Mediagazer: Universal Pictures Makes Across-the-Board Layoffs (Exclusive) (Lucas Shaw/The Wrap)

3:05 PM ET, November 1, 2012

Top News:

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Online paid-content market poses threat to traditional advertising — The rise of tablets and smartphones will help grow the online paid-content market 65% to £8bn a year by 2017, with consumer spending on digital news rocketing 77% to almost £250m, according to a report.

Discussion: paidContent

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
How to get your readers to love paywalls

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, online.liebertpub.com, IU News Room and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Nat Ives / AdAge:

NBC Universal, News Corp. Set Plans to Help Hurricane Sandy Relief — One-Hour Telethon Friday Night to Feature Bruce Springsteen and Others — Major media companies are beginning to set plans to support relief efforts following Hurricane Sandy, which has been blamed for more than 70 deaths in the U.S. …

Discussion: @brianstelter, Forbes, Mediaite, Radio & Television …, Agence France Presse, TechCrunch, Broadcasting & Cable and The Wrap

CBS Los Angeles:

Walt Disney Co. To Donate $2M To Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts — BURBANK (CBSLA.com) — The Walt Disney Company announced Thursday it will donate $2 million to relief efforts from Hurricane Sandy. — The company split the donation into two parts — $1 million for immediate relief efforts …

Discussion: The Walt Disney Company …

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Telegraph launches limited paywall — New York Times-style metered system will charge non-UK users £1.99 a month to visit the site after 20 free page views — The Telegraph website has launched its long-awaited digital paywall with a metered system, charging non-UK users £1.99 …

Discussion: Telegraph, paidContent, Journalism.co.uk, PressGazette and The Next Web

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

Universal Pictures Makes Across-the-Board Layoffs (Exclusive) — Universal Pictures has imposed a 1.5 percent, across-the-board layoff, with 25 employees getting pink slips, the company told TheWrap. — “Like any business, Universal Pictures is constantly adjusting our workforce to meet …

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

James Murdoch reappointed as BSkyB director with 95% shareholder backing — James Murdoch has been reappointed as a director of BSkyB with the support of 95% of shareholders at the company's annual general meeting. Barring one investor labelling him as “toxic”, Thursday's BSkyB AGM …

Discussion: Media Week

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Time has two+ covers this week, Businessweek sticks with one — Time subscribers in the Northeast are receiving a Hurricane Sandy cover; the photo was taken by Benjamin Lowy and posted on Instagram, Time Editor Rick Stengel writes in an editor's letter. Time hired five photographers …

Discussion: Forbes, Business Week, Folio, @tyrangiel and @antderosa

Julie Moos / Poynter:

On Twitter, book titles rewritten as New York Times headlines — If books titles were written like New York Times headlines, here is how your shelves would read, courtesy of the Twitter meme #nytbooks — We have made it easy to comment on posts, however we require civility and encourage full names …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Netflix: Thanks for the Advice, Carl — Yesterday, Carl Icahn announced that he was buying a big stake in Netflix, in the hope that someone would buy the streaming video company. — Here's the Netflix response, relayed by spokesman Jonathan Friedland: “We have many shareholders …

Discussion: Forbes and CNBC

Steve Schaefer / Forbes:
Trick Or Treat For Netflix: Carl Icahn Takes Ten Percent Stake

Discussion: CNBC, Home Media Magazine, TechCrunch, Reuters, The Wrap and AllThingsD

Christina Farr / VentureBeat:

Meet the Internet boy genius with an app to summarize the news — At 12-years-old, Nick D'Aloisio began his career as an app developer when he downloaded the Apple Developer Kit. By 15, one of his hacks, an app known as “Trimit”, caught the eye of an investor in Asia offering to fund “the company's” next project.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Forbes and The Next Web

Michael Cieply / New York Times:

Movies Try to Escape Cultural Irrelevance — LOS ANGELES — On Feb. 24 Hollywood will turn out for the Oscars. — But it's starting to feel as if it might be “The Last Picture Show.” — Next year's Academy Awards ceremony — the 85th since 1929 — will be landing in a pool of angst …

David Carr / New York Times:

Chasing Lance Armstrong's Misdeeds From the Sidelines — The Web is full of outliers who are constantly posting about vast conspiracies, advanced by powerful interests and enabled by the mainstream media. The truth, they say, is out there in plain sight. — Every once in a while, the outliers are right.

Discussion: Talking Biz News and The Huffington Post