Mediagazer: TV Everywhere Is Getting Better. But It Won't Stop the Pay-TV Empire From Crumbling (Todd Spangler/Variety)

5:30 AM ET, May 24, 2014

Top News:

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:

Amazon's Tactics Confirm Its Critics' Worst Suspicions — Amazon is confirming its critics' worst fears and it is an ugly spectacle to behold. — For years, authors and publishers have warned that Amazon, Jeff Bezos' book-selling giant, would one day use its power for ill. Sure, so far …

Discussion: @anildash, @thessaly, Mashable, @seyitaylor, @fmanjoo and @edyong209

New York Times:
Amazon escalates battle with Hachette, refuses coming book orders, lists some as unavailable

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:
Amazon takes away pre-orders on many Hachette titles, messes with search, categories and recommendations

Discussion: Publishers Weekly, @jherskowitz, NPR, @lilithsaintcrow, @laurahazardowen, @victoriastrauss, @irastoll, @craiggrannell, @bobbie, @jeffjohnroberts and @sarahw

Yinka Adegoke / Billboard:

Apple-Beats deal delayed due to discussions over Beats Music valuation, Dre/Iovine roles in Apple, outrage over Dre/Tyrese video, more — Five Things Holding Up the Apple-Beats Deal — When news broke on Thursday May 8 that Apple was in talks to buy Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre's Beats Electronics …

Discussion: @jeffcgd, Daring Fireball, App Advice, Business Insider, @benparr, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, @caseynewton, @yinkawrites, @pkafka, Ubergizmo, SlashGear, AppleInsider and @tcarmody

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Fox Upgrades Video App to Add Personalized Show Recommendations — Broadcaster licenses technology from U.K.-based ThinkAnalytics for new Apple iOS app — Fox Broadcasting has released a new version of its Fox Now video app for Apple devices that suggests shows users might want to watch based …

Jen Chung / Gothamist:

How I Got Kicked Out Of The 9/11 Museum — The National 9/11 Museum opened to the public yesterday, with dozens of museum employees on hand to assist visitors through exhibits, numerous Red Cross workers and chaplains eager to help those who needed comfort, and at least three security guards …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Curbed NY, Boing Boing, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post and Mediaite

Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post:

Unsealed court documents show Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft are arguing against gag orders on national security requests on First Amendment grounds — Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Microsoft say government has no right to suppress data request disclosures

Discussion: The Hill, @girlactivist, Freedom of the Press … and VentureBeat

Rick Gladstone / New York Times:

‘Happy in Tehran’ Video Spurs Harsher Censorship — The judicial authorities in Iran appeared to harden their clampdown on expression Friday, moving to block Instagram, imprisoning the director who made the now-famous Iranian version of the Pharrell Williams “Happy” video and warning women …

Discussion: Motherboard, RIA Novosti, Committee to Protect …, BBC, Mashable, Al Jazeera English, RT and Associated Press

Todd Spangler / Variety:

TV Everywhere Is Getting Better. But It Won't Stop the Pay-TV Empire From Crumbling — Winter is coming for the pay-TV industry. And there's nothing the biz can rustle up, not even dragons, to prevent it. — After years of growth — both in subscribers and prices …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Dish Offers Six Months of Free Netflix to New Customers — Dish Network signed a deal with Netflix under which new subscribers who take the satcaster's Hopper digital video recorder will receive six months free of the subscription VOD service. — The pact isn't as deep as Netflix would like …

Discussion: @awallenstein

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

YouTube is building a mobile app for creators, a feature to let fans donate funds, and crowdsourced subtitles — YouTube today announced a new initiative called Creator Preview, a video series in which the Google-owned company shares what features it is working on for creators.

Discussion: YouTube Creator Blog, @ytcreators, The Verge, TechCrunch and 9to5Mac

Guardian:

Women dominate shortlist to succeed Lord Patten at BBC — Dame Marjorie Scardino among potential candidates for role of BBC Trust chairman as rumours swirl over body's future — Government officials are weighing up a shortlist of replacements for Lord Patten as chairman of the BBC Trust …

Adam Weinstein / Gawker:

Why Did Wikileaks Name “Country X” When Glenn Greenwald Wouldn't? — 1,538g — Earlier this week, the Intercept revealed another bombshell from Edward Snowden's cache of government secrets: The NSA soaks up all the mobile phone calls from the Bahamas and another country.

Discussion: Vanity Fair, The Verge, PandoDaily, VentureBeat, Boing Boing, Engadget, Scripting News and WikiLeaks

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Rival press regulator Impress begins recruiting as JK Rowling helps it to nearly £100k funding — Rival press regulator Impress claims to have raised nearly £100,000 in funding and this week began the search for an appointments panel to recruit its board.

Discussion: @jheawood

Amy Sawitta Lefevre / Reuters:

Thai media chafe under post-coup blackout — Television screens went blue and up flashed the army's emblem, normal programming stopped and Thailand held its breath. For anyone looking forward to their favourite show, it was going to be a long wait. — Half-an-hour later …

Discussion: Prachatai English, Eurasia Review, Variety, Inquirer News and Mashable