Top News:
Hailey Fuchs / Politico:
Roku says it will no longer offer RT News among its channels globally, after earlier pulling the Russian state-controlled TV network from its service in Europe — Roku, the widely popular internet television service, will no longer offer RT among its channels, a company spokesperson told POLITICO on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Engadget, The Verge, Wall Street Journal, @tomwarren, MediaPost, Axios, Deadline, Bloomberg and NPR
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Politico:
The EU officially bans Sputnik and five legal entities associated with RT; national regulators must ensure that the sanctions are enforced — Kremlin-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik are officially banned in the EU as of Wednesday morning, in a move meant to crack down on Russian disinformation amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Discussion:
@laukaya, CNET, consilium.europa.eu, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, Euractiv, @fabiochiusi and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
Euan O'Byrne Mulligan / The Guardian:
BBC stops all content licensing in Russia and requests the remaining episodes of two programs for which it sold rights are not aired on Russian state TV — Rival broadcaster ITV will also put a stop on new programme sales to Russian clients — The BBC will no longer license TV content …
Discussion:
(Ir)rational Politics and Reuters
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
DirecTV drops RT “effective immediately”, accelerating this year's contract expiration timeline; DirecTV and Dish are the only major US TV providers carrying RT
Discussion:
Axios, Reason, Protocol, @billprady, @kantrowitz, @scottienhughes, @paulrieckhoff, @olganyc1211, @karlbode, @michaelsocolow, @brianstelter, @jkarsh, UPROXX, Fox News, The Week, CNET, Mediaite, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter and Washington Post
Mark Scott / Politico:
YouTube plans to block Russia-backed RT and Sputnik in the European Union and the UK, following similar bans by Meta and TikTok, citing the invasion of Ukraine
Discussion:
@googleeurope, @broderick, The Banter, @eliothiggins, @kolga, @drewcurtis, insideradio.com, @ggreenwald, @carolecadwalla, @americascomic, @ezralevant, Washington Post, Reuters, @jeffjarvis, Music Ally, @elilake, Popular Science, @yiannisbab, @hillelneuer, @eliothiggins, @christopherjm, @eliothiggins, @jessikkaaro, @jimwaterson, Vanity Fair, Euractiv, Variety, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, The Verge, Engadget, The Hollywood Reporter, Insider, TASS, euronews and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: Apollo Global is in talks with Australia-based PointsBet Holdings and other sports betting companies about merging their assets with Yahoo Sports — - Apollo Global is considering merging Yahoo Sports with a sports betting company, sources say. — A deal could set …
Discussion:
@sherman4949, @sherman4949, @thedomino, @loudmouthjulia and @richlightshed
Vikas SN / Moneycontrol:
Netflix acquires Finnish game developer Next Games for around $72M; the studio specializes in games based on entertainment franchises, such as Stranger Things — Next Games had released ‘Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales’, a role-playing game based on the streaming giant's hit 80s horror drama series in October last year.
Discussion:
Next Games, CNET, The Streamable, Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Verge, Tech.eu, @zhugeex, Digital TV Europe, Media Play News, @brandolightshed, Bloomberg, TechCrunch and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today:
Meta releases its Q4 Widely Viewed Content report, showing the most viewed Facebook Page comes from a banned account; Meta would not reveal the account — Safe to say that Meta's efforts to refute the idea that Facebook amplifies divisive political content are not going exactly as it would have hoped.
Discussion:
Transparency Center, @jayrosen_nyu, @kevinroose, @brandyzadrozny, @mhbergen, @oneunderscore__, @blackamazon, Adweek and Meta, more at Techmeme »
Ethan Diamond / Bandcamp Updates:
Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond says the company has been acquired by Epic Games — I'm excited to announce that Bandcamp is joining Epic Games, who you may know as the makers of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and champions for a fair and open Internet. — Bandcamp will keep operating …
Discussion:
@bandcamp, TechCrunch, Engadget, @jubileedj, @toadsanime, @mowtendoo and @backxwash, more at Techmeme »
J. Clara Chan / Hollywood Reporter:
Snap halts ads in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, pledges $15M to relief orgs in Ukraine, and is helping relocate 300+ Ukrainian staff of its AR platform Looksery — Three hundred Snap employees are from Ukraine, according to a message shared on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Snap Newsroom, Engadget, @michellemanafy, Insider, CNET and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »
Washington Post:
Twitter's crowdsourced fact-checking program Birdwatch remains a small pilot project 13 months after launch, with only 359 contributors flagging tweets in 2022 — With the Ukraine war unfolding on social media, parsing fact from fiction has never been trickier — or, for those involved, more urgent.
Discussion:
@willoremus, @willoremus, @kcoleman, @mantzarlis, @kcoleman, @blackamazon, @shannonpareil and @carnage4life
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
iSpot will acquire Tunity, which analyzes viewing habits of “out of home” audiences in restaurants and other locations through its mobile app — The media industry's measurement wars are expanding beyond counting traditional video audiences. — iSpot, the measurement company …
Discussion:
AdExchanger, Next TV, Axios, @bristei and @kerrymflynn
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
BBC Studios signs a content deal with MX Player, India's largest AVOD service with a strong presence in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other countries — STREAMING — BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, has set a content deal with MX Player, India's largest AVOD service …
BBC:
A look at the alternative reality being presented by state media in Russia, often claiming that Ukraine was responsible for strikes on its own cities — Never was there a better illustration of the alternative reality presented by Russian state media than at 17:00 GMT on Tuesday.
Discussion:
New Statesman, Insider and National Review
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