Mediagazer: HBO Launches ‘True Blood’ Webisodes (Alex Weprin/Broadcasting & Cable)

6:15 AM ET, April 28, 2010

Top News:

At Greater New York Fete, Murdoch Tells Sulzberger to ‘Get a Life’ — It was a few minutes after 7 p.m. Monday night on Broadway and 36th Street, and Rupert Murdoch was addressing a crowd of a few hundred pinstripe-suited machers. “With tonight's launch of Greater New York …

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, FishbowlNY, Hollywood Reporter, Romenesko, Ethical Martini, The Wire, Crain's New York Business, Gawker, New York Magazine and Strupp

Bloomberg:
Sumner Redstone Says Murdoch's Newspapers Will Fail

Discussion: Gothamist, The Big Picture, Romenesko, New York Post, MediaFile and New York Observer

Eliot Van Buskirk / Epicenter:
Print War Between NYT and WSJ Is Really About Digital

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, mediabistro.com, The Wire, Journalism.co.uk and Media Decoder

Nick Bilton / Bits:

Can Gizmodo Win the iPhone Legal Battle? — As we move into the second week of the iPhone-left-in-the-bar saga, the plot is moving from a technology news story to a legal one — and entering a cul-de-sac of speculation. — As I reported today with my colleague Brian Stelter …

Discussion: DailyFinance, Electronic Frontier Foundation, On the News, Soup, Bay Area, New York Observer, Daring Fireball and Gizmodo

Mary Duan / bizjournals:

Apple asked for ‘lost’ iPhone criminal probe — The criminal investigation into the purported theft of an apparent iPhone prototype came at the request of Apple Inc., officials said Tuesday. — Investigators said they have identified and interviewed the person who took the phone …

Discussion: Threat Level, Fast Company, Mashable!, VentureBeat, Digits, CNET News, Silicon Alley Insider, MacRumors and Yahoo! News

Bloomberg:

Comcast-NBC Deal Lets FCC Seek Web-TV Concessions — U.S. regulators may use their veto power over Comcast Corp.'s planned purchase of NBC Universal to demand concessions that help Web startups, analysts say. — The Federal Communications Commission extended its review of the deal this month …

Discussion: NewTeeVee

Joe Flint / Company Town:
Latest protester of Comcast …

Discussion: MediaPost, Media Money … and The Wire

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

LAT to add paid links to stories, blogs — The Los Angeles Times will begin selling e-commerce links in selected stories and blog posts — but not in news stories or columns — as “both a reader service and a revenue opportunity for the company,” editor Russ Stanton announced to the newsroom in a memo this morning.

Discussion: Editor and Publisher, Pop & Hiss, Media Decoder, Romenesko, Fitz & Jen and Kirk LaPointe's …

Editor and Publisher:

Honolulu Joining Ranks of One-Paper City As ‘Star-Bulletin’ Get Antitrust OK to Buy ‘Advertiser’ — CHICAGO Nobody will buy the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, whose owner was given U.S. Justice Department approval to buy its rival Honolulu Advertiser from Gannett Co.

GQ Magazine: GQ:

Cancel Publish: A Call For the End of Tumblr Book Deals — On April 6, the proprietor of the popular Tumblr blog Hipster Puppies—a repository for photos of dogs dressed in Ray Ban Wayfarers, fake mustaches and Keffiyehs—announced that he had secured a book deal.

Emma Barnett / Telegraph:

Hulu ‘abandons UK plans’ after broadcaster talks collapse — Hulu, the US video aggregator, has been forced to abandon plans to launch a UK version of its web TV service after talks with the major British broadcasters have collapsed, The Telegraph can reveal.

Discussion: NewTeeVee, Mashable! and Gizmodo

Jim Barnett / Nieman Journalism Lab:

What advocacy nonprofits can learn from The Christian Science Monitor — When the nonprofit Christian Science Monitor announced in October 2008 that it would convert its daily printed report to a weekly edition and move its breaking news online, some people wondered whether the venerable newspaper would survive.

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor

Jim Milliot / Publishers Weekly:

McGraw-Hill Education Has Small First Quarter Gain — Revenue at McGraw-Hill Education rose 1.5%, to $317.2 million, for the first quarter ended March 31 and the operating loss was cut by 19.3%, to $61.8 million. The increase was led by the higher education/professional/international group …

Discussion: MediaPost, Broadcasting & Cable and rbr.com

Alex Weprin / Broadcasting & Cable:

HBO Launches ‘True Blood’ Webisodes — Shortform clips will premiere on Yahoo! TV before becoming available to other sites, VOD — HBO is launching original webisodes (or “minisodes” as the network is calling them) set in the True Blood universe. The first of six original episodes will premiere Tuesday …

Discussion: Multichannel and TVWeek.com

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Businessweek's Relaunch Pitch: We're A... Business Weekly — Bloomberg's new-look “Bloomberg Businessweek” tasked WPP's JWT with its global relaunch campaign. The knock-out idea: reminding folk that it's... a business weekly... This print ad is the opening gambit in a 12-week cross …

David Goetzl / MediaPost:

‘Variety,’ ‘Newsday’: Pay Walls Mean Fewer Page Views — As Hollywood trade publication Variety has joined the select few publications with an online pay wall, it has seen page views drop more than 40%, according to Nielsen figures. The number of unique visitors has fallen a lesser 18% …

Discussion: MarketingVOX, Center for Sustainable … and eMedia Vitals

Jin Hyun-joo / The Korea Herald:

Samsung eyes Google TV — Samsung Electronics, the world's top TV maker, is considering developing “Google TVs” which run Google's Android operating system, its executive told The Korea Herald yesterday. — The move came as Samsung's rival, Sony, is reportedly working with Google and Intel …

Discussion: CNET News and NewTeeVee