Netflix picked up exclusive rights to stream the nine-chapter series "Marco Polo," starting in late 2014. The series was originally developed at the Starz channel.

The Financial Times is partnering with Samsung Smart TV to make its videos available on the big screen. With the use of the FT app, Smart TV owners can now watch videos covering "issues in politics, business and finance," writes Chris Roush. The app "also broadcasts culture and lifestyle features and a text scroller of the latest FT news headlines."

Sure to confuse a lot of local readers, the Chicago Sun-Times plans to test a bitcoin-based paywall. And, surprise, surprise, “The set-up is a little complicated,” SFGate.com writes. “As soon as someone goes to Suntimes.com, they will encounter the BitWall paywall,” it reports. “To read articles, users will have to make a donation (via bitcoin) to the Taproot Foundation … The Sun-Times will then use a bitcoin exchange, like Coinbase, to convert it back to USD.” 

Fox will no longer participate in pilot season, moving instead to "year-round development of television series... in an approach that more closely resembles cable TV’s process," writes Andy Fixmer. The network will still, however, hold its own upfront presentation in May.In other news, the company will promote its coverage of the Super Bowl on all its channels. For example, "Nat Geo will run Super Bowl bumpers in primetime all week leading up to the game, while FX has Fox Sports mascot “Cleatus” hosting a robot movie marathon the night of Feb. 1," writes Capital New York's Alex …

"Are publishers doing native on the cheap?" asks Lucia Moses in this post that looks at how publishers and brands are actually working with writers in this suddenly hot arena. "One brand marketer told of an established news organization promising native content produced by its top journalists but that ultimately used marketing freelancers," writes Moses. “They represented themselves as giving access to their editorial staff,” an unnamed exec tells Moses. “Then they delivered articles written by copywriters instead of journalists.”

An outpouring of negative reactions to stories written about Lisa Bonchek Adams, who has been blogging and tweeting about her experiences as a stage IV breast cancer patient, show how difficult it is for traditional journalists to cover social media well. Former New YorkTimes editor Bill Keller and his wife, Emma G. Keller (the former writing in the Times, the latter in The Guardian, which has since deleted the post) touched off a backlash because "neither have actually understood how social media works as a conversation and as a community," writes Zeynep Tufecki in Medium.Complicated but fascinating …

While Nest’s $3.2 billion price tag might suggest a bidding war, Google was reportedly the only serious bidder for the smart-home startup. “Sources familiar with details of the acquisition said that Google was the only serious bidder and Apple was not in the mix,” Re/Code reports. Google Ventures, it’s worth noting, was a top backer of Nest. 

"We’re mostly working with the brands, but there’s a huge role for the ad agencies and the PR agencies," notes New York Times’ EVP Advertising Meredith Kopit Levien of the paper's just-launched native ad program in this Q&A with Rebecca Lieb. "We’ve tried to organize in a way that’s friendly to an agency buying."Another question Levien addresses: whether freelancers writing native content can also write for the editorial sections of the paper.

New York-based digital agency iCrossing has "suffered considerable upheaval among its upper-level creative talent, experiencing an exodus that raises eyebrows even in the revolving-door world of advertising," writes Christopher Heine. The latest exit at the Hearst-owned shop: the head of social, Amanda Peters, who left "for another opportunity," according to Heine.

The Hollywood Reporter has hired Hugo Lindgren as acting editor for three months while editorial director Janice Min takes charge of Billboard. Lindgren was mostly recently editor in chief of the New York Times Magazine. "This is another masthead coup for Min and suggests perhaps that the industry and culture purview of The Hollywood Reporter print side will be venturing even further into Vanity Fair-style territory," writes Richard Hogan.