Mediagazer: Source: Amazon's acquisition of Wondery values the podcasting company, which began in 2016, at roughly $300M (Lauren Hirsch/New York Times)

5:40 PM ET, December 31, 2020

Top News:

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Boards of RFE/RL and Radio Free Asia and their chairman Michael Pack have added binding contractual agreements that they can't be removed for the next two years — Michael Pack's stormy tenure over the federal agency that oversees government-funded broadcasters abroad — including Voice of America — appears to be coming to a close.

Discussion: @paulwaldman1, @melissajpeltier, @digiphile, @npr, @urielepshtein, @mollymckew, @mandacollins, @davidfolkenflik, @petersoa840 and @anneapplebaum

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Letter signed by leaders of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's news division and editorial board says Michael Pack appointed a board of “inexperienced” partisans — - Leaders of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty blasted the Trump-appointed CEO of the U.S. federal media agency.

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, @gkates, @27khv, @davidfolkenflik, @kevinrothrock, @nprinskeep, @joshgerstein, @micheleberdy, @ckummer, @schwartzbcnbc, @schwartzbcnbc and @nickschifrin

Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:

Alden says it is bidding for full control of Tribune Publishing, in which it has a ~32% stake, with an offer that values the newspaper chain at about $520.6M — Alden Global Capital, which is already Tribune's biggest shareholder, valued the company at about $520.6 million.

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Alden Global is seeking to buy Tribune Publishing, in which it already owns a 32% stake — Hedge fund already owns 32% of the Chicago Tribune publisher — A hedge fund that owns a big stake in Tribune Publishing Co. is seeking to buy the newspaper chain behind titles including …

Discussion: @sueblueswilson, Poynter, Media Nation, @benbradleytv, @thenewsan, @mattdpearce, @ehernandez, The Wrap, @andrewgiambrone, @carriemelago, @cerconejeff, @fineout, @vellastrations, @garywhite13, Talking Biz News and bookforum.com

Wall Street Journal:

Top nine streaming services to end 2020 with combined US subscribers up 50%+ YoY; US households now subscribe to 3.1 services on average, up from 2.7 in 2019 — From Hulu to Disney+, largest streaming services are expected to end the year with 50% more U.S. subscribers

Discussion: Business Insider, @raju, @wsj, @jbflint, @drewfitzgerald, Fast Company, New York Post, Context is King, ScreenRant and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »

MediaPost:

Parks Associates: 20% of US broadband households currently use ad-supported streaming services and 15% us a freemium service, like Peacock — - by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, Yesterday — Twenty percent of U.S. broadband households currently use an ad-supported OTT service …

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Over Christmas holiday, Apptopia says HBO Max had ~554K app signups; Sensor Tower says Disney+ had ~2.3M global app installations, up 28% from prior weekend

Discussion: ScreenRant, The Desk, DIRT, The Streamable and TechCrunch

About Amazon:

Amazon plans to acquire podcast network Wondery, which will join Amazon Music — We've signed an agreement to acquire Wondery, a top-rated podcast creator and producer that entertains and educates listeners. — We're pleased to announce that Wondery—an innovative podcast publisher …

Lauren Hirsch / New York Times:

Source: Amazon's acquisition of Wondery values the podcasting company, which began in 2016, at roughly $300M — The deal, valued at $300 million, is the latest in a string of acquisitions as streaming platforms expand beyond music and video. — Amazon is acquiring Wondery …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, @dabeard, Daily Herald, CNN and TechCrunch

Steve Inskeep / NPR:

Biden's press secretary Jen Psaki on not letting the briefing room become a “platform for propaganda”, engaging with right-wing media, dealing with leaks, more — Toggle more options — President-elect Joe Biden's choice for White House press secretary says she will restore a tradition.

Rachel Olding / The Daily Beast:

The 5 female anchors at NY1 who sued for age and gender discrimination say they have mutually agreed to leave the local news station after settling their suit — STARS DEPART — Five female anchors at NY1 said Thursday they have “mutually agreed” to leave the local news station after settling …

Discussion: TVNewser, New York Times, @erinmdurkin, The Wrap, @nygovcuomo, @wigdorlaw, @yashar, @aoc, @dianafalzone, @galeabrewer, @katie_honan, @s_evangelina, @nycspeakercojo, @jimmyvanbramer, @liamstack, @mcbc, @vanya42nd and @specificny

Todd Spangler / Variety:

ESPN Plus is raising the annual subscription for new subscribers by 20%, from $49.99 to $59.99, and increasing the price of UFC pay-per-view events to $69.99 — UFC fans are going to pay more to catch the promoter's premiere fights on Disney's ESPN Plus streaming sports package next year.

Discussion: The Streamable, Sports Business Daily, @jevan_bay, @trengriffin, @thenotoriousmma, @yoda, @mrmwellsart, @trentreinsmith, @seansheehanba, @yay_yee, Gizmodo, The Verge, Awful Announcing and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Cliff Levy / @cliffordlevy:

Memo to NYT staff from Arthur Sulzberger Jr., retiring after 42 years: “A 170-year old institution doesn't survive by standing still” — “It has been the privilege of my life to support your important work.” — After 42 years, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., one of the most influential figures in journalism in recent decades, retires and says goodbye to @nytimes. https://twitter.com/...

Discussion: @nickkristof and @marclacey

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More News:

Cevheri Güven / Turkish Minute:
A YouTube channel run from Germany by exiled Turkish journalists was shut down due to copyright claims from Turkey; one expert blames YouTube's Turkey office

Discussion: Context is King, @doener, @turkishminutetm, @berlinyeni, @berlinyeni, @csagir2015 and The Times

Ken Symon / Insider.co.uk:
JPI Media, owner of The Scotsman and other newspapers, has been sold for £10.2M, or around $13.9M, to a new group set up by industry veteran David Montgomery

Discussion: The Guardian, BBC and Yorkshire Post

Reuters:
Reuters cameraman Kumerra Gemechu has been detained in Ethiopia without charge; police say they are investigating allegations of spreading false information

Discussion: @kenroth, @carmelcrimmins and @reuterspr

Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal:
Acting attorney general says WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl's accused killer could be prosecuted in the US if Pakistani courts fail to keep him in jail

Discussion: @bgrueskin, @rohded, @jessepesta, @schoofsfeed, @alanmillernlp, USA Today, CBS News, Reuters, Al Jazeera, The Hill and Associated Press

Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:
Association of American Publishers: audiobooks revenue is up 17%+ YoY, e-book sales are up 16%+; NPD BookScan says US print book sales are up ~8% in 2020

Discussion: @sejorg, @nytimesbooks, @pamelapaulnyt, @likaluca, @fidmart85, @bobproehl, @hermionehoby, @jldelbourgo, @scalzi, @magiciansbook, @mariskreizman and bookforum.com

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Judge rules Viacom shareholders can pursue claims of fiduciary duty breach against Shari Redstone and board members representing Viacom in the merger with CBS

Discussion: The Wrap, @eriqgardner, Deadline and Variety

Earlier Picks:

John Hopewell / Variety:
Comscore: global box office fell between 57%, in the Netherlands, and 76%, in UK, vs. 2019, depending on length of closure and strength of local movie industry

Discussion: Variety

Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
Nielsen: Fox News tops all news and basic cable channels for the fifth consecutive year, averaging 1.9M viewers/day; CNN had its most-watched year in history

Discussion: TVNewser and TVNewser

Dave Lee / Financial Times:
FactSet: Amazon's “other” business unit, which is made up almost entirely of its ads business, will make $21B in revenue in 2020, up 47% YoY

Discussion: @raju, @financialtimes, @tonytassell, @read_cap, @juokaz and @hughhewitt

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
Interviews with 15 longtime Fox News loyalists on why they switched to Newsmax, often seeking programming that denies Joe Biden's victory

Discussion: Mediaite, @seanspicer, @dcdianadc, @kirktousaw, @evilgalprods, @kimmasters, @chessninja, @poniewozik, @elise_jordan, @donal_okeeffe, @ericbolling and @jayrosen_nyu

Wall Street Journal:
Unredacted draft version of the lawsuit filed by 10 states earlier this month details a Google-Facebook ad deal that allegedly constituted illegal price fixing

Discussion: @greglinden, @phyllisstein, @bowknowsbiz, @bowknowsbiz, @johnvoorhees, @repkenbuck, @jonspaihts, @bikehugger, @moonalice, @halsinger, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @jason_kint and New York Post

Inside Radio:
Univision sale to Searchlight Capital is formalized, and Wade Davis becomes CEO; FCC granted an exception to a cap on foreign ownership, as Televisa holds 36.1%

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Awful Announcing and Radio & Television …

From Techmeme:

Joanna Nelius / The Verge:
Qualcomm details its Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite chips; benchmarks from a demo suggest the chips match Apple's M3, Intel's Core Ultra 9, and AMD's Ryzen 9

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

Shubham Sharma / VentureBeat:
Apple debuts OpenELM, a family of language models with 270M, 450M, 1.1B, and 3B parameters, designed to run on-device, pre-trained and fine-tuned on public data

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