Mediagazer: Rumored $99 iTV Could Pave Way for $2,000 Apple-Connected Television (John Paczkowski/Digital Daily)

10:05 PM ET, August 16, 2010

Top News:

Hulu Is Said to Be Ready for an I.P.O. — By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED — Hulu, the rapidly growing hub for online television and movies, aims to go public through an offering that could value the company at more than $2 billion, according to people briefed on the matter.

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Who's Going to Sell Hulu to Wall Street?

Discussion: TechCrunch and NewTeeVee

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Gawker's Next Redesign Thinks Big-Like Big-Screen TV — For better or worse, Nick Denton's Gawker Media leads the way for a lot of online media. So it's worth checking out what he has up his sleeve, which happens to be in plain view: A super-sized redesign of his nine-blog network.

Discussion: Romenesko and New York Observer

Media Week:

Times loses 1.2m readers — The Times has lost 1.2 million UK readers across its daily and Sunday websites and almost halved the amount of time people spend on its sites in the past three months, according data released by ComScore. — In May, the free-to-access website Timesonline.co.uk …

Discussion: The Wire

Wall Street Journal:

Slow Start for Apple's iAds — Apple Inc. is facing some early challenges in its closely watched mobile advertising foray, with some ad campaigns experiencing delays as agencies attempt to learn the new system amid Apple's tight control over the creative process, according to ad executives.

Discussion: paidContent, the Econsultancy blog, Fast Company, Gawker, Epicenter, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Silicon Alley Insider, Gizmodo, Guardian, AdPulp, Poynter Online and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:

Rumored $99 iTV Could Pave Way for $2,000 Apple-Connected Television — “The problem with innovation in the TV industry is the go-to-market strategy. The TV industry has a subsidized model that gives everyone a set-top box for free. So no one wants to buy a box.

Discussion: NewTeeVee, TechCrunch, Mercury News and parislemon, more at Techmeme »

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Guardian launches governmental pledge-tracking tool — Since it came to office nearly 100 days ago, Britain's coalition government — a team-up between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats that had the potential to be awkward and ineffective, but has instead (if The Economist's current cover story …

Discussion: Fast Company

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Ambinder, Madhani to lead National Journal's White House team — Marc Ambinder and Aamer Madhani to Lead New National Journal W.H. Team — Washington, D.C. (August 16, 2010) — National Journal Group announced today that two of Washington's fastest-rising journalistic talents are joining together …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, MinOnline and On Media's Blog

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Google Hires BBC News Exec To Woo Publishers — Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is hiring BBC News' head of development and rights, Madhav Chinnappa, to its partnerships team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it tells paidContent:UK, “with a specific focus on helping publishers get the most out of Google News”.

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr / Wall Street Journal:

Google and the Search for the Future — The Web icon's CEO on the mobile computing revolution, the future of newspapers, and privacy in the digital age. — To some, Google has been looking a bit sallow lately. The stock is down. Where once everything seemed to go the company's way …

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, danah boyd, The Atlantic Wire, Gawker, TechCrunch, broadstuff, Digital Daily, The Next Web, MarketingVOX, CJR, Future Tense, ResourceShelf, Kirk LaPointe's … and AdExchanger.com, more at Techmeme »

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

News outlets split in describing mosque — There is no mosque being built on the site of Ground Zero. It's a simple fact, but one that news consumers can be forgiven for missing as they her hourly cable news updates and scan the headlines about a growing—and increasingly heated …

Discussion: Salon, Gawker, TPMDC and Gothamist

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Truth-o-Meter, 2G: Andrew Lih wants to wikify fact-checking — Epic fact: We are living at the dawn of the Information Age. Less-epic fact: Our historical moment is engendering doubt. The more bits of information we have out there, and the more sources we have providing them, the more wary we need to be of their accuracy.

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Why iPad Magazines Won't Be a (Really) Big Business for a While-and Why Prices Won't Come Down, Either — Will tablets save the magazine business? Nope. But if the industry's hopes for the iPad and its ilk pan out, digital editions could give the industry a billion-dollar boost in a few years.

Discussion: New York Observer, Publishing Executive News and paidContent

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Yahoo's Premier League Video Highlights Go Live — For such a potentially beneficial addition, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) certainly isn't shouting about its new English Premier League video highlights, which debuted in Britain this weekend. — On the Monday morning after the league's opening weekend …

Discussion: Media Week, CrunchGear, TechCrunch Europe and Press Gazette

Tracy Wilkinson / Los Angeles Times:

Under threat from Mexican drug cartels, reporters go silent — Journalists know drug traffickers can easily kidnap or kill them — and get away with it. — Placards with pictures of slain journalists are seen this month at a Mexico City rally by journalists protesting the violence they face.

Discussion: New York Observer, Romenesko, The Daily Dish and Journalism and the World

Gregory Ferenstein / CNN:

How web journalism can make people seem hateful — Editor's note: Gregory Ferenstein is an author and educator who writes about the intersections of technology, business and politics. He is a fellow at the University of California Center for the Study of Democracy.

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

The Washington Post Worries About New Rules for Kaplan — The Washington Post Company said on Monday that its reliable profit center, the Kaplan Higher Education division, may come under serious pressure if new federal rules meant to rein in the for-profit college business go into effect.

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, Scocca, Romenesko and On Media's Blog

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Fortune steals Primack away from Reuters — TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE — Dan Primack, editor-at-large with Thomson Reuters, has given his notice with the wire service to take a job at Fortune.com, which is overhauling the financial part of its site to feature his work.

Discussion: Romenesko and The Wire

Peter Finocchiaro / Mobile Marketer Content:

Fox Business broadcasts bold app strategy with iPad offering — Cable television channel Fox Business Network is kicking its application strategy into high gear with the expected launch today of an iPad application. — Fox Business is targeting business-minded consumers who want an interactive tool …

Discussion: Mobile Marketer, WebNewser and Inside Cable News

Nat Worden / Wall Street Journal:

Time Warner Cable CEO Wary of Net Rules Limiting Options — As head of one of the largest U.S. Internet service providers, Time Warner Cable Inc. Chief Executive Glenn Britt stands at the center of a debate whose outcome could shape the future of Internet use in America.

Discussion: Company Town

Andrew Alderson / Telegraph:

Soccer star gags tabloid story — A leading Premier League footballer has won a High Court injunction to prevent the publication of claims about his private life, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. — He was successful on Friday in blocking disclosures in a tabloid Sunday newspaper.

Discussion: The Independent and Jon Slattery

Terry Ann Knopf / CJR:

The O'Reilly Factor — How the Fox host used raw corporate power to crush a critic … It was a balmy Saturday—a perfect night for champagne toasts. Some 450 people from the local television industry gathered in the Grand Ballroom at the Boston Marriott Copley Place, many of the men in tuxedos, the women in strapless gowns.

Discussion: TVNewser and On Media's Blog

Patrick / Clicker Blog:

It's SHOWTIME (Literally) on Clicker.com!! — In celebration of tonight's premiere of The Big C, starring Laura Linney, and the new Season 6 of Weeds, Showtime has teamed up with Clicker to offer some EXCLUSIVE awards for fans who tune in and check-in, either directly on Clicker.com or using our new Clicker Mobile on Android devices.

Newser:

Once Again Into the Breach: Rupert Murdoch Dreams of a Digital Newspaper — Follow him on Twitter @MichaelWolffNYC — First, the really big news in the LA Times story about Rupert Murdoch's plan to start an all new national newspaper for the iPad and mobile devices: The picture shows that he's not dyeing his hair anymore.

Discussion: Monday, August 16, 2010, Romenesko and TechCrunch

NPR:

News Website Texas Tribune Thrives, But How? … One of the most intriguing news start-ups in the past few years is the Texas Tribune, an Austin-based website that emphasizes explanatory and investigative reporting. Wealthy venture capitalist John Thornton decided the decline of newspapers …