Mediagazer: Apple buying Beats could radically transform the digital music business (Janko Roettgers/Gigaom)

1:40 AM ET, May 11, 2014

Top News:

Murdoch Said to Seek $14 Billion Deal to Combine Satellite Units — Rupert Murdoch is pursuing a long-awaited transaction that would transform British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSY) into a European satellite-TV giant while also leaving his U.S.-based 21st Century Fox Inc. focused on entertainment programming.

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Reuters, @edmundlee, Advanced Television, Telegraph and Financial Times

Bill Carter / New York Times:

Larry Wilmore to Take Place of Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central — What comes after “The Colbert Report”? — On Comedy Central it will be “The Minority Report” and the host will be the “Senior Black Correspondent” from “The Daily Show” — otherwise known as Larry Wilmore.

Dan Gillmor / Guardian:

The best way to protest net neutrality's end is with an Internet-wide slowdown — It's time to take a page from the SOPA protests and show Americans what a slower Internet would really look like — The head of the Federal Communications Commission, former cable and wireless industry lobbyist Tom Wheeler …

Discussion: @sulliview, Mashable, Wired, Techdirt and @jeffjarvis

Amy Schatz / Re/code:

FCC's Wheeler Denies Trying to Divide Internet Into “Haves” and “Have Nots” — FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler denied that he's trying to divide the Internet into fast and slow lanes in response to a letter sent earlier this week by some of the U.S.'s largest Internet companies.

Discussion: BGR, Broadcasting & Cable, @digiphile, FCC.gov, @reckless, @reckless, @samgustin, @tonyromm, @b_fung, Politico, @dangillmor and Washington Post

Kate Tummarello / The Hill:
FCC chair to hold May 15 vote on proposed net neutrality changes despite calls for delay

Discussion: VatorNews, Senator Wyden's Press Feed, Broadcasting & Cable and VentureBeat

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Apple buying Beats could radically transform the digital music business — There are still many unknowns about Apple's reported acquisition of headphone maker Beats Audio, but one thing is already certain: The deal, if it goes through as reported, is going to be a game changer for digital music.

Discussion: Om Malik and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:
Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine expected to take on senior roles at Apple as part of Beats acquisition

Discussion: The Verge, Business Insider, BuzzFeed, @forbes, @pmarca, @jyarow, @bgurley, 9to5Mac, TMZ.com, @ethanwsj, AppleInsider and SlashGear

Casey Newton / The Verge:
What Apple is really buying with Beats

Discussion: Forbes, Business Insider, The Awl, The Next Web, Re/code, New York Magazine, @caseynewton, Reuters, Businessweek, JonMaples.com, @daamitt, Digital Media Wire, AppleInsider, New York Post and @dannysullivan

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Amazon spat with Hachette over failed contract negotiations leaves authors fuming — Writers Feel an Amazon-Hachette Spat — The world's biggest bookstore is a bit smaller these days. — Amazon's secret campaign to discourage customers from buying books by Hachette …

Discussion: @kreissdaniel and Forbes

Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:

Why CNN Is Obsessed With Flight 370: ‘The Audience Has Spoken’ — CNN's near-constant coverage of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has led to widespread derision and critique of the network. How can a strategy ridiculed by critics, media watchers and even President Barack Obama …

Discussion: TVNewser, @nickkristof, Washington Post and The Huffington Post

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Circa, NRCQ, and News Republic show three different approaches to mobile news — The newsonomics of three cracks at the mobile news puzzle — Mobile first. Two devilishly simple words that, at this point, tell us so little. — By now, it's common knowledge that most companies producing digital news …

Discussion: @mattmcalister, @digidave and @antderosa

Jon Erlichman / Bloomberg:

Time Warner Said to Hold Talks to Buy Fullscreen Network — Time Warner Inc. (TWX) has held talks to acquire Fullscreen Inc., one of the popular YouTube video networks, a person with knowledge of the matter said. — Time Warner joins Yahoo! Inc. and Relativity Media LLC in looking at Fullscreen …

Discussion: Re/code

Sam Schwartz / Comcast:

Comcast integrates Twitter into X1 guide with SEEiT to recommend what to watch on live TV — SOCIAL CONVERSATIONS: AN IMPORTANT TOOL IN DISCOVERING WHAT TO WATCH — According to a recent Nielsen study, conversations on Twitter help drive new audiences to TV shows.

Discussion: @kevinweil, @janamal, @rachaelrad and multichannel.com

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

These Are the TV Shows More Popular Among Cord-Cutters — Cord-Cutters More Likely to Visit NBC.com Than Average Internet User, Per Experian Survey — Festival — Internet Week New York — People who cancel their cable TV subscriptions may not miss their monthly bills …

Discussion: @adage and @tdechant

Ben Woods / The Next Web:

Yahoo's 18-year-old prodigy Nick D'Aloisio on how the future of digital news lies in the past — Yesterday, Yahoo announced that its “atomized” news digest was being made available on Android, and in virtually every market in which Yahoo is active. — It's a bold move for a product …