann will stay on after the deal — The New York Times has agreed to acquire The Athletic in an all-cash deal valuing the sports media startup at $550 million …
Discussion:
New York Times, @sarafischer, Axios, @sarafischer, Vanity Fair, @courtsidevc, The Drum, @business, The Sport Marketeer, @sarafischer, Bloomberg, Poynter, @apompliano, Huddle Up, @kaitlyncmcgrath, The Hockey Tactics Newsletter, @hiltontarrant, @tashanreed, @tomangell, Financial Times, @davidgura, @paulkuharskynfl, @joshsternberg, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sulliview, @dskok, @jessicalessin, @jeffjarvis, @pkafka, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @dangillmor, @rafat, @nytimesguild, Wall Street Journal, @hollyzachariah, @ckrewson, @ckrewson, Newser, CNBC, Front Office Sports and New York Post
Aron Pilhofer:
With The Athletic purchase, NYT will directly compete for subscribers with local news sites that cover college or pro sports, topics once owned by local papers
With The Athletic purchase, NYT will directly compete for subscribers with local news sites that cover college or pro sports, topics once owned by local papers
Discussion:
@qhardy, @jackshafer, @pkafka, @jackshafer, @pkafka, MediaPost, @jeffjarvis, @chronotope, @dkiesow, @chronotope, @pilhofer, @pilhofer, @pilhofer, Poynter, Defector, @pilhofer, @davidclinchnews, @pilhofer, @pilhofer and @jeffjarvis
Bloomberg:
John Legend sells the rights to his music catalog from late 2004 through early 2021 to BMG and investment firm KKR — - Companies strike deal for copyrights, royalties from his music — High valuations are pushing more and more musicians to sell — John Legend joined the growing list …
Discussion:
Variety, Billboard, The Wrap, @danprimack, Vibe, Axios, New York Post, Music Business Worldwide, Rolling Stone and Music Ally
Reuters:
Two journalists were killed in Haiti on Thursday after suspected gang members shot at a group of reporters who arrived to interview the leader of a rival gang — Two Haitian journalists were killed Thursday on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince after suspected gang members opened fire on a group …
Discussion:
CNN, The Guardian, @kylieatwood, LatAm Journalism Review, Al Jazeera, France 24 and Committee to Protect …
New York Times:
How Tucker Carlson, condoned by Fox management, revised the history of the January 6 riot along with right-wing podcasts and others, to deflect blame from Trump — How revisionist histories of Jan. 6 picked up where the “stop the steal” campaign left off, warping beliefs about what transpired at the Capitol.
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, Raw Story, @nytimes, Insider and @jimrutenberg
Bloomberg:
Sources: Reddit could go public as soon as March 2022 at a valuation of up to $15B; the company was last valued at $10B in August 2021 — - Social media company could go public as soon as March — Reddit could be valued at as much as $15 billion in listing
Discussion:
Protocol, more at Techmeme »
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Google says Android TV and Google TV have over 110M monthly active devices combined, up 30M from May 2021 — While Roku and Amazon's Fire TV are often the first thing people think of when it comes to home entertainment platforms, Google's Android TV OS is growing quickly.
Discussion:
Light Reading and The Streamable
Committee to Protect Journalists:
Authorities in Kazakhstan have detained at least eight journalists and blocked at least two news sites since January 4, following their coverage of the protests — Kazakhstan authorities must allow journalists to report freely on ongoing protests in the country and ensure their safety …
Discussion:
@tommywalkerco, The Diplomat, @pressfreedom and USAGM
Lauren Johnson / Insider:
LinkedIn grew its editorial team from 75 to 95 journalists in 2021, its Daily Rundown reaches 159M users, and it has a 40-person team that works with creators — - LinkedIn continues to ramp up its editorial arm with 95 journalists that curate business news.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
CTA survey of 2,084 US people aged 13+: user-generated content accounts for 39% of weekly media consumption, and about 7% monetize content in some way online — Americans now spend nearly as much time streaming user-generated videos on YouTube, TikTok and other online platforms as they do watching traditional TV.
Discussion:
@synopsi, @ritholtz, FinalScore, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter and Marketing Dive
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
A California court orders Twitter to reveal the identity of a user who tweeted photos mocking a billionaire, after the user didn't respond to a copyright claim — Back in November we wrote about a very bizarre attempt to abuse copyright law to uncover who was behind a Twitter account, @CallMeMoneyBags.
Discussion:
@blackamazon, @rmac18, @mmasnick, @natlseccnslrs and @mmasnick, more at Techmeme »
Gita Jackson / VICE:
Image Comics workers win an NLRB election to unionize with the Communications Workers of America and become the first unionized comics company — After management failed to voluntarily recognize the union, Image workers have won an NLRB election to become the first unionized comics company. — GJ
Discussion:
@grantthethief, @lizshuler, @laurenkgurley, @samred, AIPT, Hollywood Reporter and ScreenRant