Mediagazer: Belo shareholders approve $1.5 billion Gannett acquisition (Associated Press)

8:20 AM ET, September 26, 2013

Top News:

Rem Rieder / USA Today:

Rieder: Support crucial for non-profit journalism — Steve Waldman has a modest proposal for securing the future of non-profit news outlets. How about if companies that have flourished in the new economy — think Apple, Google, Verizon — stepped up to the plate and subsidized …

Discussion: @steve_katz, @noirinhegarty and Big News Network.com

Matthew Zeitlin / BuzzFeed:

How Chrystia Freeland Hastened Reuters Next's Demise — The dynamo who left Reuters to run for a seat in Canada's parliament was both the motivating force behind the wire service's ambitious digital revamp and one of the primary reasons it was killed, current and former employees tell Buzzfeed.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @jayrosen_nyu, @bgrueskin, @jbenton, @ejanearmstrong, @oppoguy, @jaredbkeller, @ezralevant and Talking Biz News

Associated Press:

Belo shareholders approve $1.5 billion Gannett acquisition — DALLAS — Belo Corp. shareholders on Wednesday approved Gannett Co.'s proposed acquisition of the broadcast company. — The $1.5 billion deal, announced in June, still needs regulatory approval. It is expected to close by the end of the year.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, bizjournals, bizjournals, PR Newswire and USA Today

Bryan Bishop / The Verge:

Time Warner CEO open to bundling online HBO subscription with broadband plans — Despite the rampant piracy of its shows and the proliferation of its streaming app across multiple devices, HBO has continued to rule out the possibility of an a la carte subscription for online viewers.

Discussion: Deadline.com, @reckless, @backlon, Home Media Magazine and Variety

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Hopster Promises Netflix for Kids, and No One Else — If you're a certain kind of parent, then you know that Netflix is a pretty excellent baby sitter. But Netflix, and rival services like Amazon's Instant Prime, have lots of movies and TV shows that aren't aimed at kids.

Discussion: TechCrunch and GigaOM

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Liberty Media CEO Sees Benefits in A La Carte Proposal — Greg Maffei says a bill from Sen. John McCain has “many positive attributes” and discusses Charter's cable consolidation plans. — While most TV network owners have spoken out against a la carte pricing of pay TV channels …

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg: Malone Says Reaching Time Warner Cable Deal Still Makes Sense

Library Journal:

Penguin Ebooks Return to OverDrive, Go National on Axis 360 — “Penguin will resume doing business with OverDrive as of this morning,” Penguin spokesperson Erica Glass told LJ on September 25. According to a blog post by Karen Estrovich, collection development manager for OverDrive …

Discussion: OverDrive's Digital …, Publishers Lunch, paidContent, Dear Author, Melville House Books, GeekWire, AppNewser and Digital Book World

Amol Sharma / Wall Street Journal:

Twitter Strikes Deal With NFL — Football League Will Produce Short, Ad-Supported Highlights Site — The National Football League has reached a deal with Twitter Inc. to make football highlights and other content available on the social- media service, the latest big partnership aimed …

Discussion: The Verge, Reuters, AdAge, Mashable, @besvinick, Engadget, Bloomberg, CNET and AllThingsD

Sam Thielman / Adweek:

The Web Is a Lab for Marketable TV Content, and Vice Versa Shows are increasingly ping-ponging between platforms By Sam Thielman — The lines between digital and linear distribution are a lot less blurry than advertised when it comes to the business models of cable television and the online space …

Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:

Internet radio services becoming more mainstream, survey says — More than half of online Americans now listen to Internet radio, and a lot of them do so through mobile devices including Apple Inc.'s iPhone. (Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg / September 17, 2013) — Internet radio's drumbeat is getting louder.

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

From Syria, On Spec: Wary of Staff in Harm's Way, Editors Leave War Coverage to $70 Stringers — Anna Therese Day had just returned from Northern Syria when The Observer met her at a coffee shop near Union Square on a recent afternoon. — A 25-year-old in pearl earrings and a filmy white top …

Discussion: @freeaustintice

Adam Taylor / Business Insider:

Iranian News Agency Accuses CNN Of Fabricating Translation In Which President Rouhani Acknowledged The Holocaust — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's trip to New York for the U.N. General Assembly has been observed closely, with many wondering if he will take the same hardline approach …

Discussion: Fars News Agency, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Amanpour, New York Magazine, Amanpour, New York Times, Amanpour, @jeffreygoldberg, @jaketapper, @jeffreygoldberg, @mcmoynihan, @camanpour, CAMERA Snapshots, Mediaite and Guardian

Katelyn Belyus / Folio:

Winning the Paywall Debate — Paywalls have their detractors, but here's one publisher's case in favor. — We're doing something revolutionary at The Nation: we're finally testing different paywall strategies. Sharing this is like dumping my purse on the table of a restaurant—it's a mixed bag of embarrassment and pride.

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Netflix exec: HBO would have many more customers if it sold online-only subscriptions — HBO has long said that it has no plans to sell subscriptions directly over the internet, but Netflix CFO David Wells suggested Wednesday at a Goldman Sachs conference that the cable channel should rethink that decision.

Discussion: Consumerist and WebProNews

Randall Palmer / Reuters:

Canadian regulators team up to watch telecoms pricing — (Reuters) - Two of Canada's top regulators said on Wednesday they would cooperate to ensure affordable prices for telecommunications and broadcasting services, a key platform of the federal government's telecommunications policy.

Discussion: ctvnews.ca

Simon Dumenco / AdAge:

Jeff Bezos: Are You Throwing a Party for Your Guests — or for Yourself? — Amazon CEO Talks with ABC News about The Washington Post and Customer-Centricity — Amazon founder-CEO Jeff Bezos has some new Kindles to sell — which, so far, have been well-received.

Discussion: Today, The Wrap and AllThingsD

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Branded and owned by GE, run by Atlantic Media Strategies, Ideas Lab is a test for brand journalism — Brock Meeks remembers a time when online journalism of any stripe made media types as wary and disgruntled as sponsored content makes them today. Meeks, a ten-year veteran of MSNBC …

Discussion: @niemanlab and Ideas Lab