Mediagazer: Netflix Signs Deal with Suddenlink, in Largest U.S. Cable Operator Pact So Far (Todd Spangler/Variety)

7:05 PM ET, May 6, 2014

Top News:

Disney Q2 earnings: $1.92B, or $1.08/share, up 27% on film studio strength — Disney Posts 27% Rise in Profit — Studio Division Continues to Benefit From the Animated Blockbuster ‘Frozen’ — Walt Disney Co. said its fiscal second-quarter profit rose 27% as the company's studio division continued …

Discussion: Forbes, New York Times, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Washington Post, Reuters and Los Angeles Times

Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:

Disney Ad Revs Slide At ABC TV, ESPN — In an otherwise stellar financial quarter performance, Walt Disney says advertising revenues at both ABC Television Network and ESPN declined in its fiscal second quarter. — In its release, Disney said of ABC, there was “lower prime-time advertising revenue …

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Ban on drone photos harms free speech, say media outlets in challenge to FAA — The New York Times and other major media outlets have accused the Federal Aviation Administration of “chilling” journalism and violating their First Amendment rights by banning the use of unmanned aircraft for news photography.

Discussion: @niemanlab, The Verge, Associated Press and Motherboard

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Page 1, with ex-NYT Magazine editor Hugo Lindgren as its president, aims to turn journalism into hit movies — New Venture Envisions Films Based on Gritty Journalism — LOS ANGELES — An Oscar-winning screenwriter, a billionaire film financier and a well-known magazine editor have come together …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @jessicaweisberg, @niemanlab and Hollywood Reporter

BBC:

BBC Trust Chairman Lord Patten stepping down following major heart surgery — BBC Trust Chairman Lord Patten to stand down — BBC Trust Chairman Lord Patten has today announced that he will be standing down with immediate effect on health grounds following major heart surgery.

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline.com, Reuters, 964eagle.co.uk, Press Gazette, Variety and Hollywood Reporter

Reuters:

Twitter shares fall over 17% to all-time low as lock-up period for 470M shares expires — Twitter shares plumb new lows as stock lock-up expires — (Reuters) - Shares of Twitter Inc slumped 15 percent to fresh lows in a flurry of trading on Tuesday after the expiration of a six-month …

Discussion: Forbes, Gawker, @dangillmor, @xdamman, TechCrunch and Mashable

Michael Rondon / Folio:

Spanfeller Media Group Launches TV Series — The Daily Meal hopes to bring its digital audience to a new screen. — With second-screen viewing on the rise and the lines between platforms continuing to merge, Spanfeller Media Group is looking to capitalize on its digital presence and enter the world of television.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

MSNBC apologizes for Cinco de Mayo segment — In a statement on its website, MSNBC's “Way Too Early” says the show on Monday “made sarcastic references to the way some Americans celebrate” Cinco de Mayo. “It was not our intention to be disrespectful and we sincerely apologize for the ill-advised references,” the statement says.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Politico, The Wrap, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, National Assc … and The Week

The Local:

Editors at Le Monde newspaper quit en masse — A majority of chief editors at French daily Le Monde resigned from their posts on Tuesday amid a conflict with management over editorial reforms. The mass resignation comes while staff at another French newspaper are in uproar over plans to turn into a “social network”.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

Larry King criticises former employer CNN, says missing plane coverage was “absurd” — Larry King on going digital, and CNN's strategy — This interview originally appeared in our Media Pro daily newsletter. — CAPITAL: What did you think of this year's White House Correspondent's Dinner?

Discussion: The Wrap, Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Erin Griffith / Fortune:

Blurb acquires HP's MagCloud, aims to dominate long-tail publishing — The book-printing service has always been popular with photographers and designers. Now it's going after writers. — FORTUNE — Blurb, a book-printing service, has started making noises again after a few quiet years.

Discussion: Publishers Weekly and Talking New Media

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

New service will rate the authenticity of digital images — By the time an image makes its way online, it could have been opened and processed in any number of applications, passed through various hands, and been remixed and manipulated. — Today a new image hosting service, Izitru …

Discussion: @craigsilverman and Gigaom

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Brown Moses, his alter ego Eliot Higgins, and the rise of the self-trained journalist — The term “citizen journalism” gets thrown around a lot, used to refer to everything from people tweeting in crisis zones to high-school students covering city-council meetings.

Discussion: @seanmaynard, Thanks:@mathewi

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

ABC News Headquarters to be Named for Barbara Walters — On Monday, the ABC News building at 47 W. 66th Street will be named in honor of Barbara Walters. Walters, a pioneering newswoman — the first woman to co-host network morning and evening newscasts — has called ABC News home since 1976.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

NowThisNews Is Working With Snapchat On An Ephemeral News Service — Mobile news startup NowThisNews, built around the idea of short and viral-friendly clips of news stories, has made some inroads into big media with an investment and content partnership with NBCUniversal …

Discussion: @joelcifer

Jordan Zakarin / The Wrap:

Discovery Communications Q1 Earnings Miss Estimates — The good news for Discovery Communications: Its first quarter revenue increased over last year, up 22 percent to $1.4 billion. — The bad news: So did its costs, and for that reason, its net income slipped to $230 million compared to $231 million for the same quarter last year.