Mediagazer: Time Warner buys Shed Media (Guardian)

1:25 PM ET, August 5, 2010

Top News:

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

Whither magazines? — Three people I respect a great deal now lead the big magazine companies: David Carey (ex Condé) at Hearst, Bob Sauerberg at Condé, and now Jack Griffin at Time Inc. — and I'll add Justin Smith at Atlantic. — It's a big challenge to head a magazine company these days …

Discussion: Poynter Online, Romenesko, MediaMemo, Crain's New York Business and FishbowlNY

Guardian:

Time Warner buys Shed Media — Controlling stake in Supernanny super-indie, valued at £100m by the deal, gives US giant ‘immediate scale in UK production’ — Time Warner is to buy a controlling interest in the British super-indie Shed Media, the company behind shows such as Supernanny …

Discussion: The Wrap and Variety

David Carr / Media Decoder:

Jack Griffin To Succeed Ann Moore At Time Inc. — The shake-up of the magazine industry's corner offices will continue next week as Time Warner is expected to announce that Jack Griffin, the former Meredith Corporation executive, will become chief executive at Time Inc., succeeding Ann S. Moore.

Discussion: New York Post, New York Observer, MediaMemo, On Media's Blog, Gawker, paidContent and New York Magazine

Shira Ovide / Digits:

Time Warner Looks to Tie Tablet, Print Magazine Subscriptions — Time Warner already has “TV Everywhere.” Could “Magazine Everywhere” be next? — Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes hinted Wednesday that he wants to make tablet-computer subscriptions for the company's magazines available to people …

Discussion: MediaMemo, Media Buyer Planner, Poynter Online and Engadget

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:
Time Warner CEO Talks Up Conan, iPad Apps, Broadband HBO On Demand

Discussion: paidContent, Variety, MediaPost, The Wrap, Multichannel, Crain's New York Business and AdAge

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
IPad Apps Are Fun! But Boring Old Magazines Are Still Big Business For Time Inc.

Discussion: paidContent

Johnny Diaz / Boston Globe:

With Patch, AOL offers challenge to local news — A risky Web strategy in a crowded field — Like any online user, Annie LaCourt can easily scour for news from around the world, but sometimes she prefers to make the Internet more intimate and local, all about her hometown of Arlington.

Discussion: Media Nation, The Wire and Romenesko

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

Condé Nast Titles Morph Into Restaurants — Condé Nast is taking some of its best-known magazine names and parlaying them into the restaurant business in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. — The effort reflects a growing openness among magazine publishers to try …

Discussion: New York Observer and Eater National

Aaron Rutkoff / Metropolis:
So What Will Happen to the Conde Nast Cafeteria?

Discussion: mediabistro.com, Gawker, New York Post and Curbed NY

Michael R. Blood / Associated Press:

Breitbart: Enemy of the left with a laptop — LOS ANGELES — Andrew Breitbart strips off his blazer, windmills it over his head and lets it fly to the stage with a matador's flourish. He booms into a microphone, sneering, taunting. Breath sprints to keep up with words.

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Rachel Maddow Talks Fox News, CNN on Letterman — Last night MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman. — Among other topics, Maddow talked about the Shirley Sherrod scandal, as well as Fox News: — They also discussed CNN, which didn't make it into the above clip:

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

James Covert / New York Post:

Burkle's books — Wall Street skeptics may think Barnes & Noble is a bum steer, but Ron Burkle believes it could be a cash cow. — The Los Angeles billionaire — who amassed most of his fortune by making big shrewd bets on struggling grocery chains — has lately bewildered many investors …

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

Eric Schmidt: Every 2 Days We Create As Much Information As We Did Up To 2003 — Today at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA, the first panel featured Google CEO Eric Schmidt. As moderator David Kirkpatrick was introducing him, he rattled off a massive stat.

Discussion: VentureBeat, CNBC and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Spot Runner To ‘Phase Out’ Malibu Media Buying Platform — Nearly a year after its long-planned launch, web-based TV creative ad agency Spot Runner is phasing out its Malibu Media Platform, paidContent has learned. Instead, the Los Angeles-based company wants to shift its focus and resources …

Rod Nordland / New York Times:

Time Magazine Cover of Disfigured Afghan Stokes Debate — KABUL, Afghanistan — She cannot read or write and had never heard of Time magazine until a visitor brought her a copy of this week's issue, the one with the cover picture of her face, the face with no nose.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, This Just In and The Huffington Post

Deborah Yao / Associated Press:

Dish to stream live TV on iPad, other devices — PHILADELPHIA — Dish subscribers will soon be able to watch live satellite TV on their mobile devices at no extra cost. — Dish Network Corp. is planning to offer the feature on the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and BlackBerry devices in September …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Online Video News and NewTeeVee, more at Techmeme »

Jim Romenesko / Poynter Online:

Gawker Media's July stats — Kevin Purdy's highly informative story about the effects of caffeine on the brain in Lifehacker was the breakout story of July. And the reader interest in the piece highlights — do we really need a reminder? — the draw of the explanation.

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:

News Corp.'s Full-Year Profits Soar on Back of ‘Avatar’ — News Corp. said on Wednesday that the company finished its 2010 fiscal year with $4 billion in operating income - an increase of 11 percent - thanks, mostly, to the ridiculous box office success of “Avatar” and a recovering ad market.

Joe Pompeo / The Business Insider:
Rupert Murdoch Really Does Love Those iPads, Thinks London Times …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and Show Tracker

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline.com:

NBC Buys ‘Zombies Vs. Vampires’ Spec — EXCLUSIVE: This a title that would certainly score big with the Comic-Con crowd. NBC has closed a deal for Zombies vs. Vampires, a spec script by Jake in Progress creator/executive producer Austin Winsberg. I hear NBC bought preemptively the project …

Discussion: TVWeek.com and New York Magazine

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:

Judge Strikes Down CA's Prop 8, Leaked Ruling Sends Scribd Traffic Skyrocketing — Minutes ago, San Francisco federal judge Vaughn Walker struck down the infamous Proposition 8, a measure that banned same-sex marriage in California. Twitter and Facebook are abuzz with the news (as you'd expect) …

Discussion: Mediaite, eMedia Vitals, CNN, GigaOM, New York Times, Good As You, New York Magazine, FiveThirtyEight, Jezebel, Gawker, The New Yorker Blog, The Daily Beast, Culture and The Wrap

Michael Sprouse / iMediaConnection Blog:

Ad Networks: The Next Generation — In a recent post, we at Epic Media Group predicted the interactive marketing industry will consolidate somewhat in the months ahead. In that post, we had purposely used terms like “interactive marketing industry” and “digital marketing services companies” instead of “ad networks.”

Prescott Shibles / eMedia Vitals:

Guide to user-centered design research — Design research describes any number of investigative techniques used to add context and insight to the design process. Design Research techniques can be incorporated before, during, or after the design solution is established.

John Cook / Yahoo! News:

Federal records show CNN, Chicago Tribune hosted active-duty Marines as interns — Much has been made of the media's practice of “embedding” reporters in military units, allowing them to file immersive reports on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while under the total care and control …

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Romenesko

Marisa Guthrie / Broadcasting & Cable:

Peter Horton: ‘GMA’ Consultant — The divide between news and entertainment may be a sacrosanct one - at least as it relates to standards and practices if not storytelling. But even a news program can use a little Hollywood stardust. To that end, ABC News has enlisted Peter Horton …

Discussion: TVWeek.com and TVNewser

Molly Fischer / New York Observer:

Buzz Bissinger Makes $13,000 a Year From Friday Night Lights — Recent Twitter-convert Buzz Bissinger would like to get one thing straight: He is not rich. — After Dan Colvert insinuated otherwise (wondering pointedly whether “becoming rich by writing about others is more noble” …

Patrick Gavin / The Politico:

WHY BRISTOL WENT TO PEOPLE — As the Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston relationship drama has unfolded in the public spotlight, especially in the past few months, People and Us Magazine have duked it out for exclusive interviews and scoops on the Alaskan couple. — People reported on July 26 that Bristol was “taking Levi Back.”

Discussion: Indecision Forever, New York Observer and Reuters

Rick Edmonds / Poynter Online:

Does Newsweek Have a Future as a Nonprofit? — So Newsweek has been sold to a fabulously wealthy angel, Sidney Harman. That is one of the scenarios I have considered likely since the magazine went on the block in early May. — Washington Post CEO Don Graham made good on his pledge …

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

AOL's Turnaround Turns Into a Tough Slog — Ad Revenue Down Steeply at CEO Armstrong's ‘Sick Patient’ — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Need a reminder how tough AOL's turnaround is going to be for CEO Tim Armstrong and his team? Look no further than the company's second quarter …

Discussion: Associated Press, Media Week and AOL Corp