Mediagazer: McCain is prepping legislation to overhaul pay-TV business (Joe Flint/Los Angeles Times)

12:40 PM ET, May 9, 2013

Top News:

Microsoft Mulling Nook Media LLC Purchase For $1 Billion — Microsoft is offering to pay $1 billion to buy the digital assets of Nook Media LLC, the digital book and college book joint venture with Barnes & Noble and other investors, according to internal documents we've obtained.

Discussion: Forbes, Betabeat, CNNMoney.com, Softpedia News, DealBook, Quartz, Digital Book World, ValueWalk, Business Insider, SlashGear, Kindle Review, VentureBeat, ZDNet, Gizmodo, Mashable, GeekWire, Pocket-lint, Engadget, 24/7 Wall St., Electronista, CNET, The Verge, Bookseller news and BGR

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

In Nook, Microsoft sees a chance to compete against Amazon and Apple — Microsoft already has a stake in Nook Media, and now it is reportedly seeking to buy out the entire company. In Nook, Microsoft sees a shot at competing against Amazon and Apple — in a way it might not be able to do from scratch.

Discussion: Forbes, ZDNet and Softpedia News

David Carr / New York Times:

Top Editors Abruptly Leave Village Voice — Will Bourne, who became editor in chief of The Village Voice in November, and Jessica Lustig, the deputy editor since January, are leaving the weekly publication. — They met with the staff at 11 p.m. on Thursday and said that Christine Brennan …

Dylan Byers / Politico:

POLITICO to test metered subscription system — From the folks up top: … Also: We started experimenting with sponsored content today.

Discussion: Erik Wemple and @matthewwells

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘New York Post’ offers buyouts; seeks 10-percent staff reduction — The New York Post is offering voluntary buyouts to a newsroom employees, editor-in-chief Col Allan informed the staff today in a memo obtained by Capital. — The paper is aiming to reduce its headcount by 10 percent through …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review and Capital New York

Leslie Kaufman / New York Times:

Hearst Hires Digital Chief To Oversee Web Brands — Hearst Magazines, the publisher of such venerable titles as Esquire and Cosmopolitan, said on Wednesday that it was creating a new position, president of digital media. — The job will go to Troy Young, 45, who will be responsible for content …

Discussion: Media Week, FishbowlNY, The New York Observer and eMedia Vitals

New York Times:

A Bid to Thwart Los Angeles Times Sale to Kochs — LOS ANGELES — An effort by two conservative billionaires to take over The Los Angeles Times and seven other newspapers is setting off a firestorm of opposition here. Public employee unions, the leaders of the State Legislature …

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

McCain is prepping legislation to overhaul pay-TV business — Sen. John McCain wants to overhaul the TV industry. — The maverick wants to cook the TV industry's golden goose. — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is preparing to introduce legislation perhaps as early as Thursday …

Discussion: The Wrap, Hillicon Valley, AllThingsD, Adweek, TVNewsCheck.com, Christian News …, Bloomberg BNA and Multichannel.com

The Huffington Post:

Richard Engel Returns To Syria For First Time Since Kidnapping — NEW YORK — NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is back quickly and safely from his first trip to Syria since he and his team were kidnapped and held captive there last December.

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Dallas Morning News' paywall is getting a makeover to try to capture digital-only readers — If 2012 was the Year of the Paywall for American newspapers, 2013 is turning into the Year of Paywall Tinkering. — Last month, it was The New York Times that announced it planned to diversify …

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

Apple wins trademark case over ‘iBooks’ — A small New York publisher that uses the label “ibooks” has struck out in its lawsuit against Apple, after a New York court on Wednesday held that the publisher's mark was not distinct and that consumers would not confuse the two companies' products.

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

The Loop: After 20 years on the web, veteran Apple reporter Jim Dalrymple bets on an iPad magazine — This isn't the first time that Jim Dalrymple has made a bet on the future of publishing. “In 1994, I started publishing on the web, and that was one of the first big modern-day shifts that we saw,” he says.

Discussion: The Loop, GeekWire, om.co and MacRumors, Thanks:@max8378

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Andrew Sullivan says it's “unlikely” The Dish will reach its $900,000 goal — Popular politics blog The Dish, which went independent and added a metered paywall at the beginning of this year, is probably not going to reach its $900,000 goal, founder Andrew Sullivan says.

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Leveson inquiry press coverage ‘overwhelmingly negative’, study finds — Nine national newspapers published no positive opinion about judicial inquiry in 100 days before report — Nine national newspapers, including the Sunday Times and Daily Mirror, published no positive opinion …

Discussion: Media Standards Trust

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Flipboard amps up user-generated magazines with Android release and new Web-based editing tool — Flipboard has brought its magazine curation service to Android devices. The popular service has released an update that will now brings in features iOS device owners have been experiencing for the past couple of months.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times and Engadget

Emma Bazilian / Adweek:

The New Yorker Saw Record-Breaking Web Traffic Last Month — The New Yorker has been putting a premium on Web content in the past year, launching new verticals like Books and Humor and features like the Archives blog and daily cartoons and publishing more online-only reporting.

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

News Corp. Beats Profit Estimates on Higher Licensing Revenue — News Corp. (NWSA), the Rupert Murdoch-led media company that's set to split in two, beat fiscal third-quarter profit estimates on higher licensing fees for television shows such as “American Idol” and “New Girl.”

Discussion: The Huffington Post, @journalismbuzz, Fox Business and Reuters