Mediagazer: ‘Snowpiercer’ Hits $3.8 Million on VOD as Weinstein Co. Shakes Up Distribution (Brent Lang/Variety)

10:05 AM ET, July 30, 2014

Top News:

NYT considering shorter print edition at roughly half the price with unlimited digital access — Shorter Times? — The New York Times is considering the introduction of a truncated version of its daily print edition at a discounted rate as the paper mulls new strategies for maximizing …

Discussion: @drudge_report, @patkiernan, Mashable and Poynter

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

The NYT's new paywall products flounder — Early problems for the paper's new apps — The New York Times's expanded paywall offerings are off to a poor start, and its three-year run of higher circulation revenue may be at an end. — The Times's digital-subscription strategy …

Discussion: New York Times Company, Poynter, TheJournal.ie, @ryanchittum, @joepompeo, @dancow, @ryanchittum, NetNewsCheck Latest and Capital New York

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Contently Launches A Nonprofit Arm To Do Investigative Journalism — In the new era of digital media, everyone's a publisher — celebrities, nobodies, spy agencies, house plants and, especially, brands. Building “the plumbing” for brands that want to be part of this new era …

Discussion: Crain's New York Business and Columbia Journalism Review

Richard Ackland / Guardian:

WikiLeaks gag order: open justice is threatened by super-injuctions — Australian courts have increasingly been issuing suppression orders preventing the publication of legal proceedings - and an implicit dislike of the media is partly to blame — Last month, an Australian judge issued …

Discussion: Guardian

WikiLeaks:
Australia bans reporting of international bank corruption case on ‘national security’ grounds

Discussion: Media Channel, The Age, RT, The Rakyat Post, The Malay Mail Online, MSN Malaysia News, TheJournal.ie, @centrehalf4ward, @hazelpress, @rosembrown, @theharryshearer, Crikey, @wikileaks, @schreckreports, @themadhacker, @etan009, @micmehmet and Hit & Run

Alexandra Alter / New York Times:

Amazon Joins With Alloy Entertainment on Digital Publishing Imprint — Amazon Publishing and Alloy Entertainment, a book packager and division of Warner. Bros Television Group, are collaborating on a new digital publishing imprint dedicated to young adult, new adult and commercial fiction.

Discussion: Investor's Business Daily, Good E-Reader, Business Wire, GalleyCat, Bookseller news, Digital Book World and Publishers Weekly

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Al Jazeera America's Gaza coverage boosts ratings — The crisis in Gaza has provided a ratings boost for Al Jazeera America. — Over the past two weeks, Al Jazeera America has seen its ratings grow by 30% compared with the previous four weeks. Its prime-time audience has jumped 40%.

Discussion: @latimes and Adweek

BBC:

Peers say ‘right to be forgotten’ principle unreasonable — Demands for search engines to remove personal data from the web to respect people's “right to be forgotten” are unreasonable, a group of peers says. — The Lords Home Affairs EU Sub-Committee also said it was wrong to give search engines …

Discussion: TechCrunch, The Independent, PC Pro, Metro.co.uk, The Register, The Week UK, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk, Press Gazette, The Drum, Guardian and Guardian

Jason Deans / Guardian:

News of the World's former deputy editor and features editor to face charges over an alleged conspiracy to hack phones — Neil Wallis and Jules Stenson, the former deputy editor and features editor of the News of the World, are to be charged with an alleged conspiracy to hack phones.

Discussion: Reuters, BBC, International Business Times, Sky News, ITV, @arusbridger, @neilwallis1 and @guardiannews

The Graduate Center, CUNY:

The Graduate Center Awarded Multimillion-Dollar Grant to Establish The CUNY Center for Digital Scholarship and Data Visualization — The Graduate Center Awarded Multimillion-Dollar Grant to Establish The CUNY Center for Digital Scholarship and Data Visualization

Owen Bowcott / Guardian:

Max Mosley sues Google over News of the World photos — High court challenge is aimed at enforcing court order made against tabloid after it printed pictures of F1 boss at sex party — Max Mosley, the former head of Formula One, has launched a legal action against Google in the UK demanding …

Discussion: Telegraph, Bloomberg, New Zealand Herald, International Business Times, Washington Post, The Independent, City A.M., ITProPortal, Tech Times, Forbes, BBC and The Drum

Jack Shafer:

Plagiarists' real crime? Ripping off readers. — The plagiarists are back in the news, taking public beatings for allegedly having filed refried copy at BuzzFeed, the New York Times, and the United States Army War College, where Senator John Walsh, (D-Mont.), has just been busted …

Discussion: PandoDaily, Washington Post and New York Magazine

Amazon.com:

Amazon proposes 35/35/30 split, says cheaper e-book prices offer more profit to all — Update re: Amazon/Hachette Business Interruption — This discussion has reached the maximum length permitted, and cannot accept new replies. Start a new discussion — See latest post

Discussion: Mashable, Softpedia News, PC Pro, The Register, PC Magazine, PC World, Bloomberg, Tech Times, Ubergizmo, Mondaq.Com, Gizmodo, @tomsymonds, Wall Street Journal, Gigaom, Forbes, Engadget, Bookseller news, The Next Web, The Verge and Business Insider

Leo Barraclough / Variety:

Sky Deutschland's Second Biggest Shareholder Rejects BSkyB's Offer — Rupert Murdoch's former son-in-law, hedge fund manager Crispin Odey, says, ‘No, thanks’ — LONDON — Hedge fund manager Crispin Odey, who is the former son-in-law of Rupert Murdoch, has turned down an offer …

Discussion: Life Style Extra, Bloomberg, The Age, Reuters, Stock Market Wire, Digital TV Europe, City A.M., SBC News, The Lawyer, Converge! Network Digest, Guardian and Telegraph

Ian Burrell / The Independent:

Tories accused of picking politically partisan shortlist for new BBC Trust chairman — Interviews to find the successor to Lord Patten as chair of the BBC Trust begin on Thursday amid deep concerns as to how the process is being conducted by the Government.

Brent Lang / Variety:

‘Snowpiercer’ Hits $3.8 Million on VOD as Weinstein Co. Shakes Up Distribution — The indie movie market needed a kick in the pants this summer. — Other than “Chef” and the still-expanding “Boyhood,” arthouse films have struggled in theaters. But amid the doldrums …

Discussion: Indiewire

Simon Zekaria / Wall Street Journal:

ITV Says It's Ignoring Takeover Talk as It Posts 46% Profit Jump — Chief Executive Adam Crozier Says It Is “Business as Usual” Amid the Liberty Global Talk — LONDON— ITV PLC, the U.K.'s No. 1 over-the-air commercial broadcaster, said Wednesday it is ignoring talk that it is a takeover candidate …