Mediagazer: Media Industry Worries About Comcast-TWC (Wall Street Journal)

9:45 PM ET, March 11, 2014

Top News:

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:

CNN ex-president Jon Klein talks about TAPP, the new online network he's starting with Jeff Gaspin — Jon Klein on His New Online Venture: 'We've Created the Company That I Feared Would Come Along' — Former CNN President Jon Klein and former NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Gaspin announced …

Discussion: Bloomberg

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

CNN, NBCU Alums Jon Klein, Jeff Gaspin Team Up for Online Video Venture — Sarah Palin reportedly target by firm for channel akin to Glenn Beck's TheBlaze — Two of the biggest names sitting on the sidelines in the media business are teaming up for a new online video venture.

Discussion: TVNewser and The Wrap

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Disney TV Shakeup: Anne Sweeney Leaving to Pursue Directing Career — Disney's longtime TV chief Anne Sweeney will leave her post in January 2015 to pursue a career as a television director. — “The past 18 years at Disney have been the highlight of my executive career.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, TVNewser, Broadcasting & Cable, Mediaite, @kerrywashington, @peterlauria3, Reuters and TVSpy

Jethro Nededog / The Wrap:
Anne Sweeney Exiting Disney-ABC to Become TV Director

Discussion: Variety

Bloomberg:

Beats Music raises $60M-$100M to fund new music and features in challenge to Spotify — Jimmy Iovine's Beats Music Is Said to Raise Up to $100 Million — Beats Music LLC, the subscription streaming service from rapper Dr. Dre and record producer Jimmy Iovine, raised a second round …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Los Angeles Times, Billboard, hypebot and Mashable

Wall Street Journal:

Amazon hopes to boost MP3 sales with limited music streaming service for Prime members — Amazon Working on Music-Streaming Service — To Spur Song Purchases, Limits Would Be Placed on Listening — Amazon.com Inc. is hoping to offer an on-demand music-streaming service to customers …

Discussion: CNET and The Verge

Lance Whitney / CNET:
iTunes Radio now third most popular streaming music service

Discussion: Fortune, App Advice and AppleInsider

Los Angeles Times:
Apple is asking record labels for exclusive iTunes releases

Discussion: Mercury News, @mellevandijk and The Verge

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Disney Ponders the Biggest Big Media YouTube Bet Yet: Buying Maker Studios — Disney has been talking to Maker Studios about an acquisition that would value the YouTube network at $500 million or more, according to people familiar with the negotiations. — A deal isn't guaranteed.

Discussion: Deadline.com, @insidethemagic, Tubefilter, Variety, The Wrap and Business Insider

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Upworthy partners with ProPublica and advocacy media groups on original content — When Upworthy raised an additional $8 million in September of last year, they wrote a blog post thanking their readers and making them a promise. The new funds, they wrote, will “help us branch out into new editorial areas.

Discussion: Guardian, Upworthy Insider, @lheron, @gabrielarana and @niemanlab

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Obama bypasses traditional media again in interview with Zach Galifianakis, showing how to take advantage of fractured landscape — Obama will sit down with celebrities but not The Washington Post — President Obama's interview with Zach Galifianakis, a plug for Healthcare.gov …

Discussion: Latest News & Headlines, Erik Wemple, The Fix, VatorNews, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, TechCrunch and NPR

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

With High Hopes and Deep Pockets, The Times Gambles on NYT Now — It could hardly be more clear that The Times has high hopes for its new NYT Now mobile app. — Jill Abramson, the executive editor, unveiled it publicly with considerable fanfare a few days ago at South By Southwest Interactive …

Discussion: @jbenton and @sulliview

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

Gawker's Nick Denton Says BuzzFeed is ‘Pointless.’ Also a ‘Perfect Competitor.’ — Convenes a Company Meeting on Kinja Platform — Gawker Media founder Nick Denton used his company's own commenting platform to field a virtual company meeting on Tuesday, taking questions on the company's competition …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and FishbowlNY

John McDermott / Digiday:

Twitter testing ‘click-to-call’ button which allows mobile users to call advertisers directly — Twitter's direct response pitch: a new ‘click-to-call’ button — As part of its continued effort to evolve and broaden its advertising capabilities, Twitter is now touting itself …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, @digiday, Marketing Pilgrim, Street Fight, SocialTimes and The Verge

Wall Street Journal:

Media Industry Worries About Comcast-TWC — Combined Company Will Have Clout in TV-Viewing Data, Carriage Fees, Set-Top Boxes — Comcast Corp.'s proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc. has sparked fears across the media industry that the combined giant would have too much influence …

Erik Wemple:

John Cook bolts Gawker for the Intercept — John Cook had fun as editor in chief of Gawker. For instance: When he wanted to commandeer a video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack, he fired up a “Crackstarter” campaign that raised $200,000 for the cause. Publicity followed.

Tony Haile / TIME:

Chartbeat CEO: “We confuse what people have clicked on for what they've read.” — What You Think You Know About the Web Is Wrong — If you're an average reader, I've got your attention for 15 seconds, so here goes: We are getting a lot wrong about the web these days.