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AT&T reports Q4: WarnerMedia revenue rose 15.4% YoY to $9.9B and DTC subscription revenue rose 11.5% YoY to $1.9B; Discovery merger is expected to close in Q2 — The company also announced that it expects the WarnerMedia spinoff and merger with Discovery to close in the second quarter …
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Wrap, @alexweprin, The Streamable, MediaPost, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, ZDNet, @thr, @jpalmiotti, Deadline, @xpangler, @thewrap, Media Play News, AT&T, @brianstelter and @xpangler
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HBO and HBO Max ended 2021 with 46.8M subscribers in the US, up 5.3M over 2020; AT&T reported earlier that the services had 73.8M subscribers globally — HBO Max closed 2021 with 46.8 million domestic subscribers when combined with linear HBO, up 5.3 million over 2020, parent AT&T disclosed in its fourth-quarter earnings report.
Discussion:
The Streamable and Next TV


WaPo names Matea Gold as National editor and Philip Rucker as deputy National editor, as part of plans to expand coverage with a focus on visual storytelling — The Washington Post has named Matea Gold as national editor and Philip Rucker as deputy national editor, with plans to expand …


Profile of Colorado-based Real America's Voice, an upstart network run by a little-known media exec, which distributes Steve Bannon's talk show to ~8M homes — ‘War Room’ is at the center of a fledgling network monetizing what some employees saw as ‘Trump propaganda.’
Discussion:
Pew Research Center, @therickwilson, @tomfitton, @ddiamond, @carolleonnig, @isaacstanbecker, @tribelaw and Mediaite


Disney says Disney+ will launch in 42 countries and 11 territories this summer, including South Africa, Turkey, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates — The streaming service will debut in new countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Discussion:
The Verge, The Streamable, Broadband TV News, Digital TV Europe, Variety and C21Media


VAB study: Nielsen's failure to count “out of home” impressions could have cost networks $350M+ in advertising revenue between May 2021 and November 2021 — A new study by the nation's big TV networks suggests Nielsen's efforts to count viewers watching their favorite programs in so-called …


Sources: ViacomCBS reverses a plan to rename Paramount Network as Paramount Movie Network due to Yellowstone's success and production-related COVID-19 slowdowns — EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Network is safe, for now. — ViacomCBS has reversed plans to rebrand the cable network …
Discussion:
ScreenRant, SlashFilm and Variety


Slow news outlet Tortoise raises £10M to invest in audio and events, and reports a £8.5M loss for the year to December 2020, up from £5.4M in 2019 — “Slow news” start-up Tortoise has secured £10m of new funding to invest in audio journalism, events and growing its membership revenue.


NewsGuild complains to NLRB that NYT's proposal to exclude union members from three paid holidays is meant to discourage NYT tech staff from voting for a union — A New York Times Co. employee union is accusing the publisher of violating federal labor law by excluding unionized employees from three paid holidays.
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, @gaufre, @chactivist, @stacycowley, @nytimesguild and @josheidelson


Substack plans to launch a native video player in beta next week that will let creators upload or record a video and embed it directly in a Substack post — Substack plans to launch a native video player next week in an effort to lure new creators to the platform, a spokesperson confirmed to Axios.
Discussion:
On Substack, The Verge, @ewerickson, @renan, @ckrewson, @substackinc, @simonowens, @protocol, @sarafischer and Sub Pub


A look at some former Hong Kong journalists' new jobs after their outlets were shuttered; one says “there is no point being a journalist anymore” — The demise of the city's independent news outlets has left hundreds of journalists out of a job. Many are not coming back. — VZ


Ipsos MORI: Apple News was the most widely used UK news app in December 2021, slightly ahead of BBC News; the BBC had 2.2B minutes spent, the most of any app — The Apple News app narrowly beat BBC News to take the spot of most popular news app in the UK in December, according to data …