Top News:
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Roku reports ending 2022 with more than 70M accounts globally, up 16.5% from the end of 2021, and says streaming hours grew 19% YoY to 87.4B in 2022 — The customer total was up 16.5% from the end of 2021, when Roku totaled 60.1 million global accounts. — Per Roku, streaming hours reached …
Discussion:
Roku, @tvgrimreaper, WORLD SCREEN, Next TV, Collider, Broadband TV News, TechCrunch, Deadline, Light Reading, The Wrap, MediaPost, CNET, Media Play News and The Streamable
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Alex Kaplan / Media Matters for America:
Roku let Burrow, a channel dedicated to QAnon conspiracy theories, launch despite seemingly violating its content rules; Burrow got 300K+ installs in 20 days — Roku may be making money on the channel via ads, despite its rules against such content — Streaming platform Roku has allowed …
Discussion:
CNET, @cnet, @ogreporter and @nandoodles
Camila DeChalus / Washington Post:
The US House allowed C-SPAN to let cameras roam the chamber until a speaker is elected, showing loud booing, animated conversations, sleeping kids, and more — Loud booing. Animated conversations in the aisles of the House chamber. Sleeping children. Lawmakers scrolling on their phones.
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David Satin / The Streamable:
Some doubt YouTube will get its money's worth from its $2B NFL Sunday Ticket deal; one analyst estimates YouTube TV will need 4.5M new subscribers to break even — NFL fans across the country rejoiced when it was announced that Alphabet Inc. had acquired the rights to the league's …
Discussion:
Sports Business Journal, @andrewmarchand, @tonystrong631, @tvgrimreaper, @ourand_sbj, Light Reading and @ourand_sbj
Roxanna Asgarian / The Texas Tribune:
In January, a US appeals court will weigh a citizen journalist's First Amendment rights against qualified immunity, which shields public officials from lawsuits — Priscilla Villarreal was arrested over her Facebook postings. In a rare proceeding, the entire 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals …
Discussion:
@campaigntoendqi, @protecting1st, @ij, @kinger_dc, @penamerica and @strawburriez
Dan Belson / Capital Gazette:
The families of slain Capital Gazette staff settle their lawsuit against The Baltimore Sun and Tribune Publishing that claimed the shooting was “preventable” — The families of Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters, along with some Capital employees …
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Pop-Up Magazine shuts down after hosting live storytelling shows since its 2009 launch, citing the pandemic and economic downturn and affecting 18+ employees — The live events publisher explored a sale or investment prior to closing — The live performance publisher Pop-Up Magazine …
Daniel Frankel / Next TV:
Amazon Prime Video averaged 9.6M viewers for its first season as the exclusive rights holder of the NFL's Thursday Night Football, down 41% from 2021's average — The better news? Amazon Prime Video's median viewer age was seven years younger than any other NFL TV rights package
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, @jxdubs727, @tvgrimreaper, The Streamable, @ourand_sbj and Los Angeles Times
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
The New York Times adds an arbitration clause to its TOS, following Bloomberg, Politico, and others, despite its own coverage detailing the ills of the practice — Few outlets can match the New York Times when it comes to exposing the pitfalls of forced arbitration.
Discussion:
@fpbland, @timothynoah1 and CoinDesk
Bill Donahue / Billboard:
Hundreds of artists urge the US Copyright Office to approve a proposal ensuring that songwriters who regain control of their music also get streaming royalties — Don Henley, Sheryl Crow, Sting and a slew of other musicians are throwing their support behind a new federal copyright rule aimed …
Discussion:
@billboard and @kayhanley
Geoffrey A. Fowler / Washington Post:
Twitter verified a Washington Post columnist's fake US Senator Ed Markey account, after Elon Musk said “all verified accounts will be manually authenticated” — Elon Musk said Twitter would begin authenticating users who pay $8 for Blue. Our tech columnist was still able to get a checkmark for an impostor Sen. Ed Markey.
Discussion:
@geoffreyfowler, @ron_fournier, @markfollman, @sub8u, Insider, @iansherr, @senmarkey, @_cingraham, @deanobeidallah, @geoffreyfowler, @senmarkey, The Wrap and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »
Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:
Vince McMahon plans to return to WWE to pursue a sale of the business, after retiring as CEO and chairman in July 2022 amid sexual misconduct claims against him — Vince McMahon, the majority owner and former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., WWE 2.26%increase …
Discussion:
corporate.wwe.com, Awful Announcing, Vince McMahon, @laurenthomas, CNET, Fox News, Associated Press, MediaPost, Sportico, @davidbix, Deadline, The Streamable, The Wrap, @davidbix, Insider, CNBC, @therajgiri, @kellycrandall, TMZ.com, @asukasmox, @jack_murley, Variety, @claytravis, WFLA-TV, Next TV, Observer, @tedgruber, @iamjohnpollock, @wcwworldwide, @ourand_sbj, @therajgiri, @otd_in_wwe, @glennrubenstein, @laurenthomas, @laurenthomas, @_denisesalcedo, @brandolightshed, The Comeback, IGN, New York Daily News, CNN, Front Office Sports, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post and Bloomberg