Top News:
Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:
DirecTV plans to drop One America News Network after its current agreement expires, which a source says is in early April; DirecTV is OANN's largest distributor — DirecTV, one of the largest U.S. pay-TV providers, plans to drop One America News Network, dealing a major blow …
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Wall Street Journal:
State AGs' lawsuit alleges Google misled publishers and advertisers for years about ad pricing by deflating sales for some while increasing prices for buyers — Details show Google employees fretting its ad tech auctions were ‘untruthful’ and based in ‘insider information’
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@caseynewton, Wired, @deardara, NDTV, @froomkin, @moonalice, @profcarroll, @blackamazon, The Guardian, @riptari, @cbedforddc, @carnage4life, @lpolgreen, @justinhendrix, @cdixon, @markdistef, @alistairmbarr, @jason_kint, @benedictevans, @alex, @alex, @epsilontheory, @natematias, @trippmickle, @hoofnagle, @wsj, @djtgallagher, @mattrosoff, @asharma, @keachhagey, @keachhagey, @keachhagey, @keachhagey, @keachhagey, MediaPost and TheStreet, more at Techmeme »
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Leah Nylen / Politico:
In court docs, state AGs allege that Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai personally approved a secret 2018 deal giving Facebook advantages in Google's ad auctions — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai personally approved a secret deal that gave the social network …
Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:
A guessing game arises over who will land the NYT's Media Equation column, as anonymous insiders float names including Wesley Lowery and Katie Rosman — Ben Smith's abrupt exit has sparked a newsroom guessing game for his successor—Katie Rosman? Wesley Lowery?—though, as one insider put it …
Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
Netflix raises its monthly subscription prices by $1 to $2 in the US and Canada; the standard US plan has increased from $13.99 to $15.49 per month — Netflix Inc has raised its monthly subscription price by $1 to $2 per month in the United States depending on the plan, the company said on Friday …
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Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: Amazon, Condé Nast, DraftKings, and TPG were interested in The Athletic, and the NYT bumped its initial offer by 10% to secure the deal — - The Athletic's $550 million sale to The New York Times is seen as a major success by some close to the company but disappointing to others.
William Turvill / Press Gazette:
Patrick Soon-Shiong outlines the future of the LA Times, aiming to print while “economically possible” and to reach 1M digital subscribers by the end of 2022 — Next month marks four years since Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong agreed a $500m deal to buy his local newspaper, the Los Angeles Times.
Discussion:
@charlottetobitt, @margotroosevelt, @wturvill and What's New in Publishing
Haroon Siddique / The Guardian:
The trial begins for Carole Cadwalladr's libel case brought by Brexit funder Arron Banks, who is suing the journalist over a Ted Talk and a related tweet — Carole Cadwalladr's team sets out defence in first day of libel trial brought by Leave.EU founder — The libel action brought …
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
The Sun's coverage of the Downing Street party scandal prompts scrutiny after revelations that its deputy EIC had a party during lockdown when he quit No. 10 — Leaving do claims prompt scrutiny of tabloid's coverage of Downing Street alleged lockdown-breaking events
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@owenjones84, Telegraph, @davidyelland, @dandrezner, Unmade, @brokenbottleboy, @davidyelland, @otto_english, @kelvmackenzie, @patrickwintour, @mattietk, @josiahmortimer, @theneweuropean, @brokenbottleboy, @justsnoozing, @lewis_goodall, @jakubkrupa, @jimwaterson, Press Gazette, BBC, Politico, Insider and Guido Fawkes
Sports Business Journal:
Sources: Sinclair's Diamond Sports plans to charge over $20 per month for its streaming service; filings: it projects 975K paying subscribers by year end — In the best-case scenario that it presented to investors over the past several weeks, Sinclair's Diamond Sports Group projected …
Discussion:
@ourand_sbj, @mrworkrate and Cord Cutters News
Bloomberg:
How Netflix succeeded in South Korea, including by developing ideas considered too risky for broadcasters and licensing local content overseas — It took “Squid Game” just four weeks this past fall to become the most-watched Netflix Inc. show ever released in any language.
Discussion:
@retogregori, @alykhansatchu, @alykhansatchu and @alykhansatchu
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Netflix signs deals with PGA Tour, ATP, and WTA for golf and tennis docuseries, following the blueprint of its hit Formula 1 show, which grew the sport's fandom — Novak Djokovic's fight to get into the Australian Open could soon be featured in a Netflix Inc. TV show.
Discussion:
Radio Times, @business, @mgsiegler, @tomgara, Awful Announcing and The Comeback