Mediagazer: Sinclair Broadcast Group leads the wave of runaway consolidation (Baltimore Sun)

11:40 AM ET, November 7, 2013

Top News:

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

THE COST OF WINNING: Tim Armstrong, Patch, And The Struggle To Save AOL — On an overcast Friday afternoon last August, a hundred or so employees of AOL's local news subsidiary, Patch, crammed into a cafeteria at the company's headquarters in Manhattan. Another several hundred connected to the room via conference call.

Discussion: @nichcarlson, @ivanthek, @rgpelayo, @thestalwart and @tomkrazit

DISH Network:

Blockbuster to End Domestic Retail, DVD By Mail Services — Blockbuster to close remaining U.S. company-owned stores, DVD By Mail services by early-January 2014 Franchised and licensed stores in the U.S. and abroad to remain open for business ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—(BUSINESS WIRE) …

Discussion: Bloomberg, HBR.org, Businessweek, FilmDrunk, VatorNews, Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch, Online NewsHour, Corporate Intelligence, Forbes, bizjournals, /Film, Betabeat, Broadcasting & Cable, Business Insider and @adamthierer

Brian Stelter / New York Times:
Internet Kills the Video Store

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Bloomberg, @daniel_jacobson, @mrbradchase, TeleRead, @adater, @johncfierce and @kevinselle

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

YouTube aims to tame the trolls with changes to its comments section — Changes mean video creators will have more power to moderate comments, while making best conversations more prominent for viewers — The comments section below YouTube videos is an infamously troll-ridden Wild West of abuse, ignorance and spam.

Discussion: Digital Spy, YouTube Blog, @laurahiggins_, toptechnews.com, CNET, WebProNews and TechCrunch

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

CNN on spending spree to rebuild channel; Zucker gets ‘multi-year’ runway to growth — CNN is planning a substantial investment in new programming, with a heavy emphasis on acquiring unscripted shows by outside producers in the vein of “Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown” and films like “Blackfish.”

Discussion: B&C

Rem Rieder / USA Today:

Rieder: ‘Business Insider’ goes long on journalism — Quirky website Business Insider plans a foray into the time-consuming but rewarding art. — CONNECT — One of the most intriguing aspects of the evolution of digital journalism is watching sites that spend much of their energy chasing …

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Rand Paul moves to Breitbart — Just one day after The Washington Times ended Sen. Rand Paul's column over plagiarism charges, the Kentucky Republican's musings have found a new home at Breitbart.com. — With no mention of the plagiarism controversy currently surrounding the senator …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week and The Raw Story

Politico:
Rand Paul meets with Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes

Discussion: The Week, @tommcilroy and CNN

Ben Fox Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

Scripps Networks Profit Rises 8.9% on Higher Ad Revenue — The media company's ad and affiliate fees revenue continued to improve. — Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. 's third-quarter profit grew 8.9% as the media company's ad and affiliate fees revenue continued to improve.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Associated Press, Variety and NASDAQ.com

Jeremy Hodges / Bloomberg:

Police Found Blunkett Voicemails in News Corp. Lawyer's Safe — Recordings of voice mails left by former Home Secretary David Blunkett on the phone of a woman he was having an affair with were discovered in the safe of News Corp. (NWSA)'s U.K. lawyer. — Police found the tapes and a draft News …

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Twitter Flies On Its First Day As A Public Company: Shares Pop 74% On First Trades, Debuts At $45.10 And $31.8B Valuation — From a humble beginning as a failing podcast startup to an online conversation service now used by over 230 million people worldwide, Twitter today started …

Discussion: VentureBeat, AllThingsD, Electronista and The Next Web

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Tweet 16: News Outlets' Twitter Tone Skews Young — OMG!!! Why do big media companies sound like teenagers on Twitter — “OMG @OneDirection's new song leaked!” might sound like something a giddy tween would tweet, but it was actually tweeted by the Daily News's official account.

Discussion: @petersterne and ZDNet

Biz Carson / Wired:

Uncensored Instagrams From North Korea Buck Brutal Trend of Secrecy — WIRED.com © 2013 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this Site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 3/21/12) and Privacy Policy (effective 3/21/12). Your California Privacy Rights.

Discussion: TheAustralian

John Plunkett / Guardian:

BBC's loss-making Lonely Planet deal under fire — Trust criticises BBC Worldwide over acquisition and later sale of travel guide business resulting in £80m deficit — The BBC Trust has published a highly critical report of the corporation's loss-making purchase of Lonely Planet …

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

Earnings: CBS Meets Q3 Expectations After Time Warner Cable Fight — CBS Corp. emerged from its third-quarter fight with Time Warner Cable matching Wall Street's earnings expectations. — CBS CEO Les Moonves told investors in a conference call that the success reflected the network's emphasis on content.

Discussion: Radio & Television …, Variety, Wall Street Journal, @samgustin, @emilysteel, Capital New York, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, Deadline.com, PR Newswire and @jboorstin

Baltimore Sun:

Sinclair Broadcast Group leads the wave of runaway consolidation — Sinclair Broadcast Group leads the wave of runaway consolidation — So far this year, 223 local TV stations have changed hands. This is the biggest wave of media consolidation ever — and it's all happening in small …

Discussion: TVSpy and The Newspaper Guild

Alex Ben Block / Hollywood Reporter:

Cable Vets Tout New Anti-Piracy Chip (Exclusive) — Beyond Broadband Technology, founded by four industry insiders, has a patent for a password-free system without the need for third party validation and without paying royalties to big companies. — Beyond Broadband Technology …

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:

Tim Berners-Lee: encryption cracking by spy agencies ‘appalling and foolish’ — Inventor of world wide web calls for debate about ‘dysfunctional and unaccountable’ oversight of NSA and GCHQ — Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the computer scientist who created the world wide web, has called for a …

Discussion: CNET, NBCNews, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, @michaelwhite, BBC, @guardian, National Updates, @avilarenata, Salon, Softpedia News and @genn4dy

New York Times:

Killing of French Journalists Reverberates in France and Mali — PARIS — Diplomats, journalists and humanitarian workers gathered in Paris on Wednesday to mourn the brutal killing of two seasoned French journalists by insurgents in Mali, an episode that has raised questions about France's plans …

Erik Wemple:

The Philadelphia Inquirer is melting down — The brawl over the Philadelphia Inquirer isn't good for the Philadelphia Inquirer. It is, however, an amazing story, one that just got a touch more contentious this afternoon. — Bill Ross, the outspoken executive director of Philadelphia's Newspaper Guild …

Discussion: Philly.com

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Internet Archive Seeking Donations To Rebuild Its Fire-Damaged Scanning Center — The non-profit Internet Archive suffered a major setback this morning when a fire broke out at its San Francisco office, causing an estimated $600,000 in damages. Fortunately there were no injuries and no data was lost …

Discussion: Internet Archive Blogs, SF Appeal, Gizmodo, The Verge, Engadget and VentureBeat

Paul Bibby / Sydney Morning Herald:

2Day FM faces tough penalties after losing court battle over royal prank call — Radio station 2Day FM has failed in an attempt to stymie an investigation by the communications watchdog into the royal prank call incident. — The decision paves the way for a finding that the station broke …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, TheAustralian, HeraldSun and mUmBRELLA

David Lieberman / Deadline.com:

Jeff Bewkes: HBO's Streaming Deal With Comcast Won't Promote Cord Cutting — Time Warner startled a lot of people recently when it allowed the No. 1 cable operator to include HBO Go in a new $40 a month broadband service. Wouldn't some consumers cancel their pay TV service if they found …

Discussion: The Verge, The Wrap and Gigaom