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Tucker Carlson used the J&J vaccine pause to suggest the US government knows that COVID-19 vaccines don't work but is purposely “not telling you that” — “Well, you'd hate to think that especially if you've gotten two shots but what's the other potential explanation?
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Fox says Lachlan Murdoch will return to LA from Australia in early September to reopen Fox HQ “and will go back to working and living in the US” — SYDNEY (Reuters) - Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch will return to the United States from a months-long Australian sojourn …
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@benyt, @benyt, @brianstelter, @alexweprin, The Hill, @karaswisher, @oliverdarcy, @jayrosen_nyu and @jgreenblattadl

Plex raises $50M+ Series C from existing investor Intercap, bringing its total raised to $60M, and says it has more than 25M registered users globally — Streaming media service Plex, looking to grow its free, ad-supported video business, announced that it raised more than $50 million …
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Facebook rolls out a local news section for UK users of Facebook News, after launching a similar section in the US last year — Facebook has rolled out a local news section for UK users of Facebook News. — The social network said in a blog post that the new feature will help …
Discussion:
The Drum, Facebook Journalism Project and One Man & His Blog

Hundreds of executives and companies, including Netflix, ViacomCBS, Apple, and Amazon, sign a statement opposing “any discriminatory legislation” around voting — Amazon, Google, G.M. and Starbucks were among those joining the biggest show of solidarity by businesses over legislation in numerous states.
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Univision and Mexico's Televisa unveil a $4.8B deal to merge, partly financed by a $1B Series C led by SoftBank's Latin American Fund — The two companies announce a plan to combine media, production and content assets. — Two of the biggest Spanish-language media companies in the world are planning to merge.
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Report: in pitch decks submitted to US advertisers about new ad formats, TikTok says it has 732M MAUs globally, 100M+ in the US, 59% of its users are under 24 — TikTok is planning to launch a range of new eCommerce focused ad offerings as it seeks to maximize its revenue potential …
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Insider, @tanyadua, Music Business Worldwide, @dwhate, @tanyadua, @pip_net, @joshsternberg, @mattnavarra, @prodbywalkz, @tanyadua and musically.com

Source: Susan Zirinsky, the first woman to lead CBS News, to announce that she is stepping down from the presidency of the division, as soon as this week — Here's what you need to know: — Coinbase will debut on Wall Street today. Here's what you need to know.
Discussion:
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The White House Correspondents' Association dinner has been canceled for a second year due to the pandemic; the next dinner is set for April 30, 2022 — The annual White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner has been canceled for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sources: three media veterans are launching a subscription media company with funding led by 40 North Media and TPG Growth, to bundle journalists and resources — Joe Purzycki, Jon Kelly and Max Tcheyan are striking off on their own.
Discussion:
@axios, @dylanbyers, @peterhamby, @mikeallen and @sarafischer

Ampere Analysis: there were nearly 340M subscriptions to streaming services in the US in Q1, with the average consumer reporting subscribing to 4+ services — There are now nearly 340 million subscription contracts to OTT streaming services in the U.S., exceeding the country's 330-million population …

TrillerNet, parent of TikTok competitor Triller, acquires customer engagement platform Amplify.AI and combat sports streaming and events service FITE TV — Would be TikTok competitor Triller, operated by parent company TrillerNet, is gaining a new CEO, the company announced today.
Discussion:
The Wrap, @micahsingleton and Pro Wrestling Dot Net, more at Techmeme »