Mediagazer: Simon & Schuster becomes second major publisher to join ebooks subscription sites Scribd and Oyster (Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg/Wall Street …)

10:00 AM ET, May 21, 2014

Top News:

First Look Media to launch site investigating corruption — Speaking at the London Social Media Summit, Andy Carvin of First Look Media announced the outlet's plans to launch a new investigative site led by former Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi. First Look Media is to launch …

Discussion: @zimbalist

Lisa Richwine / Reuters:

Netflix launching in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg this year — Netflix to launch in six European countries this year — (Reuters) - Netflix Inc will launch its online movie and TV subscription service later this year in France, Germany and four other European countries …

Discussion: Netflix, Engadget, Gigaom, CNET, The Next Web and The Verge

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Netflix's Neil Hunt Says Personalized Recommendations Will Replace The Navigation Grid

Discussion: Fast Company and BGR

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

As The Public Markets Beckon, Streaming Startup Spotify Reveals 40M Users, 10M Paid Users — As the music streaming market continues to heat up, Spotify has released new user numbers today that solidify its position at the front of the pack: it has now passed 40 million active users …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Forbes, Billboard, Re/code, Businessweek, Telegraph, Reuters, USA Today, ABC News, Guardian, Financial Times, Music Week, The Next Web and hypebot

Sam Roberts / New York Times:

Arthur Gelb, Critic and Editor Who Shaped the Times, Dies at 90 — Arthur Gelb, who by sheer force of personality dominated the newsroom at The New York Times for decades, lifting its metropolitan and arts coverage to new heights and helping to shape the paper in its modern era, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan.

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

UBC merges with 7digital to create £30m multimedia group — Digital music service bought in reverse takeover as multimedia company looks to create global music and radio business — UBC Media chief executive Simon Cole says the merger with 7digital will help the company exploit …

Discussion: Financial Times, RTTNews, Business news, @amirmizroch and Ifa Magazine

Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:

Redbox to uninstall more than 500 kiosks amid flat sales, rise of streaming — Redbox Tries to Break Out of Its Box — As Sales Plateau, Company Faces Challenges, Including the Growing Popularity of Online Streaming — Redbox installed more than 40,000 DVD rental kiosks in grocery stores …

Discussion: @benfritz and @shiraovide

Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:

Bloom.fm assets to be sold off after streaming startup couldn't find a buyer — UK-based streaming music startup Bloom.fm has spent the last three weeks trying to find a buyer, after announcing in late April that it was shutting down due to its main investor pulling out.

Discussion: Complete Music Update, hypebot, Music Week and The Next Web

Jake Mitchell / Sydney Morning Herald:

Network Ten, one of the 5 national free-to-air networks in Australia, halves news operation, cuts 150 jobs — Ten revenue ‘down the toilet’ says news chief Peter Meakin — Major cuts have been made to Network Ten's news department following the axing of breakfast show Wake Up, their morning bulletin and late news editions.

Discussion: The Age, NEWS.com.au, The Age, ninemsn, Associated Press, @juanita_phillip, @attardmon, mUmBRELLA, Sky News, Guardian and ABC

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:

Simon & Schuster becomes second major publisher to join ebooks subscription sites Scribd and Oyster — Simon & Schuster, E-Book Services Strike Deal — Publisher Agrees to Make Older Books Available to Oyster and Scribd — Simon & Schuster has agreed to make available …

Discussion: Gigaom, Mashable and The Next Web

Steve Gutterman / Reuters:

Five convicted of killing Russian journalist Politkovskaya — (Reuters) - Five men were convicted on Tuesday of murdering 2006 of investigative journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya, including three defendants who had been acquitted in a previous trial.

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, Slate, BBC, Sky News, TIME, DW.DE, France 24, GlobalPost, Associated Press and NBC News

Wall Street Journal:

Twitter backed out of talks to buy SoundCloud because “the numbers didn't add up” — Twitter Considered Buying German Music-Streaming Service — Twitter Inc. considered buying German music-streaming service SoundCloud, but it has backed out of the talks, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Re/code, Business Insider, @hamishmckenzie, @caseynewton, @briansolis, VentureBeat, The Verge, Electronista, Gigaom, Mashable, SocialTimes, Fortune and Gigaom

Johana Bhuiyan / Capital New York:

PolicyMic names Bryan Graham editor of new sports vertical — PolicyMic is rolling out a new vertical tomorrow covering sports, according to a staff memo co-founder and editor in chief Jake Horowitz sent out on Monday night. — Leading new vertical will be Bryan Graham …

Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:

Nielsen fleshes out Twitter TV ratings with demographic data — Nielsen launched its Twitter TV Ratings last year to show how many people talk about particular shows on social media and, more important, how many people actually see those tweets about “Catfish: The TV Show” and WWE pro wrestling.

Discussion: @nielsensocial, MediaPost, Nielsen, Deadline.com, BroadwayWorld.com and TechCrunch