Mediagazer: ‘Super Size Me’ Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock Inks Development Deal With AP (John Jurgensen/Wall Street Journal)

10:10 AM ET, April 30, 2014

Top News:

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Twitter and TV Working Just Fine, Says Twitter — Yesterday, after a top TV executive lobbed a bomb at Twitter's TV pitch, Twitter executives kept quiet. — But Twitter CEO Dick Costolo knew he'd get asked about NBC* research chief Alan Wurtzel's “Emperor has no clothes” comments today during his earnings call.

Discussion: Engadget, Forbes and @mcproulx

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Twitter Beats In Q1 With $250M In Revenue And Picks Up 14M New Monthly Active Users

Discussion: Forbes, RT, Softpedia News, Business Insider, New York Times, @fmanjoo, broadstuff, Mashable, AdAge, Gigaom, Pocket-lint, @papadimitriou, Forbes, MarketWatch, Gawker, Marketing Land, VatorNews, ZDNet, The Wrap, @lukew and The Next Web

Mike Isaac / Re/code:
Twitter faces decelerating growth in active users and timeline views

Discussion: @thestalwart, @tim, @jennydeluxe and Washington Post

Ben Fischer / New York Business Journal:

The Onion to launch Clickhole.com to satirize viral sites like BuzzFeed and Upworthy — Finally! The Onion is taking on BuzzFeed and Upworthy on their turf. — This June the satire site — stuck for now in the hopelessly 20th century business of spoofing reported, written news articles — will launch Clickhole.com.

Discussion: AdAge, TechCrunch, @zhongnanhai, @joshuatopolsky, Tubefilter and New York Magazine

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Murdoch hints at News Corp. acquisitions — News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch is keen on making some additions to the publishing side of his media empire, which was formally split in half nearly a year ago. — “News Corp. is in the first sort of, transformational year,” …

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Condé Nast to Launch New Digital Brand Aggregating Video — Variety among the news brands named as inaugural video partners for The Scene — Condé Nast Entertainment sees strength in numbers in the video space-even if that means mixing its high-class brands with those outside the company.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Folio, Wall Street Journal, AdAge and WWD Media Headlines

Tom Wheeler / Official FCC Blog:

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler defends net neutrality approach, seeks path to avoid years in court — Finding the Best Path Forward to Protect the Open Internet — I am a strong believer in the importance of an Open Internet. As President Obama has explained, “Preserving an Open Internet …

Discussion: Variety, PandoDaily, Softpedia News, Consumerist, @aprilaser, @fcc, @byersalex, Re/code, @ddayen, Business Insider, Engadget, The Verge, @rafat and @karlbode

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Ex-FCC chief says politics and funding droughts would slow the internet if it were a utility

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Re/code and Cable Tech Talk

Philip Galanes / New York Times:

A Conversation With Liz Smith, Gossip Columnist and Jess Cagle, Editorial Director of People Magazine — If you've ever found yourself intrigued by the meltdowns of Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, puzzled by Jennifer Aniston's seemingly endless difficulty in finding romantic bliss …

Discussion: @cschweitz, @jordanbreal and @mrjesscagle

Diana Reese / Al Jazeera America:

In small towns with local investment, print journalism is thriving — MARYVILLE, Mo. — Newspapers aren't dead yet. — Far from it in this town of 12,000 nestled among the rolling hills of northwestern Missouri, where the daily paper has returned to local ownership for the first time in decades …

Discussion: @rosental and @niemanlab

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Andy Coulson denies being told MI5 was monitoring William and Harry calls — Ex-NoW royal editor allegedly claimed he introduced his boss to a ‘spook’ who was eavesdropping on royal family, court hears — Andy Coulson has denied being told that MI5 was monitoring Prince William …

Ben Fox Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

IAC/InterActive Earnings Shrink Amid Media Segment Weakness — Media Company Posts Higher Expenses While Its Revenue Declined Slightly — IAC/InterActiveCorp. said its first-quarter profit shrank 33% as the company posted higher expenses and a slight decline in revenue, due in part to continued weakness in its media segment.

Ben Fox Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

Thomson Reuters Swings to Profit — Year-Earlier Period Included $247 Million Tax Expense; Revenue Falls 1.4% — Thomson Reuters Corp. swung to a first-quarter profit, but revenue edged down 1.4% as the financial data and news provider's core financial and risk business reported softer revenue.

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BBC3 closure ‘not a foregone conclusion’, warns trustee — Richard Ayre says plan to move TV content online will be heavily scrutinised and questions remain over reaching younger viewers — The closure of the BBC3 TV channel is far from certain, one of the corporation's trustee's has warned …

John Jurgensen / Wall Street Journal:

‘Super Size Me’ Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock Inks Development Deal With AP — The filmmaker who made “Super Size Me” has teamed up with one of the world's largest news agencies. Morgan Spurlock and the Associated Press announced an agreement Tuesday that gives his production company …

Discussion: Deadline.com, /Film and Capital New York

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BSkyB faces fall in subscribers as competition from BT and Netflix grows — Broadcaster predicted to suffer drop in sign-ups as analysts say growth in traditional TV business has stalled — BSkyB is facing its first fall in TV subscribers in 15 years as pressure mounts from rivals including BT and Netflix.

Discussion: Financial Times, Digital TV Europe and MediaTel

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Media economist Matthew Gentzkow: fixed costs of producing news remain high on the internet — Q&A: Clark Medal winner Matthew Gentzkow says the Internet hasn't changed news as much as we think — The Clark Medal is one of the most prestigious awards in all of academia, awarded to the …

Michael Calia / Wall Street Journal:

Time Warner Profit Soars on Strength in Movie Business — Media Giant's Results Top Expectations — Time Warner Inc. said its first-quarter profit soared as revenue across the company's segments jumped, including double-digit growth from its Warner Bros. movie business.

Discussion: Deadline.com, Variety and Hollywood Reporter

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Most Pirated TV Shows, Networks Dominated by Broadcasters — Piracy tracking firm CEG TEK came out with a rare comprehensive look at just what TV shows and networks are the most active on P2P hub Bittorrent. While it's hard to extrapolate broad trends from numbers drawn just from last week …