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Memo: BDG Media suspends Gawker operations and CEO Bryan Goldberg says the company will cut 8% of its full-time staff after “a surprisingly difficult” Q1 2023 — BDG Media is suspending Gawker and will lay off 8% of full-time staff, according to an internal memo from CEO Bryan Goldberg that was obtained by Axios.
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The US DOJ charges former ABC News foreign correspondent James Gordon Meek over the alleged transportation of CSAM; the FBI raided Meek's home in April 2022 — The Department of Justice on Wednesday announced the arrest of an award-winning investigative reporter on charges related to child pornography.
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Department of Justice, Washington Post, Variety, @awprokop, Mediaite, Fox News, The Hollywood Reporter, @tomaxwell, @awprokop, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, @mattwolking, New York Post, Rolling Stone, @noahshachtman, @calebjhull, @maxwelltani, @arlnowdotcom, Deadline, @semaforben and The Daily Beast

Netflix says password sharing rules for the US are not set yet and removes from its US help page rules saying users must connect to primary Wi-Fi every 31 days — Based on info sourced from Netflix's support pages, The Streamable reported on Tuesday details about its upcoming anti-password sharing efforts.
Discussion:
The Streamable, TechCrunch, Observer, CNBC, @jamiekaywilde, @verge, Screen Rant, ZDNet, Mashable, Gizmodo, Forbes and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg renames its Quicktake streaming channel to Bloomberg Originals and adds more documentaries and talk shows, after seeing growth in ad-supported video — News publisher to launch climate, science and sports shows on rebranded streaming platform — Bloomberg Media is adding …
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Talking Biz News

TikTok is limiting the number of songs that some users in Australia can post on its app, an experiment meant to assess how much they value music in their videos — TikTok is limiting the number of songs that users can post on its app, an experiment to assess how much they value music in their videos.
Discussion:
Social Media Today, Fox News and Newsday

Netflix adds spatial audio to its $20 per month Premium plan, available on 700+ of its most-watched titles; Standard and Basic plans will get limited support — Listen to this: Netflix is hoping audiophiles will upgrade to the $20-per-month Premium tier to gain access to the streamer's full collection …
Discussion:
LostRemote, IGN, 9to5Mac, The Verge, The Streamable, TechCrunch and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

A look at ad industry meme accounts, often run by anonymous industry veterans to share news, create a sense of community among junior staff and CMOs, and more — Ad industry meme creators have begun breaking news, earning revenue and attracting attention from industry leaders
Discussion:
@mjbarash, @patrickcoffee, @media_lad and @patrickcoffee

Sources: Netflix told advertisers that sign-ups for its ad tier doubled in January 2023 over December 2022; Netflix predicted 1.75M ad tier subscribers in Q1 — Netflix is making progress in its plunge into advertising—slowly. — The streaming firm told advertisers in the past 10 days …
Discussion:
@amir, @richlightshed, IndieWire, Deadline, @sizpatel and Cord Cutters News

The Seattle Times President Alan Fisco says 70% of the paper's revenue now comes from readers, and 70% of that is still from print; ads represent 24% of revenue — 2023-01-25. “You can have the most sophisticated funnel, the best retention tools on the planet, spend a fortune on your tech stack …
Discussion:
@coreyhutchins, @anthony, What's New in Publishing, Media Voices and American Press Institute

HuffPost and its union reach an agreement on a new three-year contract, after 98% of the union's 91 members had pledged to strike if a deal wasn't reached — The WGA East and HuffPost have reached an agreement on a new three-year contract, averting a threatened strike.
Discussion:
@davecullen, @marinafang and @wgaeast

Pakistan “degrades” Wikipedia in the country for 48 hours for not removing “sacrilegious contents” and warns of a full block if the nonprofit fails to comply — Pakistan has “degraded” Wikipedia in the country for 48 hours for not removing “sacrilegious contents” …
Discussion:
@ptaofficialpk, Poynter, @usamakhilji, @anayankhan and @usmanahmad_iam, more at Techmeme »

Sources: Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone's ad joint venture meant to rival Meta and Google is set to win unconditional EU antitrust approval — Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), Orange (ORAN.PA), Telefonica (TEF.MC) and Vodafone's (VOD.L) plan to take on Big Tech …