Mediagazer: BT starts exclusive discussions with Discovery to form a joint venture for BT Sport, deciding against a sale of the TV network to DAZN; the deal is due in 2022 (Anna Gross/Financial Times)

7:30 PM ET, February 3, 2022

Top News:

Tatiana Siegel / Rolling Stone:

Source: WarnerMedia's probe into Chris Cuomo's help for his brother Andrew Cuomo broadens to include ties among Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, and Andrew — The ongoing investigation, which exposed an affair that led to Zucker's abrupt resignation yesterday, has expanded …

Discussion: CNBC, Vanity Fair, Insider, Slate, RADAR, Too Much TV Newsletter, @stupolitics, @jon_allsop, @akiperitz, @sanasaeed, New York Post, @alexweprin, @juddlegum, New York Times, @mattgertz, @raesanni, Newser and @miriamelder

Sara Fischer / Axios:

A recording of a CNN staff meeting with WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar shows frustration and confusion over how and why Jeff Zucker was forced out — CNN staffers on Wednesday pummeled WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar with tough questions in the wake of the resignation of CNN boss Jeff Zucker …

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Jeff Zucker's tenure at CNN is defined by his pursuit of ratings, which guided his relationship with Donald Trump, whose persona he helped create and burnish — Many questions still swirl around Wednesday's startling announcement that, after nine years, Jeff Zucker's reign as CNN president was over.

Discussion: @sulliview, @colmorrisdavis, @dominicholden, @jrubinblogger, @jayrosen_nyu, New York Post, @mrdanzak, Substack, @jeffjarvis, @pilhofer and @davidgura

Shawn McCreesh / New York Magazine:
Jeff Zucker's resignation puzzles CNN staff as his relationship was an “open secret”: “Everyone thinks this is Kilar taking his succession swipe back at Jeff”

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Jeff Zucker resigns as CNN president and chair of WarnerMedia's news and sports division, saying he didn't disclose a relationship with a senior CNN executive

Discussion: Washington Post, Media Nation, Variety, Politico, Columbia Journalism Review, @mediaite, @irin, People.com, RADAR, Junghoon's Direct Media …, Mediaite, @benyt, @parkermolloy, The Week, New York Post, The Wrap, The Guardian, The Atlantic, The Kitchen Pundit, Scroll.in, @brianstelter, Bloomberg, Insider, Fox News, Poynter, @jayrosen_nyu, @megynkelly, @lisabloom, @kimmasters, @kasie, @oliverdarcy, Barrett Media, @brianstelter, @jdawsey1, @levinejonathan, Daily Mail, @mercedesschlapp, @davidgura, @soledadobrien, @benmullin, @perlberg, @davidfolkenflik, @soledadobrien, @brianstelter, @variety, @chuckrossdc, @awallenstein, @kellyannepolls, @gpollowitz, @oliverdarcy, @jbflint, @byashleyhackett, @davidmdeloso, @ewong, @jrubinblogger, @michaelbd, @jbflint, @thegarance, @bristei, @keitholbermann, @baseballcrank, Deadline, @jeffjarvis and @davidmackau

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Audio: Daniel Ek says Spotify needs exclusives for leverage to land deals with Amazon, Google, and others, and that Spotify is a platform, not a publisher — He says Spotify is a platform, not a publisher — Spotify CEO Daniel Ek addressed employees about the Joe Rogan controversy …

Discussion: @mattdpearce, New York Times, insideradio.com, Seeking Alpha, Slate, Washington Post, Washington Post, Billboard, @ashleyrcarman, Tubefilter, The A.V. Club, @dada_drummer, The Wrap, The Week, CNN, Engadget, @chrismessina, @jamessurowiecki, @camfaulkner, @markmilian, Protocol, @reckless, @mcwm, @justinhendrix, Financial Times, @lucas_shaw, @adrs, @johnmoe, @reckless, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @pashulman, @carnage4life, @andyboxall, @nitashatiku, @willoremus, @aweiss, @baekdal, @nytopinion, @wagatwe, @evan_greer, @bheater, @heerjeet, The Daily Beast, @dkiesow, @broderick, @rgay, Variety, @gerryconway, @econ_marshall, Dirt, @karlbode, @drjengunter, RAIN News, @reanimike, @tommytomlinson, @ahmedbaba_, @megpillow, @tsnotyaw, @reckless, Insider, @mmasnick, PRWeek, Insider, CNET, The Wrap, New York Times, Bloomberg and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »

Christi Carras / Los Angeles Times:
Neil Young's former bandmates, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash, announce plans to “remove their collective recordings from Spotify”

Discussion: @lucas_shaw, Rolling Stone, Deadline, Jezebel, @forbes, UPROXX, @kennethcolereal, @dcseifert, @brianna_ashby, @willmcavoyacn and NPR

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Spotify reports Q4 revenue of €2.69B, up 24% YoY, 406M MAUs, up 18% YoY, and ad-supported revenue of €394M, up 40% YoY and a record 15% of total revenue

Discussion: Protocol, @accessnow, @chriswelch, Los Angeles Times, @mattdpearce, Rolling Stone, ZDNet, Spotify, The Hollywood Reporter, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw and @kerrymflynn

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Amazon breaks out advertising services revenue for the first time, reports $9.7B for Q4, up 32% YoY, $31.2B for FY 2021; subscription services grew 15% to $8.1B — - Amazon disclosed advertising for the first time on Thursday. — Amazon said its advertising business is growing 32%, and booked $31 billion last year.

Discussion: @benedictevans, CNBC, Amazon, @benyt, New York Post, @rakeshlobster, @pathedger18, @benyt, @edmundlee, @pkafka, @craigsilverman, TheStreet, Wall Street Journal and Mashable, more at Techmeme »

Rebecca Klar / The Hill:

The Wikimedia Foundation and other media groups say a US bill that would let news publishers bargain with tech platforms could hurt small and local outlets — A proposal aimed at giving news publishers the power to bargain with dominant tech platforms over the distribution of their content …

Discussion: American Press Institute and The Rural Blog

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

The UK and Canada draft laws akin to Australia's news bargaining code, which basically determines how much money outlets need to stop complaining about Google — The U.K. and Canada look ready to copy Australia's idea to force Google and Facebook to give publishers money.

Discussion: @emilybell, @damiencave, @corinne_podger, @mattnavarra, @chrismsutcliffe, @dangillmor, @pilhofer, @rasmus_kleis and @jayrosen_nyu

Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:

Snap CFO says parts of the company's ad business began to recover from Apple's privacy changes quicker than expected, as Snap sees its first quarterly profit — Snapchat maker says it will take time to fully adapt to the iPhone maker's software changes; shares rally after hours

Discussion: CNBC, Axios, New York Times, Reuters, ZDNet, @tonymoonbeam, @willoremus, @aagave, @sarahfrier, @thorntonmcenery, @tanayj, 9to5Mac and @anthony, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:

Sarah Palin's libel case against NYT begins, with the potential to alter precedent granting broad protections to news outlets writing about public figures — The former Alaska governor claims the paper defamed her with a 2017 editorial that was later corrected, in a case that tests long-standing protections for publishers

Discussion: Reuters, Insider, @sarahellison, @joshgerstein, Christopher Six's Pick Six, Politico, MSNBC, Associated Press, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @sarahellison, @erikwemple, @sarahellison, @sarahellison, New York Post, Law & Crime, Wall Street Journal and @sarahellison

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

NBC says its Super Bowl ad inventory is sold out across NBC, Telemundo, and Peacock, with some 30-second units selling for $7M — Kickoff for Super Bowl LVI is still days away, but NBC has scored at least one touchdown. — NBC has sold out all of its inventory for the Big Game …

Discussion: The Wrap, Crain's New York Business, Advanced Television, @bristei, Ad Age, OutKick, MediaPost, Deadline, Next TV and Hollywood Reporter

Stephanie Condon / ZDNet:

Meta CFO says Apple's ATT privacy changes will cost the company $10B in revenue during 2022 and says Google “faces a different set of restrictions from Apple” — Meanwhile, the company accused Apple of favoring Google over app-based platforms like Facebook with its privacy policies

Discussion: Financial Times, Facebook, Breitbart, CNBC, MacRumors and The Economic Times, more at Techmeme »

BBC:
Meta reports Q4 ad revenue of $32.6B, up 20% YoY, but warns sales growth could be 3%-11% in Q1 2022 due to iOS changes, inflation, and supply chain disruptions

Discussion: Ad Age, Variety, CNBC, CNBC, @eric_seufert, @jimmy_dore, Reclaim The Net, @aparanjape, @ashkan, @corymillsfl, @hotlinejosh and @xpangler, more at Techmeme »

Lee Enterprises, Inc.:

Lee Enterprises reports Q1 revenue of $202.3M, down 4.5% YoY, net income of $13.2M, down 19.5% YoY, and 450K digital-only subscribers, up 57% YoY — Digital-only subscribers grew 57%; exceeds halfway mark to 2026 target of 900K Digital Advertising Revenue totaled $43M in the quarter (+19% YOY)

Discussion: KERA News and Poynter

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
Alden's takeover attempt of Lee Enterprises heats up; a court hearing is set for February 7 and Alden has two board seat proposals ahead of a March 10 meeting

Discussion: @spj_tweets and Lee Enterprises, Inc.

Abram Brown / Forbes:

Doing Things Media, which owns @DoggosDoingThings and ~20 other Instagram accounts with 40M+ total followers, raises a $21.5M Series A led by Volition Capital — What's a meme worth? Likely more than you'd think. — Doing Things Media, an Atlanta-founded company that owns …

Discussion: @larryvc

Brent Lang / Variety:

Lionsgate misses projections with Q3 revenue of $885.4M and a net loss of $45.6M; Starz global streaming subscribers grew by 1.7M — A few breakout television hits lifted quarterly revenues at Lionsgate, but production delays related to COVID-19 and sluggish subscriber growth …

Discussion: The Wrap, Lionsgate, Media Play News and Deadline