Top News:
Bloomberg:
Comcast weighs spinning off 3M subscribers into a new company after TWC deal — Comcast Said to Weigh Subscriber Spinoff After Time Warner Deal — Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) is weighing options for how to divest about 3 million cable subscribers as part of a takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc. …
Discussion:
Deadline.com
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Liana B. Baker / Reuters:
Liberty Media says Charter would look at buying Comcast divestitures
Liberty Media says Charter would look at buying Comcast divestitures
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, Deadline.com, Business Wire, Wall Street Journal, Fox Business and Hollywood Reporter
Mark Ames / PandoDaily:
Pierre Omidyar co-funded Ukraine revolution groups with US government, documents show — Just hours after last weekend's ouster of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, one of Pierre Omidyar's newest hires at national security blog “The Intercept,” was already digging for the truth.
Discussion:
@philgreaves01, @jaredbkeller, @mathewi, @espiers, @mathewi, @jeffjarvis, @howardweaver, @mattyglesias, @timothys, @mathewi, @jason_pontin, @davewiner, @mathewi, @clarajeffery, @billmon1, @jilliancyork, @mathewi, @jayrosen_nyu, @emptywheel, @evgenymorozov, @howardweaver, @coopeydoop, @peterkmurphy, @op_israel, @sanfranciscoba, @colmorrisdavis, @markamesexiled, Omidyar Network, @kbandersen, @espiers, @mmasnick, @jason_pontin and The Raw Story
Jim Romenesko:
Report: Tampa Bay Times to cut 10% of newsroom staff, copy desk to be hit hard — A SportsJournalists.com commenter says he's been told that the Tampa Bay Times newsroom will shrink by 10%, and that the copy desk will be hit the hardest. “In addition, the regional sections will be published …
Discussion:
TBO.com, @flpressclub and @gmarkham
Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:
Why the rise of sites devoted to explanatory journalism is a trend worth celebrating — Everyone complains about the weather but no one does anything about it, a famous curmudgeon once said. The same criticism could have been made — until recently at least — about the media's relentless focus …
Dean Starkman / Columbia Journalism Review:
A new consensus on the future of news — The future isn't what it used to be, and that's a good thing — Just a couple of years ago, although it feels like a lot longer, the media world was embroiled in something like a gigantic family argument over the idea of whether it was good idea to charge readers for news online.
Discussion:
@mterenzio, @myersnews, @jayrosen_nyu, @davewiner and @mathewi
Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:
Traders turn to Twitter for market news. Now they can measure mood, too — Financial firms once blocked Twitter to prevent employees leaking sensitive information. It worked, but there was a problem: reporters and companies were using Twitter to reveal important news, leaving traders to rely on second-hand accounts.
Billboard:
Apple Presses Labels For More 'Beyonce'-Type Exclusives In Wake of Downloads' Slide — Apple Inc.'s music chief Robert Kondrk has been pressuring major labels for releases similar to last year's Beyonce exclusive, excluding services like YouTube and Spotify to help shore up slowing download sales …
Discussion:
Gigaom and @jherskowitz
Michael Sebastian / AdAge:
A&E Networks and Say Media Team Up to Continue Biography.com — A&E Networks and Say Media Team Up to Continue Biography.com — How to Make Credible Green Marketing Claims — A&E Networks is killing off the Bio Channel this summer to install the new FYI Network, but it's not killing off the Bio website.
Discussion:
Adweek and @msebastian
Michael Sebastian / AdAge:
Maxim Magazine Sold to Restaurant Holding Company — Biglari Holdings Bought the Trouble Men's Title … Here's hoping this deal is real: Alpha Media Group has sold Maxim magazine to a subsidiary of Bilgari Holdings, a holding company that specializes in owning restaurants such as Steak 'n Shake, the companies said Thursday.
Discussion:
@davidpoland and MinOnline
Karen Fratti / 10,000 Words:
Contextly, Woopie, Beatroot present at demo day for second class at media accelerator Matter — Digital Publishing Gets A Little Smarter (and Better Looking) With Matter's 2nd Round of Startups — This week, Matter's second round of start-ups took over New York City for a demo day at WNYC's Greene Space.
Discussion:
FishbowlNY and FishbowlDC
Michael Holden / Reuters:
Ex-Murdoch British CEO Brooks paid official for Saddam anthrax story — (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks, the ex-chief executive of News Corp.'s British newspaper arm, told a London court on Friday she had paid a public official for a story about former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein planning to attack Britain with the poison anthrax.
Discussion:
BBC, The Evening Telegraph and The Drum
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Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Rebekah Brooks ‘embarrassed’ at not buying MPs' expenses scoop
Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
'Gawker Is Snarkier Than I'd Like': Outtakes From My Playboy Interview With Nick Denton — Eight thousand words sounds awfully long for a Q&A, but for someone with as much to say as Nick Denton, it's really only the beginning. — My hours of interviews with the Gawker Media founder …
Discussion:
@jeffbercovici
Peter Elkind / Fortune:
Employees at Bloomberg LP are attempting to unionize — Exclusive: If a drive to organize at the data-and-media giant is successful, it would be a first for the former New York mayor's company. — FORTUNE — Fearful of layoffs and unhappy with work conditions, employees at a unit of Bloomberg LP …
Discussion:
@jtotoole
Brooks Boliek / Politico:
FCC dumps controversial media study — The Federal Communications Commission is pulling the plug on a controversial survey of TV newsroom activities that sparked a firestorm of criticism from Republicans. — “The FCC will not move forward with the Critical Information Needs study,” an FCC spokesman said Friday.
Discussion:
Variety, Adweek, Bloomberg, @gnagesh, Wall Street Journal, @marshablackburn and The Hill
Emma Bazilian / Adweek:
TheWeek.com Launches ‘Speed Reads’ Vertical — In the past couple of years, the “longread” has been one of the most popular buzzwords among online publications, with outlets from BuzzFeed to The Atlantic touting investments in more deep-dive, longform journalism.
Discussion:
theweek.com
Darren Boyle / Press Gazette:
FT Group boosts profits to £55 million as business daily's digital subs rise to 415,000 — The FT Group made a profit of £55 million last year despite plunging print circulation figures for the FT according to results reported this morning. — Profit was said to be up 17 per cent year on year, on an underlying basis.
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review and Guardian
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Kristen Schweizer / Bloomberg:
Pearson Plunges as Earnings Drop on Education in North America
Pearson Plunges as Earnings Drop on Education in North America
Discussion:
City A.M., Wall Street Journal, RTTNews, Life Style Extra, London News, Reuters, Financial Times, Bookseller news and @tcarmody