Mediagazer: Drive-in theaters get help for digital conversion (Richard Verrier/Los Angeles Times)

11:30 AM ET, February 5, 2013

Top News:

Mat Honan / Wired:

Why Vine's Going to Grow Into Something Huge — The very best things we make are the things that allow us to make even better things: tools that create connections and empower creativity. The latest of these is Vine, Twitter's remarkable new video sharing app. — Vine lets people shoot and share six-second looped videos.

Discussion: CNET

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

iTunes launches Breakout Books section to highlight self-published titles — Amazon intensely promotes self-published Kindle books, and now Apple is taking steps toward doing the same thing. The company has launched a new section of the iBookstore, “Breakout Books,” a …

Discussion: Media Decoder

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Turner Broadcasting Names Giorgio Stock President of EMEA Region — The former Walt Disney consumer products, publishing and retail executive says he sees opportunity to expand brands and franchises across platforms. — Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting said Tuesday that it has hired …

Discussion: Variety, Turner Newsroom and Digital TV Europe

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Better together: Colorado nonprofit news site I-News and Rocky Mountain PBS join forces — The three-year-old I-News leaves the ranks of small nonprofit news startups and finds a broader audience by merging with Colorado's largest public TV station. — Nonprofit news sites have a knack for pairing up.

NUJ:

Overwhelming vote for strike action at Guardian and Observer — Journalists on the Guardian and Observer have voted overwhelmingly for strike action over compulsory redundancies. — More than 80 per cent (81.6%) voted for strike action over the redundancies and to defend existing terms and conditions at the two titles.

Discussion: @andrew_pugh1 and @andrew_pugh1

Rebecca Greenfield / The Atlantic Wire:

The Economics of Netflix's $100 Million New Show — With Netflix's foray into original, high quality programming today, the streaming TV network wants to turn into the HBO of Internet TV, but can the network afford it? Putting together a big production with famous actors like House …

Discussion: /Film

Tim Wu / New Yorker:
“House of Cards” and the Decline of Cable

Discussion: Betabeat, Wired and Pocket-lint

Rebecca Shapiro / The Huffington Post:

Sunday Times Refuses Photographs From Syria — The Sunday Times has asked freelancers to stop sending photographs and copy from Syria, the Press Gazette reported on Tuesday. — According to photojournalist Rick Findler, the Sunday Times's foreign desk reportedly thanked him for his work …

Discussion: Press Gazette, @cathjam and @cengizyar

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

OC Register, investing heavily in print, also readies paywall — The Orange County Register is preparing to launch a metered paywall this year, News & Tech reports. New Register owner Aaron Kushner has made no secret of his plans to charge for online access to the paper …

Discussion: News & Tech

Mathew Ingram / paidContent:

Digital First Media is working on paywalls, even though it really doesn't want to — Plenty of newspapers have been jumping headlong into the paywall business recently, and many of them claim that the introduction of subscription plans has been the best thing that ever happened to them.

John Paxton / Digital First:
The Subscription Project - Or A Paywall By Any Other Name

Discussion: Poynter, NetNewsCheck Latest and The Buttry Diary

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:

Twitter Makes Big Acquisition, Buys Social TV Analytics Company Bluefin Labs — Twitter has acquired Bluefin Labs, a social TV analytics company that was founded in 2008, sources say. — Although we don't know the exact acquisition price, we were told this is Twitter's biggest acquisition to date.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Why Twitter Is Buying Bluefin — And Why Bluefin Is Selling

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, ReadWrite, Business Insider, GigaOM and Lost Remote

Richard Verrier / Los Angeles Times:

Drive-in theaters get help for digital conversion — “Gangster Squad” is seen playing at the Rubidoux Drive-In Theater in Riverside last month. Hollywood will stop producing 35-mm prints sometime this year, and drive-in theaters must switch to digital projection systems or risk going dark.

Discussion: DCinemaToday and The Verge

Erik Hayden / Hollywood Reporter:

Netflix Signs Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit to Film Distribution Deal (Exclusive) — The multiyear agreement, which begins in spring 2013, will give the streaming service first look at titles from her production company. — Netflix has struck a multiyear licensing deal with Flavor Unit Entertainment …

Discussion: BWW Geeks Stories

Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:

AOL In Talks To Buy Gdgt, The Consumer Electronics Review Site Started By Former Engadget Founders — I'm hearing that gdgt (pronounced 'gadget'), the consumer electronics review site founded by Engadget co-founder Peter Rojas and former Engadget editor-in-chief Ryan Block, is in late-stage acquisition talks with AOL.

Discussion: Fast Company

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

A goodbye to teary newsroom scenes? Why Friday's wake at the ‘Times’ was undercovered — The New York Times building. wallyg via flickr — My former colleague Doree Shafrir has a smart post on BuzzFeed about The Way The New York Times is Covered Now. — Case in point …

Discussion: Poynter and @poniewozik

Doree Shafrir / BuzzFeed:
What's The Real Story Behind The New York Times Buyouts?

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Melville House Books, @pkafka, @edmundlee, @mlcalderone, @mathewi, @joshsternberg, @learmonth, @megan, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Politico, @alexckaufman, @poniewozik, @moorehn, @hamiltonnolan and @brianstelter

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

Can Jeff Zucker turn CNN's saccharine output into the sweet smell of success? — CNN's new president is shaking up the network, but to win the ratings he needs, he'll have to find a cable news sensibility — The obvious problem with CNN, depressing its ratings for the better part of a decade …

Discussion: Capital New York

Kate Holton / Reuters:

Malone eyes Virgin Media in challenge to Murdoch — (Reuters) - John Malone's Liberty Global has opened talks with Britain's Virgin Media over a takeover that would increase the U.S. cable group's dominance in Europe and step up a challenge to media mogul Rupert Murdoch.