Mediagazer: Viacom & Time Warner Cable Reach New Carriage Deal; Adds EPIX To Lineup (Deadline.com)

3:05 PM ET, December 24, 2013

Top News:

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission's accomplished — MOSCOW — The familiar voice on the hotel room phone did not waste words. — “What time does your clock say, exactly?” he asked. — He checked the reply against his watch and described a place to meet.

Discussion: Guardian, Forbes, Mediaite, Techdirt, @katrinanation, @princeton, @rj_gallagher, Business Insider, @dhh, @kevin2kelly, @pierre, @bruce_arthur, WJLA-TV, DCist, Mashable, WorldViews, Hit & Run, The Wire, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, The Switch, @marklittlenews, @arusbridger, @csoghoian, @alexisgoldstein, @occupywallstnyc, @frankpasquale, @kgosztola, Capital New York, @jesselynradack, @glinner, National Updates, @petersgoodman, @a_greenberg, VatorNews, The Week, Boing Boing, @joshuahersh, @shaunwalker7, BBC, @ggreenwald, @edbuscaglia, @tedeschini, @rsingel, The Raw Story, @tinyrevolution, @newsbreaker, @codinghorror, Gawker, The Verge, @jayrosen_nyu, Digits, @carwinb, The Next Web, @elanazak, @washingtonpost, @bartongellman, @washingtonpost, @bartongellman, VentureBeat, TIME, Engadget and BillMoyers.com

Peter Walker / Guardian:

Edward Snowden to broadcast Channel 4's alternative Christmas Day message — NSA whistleblower records message from Russia, filmed by Laura Poitras, warning of the dangers of a loss of privacy — Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who prompted a worldwide debate when he leaked a cache …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Huffington Post, @janinegibson, @ggreenwald, @philosophybites, Talking Points Memo, @youranonnews, @mehdirhasan, @matthewwells and Boing Boing

Peter Sterne / Capital New York:

Gawker lease foiled by potential building-mates — Gawker was close to signing a lease on a new office until other tenants in the building objected, Capital has learned. — Some of the tenants in the building were tech start-ups who apparently feared that Gawker reporters would overhear …

Discussion: @petersterne

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Time.com relaunch delayed until New Year — Time.com delay — Time magazine's web relaunch, initially slated for 2013, has been pushed back into the New Year. — Capital has learned that January is the latest target for the highly anticipated revamp of time.com, which has been in the works for much of the past 10 months.

Discussion: @jeffjarvis

Dan Amira / New York Magazine:

How the Media Would Have Covered the Birth of Jesus — Tomorrow, billions of people across the world will commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ 2000-ish years ago. The arrival of the messiah would have been a huge media event at the time had there actually been any media aside from the guy …

Discussion: @keligoff, @danamira and Mother Jones

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Insight: AOL banks on HuffPost to turn profitable next year — (Reuters) - It's the holiday season and Arianna Huffington, the influential woman behind the popular news website that bears her name, is busy buying sweaters - some 700 of them - as gifts to her employees.

Discussion: @skidder, @kirabind, @joepompeo and Capital New York

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:
Is Tim Armstrong the Lazarus of Aol.?

Discussion: @bmorrissey

Yasir Ghazi / New York Times:

As Violence Rises, Journalists in Iraq Face Renewed Risks — BAGHDAD — Journalists have not escaped the recent surge of violence in Iraq, and several have been shot dead at close range. On Monday, militants took a more fearsome approach: a sustained assault involving five suicide bombers …

Discussion: Poynter, @davidwearing and The Newspaper Guild

Al Jazeera America:
Gunmen kill five journalists in raid on Iraq TV station

Discussion: @mlcalderone, presstv.ir, english.ahram.org.eg, Khaleej Times, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Times of India, Associated Press and Committee to Protect …

Deadline.com:

Viacom & Time Warner Cable Reach New Carriage Deal; Adds EPIX To Lineup — With mere days to go before their latest deal expired, Time Warner Cable and Viacom announced a new carriage agreement today. Among keeping the channels on for New Year's, the near last minute deal adds premiere cabler EPIX to the lineup for the first time.

Discussion: New York Times, MarketWatch, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times and @brianstelter

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

BSkyB Invests $350,000 In Early-Stage Immersive Video Startup Jaunt — British Sky Broadcasting Group (called BSkyB) has made a $350,000 investment in Jaunt, an early-stage startup that captures and displays 360 degree video content. BSkyB said that the new partnership will give it …

Discussion: Telegraph, Life Style Extra and The Drum

Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:

Disney Adds to Board, Pares Iger's Bonus — Walt Disney Co. said it was adding Twitter Inc. co-founder Jack Dorsey to its board. The entertainment company also reported that compensation for its chief executive, Robert Iger, fell 15% to $34.3 million in its latest fiscal year.

Discussion: New York Times and Los Angeles Times

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:
Twitter Cofounder Jack Dorsey Is Joining Disney's Board

Discussion: @jack, Business Wire, TechCrunch, Gigaom, @jyarow, @princebhojwani, AllThingsD, VatorNews, The Next Web, Quartz, Forbes, Fortune, Digits, ABC News, Hollywood Reporter, The Verge and Variety

Reuters:

China To Media: Don't Report ‘Wrong Points Of View’ — BEIJING, Dec 23 (Reuters) - China's ruling Communist Party told the already tightly monitored state media on Monday that they should not be reporting on “wrong points of view” and instead cover positive stories that promote “socialist values”.

Discussion: Mediaite

Lizzy Davies / Guardian:

Vatican journalist with front pew view of momentous year for papacy — Giovanna Chirri expected a Vatican meeting in February to be a dry affair, then Pope Benedict said meas ingravescente aetate — When Giovanna Chirri, seasoned Vatican correspondent for the Italian news agency Ansa …

Discussion: @guardianworld and @joshhalliday