Mediagazer: Why Disney Is Taking the Huge Risk of Buying Maker Studios (Andrew Wallenstein/Variety)

3:11 AM ET, March 25, 2014

Top News:

Ronald Grover / Reuters:

Exclusive: Disney to buy YouTube network Maker Studios for $500 million — (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co has agreed to buy Maker Studios for $500 million, becoming a major online video distributor through the purchase of one of YouTube's largest networks, according to a person familiar with the deal.

Discussion: The Wrap, Re/code, Bloomberg, Variety, Mashable, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter, TIME, Gigaom and Engadget

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Why Disney Is Taking the Huge Risk of Buying Maker Studios — Commentary: MCN model still unproven but there are plenty of ancillary benefits to the purchase — By Disney standards, acquiring Maker Studios for less than $1 billion is chump change considering the eye-popping purchases the conglomerate has made over the years.

Discussion: AdAge

Todd Spangler / Variety:

After Disney's Maker Buy, More Deals In Store for Multichannel Networks — With Disney's blockbuster $500 million-plus deal to buy Maker Studios, look for dealmaking activity in the online multichannel network space to continue apace. — MCNs are “now top-of-mind for all the major studios …

Jim Romenesko:

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Discussion: New York Times, Politico, The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post, Mediaite, The Wire, @edbott, Talking Biz News, @sanammkhi, @jimsciutto, @eisingerj and @ryanchittum

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Bob Iger: ‘Work Ethic, Intellect and Curiosity’ Helped Ben Sherwood Land Top Disney Job — It was no knee-jerk appointment: Bob Iger's decision to name ABC News chief Ben Sherwood as Anne Sweeney's successor atop Disney/ABC TV Group had been in the works for nine months. as far as Iger was concerned.

Discussion: TVNewser, Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Forbes, Radio & Television …, @variety_cynthia and Mediaite

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline.com:
Ben Sherwood To Succeed Anne Sweeney As Disney/ABC Television Group President, ABC's Paul Lee Closing In On New Contract

Discussion: Business Wire, AdAge, The Wrap, @rosslevinsohn, MediaPost, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Variety, @piersmorgan and Capital New York

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Back to the newsroom: A new program lets professors go back to the thick of today's news work — Before joining the faculty of Savannah State University last year to teach multimedia journalism, Jessica Sparks had spent her career working for local, community news organizations like Bluffton Today …

Discussion: @carr2n, @louiegilot and @raju

New York Times:

Journalists Group and Internet Lawyers Challenge Turkey's Ban on Twitter — ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's leading press organization and two experts in Internet law took legal action Monday to try to overturn a government ban on Twitter, even as the government intensified its efforts to block access to the social media site.

Discussion: ExtremeTech, WorldViews, Mashable and SlashGear

Ben Thompson / stratechery:

Newspapers Are Dead; Long Live Journalism — This is Part 3 in a series on the future of news and newspapers. Previously: — Part 1: FiveThirtyEight and the End of Average link — Part 2: The Stages of Newspapers' Decline link — Newspapers are held up as an irreplaceable tentpole …

Discussion: @rfrnk, Kirk LaPointe's …, Gigaom, @mathewi and @monkbent

Hunter Walker / Business Insider:

Meet Business Insider's Newest Political Columnist — Anthony Weiner — Business Insider is very pleased to announce former New York City mayoral candidate and Congressman Anthony Weiner will be contributing a new monthly column to our politics page. — The new column, which will be titled …

Julia La Roche / Business Insider:

Hedge fund drops legal motion to unmask anonymous blogger at Seeking Alpha — David Einhorn Knows The Name Of The Anonymous Blogger Who Revealed One Of His Investments — Greenlight Capital, the hedge fund run by David Einhorn, has discovered the identity of the anonymous Seeking Alpha blogger …

Discussion: Seeking Alpha, Bloomberg, @moorehn, New York Times, Talking Biz News, Wall Street Journal and @talkingbiznews

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

In Hollywood News Wars, TheWrap Rebounds — LOS ANGELES — Talk about going from fizzle to sizzle. — A year ago, TheWrap.com was still trundling along as an also-ran in Hollywood's hotly competitive trade news wars. The Hollywood Reporter was riding a slick redesign.

Discussion: @therealjethro, @braxtonpope, @carr2n and @timamolloy

Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:

Bloomberg hires Inside.com CCO Gabriel Snyder and ex-AOL Live president Nathan Richardson — Bloomberg Media Makes First Moves Toward New Digital Products — Justin Smith has taken the first major steps in his revamp of Bloomberg Media with the hiring of former AOL Live president Nathan Richardson …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, The New York Observer, @katies, Capital New York, @edmundlee, @justin_b_smith, @felixsalmon and @gabrielsnyder

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Apple-Comcast TV Pact? Don't Hold Your Breath — A long history of failed dealmaking should cast doubt on this one working out — The mere prospect that Apple and Comcast could be joining forces for a new joint TV service, as the Wall Street Journal first reported Sunday, has revived a fresh round of hyperventilation.