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12:20 PM ET, November 20, 2024

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
CNBC:
Comcast confirms plans to spin off its NBCUniversal cable TV networks, including MSNBC and CNBC, with Mark Lazarus as CEO; the separation may take about a year  —  Comcast is moving forward with the spinoff of its cable network channels, including CNBC, MSNBC and E!, the company said Wednesday.
RELATED:
Liz Hoffman / Semafor:
Sources: under current plans, Comcast's new spun off entity would carry little of its $101B of debt, giving it the ability to borrow for acquisitions  —  The Scoop  —  Corporate spinoffs are born as takeover prey.  They're often unloved, underperforming divisions, flung out to shareholders wearing a …
Discussion: Bloomberg and @semaforben
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
Comcast's spinoff is essentially a garage sale of its basic cable TV networks, as the number of people paying for and watching cable networks falls every year  —  - Cable networks used to be incredibly valuable.  But in the streaming and cord-cutting era, they are in decline.
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Comcast spinoff: cable channel Bravo, the NBC broadcast network, and Peacock will remain part of NBCUniversal; the new entity's ownership will mirror Comcast  —  NBCU CFO Anand Kini will become CFO and COO of the new channels company. … Cable channel Bravo, the NBC broadcast network …
Discussion: Deadline, @pkafka and Screen Rant
James Warrington / Telegraph:
Almost 93% of 600 Guardian and Observer staff organized by the NUJ vote in favor of strike action over the proposed sale of The Observer to Tortoise  —  Union leaders say walkouts can be avoided if the company ends discussions with Tortoise  —  The Guardian is braced for strike action …
Kanis Leung / Associated Press:
Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai testifies for the first time in his years-long national security trial; he is already serving a jail term for a fraud conviction  —  Former Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai began testifying Wednesday in his landmark national security trial that is widely seen …
Oliver Darcy / Status:
Nielsen: Morning Joe's total audience fell 17% from the 6am hour to the 7am hour after Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski said they met Trump, an unusual drop  —  The decision from Comcast will notably rip apart NBCU News Group boss Cesar Conde's kingdom, with MSNBC and CNBC being spun off.
Amanda Gerut / Fortune:
A Brooklyn federal grand jury indicts two brothers over allegedly running illegal sports streaming service 247TVStream, offering live NFL, NBA, and NHL games  —  “Thanks to the work of our prosecutors, along with our domestic and international law enforcement partners, the illicit digital streaming site …
Anil Dash:
Substack wants writers to call their work by its brand name because “they control your audience and distribution” and “want to own your content and voice”  —  Email's been here for years.  But the reason Substack wants you to call your creative work by their brand name …
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Brendan Carr says Trump's complaint over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris is “likely to arise” in the FCC's review of the Skydance-Paramount deal  —  In an interview with Fox News' America's Newsroom, Carr said, “Broadcasters are differently situated to other speakers.
RELATED:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Bluesky says it now has 20M+ users after hitting 15M on November 13, and the app has been #1 in the US App Store since November 13, per Appfigures
 
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 More News: 
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Trump Media now has a ~$7B market cap despite struggling to build a profitable revenue stream; Similarweb says site visits fell 20% MoM to 10M in October 2024
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
A lawsuit against Netflix and Meta claims the two made a deal where Meta scaled back original video programming in trade for Netflix data and ad spending
 Earlier Picks: 
Dave Lawler / Axios:
Trump picks TV personality and 2022 US Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:
Sources detail continued financial losses at WaPo, internal competition for the top newsroom job, and staff dissatisfaction with a new return-to-office policy
Bloomberg:
Source: Microsoft signs a deal with News Corp's HarperCollins to use nonfiction titles to train an unannounced AI model; HarperCollins says authors can opt out
 

 
From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November

Bloomberg:
Preqin data: Southeast Asia's AI startups raised just $1.7B across 122 deals so far in 2024, out of ~$20B across 1,845 deals for the whole Asia-Pacific region
 
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