Mediagazer: Netflix Passes 50M Subscribers As It Reports Better Than Expected Q2 Revenue Of $1.34B (Alex Wilhelm/TechCrunch)

9:55 PM ET, July 21, 2014

Top News:

In the wake of a merger bid between non-print media giants, a meditation on print's inadequacy — Riding the Juggernaut That Left Print Behind — Even if you aren't one of those people worried about media consolidation — there are many in that number — the big bolt of lightning last week …

Henry Blodget / Business Insider:
Time Warner board changes bylaws to block small group of shareholders from forcing Fox takeover vote

Discussion: New York Times, Deadline.com, Multichannel News, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Time Warner, @eriqgardner and @thestalwart

Henry Blodget / Business Insider:
Murdoch Not Likely To Raise Time Warner Bid Immediately, Source Says

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediaite, @gjlevett and Bloomberg

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Netflix Passes 50M Subscribers As It Reports Better Than Expected Q2 Revenue Of $1.34B — This afternoon following the closing bell, Netflix announced the financial results of its second quarter, including revenue of $1.34 billion and earnings per share of $1.15.

Discussion: Capital New York, Gigaom, AdAge, VentureBeat, @peterlauria3, Forbes, Home Media Magazine, VentureBeat, The Wrap, Reuters, Variety, BuzzFeed, USA Today, Variety, MarketWatch, Business Insider, @quantarb, @xpangler, @jboorstin, @tcarmody, @jboorstin, @tcarmody and Talking New Media

Lynn Oberlander / First Look Media:

First Look Media launches legal fund to aid press freedom advocates in US and abroad — Promoting and Protecting Free Speech and Free Expression — Lynn Oberlander is First Look Media's General Counsel, Media Operations — Promoting and protecting free speech and free expression are paramount to First Look's mission.

Discussion: @the_intercept, @buzzfeedben, @acarvin, @joshuafoust, @trevortimm, @pierre and Poynter

New York Times:

Big TV mergers are forcing smaller cable networks like AMC, Starz to consider survival plans — Smaller Cable Networks Plan Their Survival Under the Feet of Giants — The flesh-eating zombies in AMC's hit television series “The Walking Dead” are shambling into a land of even bigger monsters.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, @peterlattman, @emilysteel and mUmBRELLA

Capital New York:

The story behind The New Yorker's website relaunch, unveiled today — A relaunch for The New Yorker, with high stakes — The New Yorker will debut its long awaited, revamped website today, about which you'll see plenty of commentary and criticism. — But to understand what the imperatives …

Discussion: New Yorker, USA Today, The Next Web, The Awl, @jamesgrobinson, @cncep, @natalieraabe, Politico, FishbowlNY, @garrettquinn, @alexweprin and @dfroms

Jack Moore / International Business Times:

Gaza Crisis: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Will ‘Work to Prevent Al Jazeera’ Operating in Israel — Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said that Israel will work to prevent Al Jazeera TV from operating in Israel. — “Qatar has turned into a global problem.

Discussion: TVNewser, @barakravid, @mukhtaryare, @ibtimesuk, Mediaite, @ojazeera and New York Times

Dave Neal / Inquirer:

BBC websites and iPlayers suffer weekend broadcast outage — TELEVISION ON DEMAND viewers have complained loudly about downtime at the BBC's websites and on-demand offerings over the weekend. — This past weekend auntie Beeb took something of a holiday and prevented people from listening …

Discussion: The Independent, Product Reviews Net, Telecompaper, The Register, TechRadar.com, ITProPortal and Guardian

Committee to Protect Journalists:

Ukrainian reporter held for reporting in Russia without work permit — Russian authorities arrested Yevgeny Agarkov, a reporter with the Ukrainian television station 1+1, on July 18, 2014, and accused him of working in Russia without a proper accreditation, according to news reports.

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

Forbes strategy: terrible for journalism and the public, decent for the bottom line — How Forbes got to $475 million — That's what a Hong Kong investor has agreed to pay for a firm that two years ago had trouble paying its rent — Integrated Whale Media Investments of Hong Kong …

Discussion: Forbes

Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:

As Spotify passes one year in Asia, piracy is still its number one challenge — In April 2013, Spotify first entered Asia with its launches in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Now it's been just slightly over a year since its move into the region, but Spotify seems to be taking it slow with its expansion plans.

Discussion: RAIN News and hypebot

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Reporters bristle as WH derides, then offers, anonymous sources — Complaints from White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Monday about anonymous news sources prompted a testy exchange with reporters who noted that administration officials regularly demand anonymity.

Discussion: Poynter, Business Insider, BuzzFeed, Politico, @davidshepardson and @tristanlejeune

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Aereo had 77,596 subscribers across 10 cities at the end of 2013 — Here's How Many Subscribers Aereo Had Last Year — Aereo generated lots of attention from the media world in the run-up to its Supreme Court case this spring. — Consumers may have been less interested …

Discussion: @danrayburn