Mediagazer: Sinclair Broadcast Group's Q4 earnings: net income fell to $206.2M from $443.5M last year but revenue was up 25.4% YoY to $893M (Jon Lafayette/Broadcasting & Cable)

5:15 PM ET, February 27, 2019

Top News:

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Source: Disney is in talks with AT&T to acquire WarnerMedia's 10% stake in Hulu to add to its existing 30% stake and the 30% Disney gains from 20th Century Fox — Disney wants to get even more control over Hulu: The company is in active discussions with AT&T to acquire the 10% stake …

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Arbitrator awards the team behind TV series Bones $179M after ruling that 21st Century Fox execs fraudulently hid profit info from stars and executive producer — In a long-running legal battle over profits from the David Boreanaz-Emily Deschanel hit, an arbitrator's stunning decision calls …

Discussion: Observer, Deadline, @billsimmons, Wall Street Journal, @pareene, @eriqgardner, @jbflint, @thrmattbelloni and @jbflint

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

FTC settles with TikTok's Musical.ly for $5.7M over the app's violation of US child privacy laws; TikTok's app updates today with a new UX for those under 13 — A significant FTC ruling issued today will see video app TikTok fined $5.7 million for violating U.S. children's privacy laws …

Washington Post:

White House excluded reporters from the AP, Reuters, and other outlets from covering Trump's dinner with Kim Jong Un because they had shouted questions earlier — HANOI — The White House abruptly banned four U.S. journalists from covering President Trump's dinner here Wednesday …

Discussion: Press Gazette, East Bay Times, USA Today, @jdawsey1, NPR, @elistokols, @seungminkim, @nakashimae, @scarylawyerguy, @peterwallsten, @godcallsbs, Mediaite, @hadas_gold, @cgseife, @philiprucker, Committee to Protect … and The Week

Washington Post:
The US press corps were forced to leave the Melia hotel in Hanoi, where TV crews had spent weeks setting up cameras, after Kim Jong-Un arrived to stay

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Sinclair Broadcast Group's Q4 earnings: net income fell to $206.2M from $443.5M last year but revenue was up 25.4% YoY to $893M — Sinclair Broadcast Group reported lower fourth quarter profits despite big gains in revenue, including political advertising.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, TVWeek.com, PR Newswire, Baltimore Business Journal, StreetInsider.com, AllAccess.com and Deadline

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

The BBC and UK broadcaster ITV have confirmed plans to launch a joint, paid streaming service called BritBox by the end of 2019 — Streaming service to launch this year will feature archive shows and new commissions — The BBC and ITV have confirmed plans to join forces and launch a paid …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, @thr, @jimwaterson, WIRED UK, @elenacresci, @tommundaycs, @leahhather, @mrjkilcoyne and @quendergeer

Cherie Hu / Bello Collective:

Investments in podcasts like Spotify's Gimlet acquisition will allow artists to share their own narratives directly with fans and avoid traditional music press — In sidestepping media middlemen, artists are creating their own DIY music-media economy — Over the past few decades …

Discussion: @digg, @sesmith, @bellocollective, @chartroommedia, @cheriehu42, Digg and MediaPost

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Pandora launches Stories, a new marketing tool allowing artists to build music playlists combined with voice tracks, available for all users to stream

Financial Times:

Study estimates 1,000-1,500 US newspapers, many owned by private equity and hedge fund investors, are “ghost newspapers” mainly filled with wire copy and ads — At the start of 2018, Denver Post journalists felt optimistic for the first time in years.

Tanya Dua / Business Insider:

Former LA Times CEO and publisher Ross Levinsohn claims allegations of inappropriate behavior made against him amounted to “character assassination” — - A year ago, Los Angeles Times publisher and CEO Ross Levinsohn was put on unpaid leave after the publication of an NPR article accusing him of …

Discussion: @digitalshields, @lmoses, @nichcarlson and @nichcarlson

Matt Donnelly / Variety:

Oscar winners behind Free Solo on why documentaries are hot now: sophisticated audiences, a “psychotic” news cycle, and big budgets from streaming companies — On a bustling post-Oscar Monday, “Free Solo” co-directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin arrive …

Discussion: Multichannel News and MediaPost

Lucinda Southern / Digiday:

In late January, The Economist tightened its paywall to five articles per month from three per week, in hopes of increasing subscribers — The Economist has tightened its paywall so readers have access to five articles a month — rather than three a week — in order to nudge more registered users over into subscribing.

Discussion: @digiday and @m_c_b

Gus Garcia-Roberts / USA Today:

Twitter has permanently suspended Jacob Wohl for creating and operating fake accounts, after he shared plans to make deceptive accounts before the 2020 election — Twitter announced that it is permanently suspending Jacob Wohl, a 21-year-old Internet hoaxer and supporter of President Donald Trump …

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More News:

The New York Times Company:
The New York Times has named Adam Nossiter as its Paris bureau chief, where he will be joined by veteran correspondent Nori Onishi

Tiffany Stevens / Columbia Journalism Review:
In the past year, more reporters are living among residents in US-Mexico border cities, helping national outlets like LAT and NYT improve immigration coverage

Discussion: @thetinavasquez, @tiffanymstevens, @sadieeehdz, @patrickwtimmons and @mollyhf

The Conversation:
Suppression orders that banned any reporting on Australia's Pell trials showed the futility of court attempts to control news amid foreign press, social media

Discussion: The Guardian, The Guardian and ABC

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
theSkimm plans to launch its first daily news podcast, Skimm This, on March 4, releasing it at 5pm weekdays and focusing on around four stories in 10 minutes

Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
Rotten Tomatoes will no longer let users post reviews and ratings before films are released, in an effort to make its audience-rating system more trustworthy

Discussion: Rotten Tomatoes, The Guardian, Fast Company, TechCrunch, @melsil and @jessica_roy

Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Spotify goes live for some in India, even as its licensing fight continues with Warner Music; after free trial, premium service is 119 rupees, or about $1.67/mo

Discussion: Spotify, Recode, MediaNama, YouTube, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, @reckless, TechCrunch and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook policy doc shows it wants up to a 30% cut of Fan Subscriptions, vs Patreon's 5%, and to reserve right to offer free trials with no creator compensation

Discussion: The Verge, Tubefilter, Mashable, @hankgreen, @joshconstine, @joshconstine and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

East Bay Times:
After inadvertently releasing a list of thousands of cops with criminal convictions under public records law, CA's AG threatened two reporters with legal action

Discussion: @trevortimm, Techdirt, @trevortimm, @caseytolan, @a_mendelson, @reveal, @csmcdaniel, @digiphile, @dangillmor, Boing Boing and Hit & Run

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:
Memo: Jenna Bush Hager has been named as co-host of NBC's “Today” show, anchoring the program alongside Hoda Kotb in its fourth hour

Discussion: TODAY.com, @thestalwart, TVWeek.com and Newser

Hadas Gold / CNN:
DC appeals court rejects DOJ's bid to overturn the ruling that cleared the way for AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner; DOJ says it will not seek further review

American Journalism Project:
The American Journalism Project, a venture philanthropy project aiming to reinvigorate local news, has launched with $42M in commitments

Discussion: @journalismproj, @journalismproj, @chanders, @ibarguen, @craignewmark, @journalismproj, @jbenton, @emilybell, @elizwgreen, @clockwerks, @knightfdn, @evanasmith, Elizabeth Green and @raju

The Guardian:
UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram for repeatedly breaking policies on hate speech

Discussion: Facebook, @davidlammy, @adamwagner1, @themjap, @erinsaltman, @jaredlholt, @markdistef, @ezralevant, @tom_watson, @peoplesmomentum, @ezralevant, CNN, Adweek, Mashable and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Sources: Facebook will only renew about one-third of existing Facebook Watch news shows; source says one show that was renewed had a 30% budget cut

Discussion: Business Insider, TechCrunch, Facebook, Fortune, The Big Lead, @jbenton, @sizpatel, @danielpmcdermot, @mattnavarra, Variety, Gizmodo, Fast Company, Engadget, VentureBeat and Tubefilter

From Techmeme:

Charlie Demerjian / SemiAccurate:
Sources: Qualcomm is cheating on Snapdragon X Plus and Elite benchmarks given to OEMs and the press; the numbers are not achievable with the claimed settings

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft begins rolling out Windows 11 Start menu ads that show app “recommendations” from “a small set of curated developers”; users can disable the ads

Meir Orbach / CTech:
Nvidia acquires AI infrastructure orchestration and management service Run:ai, a source says for ~$700M; Run:ai, founded in 2018, had raised $118M to date

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