Mediagazer: Power Failure (Will Leitch/SportsonEarth)

2:00 PM ET, February 4, 2013

Top News:

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Super Bowl Gets Highest-Ever Ratings, Plus 24 Million Tweets — A historic sibling rivalry, an iconic player's retirement, a Destiny's Child reunion, a momentum-changing blackout and a dramatic finish: Add up all the storylines from Super Bowl XLVII and you get one of the most-watched championship games ever …

Will Leitch / SportsonEarth:

Power Failure — As embarrassing as it was for the NFL and the city of New Orleans that the power went out for 34 minutes during Super Bowl XLVII, it's not even close to how humiliated CBS should feel. It's difficult to overstate how much the San Francisco 49ers saved CBS's bacon by constructing …

Discussion: NY Daily News, TVNewser, Adweek, TVSpy, Deadspin and WNYC

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Circulation revenue up at Gannett, which credits paywalls — Gannett's fourth quarter earning report contains a sentence that will thrill paywall apostles: … That's attributed to CEO Gracia Martore, who also notes circulation revenue increased for the third quarter in a row.

Discussion: Thomson IR, Wall Street Journal, Broadcasting & Cable, NetNewsCheck Latest, Reuters, Gannett Blog and USA Today

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Gannett Profit Tops Analysts' Estimates on Election Advertising — Gannett Co. (GCI), which publishes 82 U.S. daily newspapers and owns 23 television stations, reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped analysts' estimates, fueled by U.S. presidential election advertising.

Discussion: Gannett Blog

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

The Verge Hires Writer Who Quit CNET in Protest — Greg Sandoval, the CNET senior writer who resigned in protest when the site's parent company, CBS, interfered with its editorial coverage last month, has been hired by The Verge, the Web site that first revealed the full extent of CBS's involvement.

Discussion: New York Magazine, @brianstelter and @joshuatopolsky

Greg Sandoval:

My new home — I'm saved. Two weeks ago, I resigned from CNET after seven years at the technology news site. Today, I can report that I have accepted an offer from The Verge to become a senior reporter. I start in a couple of weeks. Greg Sandoval When I say “saved,” …

Discussion: Poynter, The Wrap, @sandonet and Talking Biz News

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Andrew Sullivan's New Site Has a Super Friendly Paywall — Today is the day uber-blogger Andrew Sullivan declares independence, moving his Daily Dish blog from The Daily Beast to a new home at dish.andrewsullivan.com. — In case you haven't heard, Sullivan's foray into entrepreneurship …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Jeff Blagdon / The Verge:
Andrew Sullivan's grand experiment in reader-supported online journalism is now live

Discussion: The Dish and New York Magazine

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily: Andrew Sullivan and the new wisdom of the leaky meter

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

The Google Fund for the French Press — At the last minute, ending three months of tense negotiations, Google and the French Press hammered a deal. More than yet another form of subsidy, this could mark the beginning of a genuine cooperation. — Thursday night, at 11:00pm Paris time …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's … and Guardian

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Why Google's settlement with French publishers is bad for the web

Discussion: Top Digital Journal News

Bloomberg:

News Corp. Sells IGN Websites to J2 Global's Ziff Davis — News Corp. (NWSA) sold its IGN Entertainment websites to J2 Global Inc. (JCOM)'s Ziff Davis for an undisclosed amount. — The transaction will add to J2 Global's 2013 earnings, excluding transition costs, the company said today in a statement.

Discussion: Ziff Davis, VentureBeat, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, The Next Web and Joystiq

Ian Burrell / The Independent:

London gets first dedicated digital terrestrial TV channel as ESTV launches London Live — London is to have its first dedicated digital terrestrial television channel, offering a service to 4 million homes, the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom announced today. — The new London Live channel …

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk, standard.co.uk, Reuters, Telegraph, Londonist, Journalism.co.uk and Guardian

Kristen Schweizer / Bloomberg:
Billionaire Lebedev Wins License to Start New London TV Station

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Alexander C. Kaufman / The Wrap:

Washington Post Names Kevin Merida Managing Editor — The Washington Post has named Kevin Merida its managing editor in charge of news and features, effective immediately. — He joins managing editor John Temple, who oversees digital and newsroom operations.

Discussion: Poynter, Politico and @davidfolkenflik

Darryl Fears / @bydarrylfears: Kevin Merida is now the Washington Post's managing editor, breaking a barrier as the first African American to hold the job. @meridak

Charlie Warzel / Adweek:

Ars Technica Ads Get Ahead of the Story — In an analytics-obsessed Web climate, everyone is chasing the big story. The problem is, more often than not, big breakout traffic scoops yield attention, eyeballs and notoriety, but very few dollars. Last month, Deadspin broke the story …

Jason Deans / Guardian:

BBC industrial action to be extended across the corporation — Escalation may include strike action, as National Union of Journalists steps up opposition to compulsory redundancies — Industrial action, including possible strikes, is to be extended from BBC Scotland across the corporation nationally …

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:

Rupert Murdoch to spend billions on video rights — Rupert Murdoch's newspaper and book publishing arm is to spend billions of dollars on video rights, as it seeks to turn the print business into a multi-media operation. — Rupert Murdoch's ‘new News Corp’ has set aside $1bn to fuel the spending spree