Mediagazer: Why Hulu Doesn't Have an Ad-Free Service Like Netflix

3:40 PM 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: Knight Foundation, Nieman Journalism Lab, @jimmacmillan, @noirinhegarty, @steve_katz, Kirk LaPointe's … and Big News Network.com

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
Nonprofit journalism sites are proving to be healthy but slow to scale

Discussion: @rsm and Investigative News Network

Erik Wemple:

Wall Street Journal attacks CNN's Rouhani translation; CNN fires back — First, the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars claimed that CNN had “fabricated” key parts of the translation of a news-making interview by Christiane Amanpour with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Discussion: Politico, Amanpour, @erikwemple, @saramorrison, @camanpour and Business Insider

Adam Taylor / Business Insider:
Iranian News Agency Accuses CNN Of Fabricating Translation In Which President Rouhani Acknowledged The Holocaust

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

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

USA Today president: ‘No plan exists’ for paywall — USA Today President and Publisher Larry Kramer said at a panel in New York that the paper is “exploring” a paywall, Keith J. Kelly reports. Reached by email, Kramer told Poynter, “No plan exists. We're studying it.”

Discussion: New York Post, Journalism.co.uk, FishbowlNY, Gannett Blog and The Wrap

Steve Ladurantaye / Globe and Mail:

Rogers to launch ‘Netflix for magazines’ with digital bundle subscriptions — Rogers Media is taking a lesson from its parent company's cable division, as it bundles all of its magazines into a single digital monthly subscription package that will also include dozens of American titles such as Rolling Stone and The New Yorker.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Toronto Star, @sarahboesveld, @sladurantaye, Financial Post and Mashable

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Why Hulu Doesn't Have an Ad-Free Service Like Netflix — Yet — Acting CEO Andy Forssell says company will spend $750 million infusion from Disney, Fox and NBC on content and marketing — Hulu at some point expects to introduce a subscription video plan without any advertising — and compete more aggressively with Netflix.

Discussion: GigaOM, Consumerist and @brianstelter

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, @ezralevant, @jbenton, @ejanearmstrong, @bgrueskin, @jayrosen_nyu, @oppoguy, @jaredbkeller and Talking Biz News

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Pulitzer Prize Board wants more entries in editorial writing, especially from online news sites — That's according to this open letter to news organizations from Paul Tash, the board's chair and chief executive of the Tampa Bay Times: … Tash notes that the field wasn't particularly crowded last year …

Discussion: @michaelroston

Robinson Meyer / The Atlantic:

Your Story Is Ready: Medium Experiments With the Homepage of the Future — Three things to know as Medium enters the recommendation game — The web is vast and full of text. What should you read? — The Internet's history resides in this question, a little. Google News trusts in what its algorithms turn up.

Discussion: Medium, @yayitsrob and @megangarber

Nate Hoffelder / The Digital Reader:

Amazon Slayed a Negative 77 Indie Bookstores in 2012 — In certain circles Amazon enjoys a reputation as a slayer of all that is right and good and true. It doesn't matter whether the topic is publishing, bookstores, or literature, Amazon is responsible for its imminent death.

Discussion: qz.com, TechCrunch, dallasmorningviewsblog …, @janefriedman, The Daily Beast and Boing Boing

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Traveler’ layoffs reach 17 as Conde Nast travel title adopts a softer focus — Fourteen Condé Nast Traveler employees were laid off yesterday, bringing the total number of staffers cut under new editor-in-chief Pilar Guzman to 17, a source familiar with the matter total Capital.

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Post, FishbowlNY and @joepompeo

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.

Discussion: @niemanlab

Sam Thielman / Adweek:

The Web Is a Lab for Marketable TV Content, and Vice Versa — 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, but content is a different animal altogether.

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

The making of the ‘New York Times’ documentary about Christine Quinn — On the afternoon of Tuesday, March 12, Council Speaker Christine Quinn and her top political strategist, Josh Isay, had lunch with three journalists from The New York Times at Plein Sud, the airy French brasserie …

Mariella Moon / Engadget:

Google Play Books lands in eight Asian countries, New Zealand — Turns out Google Play Books' arrival in India was merely the beginning of its burgeoning love affair with Asia. From the land of the Taj Mahal, it has made its way to eight new locations in the region: folks living in Singapore …

Discussion: Android Police, Android Community, Ubergizmo, ZDNet, The Next Web, Mashable and Electronista

Gavriel Hollander / Press Gazette:

Nearly twice as many tune in to TV for news than read newspapers, with BBC rated most important source — More people still turn to television as their primary news source than any other platform, according to a new report from media watchdog Ofcom. — The survey of nearly 3,000 adults …

Discussion: @tnewtondunn, @ohwinsagain, @gregbeales and Guardian