Mediagazer: It's not a ‘paywall’ when it's ‘freemium’ (Steve Outing)

9:20 AM ET, June 9, 2012

Top News:

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

Comcast Is Said to Be Mulling Bid for BSkyB — Updated Comcast is exploring whether the British Sky Broadcasting Group, Britain's largest satellite broadcaster and a lucrative pay TV asset 39 percent owned by News Corporation, could become available for purchase, according to several people briefed on the company's strategic thinking.

Discussion: @jcstearns, @ckrewson, Variety, New York Magazine, @yinkawrites, The Wrap and @felixsalmon

Deadline Hollywood:

Comcast CFO: Report That Comcast Pondering BSkyB Buy Is “Rubbish” — Comcast's CFO is slamming a New York Times report that the company is weighing a possible purchase of BSkyB. “This is complete rubbish”, Michael Angelakis, Comcast's vice chairman and chief financial officer, told the Times today.

Associated Press:

Attorney General Holder appoints 2 US attorneys to lead leak probes — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday appointed two U.S. attorneys to lead a pair of criminal investigations into possible unauthorized disclosures of classified information.

Discussion: The Hill, The Huffington Post and New York Times

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

The ‘leak’ wars — President Barack Obama's administration has unleashed an unprecedented wave of prosecutions over leaks of national security secrets. — Now, he's the political beneficiary of several major breaches in the wall of secrecy. — For more than a year …

Discussion: Gawker, Business Insider and Hit & Run

Sabrina Siddiqui / The Huffington Post:
President Obama: ‘Offensive’ To Suggest Administration Purposefully Leaked Intelligence Info

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Reuters, Washington Wire, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Politico and The Huffington Post

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

Mashable Execs Are Preparing For A Sale To CNN, Auditing Financials And Discussing Integration — Over the past few days, Mashable executives have been busily preparing for an acquisition by CNN, two sources say. — One source tells us that Mashable has audited its finances and sent them to Turner.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, @awallenstein, msnbc.com, VentureBeat, @felixsalmon and WebProNews

Steve Outing:

It's not a ‘paywall’ when it's ‘freemium’ — The word “paywall” as applied to news websites sucks. It's a negative word. If a consumer hears that a favorite news site is putting up a “paywall,” the response is highly likely to be: avoid! — Some news-site user monetization systems truly are “paywalls.”

Discussion: Techdirt and @yurivictor

Michaelle Bond / American Journalism Review:

Newhouse: Staying the Course in New Orleans — Despite the public outcry against its plan to reduce publication of the Times-Picayune to three days a week, the company is not backing down. Fri., June 8, 2012. — Michaelle Bond (mbond@ajr.umd.edu) is an AJR editorial assistant.

Discussion: Poynter

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Kevin Allman, editor of New Orleans alt-weekly ‘The Gambit,’ talks about ‘Times-Picayune’ troubles

Discussion: Fortune and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Murdoch's Australian news chief rejects beefed up regulation — A debate in Australia about the appropriate powers for a press regulator may be a pointer to News International's views on the outcome of the Leveson inquiry. — Campbell Reid, the editorial director of Rupert Murdoch's Australian outfit …

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

A brief history of Car Talk: “They've changed the way people see public radio in America” — Car Talk called it quits today. The NPR staple — first broadcast locally 35 years ago on Boston's WBUR and nationally 25 years ago — will air its last original episode in October.

Discussion: Poynter and New York Magazine

Julie Moos / Poynter:
NPR's ‘Car Talk’ to end original run this fall

Discussion: NPR, Associated Press, Tampa Bay Times, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Washington Post, The Daily What, Mediaite, Car Talk, entertainment.time.com, Media Decoder, Forbes, Radio & Television …, Guardian and LA Observed

Shalini Ramachandran / Wall Street Journal:

Dish Chief: TV Needs to Change — Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen said a new ad-skipping feature that has infuriated major broadcast TV networks is a “competitively necessary” response to the explosion of cheap Internet video. That Web video threatens the pay-TV ecosystem …

Discussion: paidContent, The Verge, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, CNET, The Huffington Post and Softpedia News

Eric Pfanner / New York Times:

Europe Preparing to File Charges in Universal-E.M.I. Deal — PARIS — The European Commission intends to file an antitrust complaint against Universal Music Group's proposed $1.9 billion acquisition of the E.M.I. music recording business, a top commissioner said Friday, citing concerns that the deal would reduce competition.

Discussion: Reuters, Reuters, Bloomberg and New York Post

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Should the mainstream media see Twitter as competition? — Twitter unveiled an interesting partnership with the NASCAR auto-racing circuit on Thursday, in which the real-time information network has created a kind of portal for the Pocono 400 race this weekend.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Thanks:@mathewi