Mediagazer: Beacon, an Online News Startup, Wants to Put a Face on Paywalls (Amanda Sperber/Motherboard)

8:35 AM ET, October 26, 2013

Top News:

DirecTV, Time Warner Cable Said to Consider Aereo-Type Services — DirecTV (DTV), Time Warner Cable (TWC) Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR), taking a page from Aereo Inc., are considering capturing free broadcast signals from TV networks to avoid paying billions of dollars …

Discussion: SlashGear, @pkafka, Los Angeles Times, Deadline.com, The Verge, Engadget and Business Insider

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter: Aereo Hit With Second Lawsuit in Utah

Capital New York:

Atlantic Wire to relaunch, with a new(-ish) name: The Wire — Atlantic Media is gearing up for a relaunch of its prodigious news aggregator, The Atlantic Wire, Capital has learned. — As part of the change, which is slated for sometime in November, the site will shed its titular association …

Discussion: @rubinafillion, @kelseyproud and @moorehn

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Is the economic power of star journalists growing or shrinking? Depends on the news organization. — Divorces can be such fun, especially media divorces. — This week, David Pogue and The New York Times split after 13 years. Last month, The Wall Street Journal couldn't renew their vows with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

As Europe erupts over spying, NSA chief says US must stop media — With General Alexander calling for NSA reporting to be halted, US and UK credibility as guardians of press freedom is crushed — The most under-discussed aspect of the NSA story has long been its international scope.

Discussion: @jadomian, @steveklabnik and @trevortimm

Amanda Sperber / Motherboard:

Beacon, an Online News Startup, Wants to Put a Face on Paywalls — Banners of author photos on Beacon's site highlight the publication's focus on individual journalists. — It's not subject to much debate that the journalism industry is still struggling with the Internet.

Elspeth Reeve / The Atlantic Wire:

Conservative Reporter Says Feds Took Her Files While Searching Her Home for Guns — Conservative investigative journalist Audrey Hudson says that her reporting notes were taken during a search of her home by the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland police.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Caller, RT and American Thinker

Agence France Presse:

Arrested Chinese reporter ‘confesses’ on state TV — Beijing (AFP) - A Chinese journalist arrested over a series of articles criticising a partly state-owned firm appeared on public television Saturday to apologise, with state media saying he admitted the articles were “unverified and false”.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, BBC and Sinosphere

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Comcast's latest bundle, Internet Plus, still requires you to pay for TV to receive HBO — Dear Internet: You Still Can't Get HBO Without Paying for Cable — Lots of people who read sites like this site love the idea of paying for HBO without paying for cable.

Discussion: Reuters, CNET, ThinkProgress and Variety

Publishers Weekly:

Kirshbaum to Leave Amazon Publishing — Amazon has confirmed to PW a story in Friday's Shelf Awareness that Larry Kirshbaum will step down as head of Amazon Publishing's general publishing program early next year. Amazon said Kirshbaum's last day will be January 17 and that he plans to return to agenting.

Discussion: CNET, Digital Book World, Media & Entertainment, GalleyCat, New York Times, Slate, AllThingsD, Businessweek, Bookseller news, GeekWire, Gigaom, @gigaom and @scalzi

Noah Rayman / TIME:

Pinterest Deal with Getty Helps ID Images Posted to the Site — Pinterest announced a deal Friday with stock photo agency Getty Images that will allow it to identify which of the agency's 80 million photos and illustrations are being used on the digital scrapbooking site.

Discussion: Mashable, CNET and The Verge

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Twitter Co-Founder Evan Williams' Blogging Platform Medium Opens Signups To All — Twitter co-founder Evan Williams has a new blogging platform called Medium, which has been a closed-signup affair since its introduction. Today, the platform sent out an email with the news that anyone can now sign in and start writing.

Discussion: The Next Web, Medium, VentureBeat, @panzer and WebProNews

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Hulu Hires Disney's Elaine Paul as CFO — Internet TV joint venture's current CFO, Tom Fuelling, will leave the company — Newly appointed Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins has made his first senior hire: Elaine Paul, previously head of strategy and business development at Disney …

Discussion: Hulu Blog, The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter