| Good afternoon from Los Angeles wherever you may be. The first two weeks of December brought a little bit of clarity to this year's Oscar race thanks to the first batch of prizes and nominations. New York film critics love "The Irishman," while Los Angeles film critics prefer "Parasite." Indie filmmakers said "Marriage Story" was the year's best film, while black critics anointed "Us." Most pundits have coalesced around a handful of films as the real contenders: "The Irishman," "Parasite," "Marriage Story," "1917," Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood." "Jojo Rabbit" is a wild card, and no other movie has better than 10/1 odds over at Gold Derby.  Gold Derby These nominees prove the Oscar race has changed forever, but not in the way many activists wanted. Netflix has earned a permanent seat at the table, while women and people of color are still waiting for that recognition. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has inducted hundreds of new members to reverse the perception that its membership is too white and too male. This resulted in a best picture for "Moonlight," the story of a black man grappling with his sexuality, but also for "Green Book," a movie with a more retrograde depiction of race relations. Criticism of awards voters resurfaced this past week when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated no women for best director at the Golden Globes. The HFPA is a small, anonymous body of foreign film critics that isn't representative of the country, or people who vote for awards. It's like letting the AARP elect the next president. But look at the directors of those five (or six) Oscar frontrunners, and you will see that they were all directed by male filmmakers. This is not because no women made good films this year. Greta Gerwig's "Little Women," Lulu Wang's "The Farewell," Lorene Scafaria's "Hustlers," Olivia Wilde's "Booksmart," and Melina Matsoukas' "Queen & Slim" all appear on many critics' lists of the year's best films. But it's hard to get nominated when you get fewer chances. Only a dozen of the 100 highest-grossing movies this year were made by women (and that is itself a huge increase over the norm). Netflix sat on the sidelines at the Oscars for a couple of years because voters viewed the company as a threat to the movie industry's business model. Netflix wants to release movies at home and in theaters at the exact same time. Theater owners say will suppress moviegoing, and all the big chains still refuse to show Netflix movies, forcing filmmakers to choose between getting their movie made with a generous budget and a smaller budget with a wide theatrical release. Most filmmakers have chosen to get their movies made the way they want. Oscar voters have similarly accepted this change, nominating Netflix for 15 prizes at the 2019 ceremony and handing Alfonso Cuaron and "Roma" the award for best director. The streaming service has two of the five leading contenders for best picture at the 2020 Oscars, including the odds-on favorite right now ("The Irishman"). Netflix charmed Oscar voters by supporting some of the greatest directors of the past 50 years, thus making it hard to portray it as an enemy of cinema. But Netflix also fought its way into the race the only way Hollywood knows how: money. Netflix is spending a fortune on its campaign, and has rankled rivals by reportedly paying for critics to attend screenings. Maybe next year it will put more of that money towards Oscar contenders from female filmmakers. – Lucas Shaw Roku's $17 billion empire If Netflix is the TV network of the internet age, then Roku is its cable box. More than 30 million people use a Roku product to stream video, and the company's devices accounted for 44% of all connected-TV viewing hours in the latest quarter, according to industry analytics firm Convivia. Amazon is second at 20%. I flew up to Los Gatos, Calif. earlier this year to interview Anthony Wood, the company's co-founder and CEO, for Businessweek. Wood says Roku is well-positioned to benefit from the influx of new streaming services as an independent device maker with no competing service or interests (as well as the biggest customer base). Many investors on Wall Street agree: The company's stock is up more than 300% this year, and Roku is valued at over $17 billion. The dirty secret of the Roku business is that it makes most of its money from advertising. The company makes almost no profit from selling devices. It keeps prices low to attract users, whose viewing habits it sells to advertisers. The company will generate about $600 million in ad sales this year. The (music) streaming wars come to India Two scoops out of India for Bloomberg this week: - ByteDance, the owner of popular video app TikTok, started testing a new music service called Resso in India and Indonesia.
- YouTube has signed up 800,000 subscribers for its paid services since its March debut, outpacing every other service in the country.
India has emerged as a battleground for online music services, which are racing to sign up users in a country home to more than 1.3 billion people. Unlike China, where online media services are tightly controlled by the government, India offers a similarly massive population without the same level of regulation. YouTube has thus far emerged as the big winner. Local players Gaana and JioSaavn are the two biggest pure-play music services, but YouTube has a larger total audience (265 million monthly active users), and its paid music service is growing the fastest. It has added 800,000 subscribers in less than a year. That's about three times Spotify. TV ad sales suffer worst drop since recession  Global TV advertising sales fell almost 4% in 2019, the steepest drop since the depths of the economic recession in 2009, in the latest sign that advertisers are following viewers to the internet. Declines in TV viewership have suppressed the medium's advertising dollars, according to research firm Magna Global, which released the data as part of report on the global ad business. Viewership fell sharply in Europe, compounding the trend in the U.S., China and Australia.  The No. 1 movie in the world is "Jumanji 2: The Next Level." The sequel to the 2017 reboot grossed more than $60 million in North America, and $85 million worldwide. The film should suffer a steep drop next week when the new "Star Wars" movie opens, but the previous "Jumanji" film grossed almost $1 billion despite opening a week after "The Last Jedi." The No. 1 music video of the decade is "Despacito." That's according to YouTube, which released its end of the decade top 10 list. Ed Sheeran was the only act with two videos. Katy Perry was the only female artist. The week that was - Taylor Swift calls out George Soros. Swift renewed her criticism of manager Scooter Braun and his financial supporters for their acquisition of her old record label.
- Clint Eastwood's "Richard Jewell" tanked at the box office after offending many viewers with its depiction of a female reporter.
- CuriosityStream, a streaming service devoted to non-fiction programming, said it has more than 10 million subscribers. That's more than the WWE, CBS All Access and ESPN+.
- Harvey Weinstein reached a $47 million settlement with women who accused him of sexual misconduct. The disgraced film mogul doesn't have to admit wrongdoing or pay anything personally.
- Netflix is making a TV series about Spotify. The video streaming giant has ordered a limited series about the rise of the world's largest paid online music service based on the book "Spotify Untold."
- YouTube overhauled its harassment policy. The video site will now remove clips and comments that make "veiled or implied threats" against individuals or insult people based on attributes such as race and sexual orientation.
- The Department of Justice is preparing to sue Live Nation, the world's largest concert promoter. The DOJ believes Live Nation has violated the conditions imposed on the company when it acquired Ticketmaster in 2010. Music industry executives have been itching for regulators to scrutinize Live Nation.
Weekly playlist If you're an older music fan who wants to stay up with the current state of hip-hop, these are the biggest acts on YouTube right now: YoungBoy Never Broke Again, DaBaby, Rod Wave, Post Malone, Kevin Gates and Lil Baby. That's No. 1 through No. 6 this past week. Are they all good? No. Do they merit a listen? You bet. As for me, I'm bumping the Temptations because a book I am reading has a dog named Ruffin (after David). | 
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