Mediagazer: Microsoft to fund Blake's 7 remake for Xbox Live service (Mark Sweney/Guardian)

4:45 AM ET, August 16, 2013

Top News:

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds — The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:

Court: Ability to police U.S. spying program limited — The leader of the secret court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the government's vast spying programs said that its ability do so is limited and that it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans.

Discussion: Techdirt, @csoghoian, Gawker, @ramez, @randyebarnett, @micahflee, @washingtonpost, The Switch, @inego_, @digiphile and @jayrosen_nyu

Mollie Reilly / The Huffington Post:

How The Washington Post Slapped Back The White House — The Washington Post gave a peek on Thursday night into the ways in which it brushed back the White House during contentious negotiations over its bombshell story about the National Security Agency's repeated privacy violations.

Discussion: emptywheel and Washington Post

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Edward Snowden To HuffPost: Media Being Misled — NEW YORK — National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden wants to set the record straight after individuals associated with his father have, in his words, “misled” journalists into “printing false claims about my situation.”

Discussion: CNN and New York Magazine

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Snowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say — (Reuters) - Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began downloading documents describing the U.S. government's electronic spying programs while he was working for Dell Inc in April 2012, almost a year earlier …

Discussion: ZDNet and Hillicon Valley

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Robert Feder partners with Tribune — Longtime Chicago media columnist Robert Feder is launching a standalone media blog next month through a partnership with the Chicago Tribune. — The editorially independent Web site, RobertFeder.com, will be owned by Feder, but licensed and marketed …

Discussion: @lynnemarek, @robertfeder, @martindave, @markedwards, @robertfeder, @romenesko and @mathewi

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, Adweek, B&C, TVNewser and Hollywood Reporter

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

Discussion: @jbflint

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: @pkafka, @jbflint, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, @shaliniwsj, @tomgara and GigaOM

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

Discussion: @claytonmorris, CNET, The Huffington Post, Variety, 24/7 Wall St. and @brianstelter

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: @maura, @abenedikt, @maureenoco, @laureni, @samfbiddle, The Hairpin and Slate

Bryan Goldberg / PandoDaily:
Take Two — I messed up. — There has been a lot of response …

Discussion: Digiday, @gitdot, @jeffjarvis, Flavorwire, @amandamarcotte, @saramorrison, Fast Company, @brooke, @erikmal, @atotalmonet, @jayrosen_nyu, Business Insider, @bgoldberg, @spencerchen, @thestalwart and @morninggloria

John Ourand / SportsBusiness Daily:

Sources: Distributors Hold The Line On Fox Sports 1 Sub Fee — The frenzied rush that saw several of the country's biggest distributors agree to carry FS1 at launch occurred only after Fox surprisingly backed off its asking price of $0.80 per subscriber per month, according to multiple high-level sources.

Discussion: @whatupay4sports, @ourand_sbj and The Big Lead

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
Fox Sports 1 will launch with DirecTV, Dish and Time Warner Cable

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

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, Digiday, Outbrain, Washington Post, New York Times, Graham Cluley, @rajunarisetti, Los Angeles Times, CNNMoney.com, The Verge, Consumerist, ZDNet, Featured stories, VentureBeat, The Wrap and FishbowlNY

Brian Morrissey / Digiday:

NPR's Custom Solution to Its Banner Ad Problem — Every publisher is trying to figure out its strategy when it comes to differentiation in the world of the banner. National Public Radio is no different. — As part of an NPR.org overhaul, NPR has rolled out a “native sponsorship” …

Thanks:@steverubel

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Microsoft to fund Blake's 7 remake for Xbox Live service — New version of BBC1 cult sci-fi series is latest original programming investment ahead of Xbox One launch — Re-shoot ... Microsoft is to fund a remake of the BBC1 sci-fi classic Blake's 7 for its Xbox Live service.

Discussion: PC & Tech Authority, ATV Today, Wired.co.uk, Forbes, Engadget, Pocket-lint, Bleeding Cool Comic Book …, Boing Boing and BBC

Peter Lauria:

NBC Says Advertisers Committed To Olympics, No Slowdown In Demand — As pressure mounts against Russia's anti-LGBT propaganda law and for the International Olympics Committee to take action in support of human rights, NBC says advertisers are still committed to the Sochi Games.

Discussion: @peterlauria3