Mediagazer: Sony Reaches Preliminary Programming Deal With Viacom for Online Pay TV Service (Wall Street Journal)

8:55 PM ET, August 15, 2013

Top News:

Sony Grabs Lead in Race for Internet Pay TV — By - AMOL SHARMA And - SHALINI RAMACHANDRAN - — In the technology industry's race to build an online version of pay television, Sony Corp. just took the lead. — The Japanese company has reached a preliminary deal with Viacom Inc. to carry …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, CNET, Variety, @shaliniwsj, @jyarow, @pkafka, The Verge, Business Insider, Pocket-lint, @tomgara, @wsjcorpintel, @amolsharmawsj, Deadline.com, 24/7 Wall St., Home Media Magazine and GigaOM

Wall Street Journal:

Sony Reaches Preliminary Programming Deal With Viacom for Online Pay TV Service — By - AMOL SHARMA And - SHALINI RAMACHANDRAN - — Sony Corp. has reached a preliminary agreement with Viacom Inc. to carry the media company's cable channels on its planned Internet-based TV service …

Discussion: SlashGear, @shaliniwsj and Engadget

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Viacom-Sony TV Is a Big Deal. It's Also the Same Deal We Already Have. — Viacom's deal to deliver its cable TV shows to a new Web video service from Sony isn't final. — But it is a big deal: As the Wall Street Journal first reported today, this is the first time a major programmer has agreed …

Discussion: GigaOM, @pkafka and @jbflint

Brian Stelter / New York Times:
Sony and Viacom Reach Tentative Internet TV Deal

Discussion: @claytonmorris and @brianstelter

Bryan Goldberg / PandoDaily:

Take Two — I messed up. — There has been a lot of response to my fundraise blog post on PandoDaily on Tuesday. Most of that response has been negative. And there are many good reasons for the criticism: — It over-simplified the editorial landscape.

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Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

What Was This Bro Thinking? Bustle.com's Bryan Goldberg Explains Himself — Considering he only wanted to launch a women's-interest website, Bryan Goldberg must have been surprised to find himself the internet's primary object of hatred yesterday. — No doubt it had a lot …

Discussion: Slate, @maura, @abenedikt, @maureenoco, @laureni, @samfbiddle, The Hairpin, Valleywag and Business Insider

Philip Bump / The Atlantic Wire:

Syrian Hackers Use Outbrain to Target The Washington Post, Time, and CNN — For a brief period on Thursday morning, the Washington Post's website redirected some visitors to a webpage controlled by the Syrian Electronic Army. In a brief statement, the site didn't indicate how the infiltration occurred …

Discussion: Ask The Post, The Switch, Krebs on Security, New York Times, @rajunarisetti, FishbowlNY, Los Angeles Times, CNNMoney.com, ZDNet, The Verge, Graham Cluley, Featured stories, Consumerist, VentureBeat, The Wrap, Digiday, The Drum and The Daily Caller

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Washington Post website hacked — Readers were “redirected to the site of the Syrian Electronic Army,” Senior Social Media Producer TJ Ortenzi writes in an editor's note. “The Post is working to resolve the issue.” — The New York Times' website was down Wednesday …

Discussion: E Hacking News [ EHN ], The Daily Beast, The Switch, Mashable, Hillicon Valley, FishbowlNY, New York Magazine, AllThingsD, ABC News, Washington Post, Bloomberg, ZDNet, Digits and @poynter

Jeanine Poggi / AdAge:

Al Jazeera America Debut Approaches, With Fewer Commercials — Cable News Network Will Have Just Six Minutes of Ad Time per Hour — Al Jazeera America will have fewer commercials than other cable TV networks when it begins transmitting on Tuesday. — The cable news network will air …

Discussion: Variety, B&C, Adweek, TVNewser and Hollywood Reporter

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
Al Jazeera America faces more than the usual new-kid challenges

Discussion: @jbflint

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Fox Sports 1 will launch with DirecTV, Dish and Time Warner Cable — Regis Philbin will host a show on Fox Sports 1. — Fox Sports 1 has struck agreements with three major distributors that will ensure that the new cable network will be available in the majority of pay-TV homes …

Discussion: Variety, Bloomberg, Reuters, Fox Sports, Reuters, BWW TV Stories, Sporting News Bob …, Business Insider and @auerheat

John Ourand / SportsBusiness Daily:
Sources: Distributors Hold The Line On Fox Sports 1 Sub Fee

Discussion: @ourand_sbj and The Big Lead

Don Kaplan / NY Daily News:

Verizon FiOS gains customers as standoff continues between Time Warner Cable and CBS — Some Time Warner Cable customers say they've been left on hold when trying to cancel service — Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (l.) his brother and New York Giants counterpart, Eli Manning …

Greg Sandoval / The Verge:
Blackout brawler: meet the combative CEO keeping CBS off your television

Discussion: @richbtig

Tim Kenneally / The Wrap:
Time Warner Cable Slapped With Class Action Suit Over CBS Blackout

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, GigaOM, Los Angeles Times, Courthouse News Service, Variety, Deadline.com and Broadcasting & Cable

Aaron Smith / CNNMoney.com:

Buffett's Berkshire dumps Gannett, buys Dish Network — Warren Buffett's investment firm Berkshire Hathaway dumped its shares of newspaper giant Gannett according to SEC documents, and took a new position in Dish Network. — In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Fortune, San Francisco Chronicle, Reuters, Gannett Blog, Forbes, Reuters, Stocks To Watch and GigaOM

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Maer Roshan Joins Board of Directors at Assignmint.com — Maer Roshan, former editor of Radar and founder of the recently shuttered The Fix, is joining the board of directors at Assignmint.com, a start-up job management site designed to streamline the editorial process between freelance writers and publishers.

Wenqian Zhu / CNNMoney.com:

Journalist jobs are picking up — Jobs for journalists are on the upswing. — That's good news for an industry in upheaval. Just this month, there's been a flurry of deals involving struggling marquee American publications. Amazon ( AMZN, Fortune 500) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos bought …

Discussion: Poynter, Folio, The Huffington Post, @kismith and @huffpostmedia