Mediagazer: Washington Post polling users on possible paywall packages (Michael Neibauer/Washington Business …)

10:30 AM ET, February 8, 2013

Top News:

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Tim Marches On: AOL Turns in Solid Q4 Earnings, With First Year-Over-Year Growth in Eight Years — AOL said it earned 41 cents a share, or $35.7 million in net income, in the fourth quarter, which was right on target with what Wall Street analysts had expected.

Discussion: Business Insider, CNET, Forbes, VentureBeat, AdAge, FishbowlNY, Reuters, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, @jeffjohnroberts, San Francisco Chronicle and 24/7 Wall St.

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

AOL Earnings: Revenue Turns Positive, But Patch Disappoints. Bad Omen For Hyperlocal? — Here's the good news: AOL managed to boost its total revenues on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2012, the first time in eight years that's happened. And it wasn't a close-run thing, either.

Bernard Lunn / Emergent Business Networks:

Hyperlocal Slough of Despond. After EveryBlock, Hipster & Patch Will Authentically Local Create The Sustainable Model? — Today many online publishers will be eying the AOL Q4 results. A small sub segment will be poring over every number and word revealed about AOL's expensive experiment in hyperlocal news called Patch.

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

A Fish, Er, Storm Named Nemo — “We're ready for Nemo,” the Twitter account for the New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote on Thursday before listing all the tools at the city's disposal for the blizzard that is expected to form on Friday. — Wait — Nemo?

Discussion: Gawker, New York Magazine and Metropolis

Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:

Reappearing on YouTube: Illegal Movie Uploads — Google Inc.'s YouTube has a familiar problem: Plenty of illegally uploaded movies are finding their way onto the website. — Hundreds of full-length feature films including blockbusters from Walt Disney Co. and Sony Corp.'s Columbia …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Deadline.com and Gizmodo

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

NBC closes hyperlocal, data-driven publishing pioneer EveryBlock — NBC News has shut down EveryBlock, one of the early pioneers of data-driven hyperlocal community news and information. — The decision took effect today. Vivian Schiller, senior vice president and chief digital officer of NBC News …

The EveryBlock Blog:
Farewell, neighbors — We're sorry to report that EveryBlock has closed its doors.

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, The Verge, paidContent, NewscastStudio, Lincoln Square, IL Patch, @dancow, @dancow, @pelletk, Adweek, Street Fight, NetNewsCheck Latest, @digiphile, @romenesko, @jkocherhans, @jamesrbuk, Chicago Business and Kirk LaPointe's …

Adrian Holovaty:
RIP Everyblock — I'm very saddened by today's news that EveryBlock …

Discussion: ReadWrite, Nieman Journalism Lab, @lheron and GeekWire

Michael Neibauer / Washington Business Journal:

Washington Post polling users on possible paywall packages — The Washington Post Co. is taking a step toward paid Web content, surveying its users on potential packages. — The email survey, we're told by one recipient, includes standard questions about how often readers visit washingtonpost.com …

Discussion: Poynter

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Macmillan settles with DOJ, and Apple is last man standing in ebook pricing case — Macmillan, the last remaining publisher holdout in the Department of Justice's ebook pricing antitrust lawsuit against five publishers and Apple, has decided to settle about ten months after the lawsuit was originally filed.

Filipe Alves / Reuters:

Google must extend payments across Europe for use of content — (Reuters) - Google Inc must extend its offer made last week to pay French publishers for use of their content to all media companies across Europe, the head of the European Publishers Council said on Thursday.

Discussion: TechCrunch, NetNewsCheck Latest, Engadget and bizjournals

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

What would a New York Times for the youngs look like? — The New York Times is testing some kind of “entry-level” product aimed at a younger, more Internet-y audience, new CEO Mark Thompson said in the company's earnings call Thursday. Forbes' Jeff Bercovici followed up …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
Coming Soon: A Juniors' Edition of The New York Times?

Discussion: Media News, AdAge, Media & Entertainment, NetNewsCheck Latest, FishbowlNY and @jeffjohnroberts

Jennifer Van Grove / CNET:

LinkedIn eyes future as professional publishing hub — The company seems set on making business content, not social networking, the focus of the site. — LinkedIn spent much of 2012 transforming itself into a place where workers could stay and play awhile — a strategy that paid off handsomely.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Beyond Search, SocialTimes, Adweek, Forbes and VentureBeat

Eric Pfanner / New York Times:

Universal Unloads European Labels Bought From EMI — PARIS — Warner Music Group said Thursday that it had agreed to buy much of the European record label business that Universal Music Group acquired in its recent purchase of EMI. — The deal, worth £487 million, or $765 million …

Ben Sisario / Media Decoder:
Warner Music Group Buys EMI Assets for $765 Million

Discussion: BBC, Wall Street Journal, Billboard and Telegraph

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:

NYT & Mark Thompson's First Report: Unsteady as She Goes — New York Times watchers were looking forward to hearing new CEO Mark Thompson's plummy tones this morning, as he hosted the company's quarterly earnings report for the first time. This report also included full-year, 2012.

Discussion: The Next Web

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: ‘Times’ C.E.O. Mark Thompson promises a ‘new strategy,’ details in April

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
At New York Times, 65% of digital-only subscribers are ‘entirely new’

Discussion: paidContent

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

The Valley Needs A Valleywag — Or Something — Here's an unpopular opinion, especially on TechCrunch: The Valley needs a new Valleywag. — On any given day, beneath the hype cycle of startups threatening to launch, then getting their VCs to blog/tweet about their launch threats …