Mediagazer: DirecTV launches Hurricane Sandy info channel (Dave Larsen/Dayton Daily News)

12:45 PM ET, October 29, 2012

Top News:

Charlie Osborne / CNET:

New York Times, Wall Street Journal shed paywalls for Hurricane Sandy — As people go online to get more information on Hurricane Sandy, news outlets are responding by making their content free. — Two major publications have stripped away their paywalls to give consumers unfettered access …

Discussion: TVNewser, Poynter, Capital New York, Radio & Television …, Speakeasy, Mediaite, New York Post, The Huffington Post, Forbes, Yahoo! News, Journalism.co.uk, MediaShift, Gawker, Betabeat, PC Magazine and VentureBeat

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Hurricane Sandy Media Coverage Competes With Final Week Of 2012 Election — NEW YORK — On Monday, CNN plans to kick off its end-of-the-election series, “The Final Battlegrounds,” with over two-dozen correspondents dispatched across eight pivotal states for the 2012 campaign's eight remaining days.

Discussion: Capital New York, Broadcasting & Cable, mediabistro.com, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM, SocialTimes, Mashable! and TVSpy

Dave Larsen / Dayton Daily News:

DirecTV launches Hurricane Sandy info channel — Digital television provider DirecTV announced Monday that it is launching a dedicated, around-the-clock “Hurricane Sandy Information” channel that will provide live broadcasts from local stations affected by the hurricane to DirecTV viewers nationwide.

Discussion: Cable Television News

Media Decoder:

Times Reaches Tentative Deal With Newspaper Guild — The New York Times said Sunday night that it had reached a tentative agreement with the Newspaper Guild, setting the stage for a new labor contract after more than 18 months of negotiations. — In a message to the staff, the executive editor …

Discussion: nyguild.org, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, mediabistro.com, Poynter, New York Magazine and Politico

Jim Romenesko:

New York Times and union reach ‘conceptual agreement’ on 5-year contract — Newspaper Guild of New York president Bill O'Meara sends this email: The Guild and The Times have reached conceptual agreement on a new five-year contract. The tentative compromise reached late today with the aid …

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Penguin revenues declined in 2012, says Pearson — Pearson's confirmation that it is offloading Penguin comes as it revealed that the book publisher's revenues declined 2% in the first nine months of 2012, despite healthy growth in its ebook business. The company confirmed on Monday …

Discussion: CNET, Media & Entertainment, Forbes and PublishersWeekly.com

Jessica Hodgson / Wall Street Journal:

Penguin, Random House Ink Deal — LONDON—Pearson PLC and Bertelsmann A.G., two of the world's biggest media groups, agreed Monday on a plan to combine their book-publishing operations, Random House and Penguin. — German media giant Bertelsmann said Monday that it plans to create …

The Week:
Murdoch snubbed as Penguin Random House deal is struck

Discussion: CNNMoney.com

Sky News:

Jimmy Savile: Thompson's Office ‘Was Warned’ — The Jimmy Savile child abuse allegations were flagged up to the office of former BBC boss Mark Thompson at least twice, according to new claims. — The then director-general's office was formally alerted by journalist Miles Goslett …

Discussion: Forbes, Poynter, The Wrap and The Huffington Post

Nicholas Kulish / New York Times:
Arrest of '70s Rock Star Widens Sexual Abuse Case Tied to BBC

Discussion: BBC, Daily Mail, Telegraph, New York Magazine, BBC and Wall Street Journal

Alex Diaz / Press Association: Investigation into BBC's ‘culture’ during Jimmy Savile era to start

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

FT digital subs pass 300,000, growing readership and revenue — Most Financial Times readers are now digital subscribers, after another spurt in online subs pushed the publisher to 313,000 digital subscribers this September. — The 17 percent annual subs jump means FT Group has a combined print …

Discussion: Pearson, Journalism.co.uk and Talking Biz News

Paul Krugman:

The War on Objectivity — Brad DeLong points me to this National Review attack on Nate Silver, which I think of as illustrating an important aspect of what's really happening in America. — For those new to this, Nate is a sports statistician turned political statistician …

Discussion: Princeton Election Consortium, The Daily Caller, @carr2n and @dangillmor

Todd Cunningham / The Wrap:

NBC Sports Acquires U.S. Rights to Premier League Soccer — NBCUniversal, via the NBC Sports Group, has acquired the exclusive U.S. media rights to the Premier League — the world's top soccer league — through a multi-year agreement that begins with the 2013-14 season, both parties announced Sunday.

Discussion: Deadline.com