Mediagazer: AOL Seeks New Agency to Convince Consumers to ‘Care About AOL Again’ (Maureen Morrison/AdAge)

1:20 AM ET, February 7, 2012

Top News:

Michael Kozlowski / Good E-Reader:

Amazon in the Process of Launching a Retail Store — Amazon sources close to the situation have told us that the company is planning on rolling out a retail store in Seattle within the next few months. This project is a test to gauge the market and see if a chain of stores would be profitable.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
Another Chain Says It Won't Carry Amazon Books, But Does It Matter?

Discussion: .info., Bookseller news and GeekWire

Eric Savitz / The Tech Trade:

Coinstar's Redbox To Buy NCR's Video Kiosk Unit; Q4 Tops Ests — Coinstar's Redbox DVD kiosk unit has agreed to buy NCR's entertainment line of business, which includes DVD rental kiosks and related assets, for up to $100 million. As part of the deal, Coinstar will buy products and services …

Discussion: Yahoo! Finance, Dow Jones Newswires, The Wrap and Forbes

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

Verizon and Redbox enter joint venture to create new Netflix rival — US mobile operator Verizon and DVD rental service Redbox today confirmed reports of a collaboration, announcing that the two companies have formed a joint venture to create a service capable of competing with Netflix.

Discussion: Epicenter, VentureBeat, Electronista, @ingridlunden, Fast Company, SlashGear and Verizon, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Verizon Teams With Redbox for a Netflix-Style Video Service

Discussion: MediaPost, TechCrunch, Home Media Magazine, Media Money …, VatorNews, Media & Entertainment, Media Decoder, rbr.com, NetNewsCheck Latest, VentureBeat, paidContent, Forbes, Multichannel, AdAge, Fast Company and Gizmodo

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:
Yahoo Looked At Buying Netflix When The Stock Was In The Toilet

Discussion: AllThingsD

John Koblin / WWD:

Vogue Wins Big With Super Bowl Halftime Show — VOGUE'S SUPER NIGHT: Other than Eli Manning and the Giants, the other big winners on Super Bowl Sunday turned out to be Anna Wintour and Conde Nast. — Madonna began her halftime performance Sunday night with her 1990 hit, “Vogue.”

Discussion: Forbes, Hillicon Valley, ZDNet, mUmBRELLA, rbr.com and NetNewsCheck Latest

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

No Ads, No Madonna But NBC Calls Live Stream A Success — It had never been tried before: a live, legal Internet stream of television's biggest event, the Super Bowl. — Despite some complaints from users, NBC declared it to be a success on Monday and said it would report the total number of streams on Tuesday.

Discussion: Forbes, Washington Post and Streaming Media, more at Techmeme »

Richard Deitsch / Sports Illustrated:
Super Bowl XLVI sets viewership records

Discussion: USA Today, AllTwitter, Variety, Yahoo! News, TVbytheNumbers, SB Nation St. Louis, Hollywood Reporter and MediaPost

Matthew Fleischer / FishbowlLA:

San Diego Union-Tribune to Launch Television Network — San Diego-based KPBS television and radio producer Megan Burke is tweeting up a storm about a proposed plan by San Diego Union-Tribune (we're still not ready for U-T San Diego) CEO John Lynch to launch a new television network under the paper's banner.

Discussion: eBookNewser and TVNewser

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Leveson inquiry: police bribery probe expanded after Sun arrests — Sue Akers, head of Operation Elveden, says there is ‘very legitimate public interest’ in investigating leaks to journalists — The Scotland Yard team investigating allegations that newspaper journalists bribed police officers …

Discussion: Press Gazette, @dansabbagh and @joshhalliday

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:
Paul Dacre: Bad journalists should be ‘struck off’

Discussion: Guardian

BBC: Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre ‘knew of use of detectives’

Paul McNally / Journalism.co.uk:
Police officer cleared over NoW Milly Dowler ‘leak’

Discussion: Guardian and Press Gazette

The Independent:

Digital setback for Murdoch as ‘secret’ iPad project folds — A year after Rupert Murdoch described the iPad as the tool that would make newspapers “viable again”, News International has abandoned a project to produce content for the company's brand on the Apple tablet and similar devices.

Discussion: FT Tech Hub

Amy Chozick / New York Times:

After a Year, Tablet Daily Is a Struggle — One year ago Rupert Murdoch took the stage at the Guggenheim Museum and with much fanfare introduced a News Corporation publication that, in the words of the Apple executive Eddy Cue, would “redefine the news.” — A year later, it has not quite done that.

Discussion: Garcia Media, The Awl, newsplexer, Future of Journalism, Prof Chris Daly's Blog and Felix

Wall Street Journal:

Disney's ABC, Univision Mull News-Channel Launch — Walt Disney Co. and Univision Communications Inc. are in talks to create a new 24-hour cable-news channel that will broadcast in English, in an effort to keep pace with changing demographics among U.S. Hispanics and reach a new audience of English speakers …

Discussion: Politico, TVNewser, Inside Cable News and Media Decoder

Susan Decker / Bloomberg:

Barnes & Noble Backed by U.S. Agency Staff in Microsoft Case — Barnes & Noble Inc. should win a patent-infringement case brought by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) that threatens to halt imports of the bookseller's Nook e-reader, according to staff of the U.S. trade agency hearing the dispute.

Discussion: ZDNet, PC Magazine, SlashGear, FOSS Patents, Electronista, paidContent, Business Insider and GeekWire

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Miami-Dade police spokeswoman arrests photojournalist — Photojournalist Carlos Miller, who runs the blog Photography Is Not a Crime, says that police deleted video from his camera when they arrested him last week as he covered Occupy protests in Miami. After recovering some of the video …

Discussion: Pixiq and Ars Technica

Rebecca Shapiro / The Huffington Post:

CNN Pundit Under Fire From Gay Rights Groups — Update: Martin responded to the backlash in the statement below. Original post: CNN's Roland Martin is under fire from gay rights groups after tweeting that people should “smack the ish out” of male fans of a steamy Super Bowl commercial starring David Beckham.

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
At CNN, is homophobia a ‘viewpoint’?

Discussion: Politico, Show Tracker and GLAAD

Maureen Morrison / AdAge:

AOL Seeks New Agency to Convince Consumers to ‘Care About AOL Again’ — Branding Campaign to Reintroduce Company to Public In a Way That Captures Emotion, Shows Relevance — AOL is searching for an agency to help it devise a new brand campaign in the hopes of reconnecting with consumers, Ad Age has learned.

Erin Griffith / PandoDaily:

IAC Trying to Sell Vimeo, Seeking $300M Valuation — Barry Diller's IAC is testing the waters on a partial exit of Vimeo, according to two sources familiar with the situation. The company is hoping to raise a $50 million round of funding in conjunction with a spin off of the hipster online video business.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Is GigaOm Buying PaidContent? — Who wants to pay for PaidContent? We'll find out soon, it seems, because the sales process for the pioneering blog and its parent company ContentNext appears to be wrapping up. — But if you were making a bet, you'd get good odds that the most likely buyer …

Rafat Ali / @rafat:
After almost four years of ignoring paidContent into marked decline, finally Guardian is doing the right thing to sell to Gigaom, if true.

Discussion: @colbyhall

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

The city tabloids and the fate of Greg Kelly, morning anchor accused of rape — Around breakfast time on Wednesday, Jan. 25, Greg Kelly was on the set of “Good Day New York” in a dark grey suit on a bright yellow couch. — He was discussing the 2012 election with co-host Rosanna Scotto and Newark Star-Ledger columnist Steve Adubato.

John Del Signore / Gothamist: Greg Kelly Still Hasn't Spoken To Investigators, Which Is Totally Normal?