Mediagazer: Comcast launching new subscription VOD service (Andrew Wallenstein/Variety)

2:05 PM ET, February 21, 2012

Top News:

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Comcast launching new subscription VOD service — Comcast is announcing a new subscription VOD service that is aimed squarely at countering Netflix but requires already paying for cable. Streampix will launch across the nation's largest video distributor this week with movies and TV content …

Discussion: @awallenstein, Wall Street Journal, The Verge, The Next Web, CNET and parislemon, more at Techmeme »

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Billionaire Romney donor uses threats to silence critics — Frank VanderSloot, Romney finance co-chair, suppresses scrutiny by threatening reporters and bloggers — Frank VanderSloot is an Idaho billionaire and the CEO of Melaleuca, Inc., a controversial billion-dollar-a-year company …

Sarah Fitzmaurice / Daily Mail:

The Colbert Report returns as Stephen honours sick mother, 91, on screen — With a nod of tribute to his ailing mother, Stephen Colbert returned to present The Colbert Report last night. — The political satirist was back at the helm of his show after he cancelled taping last week …

Discussion: Huffington Post

Jason Boog / GalleyCat:

Stephen Colbert Lands Deal for Children's Book — TV host and author Stephen Colbert has inked a book deal with Grand Central Publishing for his children's book, I Am a Pole (and So Can You!). Publication is set for May 8, 2012. — Colbert quipped in the release: “It's been a lifelong dream of mine to write a children's book.

Discussion: MediaJobsDaily and eBookNewser

Gordon MacMillan / Brand Republic:

Sun insider claims Sun On Sunday is “desperately seeking advertisers” for first issue — A Twitter account belonging to someone who purporting to be an ex-News of the World journalist claims there is little enthusiasm for The Sun on Sunday internally and that dummies of the paper have not been well received.

Discussion: @sundayinsider

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Sun on Sunday ad campaign to launch at Brit Awards — News International to launch advertising campaign as part of £3m marketing push — The Sun on Sunday press campaign will launch in Wednesday's Sun newspaper — News International is to use the UK music industry's biggest night …

David Gambacorta / Philly.com:

Rendell's silence lasts all of 2 days — ED RENDELL'S vow of silence was officially laid to rest yesterday. — It lasted about as long as most people expected. — The former governor, who told the Daily News on Saturday that he would no longer talk publicly about his pursuit …

Discussion: The700Level.com

Paul McNally / journalism.co.uk:

A Guardian hotel? Publisher says it is ‘exploring options’ — Guardian News and Media says it is “currently researching and exploring a range of options”, amid claims that it is thinking of developing a new hotel concept. — A post on the Washington-based Harry's Place blog quoted …

Discussion: Big News Network.com and Gordon's Republic

Tim Carmody / Epicenter:

Barnes & Noble Delivers New 8GB Tablet, Disappointing Earnings — Barnes & Noble released a new model of its Nook Tablet on Tuesday at the same cost and with nearly identical specs as Amazon's Kindle Fire: 8GB of storage for $199. — The current 16GB tablet stays at $249 …

Discussion: Barnes & Noble, Inc. and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Matt Brian / The Next Web:
Barnes & Noble launches 8GB Nook Tablet for $199, goes toe-to-toe with Amazon

Discussion: TechCrunch and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Coming Soon From Amazon: Kindle Towering Inferno — Here's another report to add to the chorus of predictions that Amazon is gearing up to launch a larger version of its Kindle Fire tablet. The occasionally reliable Digitimes claims that Foxconn has won the contract for a new 10-inch Fire …

Discussion: ITProPortal, BGR, eBookNewser and Electronista, more at Techmeme »

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Rachel Maddow attacks PolitiFact, again — For the third time in four weeks, Rachel Maddow has lashed out at the fact-checking organization PolitiFact for issuing rulings that seem to defy its own research. — In January, Maddow called PolitiFact “a mess” and “an embarrassment”; last week, she called it “a disaster.”

Discussion: The Raw Story and Mediaite

Alex Fitzpatrick / Mashable!:

Tweeting a War: How One Journalist Is Using Twitter in Afghanistan — Journalists are using Twitter more and more these days, even in an unlikely place: Afghanistan. — With about a million active Internet users out of a total population of just less than 35 million …

Jim Romenesko:

The story behind ‘the most bad-ass obit ever’ — “I have something really fun for you,” New York Times deputy obituaries editor Jack Kadden told Margalit Fox last Monday. He handed the obit writer a copy of Adam Bernstein's Washington Post piece on “professional adventurer” John Fairfax, who died Feb. 8.

Discussion: Gawker