Mediagazer: BBC iPlayer recorded its best ever month in March, with 320 million programme requests (Nick Summers/The Next Web)

8:10 AM ET, April 29, 2014

Top News:

Disney tried to buy Buzzfeed but talks broke down over price; Buzzfeed sought more than $1B — Disney tried to buy BuzzFeed — The merger conversations happened several months ago, but fell apart over price. — FORTUNE - The Walt Disney Co. was in talks to acquire online content …

Discussion: Mashable, Capital New York, TIME, @ischafer, @thestalwart, New York Times, @cnbcnow, @ourielohayon, AfterDawn.com, Business Insider Australia, The Wrap, @sunny_hundal, @notoriousjld, @pkafka, @sarahfrier and MediaWire Daily

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

Yahoo Unveils Two Half-Hour Series to Compete for TV Ad Dollars — Yahoo wants TV ad dollars, whether they be spent on original programming or augmenting TV spots. — During its Digital Content NewFronts presentation on Monday night, Yahoo presented its plans to siphon some of the $68 billion advertisers …

Discussion: TVNewser, Lost Remote, Variety, Softpedia News, The Wrap, Marketing Land, Pocket-lint, CNET, Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg and comScore, Inc.

Andrew Hampp / Billboard:

Live Nation, Yahoo Announce Daily Live Stream Concert Partnership — Live Nation and Yahoo will live-stream 365 concerts over a 12-month period set to begin later this summer, the two companies announced Monday (April 28) during Yahoo's “Newfront” presentation to advertisers at New York's Lincoln Center.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Music Ally, Canadianreviewer.com, AllAccess.com and VentureBeat

Bloomberg:

Vevo Owners Said Close to Hiring Goldman to Explore Sale — Vevo LLC's four owners are close to hiring Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore sale options for the music video-hosting service, according to three people familiar with the matter. — The sale of a majority stake is being considered among …

Discussion: @pkafka

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Survey: 62 percent can't recall anything from native ads — Native advertising is growing in popularity, but it remains controversial. Editorial purists fret that ads that mimic editorial content will confuse readers, undermining the integrity of the journalism surrounding it.

Discussion: @digiday

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Craig Ferguson to Leave ‘Late Late Show’ in December — Craig Ferguson will step down as host of CBS' “ The Late Late Show” in December when his contract with the network expires after nearly a decade as David Letterman's companion in the 12:35 a.m. slot. — Ferguson's decision comes less …

Discussion: CBS Press Express, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Politico, MediaPost, Hollywood Life, The Wire, Mediaite and The Wrap

Associated Press:

AP Veteran David Scott Named Political Editor — WASHINGTON (AP) — David Scott, who leads news coverage in 14 states for The Associated Press as a regional editor, was named Tuesday as political editor to direct the news agency's national political reporting.

Discussion: Politico

Nick Summers / The Next Web:

BBC iPlayer recorded its best ever month in March, with 320 million programme requests — The BBC today released the March edition of its iPlayer performance report, revealing new record highs for its Internet-based TV and radio service over the four-week period.

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Netflix and Verizon reach interconnection deal to speed up video — Netflix confirms deal that appears to be similar to agreement with Comcast. — Netflix today confirmed that it reached an interconnection agreement with Verizon, similar to the one it recently struck with Comcast.

Discussion: @waltbtig, Gigaom, TechRadar.com, TIME, The Register, @pkafka, Variety, CNNMoney.com, @pkafka, @chriswelch, multichannel.com, Mashable, TechCrunch, @jbrodkin, Engadget, The Verge, Re/code and Electronista

Will Leitch / Sports on Earth:

The sports bubble inflated by cable TV will burst soon with tech and viewership changes — WHEN THE BUBBLE BURSTS — I've talked about this before, but it is worth remembering, one more time, that a lot fewer people care about sports than you and I — the type of people who read …

Discussion: @suzisteffen, @alexsimon99, @pmarca, @williamfleitch, @stevemaxboxing, @swmckewonowh and New York Times

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:

Barrett Brown's lawyer says government chilled free speech with broad charges, later dropped — Barrett Brown lawyer: US tried to ‘kill a fly with a sledgehammer’ — Ahmed Ghappour speaks out after gag order was lifted and says effect of prosecutorial overreach is ‘chilling to free speech’

Discussion: @edpilkington, @casparbowden and WhoWhatWhy

Committee to Protect Journalists:

Ethiopia jails nine journalists, renews press crackdown — The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the Ethiopian government's arrests of nine journalists in one of the worst crackdowns against free expression in the country. — “With the latest arrests, Ethiopian authorities …

Discussion: Reuters, allAfrica.com, @ethanz, @ethanz and @joelcpj

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Netflix researching “large-scale peer-to-peer technology” for streaming — Job ad says Netflix wants to “integrate P2P as an additional delivery mechanism.” — When we wrote about the possibility of Netflix using a peer-to-peer architecture for streaming earlier today …

Discussion: SlashGear, @koenrh, Coolest Gadget Reviews, TorrentFreak, BGR and Techdirt

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Doonesbury's website moves to Washington Post from Slate — Doonesbury's website has moved to The Washington Post, the Post announced Monday. It was previously at Slate, an agreement that Slate spokesperson Jocelyn Nubel said was mutual. “Doonesbury needed a new home …

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Post and FishbowlDC

Society of Editors:

Sir Alan Moses appointed as first chair of Independent Press Standards Organisation — The Rt Hon Sir Alan Moses has been appointed as the first Chair of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). He is the unanimous choice of the independent Selection Panel chaired by Sir Hayden Phillips.

Discussion: Guardian, @paulscaddy and @joshuarozenberg

Rosie Baker / AdNews:

News Corp introduces cross-title membership and reward scheme — News Corp is introducing a membership and reward scheme across its portfolio of newspaper titles to offer readers access to content from its online papers through a personalised hub. — The publisher claims …

Discussion: mUmBRELLA, B&T and News Corp Australia

Cory Doctorow / Guardian:

Internet service providers charging for premium access hold us all to ransom — An ISP should give users the bits they ask for, as quickly as it can, and not deliberately slow down the data — The Federal Communications Commission, America's telcoms regulator, has formulated a plan …

Discussion: Boing Boing

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

At Newfronts, New York Times says it has “moved beyond words”, producing 430+ videos a month — At Newfront, Times pitches its refresh on video strategy to buyers — The New York Times has significantly increased its video inventory and distribution channels since hitting …

Discussion: iMediaConnection Blog, WWD Media Headlines, @buzzfeedandrew, FishbowlNY, The New York Observer, Digiday, MediaPost, @raju, Gothamist, @mikeisaac and @hunterschwarz

Marcy Wheeler / emptywheel:

DOJ Continues Its “Multi-Subject” Investigation of WikiLeaks — As I noted some weeks ago, the judge in EPIC's FOIA for materials on the investigation into supporters of WikiLeaks asked for an update. The government provided that update last night. — It said it still must withhold …

Discussion: @wikileaks, @ggreenwald, @trevortimm and @birgittaj

Cindy Royal / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Are journalism schools teaching their students the right skills? — If you are a journalism educator or media professional, I have news for you: We work in tech. — I know: That's not exactly what you signed up for when you entered the profession 20, 10, or even five years ago. But things have changed.

Discussion: @betheleri

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

Quartz tracks changes in Netflix's ‘Long-Term View’ manifesto — The track-changes version of Netflix's vision for the future of TV — Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is candid about his streaming video company's strategy and its place in the future of television.

Discussion: BGR