Mediagazer: ‘Low-pay’ TV firm targeting tens of millions of Arab viewers (Ben Flanagan/Al Arabiya)

5:35 AM ET, May 10, 2013

Top News:

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 …

Discussion: Poynter, Gawker, mediabistro.com, @simondumenco, FishbowlNY, Capital New York, The Huffington Post and New York Magazine

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Daily News’ chief Colin Myler tells staff layoffs were ‘inevitable,’ announces new digital initiative in boroughs — Colin Myler, editor of the Daily News, and Bill Holiber, the paper's president, have just addressed the layoffs that claimed around 20 jobs in the paper's newsroom over the past two days.

Discussion: Capital New York and New York Times

Chris Grosso / AOL Blog:

Cyndi Stivers Joins AOL as Editor-In-Chief of AOL.com — It's my pleasure to announce that AOL has hired Cyndi Stivers, a decorated journalist and digital media expert, to join our team as Editor-in-Chief of AOL.com. — In her new role reporting to me, she will drive all editorial …

Discussion: Adweek, The New York Observer and FishbowlNY

Janko Roettgers / paidContent:

YouTube launches its paid subscription channels with select partners — YouTube's long-rumored paid channels are live: The Google-owned service started its new subscription offering with select partners Thursday. — YouTube has officially launched a paid subscription offering …

Discussion: youtube-global.blogspot.co.uk, Variety, The Next Web, PC Advisor, Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day, National Updates, Financial Times, VentureBeat, Washington Post, Gizmodo, AdAge, Home Media Magazine, Pocket-lint and Broadcasting & Cable

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Say Media Lays Off 10 Percent Of Staff, Aims For Profitability In Second Half Of 2013 — Matt Sanchez, co-founder and CEO of Say Media (which owns xoJane, ReadWrite, and Dogster), just told me that the company has laid off about 10 percent of its 400-person staff.

Discussion: The Wall Blog

Matt Sledge / The Huffington Post:

Bradley Manning Trial Stenographer Crowdfunded By Nonprofit — NEW YORK — Fed up with the military's limits on access to the court martial of Bradley Manning, the Army private who has admitted to sending hundreds of thousands of sensitive documents to the transparency organization WikiLeaks …

Discussion: Freedom of the Press … and Guardian

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Rdio And Shazam Expand Full Music Track Streaming Partnership To UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil And Mexico — Shazam and Rdio have offered something wonderful for U.S. users as of fall 2012, providing full track streaming for tagged music via Rdio, thanks to a “Listen Free on Rdio” link within the Shazam app.

Discussion: Pocket-lint and The Next Web

Ben Flanagan / Al Arabiya:

‘Low-pay’ TV firm targeting tens of millions of Arab viewers — A Dubai-based TV company is targeting “tens of millions” of customers in the Arab world, aiming to sell monthly subscriptions costing the same as a cup of coffee from Starbucks. — But My-HD, which currently offers about 30 channels …

Eric Deggans / Poynter:

Is Truth-O-Meter the real issue in Maddow's latest blast at PolitiFact? — The Tampa Bay Times' fact-checking site PolitiFact has drawn another heated rebuke from MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, who accuses it of “ruining fact checking” and being “truly terrible.”

Discussion: Mediaite

Sean Ludwig / VentureBeat:

Los Angeles startup Yekra nets $3M for its digital movie distribution platform — Digital entertainment distribution startup Yekra has raised $3 million in new funding to give studios a way to distribute DRM-protected content without it being burdensome, the company announced today.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, socalTECH.com, pevc.dowjones.com, screendaily.com, Los Angeles Times and The Wrap

Leslie Kaufman / New York Times:

Politico to Test a Pay Wall With Some Readers of Its Site — Politico, the media organization that covers Washington in minute detail, said Thursday that it would start experimenting with a pay wall on its Web site. — “Starting this week, we are going to test a metered system for subscriptions …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab and Politico

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

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

Discussion: paidContent and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Tim Baysinger / Broadcasting & Cable:

Upfronts 2013: Telemundo to Open Multiplatform Studio — LA-based production house has two series in development — New York — Telemundo announced Thursday that it is launching a multiplatform production studio to develop and produce original content. — The new Los Angeles-based …

Discussion: Variety, Radio & Television … and Deadline.com