Mediagazer: Comcast Finishes FreeWheel Acquisition (Peter Kafka/Re/code)

6:30 PM ET, March 6, 2014

Top News:

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Newsweek relaunches in print Friday, tracks down Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto for cover story — Newsweek Relaunches in Print With Bitcoin Coup — Newsweek returns to newsstands Friday with a small press run (70,000), but it's hoping to make a big impact with its cover story …

Discussion: Gawker, Quartz, Forbes, The Wrap, New York Times, Paul McNamara's blog, FishbowlDC, Forbes, @newmanology, The Straits Times, VentureBeat, Softpedia News, @actualadvicebtc, Mediawire Daily, Business Insider, TechCrunch and Talking New Media

Kashmir Hill / Forbes:

The Outing of Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto Is Brilliant Journalism — In Newsweek, finance editor Leah McGrath Goodman claims to have outed the mysterious creator of the digital currency Bitcoin. The Japanese-American man lives in California and incredibly, is actually named Satoshi Nakamoto.

Discussion: Hollywood Life, The Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, @mattzeitlin, BuzzFeed, RT, Business Insider and @kashhill

Choire Sicha / The Awl:

Reddit Reeling From Brutal Dox Of Alleged Bitcoin Founder Satoshi Nakamoto — With Leah McGrath Goodman's identification of the founder of Bitcoin at Newsweek (not really a slam-dunk case? But, I'll take it, for now?), the greater Bitcoin-Internet is aghast. How dare this magazine expose this person?

Discussion: TechCrunch, Poynter, Business Insider, Gigaom, Capital New York, Businessweek, Business Insider, Latest News & Headlines, Wired, Forbes, @anildash, @fmanjoo, @kmmokai, @mims, @rustyk5, @djbentley, @obsoletedogma, New York Magazine, @adrianchen, Gawker and @rustyk5

Felix Gillette / Businessweek:
New Newsweek Taps Slovakian Paywall Gurus for an Ambitious Relaunch

Discussion: @bw

James Kirchick / The Daily Beast:

Exclusive: RT Anchor Liz Wahl Explains Why She Quit — Liz Wahl wasn't just disgusted by the Kremlin-funded TV network's handling of Ukraine, she says in an exclusive interview. RT's coverage of the entire world “made me feel sick.” — American journalist Liz Wahl just made Vladimir Putin's enemies list.

Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:
Russia's English-Language TV Channel: We're Biased and So Are You

Discussion: @nycjim

RT:
RT reacts to anchor Liz Wahl quitting on air

Discussion: CNN, TVNewser, Firedoglake, Erik Wemple, Refinery29, Mediaite, The Week, @paulszoldra, @zaidbenjamin, @sambonfante, The Huffington Post and Business Insider

Jim Puzzanghera / Los Angeles Times:

FCC to consider tougher rules for local TV stations — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler speaks during a House subcommittee hearing in Washington. (Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg / December 12, 2013) — WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission is set …

Discussion: Variety, Wall Street Journal and @jbflint

Todd Shields / Bloomberg:

Shared TV Stations Face Breakup Under U.S. FCC Proposal — Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. (SBGI), one of the largest U.S. television-station owners, would be forced to give up some properties it controls under a proposal by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, agency officials said.

Discussion: The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, Free Press, Associated Press, Reuters, TheHill, Bloomberg, NationalJournal.com, FTVLive and TVSpy

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Janine Gibson is named editor of Guardian.com in management shuffle — Guardian to Make Management Changes — The Guardian will make broad changes among its most senior editors this year, the newspaper said Thursday, announcing that Janine Gibson, the editor in chief of its operations in the United States will return to London.

Discussion: Poynter, @stuartmillar159, @choire, @janinegibson, @alanyuhas, @mathewi, @journalismnews, @vivian, @ggreenwald, @sullduggery, @mediaguardian, @moorehn, @arusbridger and @janinegibson

Callie Schweitzer / TIME:

Why Twitter Will Never Be a News Organization — Twitter's head of news Vivian Schiller spoke with TIME about Twitter, Facebook, news discovery and more in an exclusive first interview since she left NBC News and took on the role in January. A few key insights?

Discussion: @mikeisaac, @cschweitz, @niemanlab and @moorehn

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

Machinima to Lay Off 42 Employees in Sales Reorganization — Machinima will lay off 42 employees from its sales division, the company said Thursday. — The changes come as Machinima, one of the first massive networks of YouTube channels, is in a state of flux.

Discussion: AdAge, Variety and PandoDaily

Karl Taro Greenfeld / Businessweek:

The Next Ailes: Newsmax's Chris Ruddy Preps TV Rival to Fox News — Christopher Ruddy, 49, the chief executive officer and founder of conservative media company Newsmax Media, is giving a tour of his neighborhood in an Acura driven by his chauffeur, Hector. The car heads south on I-95 from West Palm Beach to Boca Raton.

Discussion: TVNewser, Radio & Television …, Mediaite, @brianstelter, Talking Points Memo, @mlcalderone, @jackshafer and @davidfolkenflik

Gemma Padley / British Journal of Photography:

Getty Images makes 35 million images free in fight against copyright infringement — Getty Images has single-handedly redefined the entire stock photography market with the launch of a new embedding feature that will make more than 35 million images freely available to anyone for non-commercial usage.

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks: I did not investigate phone hacking as NI chief executive — Court also hears Brooks never asked what private investigator Glenn Mulcaire had been doing when she was NoW editor — Rebekah Brooks has told the Old Bailey that she did not undertake any investigation …

Discussion: mUmBRELLA

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian: Rebekah Brooks denies ‘cooking the books’ to hide phone hacker's activities

BBC:

BBC One to get £30m from Three closure — BBC One drama is to receive a £30m boost from the closure BBC Three as a TV channel, director general Tony Hall has announced. — The service, which will be moved to the iPlayer in autumn 2015, will see its overall cost reduced from £85m to £25m.

Discussion: Guardian, Guardian, Daily Dot, NME, The Next Web, Metro.co.uk, thedrum.com, broadcastnow.co.uk, Gigaom, Home Media Magazine, Pocket-lint, @claire_phipps, @susancalman, @mr_dave_haslam and Guardian

Guardian:
BBC3 closure confirmed for autumn 2015

Discussion: Guardian, @fayebellinew and Guardian

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Comcast Finishes FreeWheel Acquisition — Comcast has wrapped up its deal to buy FreeWheel, the Web video ad-serving company. — The two companies signed their paperwork yesterday, and informed employees last night. The cable giant will end up paying $360 million for the seven-year-old startup, sources said.

Discussion: freewheel.tv, Business Insider, Radio & Television …, Variety, @pkafka, Broadcasting & Cable and Beet.TV

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Crimean ‘prime minister’ shuts down Ukrainian TV channel — The self-proclaimed prime minister of Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, today (6 March) shut down a Ukrainian TV channel and allowed the frequency to be taken by a Russian TV channel, Rossiya. — According to a press release emailed …

Discussion: Latest News & Headlines, kyivpost.com, Kirk LaPointe's … and Business Insider

Matt Petronzio / Mashable:

U.S. Adults Spend 11 Hours Per Day With Digital Media — Here's a stat we've heard over and over: 58% of American adults own smartphones. Pair that with the fact that digital culture permeates almost every aspect of our lives, and we can already assume the average person spends a lot of time with gadgets.

Discussion: Nielsen, PandoDaily, MediaPost, AllAccess.com, MediaPost and Broadcasting & Cable

Tom Grubisich / Street Fight:

New Patch Owner Hale Running Company in ‘Lean, Entrepreneurial Mode’ — After a tumultuous and mostly unprofitable three-and-a-half years under media giant Aol, hyperlocal publishing network Patch was acquired in January by Hale Global, a holding company that specializes in turnarounds, mostly with technology firms.

Discussion: AJR.org

Steven Waldman / Columbia Journalism Review:

Sometimes, contra Jeff Jarvis, philanthropy is the answer to journalism's problems — Sometimes, contra Jeff Jarvis, philanthropy is the answer to journalism's problems — Digital professor and provocateur Jeff Jarvis recently tweeted, “Every time a rich person gives to a nonprofit, a journalism startup loses its wings.”

Discussion: @stevenwaldman

Edward Wyatt / New York Times:

Top Federal Antitrust Official Will Not Weigh In on Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's lead antitrust official will not participate in the review of Comcast's proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable, the department said Thursday.

Discussion: @davidfolkenflik

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Spotify Acquires The Echo Nest, Gaining Control Of The Music DNA Company That Powers Its Rivals — Bosch And Hillcrest Make A Bet On Wearable Head-Mounted Computing With New All-In-One Sensor System — Spotify has acquired The Echo Nest, as revealed by an official blog post today.