Top News:
Mike Fleming Jr / Deadline:
Apple acquires the film CODA at the 2021 virtual Sundance for a record-breaking $25M, above the $22.5M that Palm Springs received last year from Hulu — EXCLUSIVE: In the first big deal of the 2021 virtual Sundance Film Festival, Apple has landed worldwide rights to CODA, for a number just north of $25 million.
Discussion:
Variety, Business Insider, The Daily Beast, Engadget, @shoshannah7, @kylebuchanan, @erickweber, AppleInsider, The Wrap and IndieWire
Brian Stelter / CNN:
Rick Davis, a CNN staffer since its launch 40 years ago and now executive vice president of news standards and practices, retires Jan. 31 — New York (CNN Business)The longest-serving executive in the history of cable news is retiring, and CNN will never be the same. — Around the network he is known simply as Rick.
Zeyi Yang / Protocol:
A look at Bilibili, the “YouTube for China”, as it balances competition and cooperation with Alibaba and Tencent, both of which invested in the video platform — “Should Bilibili keep expanding and become a larger player, their relationship with Tencent will surely deteriorate.”
Committee to Protect Journalists:
CPJ finds that police across Russia assaulted at least 8 journalists and detained at least 49 journalists who were covering pro-Navalny protests on January 23 — Russian authorities should allow journalists to cover protests freely and without fear, and refrain from attacking or detaining members …
Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:
WWE's deal with Peacock is a sign that streaming will start to bundle like cable TV, as smaller services unable to grow audiences will sell to larger ones — - Analysts predict streaming market will consolidate like cable — Online network gives up solo effort to work with NBCUniversal
Discussion:
@blackamazon, @itswilltime, @davidbix, @davemeltzerwon, @wrestlenomics, @gerryfsmith, @gerryfsmith and @lucas_shaw
Hamilton Nolan / Columbia Journalism Review:
Marty Baron earned respect in WaPo's newsroom, but events in the past year showed a need to nurture new voices that differ from the white DC media establishment — After eight years leading the Washington Post—the capstone on a nearly half-century career in journalism—Marty Baron announced this week that he will soon be retiring.
Discussion:
@alexaborchardt, @hamiltonnolan, @abdallah_fayyad, @wesleylowery, @mathewi, @jayrosen_nyu, @carloslozadawp, @benharder, wan-ifra.org and @jayrosen_nyu
Ray Schultz / MediaPost:
The Alliance for Audited Media launches an audit program for digital publishers to combat ad fraud, free to AAM clients through 2021 — The Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) has launched a third-party audit program for digital publishers in an effort to combat ad fraud and reassure media buyers that domains are legitimate.
Lara O'Reilly / Business Insider:
Verizon's media unit, which owns TechCrunch and Engadget, plans personalization features linked to Yahoo Mail, starting on sites like Yahoo News and Finance — - Verizon Media CEO Guru Gowrappan tells Insider the unit is preparing a “mega” product launch in the coming weeks.
Discussion:
@sarthakgh, @carnage4life, @caseynewton, @reckless, @hkanji, @jason_kint, @kidkotok, @digitalshields, @richlightshed and @larakiara, more at Techmeme »
Tim Lambert / WITF:
Pennsylvania public radio station WITF says stories about lawmakers who supported the effort to overthrow the election will systematically identify them as such — - Scott Blanchard/StateImpact Pennsylvania — In the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, WITF's journalists worked …
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Internal memo: CBS has hired a law firm to conduct external investigations into recent allegations of racist and misogynist behavior by two senior executives — CBS has set in motion “an external investigation” into allegations of racist and misogynist behavior by senior executives at its local-TV unit …
Discussion:
contextisking.com, @bristei, Los Angeles Times and The Wrap
Financial Times:
Sources: Vivendi's Universal Music is looking to go public this year instead of in 2022; the label has been approached about going public via merger with a SPAC — World's largest record label seeks to capitalise on frothy stock market — Universal Music, the world's largest record label …
Discussion:
@annaknicolaou and @annaknicolaou
Jeff Morris / WCHS-TV:
HD Media, owner of the Charleston-Gazette Mail and other WV papers, has sued Google and Facebook, saying they conspired to further their digital ads dominance — West Virginia-based HD Media has filed a lawsuit against Google and Facebook, saying the two archrivals “conspired to further …
Discussion:
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