Mediagazer: Can we save AM radio? (Trent Wolbe/The Verge)

9:25 AM ET, February 14, 2014

Top News:

Edward Wyatt / DealBook:

Industry Shifts May Aid Comcast in Takeover Bid — On the face of it, the merger of the country's two largest cable companies would seem like a nonstarter, given its steep regulatory hurdles and skepticism from consumer watchdogs. — But Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable comes …

Discussion: DealBook, @ericklinenberg, DealBook, Los Angeles Times and Mashable

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

Comcast deal could put NY1 in FiOS homes — Comcast's acquisition of Time Warner Cable could be a boon for NY1, TWC's beloved local cable news channel. — According to an open letter from Comcast executive V.P. David L. Cohen, cable channels owned by Time Warner Cable would be subject …

Discussion: Gigaom, @jkealing, @joshrobin, Variety, PandoDaily, Home Media Magazine, New York Magazine and Gothamist

Amy Schatz / Re/code:
Peering could replace net neutrality as one of the key issues in Comcast-Time Warner review

Discussion: @waltmossberg and Deadline.com

Dana Mattioli / Wall Street Journal:
Charter Likely to Pursue Other Acquisitions

Discussion: Capital New York, NY Daily News and MoneyBeat

Heidi Moore / Guardian:
The Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger is not a marriage made to last

Discussion: Fortune, Corporate Intelligence, @moorehn, @rwc356, AlterNet.org, @moorehn, MoneyBeat, Business Wire, Digits and Variety

Susan Crawford / Bloomberg:
Comcast's Time Warner Deal Is Bad for America

Discussion: Slate, Digiday, Mediaite, TVNewser, DealBook, Guardian, ReadWrite, Wired, @themightychris, @scottros, @dankennedy_nu, @stevenlevy, @stevenlevy, @harvard_law, Mashable, The New York Observer, BuzzFeed, @froomkin, Consumerist, @agolis, Los Angeles Times, @kpkelleher, Gigaom, The Verge and Gawker

Lee Fang / Republic Report:
Revolving Door: Top Obama Admin Antitrust Officials Tied To Comcast

Discussion: The Switch, @lhfang, Politico, AdExchanger, Fortune, Ars Technica and Gigaom

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Local stations ‘have reason to sweat’ over Comcast-Time Warner deal

Discussion: Gigaom, AdAge, Comcast Voices Blog, USA Today, bizjournals, Businessweek, BusinessJournalism.org … and The Newspaper Guild

Lance Ulanoff / Mashable: The National Domination of Comcast and Time Warner in 1 Map

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

The Guardian's Unusual Take on Native Ads — The Guardian is jumping on the native ad trend—but, in character for the British newspaper, it's doing so in its own way. Today it announced the first client, Unilever, of Guardian Labs, its in-house branded content unit.

Discussion: GNM press office, MediaPost, Flashes & Flames, InPublishing, thedrum.com and The Dish

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
The Guardian signs seven-figure deal to build on ‘shared values’ and provide branded content for Unilever

Discussion: @jerometaylor, The Dish, @tweetsintheme, Guardian, @whatthebit, @niemanlab, @raju and @loismcewan

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Piers Morgan was questioned by Scotland Yard's hacking squad — Former Daily Mirror editor confirms he was interviewed by officers from Operation Weeting in December — Piers Morgan, the CNN presenter who used to edit the Daily Mirror, has been interviewed under caution by Scotland Yard detectives investigating phone-hacking.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, BBC, @williamsjon, @drevanharris, @jonronson and @arse2mouse

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Guardian Media Group takes 15% stake in digital training company — Decoded, based in London's Silicon Roundabout, has trained more than 7,000 people to ‘Code in a Day’ — The parent company of the Guardian has taken a minority stake in Decoded, the London-based digital training company …

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Maxim owners grow desperate as latest deal collapses — The troubled auction to sell Maxim is back on. — The owners of Alpha Media and Maxim magazine had already dropped Darden Media Group as a potential buyer even before the arrest Wednesday of convicted stock swindler Calvin Darden Jr …

Adam Samson / Fox Business:
Man Charged in Scheme to Fraudulently Buy Maxim Magazine

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:

Twitter Photos Blocked In Venezuela, Users Say — A social media crackdown as protests threaten the government. — WASHINGTON — Twitter photos and videos appear to be blocked in Venezuela as the government there attempts to reassert control amid widespread public protests.

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, Softpedia News, The Next Web, @romustgo and BBC

Eric J. Smith / NetNewsCheck:

McClatchy Print Slide Offset By Digital Gains — While ad revenue continued to slide during McClatchy Co.'s fourth quarter, the company said its print declines were partially offset by 2.2% growth in direct marketing and total digital advertising. — The McClatchy Co. today reported total …

Discussion: MediaPost, Poynter, The State, bizjournals, PR Newswire, Talking New Media, RTTNews and Merced Sun-Star & …

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Wall Street Journal:

Pandora to let advertisers target listeners based on its sense of their political leanings — Internet Radio Service Builds Profiles of Its Audience — Pandora Hopes to Build Ad Revenue by Pinpointing Likely Voting Preferences — Next time you listen to a Bob Marley channel on Pandora Media Inc. …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, @reformedbroker, @wsjpersonaltech, @zeynep, @peteskomoroch, @a_grossman and @cschweitz

Trent Wolbe / The Verge:

Can we save AM radio? — Keeping amplitude modulation out of the dustbin of history — Before Facebook, before the internet, before cellphones and TV and even FM radio, there was AM radio. Entire families would gather around elaborate refrigerator-sized receivers and bask in the warm glow …

Katy Bachman / Adweek:
FCC Backs Off Study of Newsroom Editorial Practices

Discussion: NationalJournal.com and Wall Street Journal

Anna Prior / Wall Street Journal:

Liberty Global's Loss Narrows — Revenue Up on Gains From Virgin Media Acquisition — Liberty Global PLC's fourth-quarter loss narrowed as revenue improved amid gains from its Virgin Media acquisition. — Liberty Global, led by media mogul John Malone, has pursued an aggressive global expansion, focusing on Europe.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Business Wire, Hollywood Reporter and Digital TV Europe

Peter Travers / Rolling Stone:

De La Soul to Make Entire Catalog Available for Free — Pioneering hip-hop group also releasing flood of new music — In honor of next month's 25th anniversary of their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul are making their entire catalog available for free download for 25 hours on the group's website.

Discussion: BetaNews, The Verge, Pocket-lint, The Next Web, Gizmodo, All, Engadget and NME

Michael J. Copps / Columbia Journalism Review:

Journalists need to generate a national discussion on the future of the internet — Journalists need to generate a national discussion on the future of the internet — Dear Journalists: — You may wonder why a long-time regulator like me is writing to you.

Discussion: @edwardericsonjr, @cjr, @mparekh and Boing Boing

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Virgin Media falls behind as rivals BT and BSkyb sign up more customers — Cable TV and telecoms operator added 18,600 pay-TV customers in final quarter of 2013, but cancellations fell 1.17% — Virgin Media is feeling the pinch from the pay-TV war between BSkyB and BT …

Discussion: Compare Mobile Phones …, broadcastnow.co.uk and London News

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

Ready to break the internet? Netflix's “House of Cards” premiere is a big test of how video gets to you — “My wife and I like to lay in bed and watch Netflix,” Tom Wheeler, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission, said the other day. But when their internet connection slows down …

Discussion: Techdirt, @jmcduling, @pkafka, Digits and Engadget

Rodney E. Lever / Independent Australia:

The Murdoch trials and the Australian media airbrush — The mainstream media in Australia has given little attention to the Murdoch trials in London. Rodney E Lever says this is an astonishing abuse of power. — What is now usually referred to in British media as “the hacking trials” …

Discussion: @colskinner