Mediagazer: In the latest battle to profit from control of the internet, the consumer is stuck in the middle (Stacey Higginbotham/Gigaom)

8:30 AM ET, January 25, 2014

Top News:

Shalini Ramachandran / Wall Street Journal:

As part of Time Warner Cable deal, Charter CEO tentatively offers up NY systems to Comcast — Charter CEO Signals Openness in Push For A Time Warner Cable Deal — Cable Operator Willing To Give Up New York-Area Systems to Rival Comcast, Sources Say — Charter Communications Inc. might …

Discussion: @shaliniwsj

Reuters: Charter hires firm to ready Time Warner Cable proxy fight-sources

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Jury finds Courtney Love not liable in landmark Twitter defamation case — Courtney Love Wins Twitter Defamation Trial — After eight days of testimony, the singer prevails in a trailblazing case. — Courtney Love — On Friday, a California jury decided that Courtney Love …

Discussion: SPIN, @eriqgardner, NBCNews, Poynter, Business Insider, Twitchy and Kirk LaPointe's …

Wendy Davis / MediaPost:

Court Delays FilmOn X Appeal, Leaves Ban In Place — Streaming television service FilmOn X suffered another setback in court this week, when an appellate panel said it won't rule on the company's request to lift an injunction against it until after the Supreme Court decides whether Aereo is legal.

Stacey Higginbotham / Gigaom:

In the latest battle to profit from control of the internet, the consumer is stuck in the middle — On a message board under a thread titled, “Is Comcast blocking Netflix,” customers of the nation's largest ISP are complaining about the poor quality of Netflix streaming during evening hours and wondering what's going on.

Discussion: Bright Side Of News* and The Verge

Tamara Baluja / J-Source:

How well are Canadian newspapers doing with paywalls, tablets? — Are paywalls the gamble that will save the newspaper industry? Is a free tablet app the way to go? It's too early to know what works as an online strategy, but we did get a glimpse into how some newspapers have been faring …

Discussion: @dailynewshack and @byjameskeller

Howard Stutz / Las Vegas Review-Journal:

New weekly newspaper planned for Las Vegas — The much-rumored launch of a free weekly publication that eventually could replace the Las Vegas Sun was announced Thursday by Greenspun Media Group. — The Sunday will be distributed at 1,500 locations around Las Vegas starting Feb. 9.

Discussion: Las Vegas Sun News and Associated Press

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

The ‘Hoax Economy’ gives way to a new breed of fact checking. — The ‘Hoax Economy’ gives way to a new breed of fact checking. — There's a new genre of headline taking over the internet. It's got a simple message: don't believe that headline. — If you've been watching Twitter …

John Eggerton / Broadcasting & Cable:

FTC Seeks Comment On Nielsen Spin-Off of LinkMeter to comScore — Divestiture was part of deal with government to allow it to buy Arbitron — The Federal Trade Commission wants to hear from the public on Nielsen's proposal to sell its LinkMeter technology to comScore.

Discussion: TheHill

Robinson Meyer / The Atlantic Online:

Get Rid of ‘Viral’ Headlines With This One Weird Browser Extension — From “incredible” to “painfully ordinary” — The Upworthy headlines will find you. In tweets, in emails, in wall posts from well-meaning family: Viral Headline English, with its blithe incredulity, will hunt you down …

Discussion: @1uigi, @jonggordon, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Daily Dot, ANIMAL, AdAge and Boing Boing

John Cook / Gawker:

Fox News' Favorite Investigator Was Paid to Smear Murdoch's Wife — Here's a story. On the afternoon of Friday, November 21, 2008, an email bearing the subject header “confidential information” turned up in Gawker's tips inbox. The sender's email address was “harveydent701@yahoo.com,” a dummy account.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, New York Magazine and @johnjcook

Al Jazeera English:

McCain condemns detention of Al Jazeera staff — US Senator John McCain says Egypt's imprisonment of Al Jazeera journalists violates human rights and press freedom. — US Senator John McCain has condemned the imprisonment of five Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt, calling their detention …

Discussion: Poynter, Guardian and ABC

Robert Mackey / The Lede:

Egyptian Filmmaker Who Mocks Authorities on YouTube Detained Amid Widening Crackdown in Cairo — The sense that Egypt's revolution has come full circle, with the security state shaken by protests that started three years ago this week finally reasserting itself, intensified on Friday …

Discussion: @3arabawy, @maitelsadany, Guardian and New York Times

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

21st Century Fox to Acquire Majority Stake in Yankees Cable Network — UPDATED: The media giant will now own 80 percent of YES, buying out Goldman Sachs and NJ Holdings, leaving the remainder to Yankee Global Enterprises. — YES Network will soon be officially under the 21st Century Fox umbrella.

Discussion: Variety

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

NBC ‘confident’ with Russian security measures for Sochi Olympics — NBC executives said Thursday that they are comfortable with security efforts for the Winter Olympics. Above, a Russian police officer searches a driver as his vehicle is also screened at an entrance to the Sochi 2014 …

Discussion: The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, The Huffington Post and Inside TV