Top News:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Comedy Central says Jon Stewart will return to The Daily Show as Monday host during the 2024 election cycle, starting on February 12, and as executive producer — Comedy Central is reaching back to the past to keep its long-running “The Daily Show” going in the present.
Discussion:
CNN, The Wrap, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, Business Insider, The Guardian, @pkafka@threads.net, Next TV, @tvgrimreaper, Benzinga, Adweek, The Messenger, @walthickey, @hebennigatu, @mollyjongfast, The A.V. Club, The Hill, Mediaite, SlashFilm, Fox News, Associated Press, New York Post, New Jersey Online, The Verge, ComingSoon.net, Vanity Fair, CBS News, IndieWire, Polygon, Rolling Stone, @shawnhils, The Playlist, TVLine, @lucas_shaw, @jbflint, @jalefkowit@octodon.social, @mattbelloni, @lanceulanoff, @joelmathis.bsky.social, @cmconseils@mastodon.social, New York Daily News, BGR, @paninid@mastodon.world, Axios, @jbflint, Newser, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Mashable, Los Angeles Times, Boing Boing, TV Insider, Bloomberg, Screen Rant, NewscastStudio, Irish News, FOX8 WGHP, New York Times and MyStateline.com
David Folkenflik / NPR:
NPR names Web Summit CEO and former Wikimedia Foundation chief Katherine Maher as its 12th permanent CEO and president — NPR has selected former Wikimedia Foundation chief Katherine Maher to lead the network through an era of declining broadcast listenership, financial uncertainty and technological turbulence.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Wrap, Inside Radio, Radio & Television …, TechCrunch, @brandyzadrozny@threads.net, Variety, @kevinbankston, Malcolm Phelan on LinkedIn, @davidfolkenflik, @digiphile, @lpolgreen@threads.net, @krmaher, Independent.ie, Current, @davidfolkenflik, @lorakolodny@threads.net and RADIO ONLINE, more at Techmeme »
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
Originality AI: 88%+ of the top US news outlets now block AI companies' web crawlers; leading right-wing outlets, like Breitbart and Newsmax, mostly permit them — Nearly 90 percent of top news outlets like The New York Times now block AI data collection bots from OpenAI and others.
Discussion:
Fast Company, @thebrianpenny@threads.net, @willoremus@threads.net, @ppatel@mstdn.social, @jeffjarvis, @michellemanafy@journa.host, @matthewfacciani@threads.net, Kate Knibbs on LinkedIn, @simondowens@threads.net, @lolgop.bsky.social, @sauthoff.bsky.social, @carnage4life and @knibbs, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Antenna: Peacock's exclusive stream of the NFL AFC Wild Card game drove a record 2.8M sign-ups for the streaming service — NBCU already claimed the Jan. 13 playoff game was the biggest live-streamed event in U.S. history — delivering an average audience of 23 million viewers.
Discussion:
Antenna, The Desk, @joelmathis.bsky.social, The Streamable, Dan Rayburn on LinkedIn, @xpangler, @pkafka, IndieWire and Business Insider
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Sources: G/O Media is shopping around its portfolio of editorial assets on an individual basis, with an emphasis on offloading The Onion, which isn't profitable — The company, after working to sell its whole portfolio, is now shopping individual properties
Discussion:
@benwessel, @megreenwell, @susanrinkunas, @brianvan, @theadmiralty, Awful Announcing and @markstenberg3
John Koblin / New York Times:
Sources: Netflix plans to begin streaming HBO's Sex and the City in early April 2024, but the series' spinoff And Just Like That will remain exclusive to Max — Media companies that had been reluctant to are increasingly offering shows to Netflix, which is pulling further ahead in the streaming wars.
Discussion:
@dylanbyers, Deadline, @tvmojoe, Screen Rant, @tvgrimreaper, Media Play News, @deeketweak, @tim_bays, @pkafka, TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter, @jbflint, Variety, The Wrap, Cord Cutters News, NBC Bay Area, Rolling Stone and TV Insider
RELATED:
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 12.5% YoY to $8.83B, vs. $8.72B est., paid users up 12.8% YoY to 260.3M, vs. 256M est., and net income up 1,605% YoY to $938M
Discussion:
Mashable, Digital Journal, NBC Bay Area, @jasonkilar, @lucas_shaw, Niels Langereis on LinkedIn, @pkafka, SlashFilm, NME, @tvgrimreaper, @tvmojoe, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, Mumbrella, @lucas_shaw, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, Associated Press, Netflix, The Wrap, Business Insider, Axios, Financial Times, Thurrott, The Messenger, The Streamable, IndieWire, Sarah Whitten on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News, KNSD-TV and NBC Bay Area
Pranav Dixit / Engadget:
Netflix says user engagement with games on its service tripled in 2023 and Grand Theft Auto has become its most successful launch to date
Discussion:
Benzinga and Business Insider
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Netflix plans to retire its ad-free Basic plan in some countries where the company offers ad-supported plans, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2 2024
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Broadband TV News, The Streamable, BGR, Mashable, Business Insider, Benzinga, @tvgrimreaper, @alex, @sherman4949, @tim_bays, @tvmojoe, The A.V. Club, Engadget, The Messenger, AppleInsider, @dtgeek@mastodon.social, Variety, @ianbetteridge@writing …, Hollywood Reporter, 9to5Mac and CNBC
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Bloomberg names veteran technology journalist Brad Stone as the next editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, as the magazine shifts from weekly to monthly publication — Mr. Stone will take the helm as the 94-year-old magazine shifts from weekly to monthly publication.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @ericnewcomer, @markgurman, @emilychangtv, @ashleevance, @joelwebershow, Bloomberg Media and @bradstone
Bloomberg:
Sources: Skydance CEO David Ellison has made a preliminary offer to buy Redstone family's National Amusements, as a way to take control of Paramount Global — - Both sides have advisers, are sharing financial information — Son of Oracle Corp. co-founder has met with Shari Redstone
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Warner Bros. Discovery, which replaced its HBO Max name with Max in May 2023 in the US, plans to expand the change to Latin America on February 27 — The HBO Max makeover to Max is heading overseas. — In the U.S., Warner Bros. Discovery in May 2023 killed off the “HBO Max” …
Discussion:
@patrickdehahn and Rolling Stone
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
HuffPost UK increased its freelancer invoicing period from 30 to 60 days in September 2023, telling some freelancers that the outlet had “cash flow problems” — Freelances paid outstanding money after Press Gazette enquiries made. — Buzzfeed-owned Huffpost has belatedly paid …
Discussion:
@jim_edwards
Ash Parrish / The Verge:
Twitch changes the Prime Gaming subscription payout model to a fixed rate, expands the Partner Plus Program, and removes the $100K cap for 70/30 revenue share — Twitch is making big monetization changes again in an attempt to make a more sustainable system, lowering earnings in some places and raising them in others.
Discussion:
Forbes, Gizmodo, Engadget, TechCrunch, Twitch, @morgan_sung, @morgan_sung, @shindags, @twitch and @greibach_vt, more at Techmeme »
Angela Fu / Poynter:
Texas Tribune staff vote to unionize, five months after the outlet's first layoffs; CEO Sonal Shah says the company will respect their right to representation — The Tribune's union campaign comes a week after workers at the San Antonio Report announced their own union.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Texas Tribune, @sdkstl, Austin Chronicle, @hanaatameez, Nieman Lab and The NewsGuild
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