Mediagazer: Slate tries to buck the paywall trend by focusing on membership (Mathew Ingram/Gigaom)

6:15 PM ET, April 21, 2014

Top News:

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: Gigaom, Forbes, @jank0, Pocket-lint, Variety, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, @pkafka, @jbflint, @katyonthehill and @lach1435

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Netflix to raise prices for new members $1-2 this quarter, existing members will stay at current pricing “for a generous time period” — Netflix will raise streaming prices for new members this quarter — New Netflix subscribers could soon be forced to pay a bit …

Discussion: The Wrap, Home Media Magazine, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, Variety, @tcarmody, The Verge, Re/code and @jank0

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 and Financial Times

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

NBC had psychological consultant talk to David Gregory's wife and friends about ratings slide — As ‘Meet the Press’ struggles in the ratings, plenty of questions for host David Gregory — If “Meet the Press” moderator David Gregory were a guest on his own show, he knows the kinds of questions he'd be asked.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

NBC says it brought in ‘brand’ — not ‘psychological’ — consultant to evaluate David Gregory — NBC News has issued a statement, which it emailed to Poynter, about a report in The Washington Post that it hired a “psychological consultant” to talk to David Gregory's friends and family …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Wrap, Capital New York, The New York Observer and The Week

David Carr / New York Times:

Aereo Case Will Shape TV's Future — Throughout America's business history, the victories and spoils went to the visionaries who made all manner of things — actual things like cars, pharmaceuticals and entertainment. — But more and more, many of the splashy business victories …

Discussion: USA Today, TVNewser, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, @michaelwolffnyc, The Week, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, @peterlattman, ThinkProgress, Plagiarism Today, @nycjim, TVSpy, @marklittlenews, @brianstelter, @carr2n and @jonathanwald

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Case preview: Supreme Court to hear oral arguments from Aereo and broadcasters on Tuesday — Argument preview: Free TV, at a bargain price? — At 11 a.m. next Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hold one hour of oral argument on copyright issues surrounding a new technology for Internet streaming …

Discussion: Businessweek, @zseward, The Verge, Business Insider, @dangillmor and Gigaom

Peter Suciu / Fortune:
What happens if broadcasters lose the Aereo case?

Discussion: Plagiarism Today

Steven Aftergood / Secrecy News:

DNI bars US Intelligence Community from leaking even unclassified information to media — Intelligence Directive Bars Unauthorized Contacts with News Media — The Director of National Intelligence has forbidden most intelligence community employees from discussing “intelligence-related information” …

Discussion: Politico, Guardian, The Huffington Post, @free_snowden, TheHill and @davidfolkenflik

Tony Maglio / The Wrap:

‘Today’ Show Coming to Radio for First Time on SiriusXM — Love the voices of your favorite “Today” show anchors but hate their faces? SiriusXM and NBC News have the perfect solution for you! — The companies are teaming up to launch “Today” Show Radio on June 26, which will make the …

Discussion: New York Times, Radio & Television …, Deadline.com, Hollywood Reporter and PR Newswire

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Slate tries to buck the paywall trend by focusing on membership — There's been a wave of online news outlets trying different versions of a paywall model over the past year or so, with everything from a New York Times-style metered plan to a hard wall like the one that former Wall Street …

Discussion: Slate, Nieman Journalism Lab, Poynter, Washington Post, FishbowlNY, @jeffjohnroberts, Poynter, @vivian and FishbowlDC

Emma Bazilian / Adweek:

Entertainment Weekly continues to staff up, Kristen Baldwin promoted to deputy editor — Matt Bean Staffs Up at Entertainment Weekly Kristen Baldwin promoted to deputy editor By Emma Bazilian — Entertainment Weekly's new editor Matt Bean is continuing to staff up at the Time Inc. title.

Discussion: The Wrap, Capital New York, @megmasters and @doreeshafrir

Liz Shannon Miller / Gigaom:

Joss Whedon releases new film globally on Vimeo for $5, ignoring traditional distributors — Surprise, Joss Whedon fans: His new film, In Your Eyes, is now available via Vimeo — Tonight, the supernatural romance In Your Eyes, written by Joss Whedon and directed by Brin Hill (Won't Back Down) …