Mediagazer: David Cohen: the Comcast EVP in charge of avoiding antitrust questions raised by TWC merger (Michael Sokolove/New York Times)

9:45 AM ET, April 22, 2014

Top News:

Jennifer Khoury Newcomb / Comcast Voices:

Comcast Response to Netflix's Opposition to Time Warner Cable Transaction — Netflix's opposition to our Time Warner Cable transaction is based on inaccurate claims and arguments. There has been no company that has had a stronger commitment to openness of the Internet than Comcast …

Discussion: New York Times, Softpedia News, TheHill, ZDNet, Adweek, @jmcduling, @miriamgottfried, @pkafka, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and Re/code

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Netflix opposes Comcast-TWC merger over ‘anticompetitive’ concerns — Netflix has come out in opposition of Comcast's proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable, writing in a letter to shareholders that the merger would give the combined service provider “even more anticompetitive leverage” …

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Variety, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Financial Times and Re/code

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Netflix Beats Expectations With 4M New Subscribers, Earnings Of 86 Cents Per Share — Netflix today released its first-quarter financial results, with the company beating analyst expectations. For the first three months of the year, the company reported earnings of 86 cents per share on revenues of $1.27 billion.

Discussion: Forbes, multichannel.com, FishbowlNY, Softpedia News, @jbflint, @katyonthehill, @jank0, @pkafka, @lach1435, Variety, CNBC, AdAge, Gigaom, Pocket-lint, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and YCharts

Crayton Harrison / Bloomberg:
Netflix Calls Out AT&T for Lackluster Streaming Performance

Discussion: Gigaom, Gigaom, Reuters and Businessweek

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Here comes The Upshot, the new explanatory journalism effort from the New York Times — Ever since Nate Silver left his perch at the New York Times and took his FiveThirtyEight blog to ESPN, where he subsequently launched an ambitious experiment aimed at data-driven journalism …

Discussion: MediaWire Daily, Capital New York, @upshotnyt, Digiday, @dleonhardt, @neil_irwin and The FJP

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

New York Times launches The Upshot, aims to make data journalism part of “daily news cycle” — Navigate News With The Upshot — You have no shortage of excellent news sources — sources that expertly report and analyze news as it happens. Like you, those of us at The Upshot rely on those sources every day.

Discussion: The Awl, Poynter, FishbowlNY, Mediaite, The New York Observer and investors.nytco.com

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Felix Salmon to Leave Reuters — Felix Salmon, a prominent writer at Reuters on finance and the news media, said on Monday that he was leaving the news agency. — Mr. Salmon declined to release details of his new job when reached by phone on Monday, but in an email sent to colleagues he explained he was …

Discussion: @jeffjarvis, @nytfridge, @rolfewinkler, MediaWire Daily and Talking Biz News

Jack Shafer:

Intelligence Community Directive 119, a gag order that makes the public less safe, not more — The top spook's stupid gag order — The nation's top spy has prohibited all of his spies from talking with reporters about “intelligence-related information” unless officially authorized to speak.

Discussion: @spytalker, @jaketapper, @trevortimm, @eriksherman, @mattdpearce and @mar4612

Steven Aftergood / Secrecy News:
DNI bars US Intelligence Community from leaking even unclassified information to media

Discussion: New York Times, @billmon1, Guardian, @davidbarstow, TheHill, The Huffington Post, @free_snowden, Politico and @davidfolkenflik

Adam Satariano / Bloomberg:

Study: households spent 10% less at Amazon in states where online sales tax introduced — Amazon Sales Take a Hit in States With Online Tax — Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is taking a hit in states that are collecting an online sales tax. — In one of the first efforts to quantify the impact …

Discussion: Business Insider, Washington Post, SlashGear, @maudnewton and @puiwingtam

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

NBCUniversal First-Quarter Financials Rise Amid Profitable Sochi Olympics — UPDATED: The Winter Olympics boosted TV ratings, revenue and profit at the entertainment company owned by cable giant Comcast, which reported its second quarterly video subscriber increase in a row.

Discussion: The Wrap, International Business Times, FierceCable, NASDAQ.com and Variety

Anthony Crupi / Adweek:

TiVo: Adherence to C3 Is Sucking Millions Out of TV Ad Market — In what may be the most cogent argument for the adoption of the C7 ratings currency, TiVo Research on Monday revealed that broadcasters beholden to the dated C3 metric are leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in ad sales revenue on the table.

Discussion: Business Insider and Wall Street Journal

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

Aereo's Supreme Court case could catch TiVo and others in its crossfire — The US Supreme Court today weighs the fate of Aereo, a New York startup that has stirred up the media industry by transmitting broadcast television over the internet without a copyright license.

Discussion: Washington Post, @zseward, Fortune and Plagiarism Today

Shahan Mufti / Columbia Journalism Review:

Pakistan's most prominent journalist shot by gunman in Karachi — An apparent assassination attempt on Hamid Mir illustrates the price that comes with the higher profile and influence of the news media in Pakistan — Pakistan's most famous and influential journalist is recovering in a hospital …