Mediagazer: Pandora Launches Beta of Brand-Curated Stations (Andrew Flanagan/Billboard)

3:40 AM ET, May 7, 2014

Top News:

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Maker Studios Launches Maker.tv, Tees Up Original Series from Morgan Spurlock and YouTube Stars — Maker Studios, the digital media company that Disney is buying for up to $950 million, unveiled a slate of original programming and took the wraps off Maker.tv — a consumer destination for monetizing video off YouTube.

Discussion: StreamDaily, Deadline.com and Hollywood Reporter

Tim Peterson / AdAge:
Maker Studios, Omnicom Sign Eight-Figure Upfront Deal for Web Video

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, The Wrap, Variety, @dslrvideostudio and @learmonth

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

Nic Christensen / mUmBRELLA:

Fairfax announces 70-80 redundancies across production, lifestyle and photographic — Fairfax Media has announced a proposal that could see more than 70 positions go from its newspaper arm Australian Publishing Media (APM) across its editorial production, lifestyle and photographic sections.

Discussion: MEAA web site, Guardian, @melbourneobs, @mpbowers, @jillastark, Crikey, TheAustralian, @perkinsmiki, @nicchristensen, @sally_jackson and @danielmoakes

Caysey Welton / Folio:

NYLON Sold to Diversis Capital, Merges with FashionIndie.com — Brands will remain independent under new ownership. — NYLON, along with all of its branded assets, including NYLON Guys, NYLON TV, its international editions and Web and social assets have been sold to Marc Luzzato and his Diversis Capital team of investors.

Discussion: Adweek and New York Post

Anna Prior / Wall Street Journal:

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, Variety, multichannel.com, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and New York Times

Wayne Friedman / MediaPost: Disney Ad Revs Slide At ABC TV, ESPN

Jeff Baumgartner / Broadcasting & Cable:

Suddenlink to Offer Netflix on TiVo Devices — MSO to add support for OTT video service this summer — Suddenlink Communications has become the latest U.S. cable operator - and the largest domestic MSO, so far - to strike a deal to offer access to Netflix on leased TiVo-powered set-top boxes.

Discussion: Reuters, Home Media Magazine, Wall Street Journal and Variety

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Journalism Lab:

What does a design director at ProPublica do? David Sleight on what happens when you engage design with reporting — Last month, ProPublica, the investigative nonprofit news organization, published a nearly 9,000-word examination of the re-emergence of segregation in public schools.

Discussion: @clockwerks, @litherland and @ezraklein

Joe Concha / Mediaite:

Concha: When Gawker Goes the Dan Rather Route — Let's say you had a juicy story to tell... A story that could be potentially damaging to a powerful entity you deem to be discriminatory to a particular group of people... And in putting together your story, you build its entire foundation on a specific account...

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

Megan Geuss / Ars Technica:

On average, Americans get 189 cable TV channels and only watch 17 — A new Nielsen report raises questions about the channel-bundling system. — In a blog post on Tuesday, Nielsen reported that on average, US homes receive 189.1 TV channels, but viewers only watch 17.5 of those channels.

Discussion: Nielsen, Variety, Los Angeles Times, @bergmayer, The Huffington Post, @bergmayer, Wall Street Journal and Lost Remote

Ricardo Bilton / Digiday:

Inside The Financial Times' digital strategy — Publishers today are subject to that most timeworn of business imperatives: Grow as large an audience as possible, then sell that scaled audience to the advertisers who want to reach it. It's a business model that has stubbornly persisted …

Discussion: @digiday

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 Flanagan / Billboard:

Pandora Launches Beta of Brand-Curated Stations … Questions? Comments? Let us know: @billboardbiz

Discussion: AdAge and NetNewsCheck Latest

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

Google to Acquire Online Attribution Firm Adometry — Google wants to help advertisers get a better sense of how their online ad campaigns work collectively. So the company is acquiring Adometry, an Austin-Tx.-based firm that specializes in online ad attribution-i.e. the science …

Discussion: Adometry, MediaPost, Bloomberg, @gorobtaylor, Marketing Pilgrim and VentureBeat

Joe Eskenazi / The Snitch:

Todd Vogt, San Francisco Print Media Company President, Likely to Sell SF Weekly, Bay Guardian, Examiner — If you ever hoped to keep something on the down low, it's best not to announce it in front of a command gathering of multiple newspaper staffs. Newsrooms are not impregnable fortresses.

Discussion: @audreycoopersf and @judehere

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, Hollywood Reporter, @gointothestory, @jessicaweisberg and @niemanlab

William Turvill / Press Gazette:

BBC's £20k of payments to MPs so far this year more than combined total for national newspapers — MPs have registered more payments from the BBC than all of the UK's national newspapers combined so far in 2014. — According to the most up-to-date register of interests …

Discussion: Daily Mail

The Wrap:

Guggenheim Invests $240 Million in ‘House of Cards’ Producer Media Rights Capital (Exclusive) — Guggenheim Partners has invested $240 million in Media Rights Capital, earning a minority stake in the company that produces “House of Cards,” two individuals with knowledge of the investment told TheWrap.