Mediagazer: Exclusive: Amazon to win out over Apple in e-book price tussle (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters)

2:10 PM ET, November 6, 2012

Top News:

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

News orgs innovate with election coverage — Tuesday night will be the most interactive election night ever. — Millions of Americans won't just be watching results come in, they'll be participating in new ways thanks to news organizations doing just about everything they can think of to enhance live coverage tonight.

Discussion: Lost Remote, Forbes, New York Times, Digits, NetNewsCheck Latest and WebProNews

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

New York Times will drop its paywall for the third time — The New York Times will drop its paywall for the third time since it was introduced in March 2011, allowing free access this week for Election Day coverage. — The paper first dropped its paywall in August 2011 as New York prepared for Hurricane Irene.

Discussion: New York Magazine and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Lisa Richwine / Reuters:

Major TV News Networks Agree To Shield Early Exit Poll Data On Election Day — LOS ANGELES, Nov 5 (Reuters) - U.S. television networks face a new challenge in covering this year's excruciatingly close presidential election: prevent closely guarded exit poll results from leaking onto Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.

Discussion: Poynter and The Huffington Post

David Carr / Media Decoder:

A Last Fact-Check: It Didn't Work — As so many media outlets promised, this was indeed the most fact-checked election in history. At any given moment during the past 18 months, there were so many truth squadrons in the air that mid-air collisions seemed a genuine possibility.

Brian Stelter / New York Times:
Facing an Election Night Clamor

Discussion: The Huffington Post, New York Times, JIMROMENESKO.COM, New York Magazine, FishbowlNY, Media Decoder, TVNewser, Los Angeles Times, SocialTimes, Chickaboomer, Prof Chris Daly's Blog and BuzzFeed

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:
Murdoch's Anti-Obama Twitter Drive: Christie, Petraeus and More

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:

Senior Executive at The Times Will Retire — A senior executive of The New York Times Company responsible for key business results is retiring, and the company is eliminating the position entirely. — Scott Heekin-Canedy, president and general manager of The New York Times, will retire by year's end.

Discussion: @edmundlee, The Wrap, @edmundlee, @pkafka and @edmundlee

Katherine Fung / Huffington Post:
Tentative New York Times Contract Will Preserve Pension Plan, Health Care For Guild Members

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Christmas Coming Early For AOL Shareholders With $445M Dividend — Mark your calendar, AOL shareholders: Dec. 14 is your lucky day. — On that date, almost exactly three years to the day after the internet giant spun out from Time Warner, AOL will pay out a one-time dividend of $5.15 per share, or $445 million total.

Discussion: Media Decoder, MediaPost, AllThingsD, @jeffjohnroberts, AdAge, FishbowlNY and Poynter

Steven Jacobs / Street Fight:

AOL: Patch Remains on Path to Profitability, Expenses Cut 30% — Patch saw a 19% year-over-year bump in traffic during September, bringing monthly unique visitors across the property to 11.9 million, according to AOLs second quarter earnings report. During its Q3 earnings call Tuesday …

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:
How video will provide a third act for AOL

Discussion: The Next Web

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:

Exclusive: Amazon to win out over Apple in e-book price tussle — (Reuters) - European Union regulators are to accept an offer by Apple and four publishers to end an antitrust probe into their e-book prices, two sources said, handing Amazon victory in a bid to sell online books cheaper than its rivals, sources said.

Discussion: paidContent, Los Angeles Times, CNET, The Verge, MacRumors, Mashable!, 9to5Mac, Engadget and Mercury News

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Marissa Mayer Will “Talk About Where She Is Taking Yahoo” in First Media Interview Since Becoming CEO — Marissa Mayer — the typically press-loving Silicon Valley exec who has avoided much media interaction since she took over as CEO of Yahoo — will be doing her first sit-down interview …

Jamie Condliffe / Gizmodo:
Samsung Teams Up With Yahoo For Interactive TV Service

Discussion: Engadget

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

Amazon Prime tests $7.99/month option to compete with Hulu+, Netflix — Amazon is offering some users who don't want to drop $79 on an annual Prime membership another option: Paying $7.99 a month. While that actually adds up to more money on a yearly basis ($95.88), it may bring new users into the fold …

Discussion: AllThingsD, Hacking NetFlix and WebProNews

Don Jeffrey / Bloomberg:

Pandora Media Sues Ascap Seeking Lower Songwriter Fees — Pandora Media Inc. (P), the biggest Internet radio service, sued the organization representing songwriters and composers to seek lower license fees for playing their songs. — Pandora, which is also lobbying the U.S. Congress …

Discussion: PC Magazine and The Verge

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Cablevision and NBCUniversal sign distribution deal — Cablevision signed a new distribution deal with NBC, home of “The Voice.” (NBC) — Cablevision Systems Corp. has signed a long-term distribution deal to carry broadcast and cable networks owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal unit.

Variety:

Amazon eyes original comedy series ‘Browsers’ — Netco close to greenlight for project originally developed at CBS — In a sign that Amazon is getting serious about fielding original programming, the Internet giant is said to be close to greenlighting a musical comedy series dubbed “Browsers.”

Discussion: CNET, The Verge, Gizmodo and The Next Web

Eliza Kern / GigaOM:

Instagram CEO: Sandy was probably Instagram's biggest moment — When Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast last week, everyone from people trapped in the storm's direct path to New Yorkers observing their dark city pulled out their smartphones (assuming they had power to charge them), and uploaded their photos of Sandy to Instagram.