Mediagazer: MGM Acquires Stake in Mark Burnett/Roma Downey Production Companies, Revives United Artists Banner (Cynthia Littleton/Variety)

6:30 PM ET, September 22, 2014

Top News:

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Apple won't shut down the Beats Music streaming service, but the Beats Music brand may change — Apple's Beats Music Brand May Go Away. Apple's Beats Music Service Is Sticking Around. — Earlier this year, Apple bought Beats Music and Beats Electronics for $3 billion.

Discussion: AppleInsider, @breakingbytes, @pkafka, @edmundlee, @ampressman, @sfiegerman, Business Insider, App Advice and Consequence of Sound

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Beats Music brand will be shut down, product could be rolled into iTunes — Apple Plans To Shut Down Beats Music — Apple will discontinue the streaming music service Beats Music it acquired in May, according to five sources, including several prominent employees at Apple and Beats.

Discussion: Tech Trader Daily, EW.com, Variety, NME, Shelly Palmer, Pocket-lint, hypebot, @indielabelnews, Engadget, The Verge, @kevindgrant, @ambientrushton, @justinangel, @mikeisaac, Mashable, @viticci, MacRumors, @obrien, @jyarow, @tylerwillis, @navjosh, 9to5Mac, Electronista and BGR

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

An Article on Shonda Rhimes Rightly Causes a Furor — The article on the television producer Shonda Rhimes hadn't yet appeared in Sunday's paper, but the virtual world was ablaze in protest over it on Friday after it was published online. — Written by the longtime TV critic, Alessandra Stanley …

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:

The (Atlantic) Wire Is Shutting Down — The Wire, formerly known at The Atlantic Wire, is shutting down, according to an internal memo obtained by Gawker. The breaking news site will be folded into the main site of The Atlantic magazine. Co-presidents James Bennett and Bob Cohn sent …

Discussion: Poynter, The New York Observer, Capital New York, MediaWire Daily, FishbowlNY, Talking Points Memo, @mkonnikova, @jktrotter, @jbenton, @thestalwart, @b_fung, @adamclarkestes, @kansasalps and @clarajeffery

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

AT&T, Chernin buy majority stake in Fullscreen YouTube network, valuing it between $200-300M — AT&T & Chernin Buy Fullscreen, the Big YouTube Video Network — Otter Media, the Web video joint venture between AT&T and the Chernin Group, is confirming its deal to buy a controlling stake in Fullscreen …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider, Gigaom, AdAge, Reuters, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Variety, Bloomberg, @pkafka, Mashable, Capital New York and The Next Web

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Townsquare snaps up hip-hop mag XXL, plans to go digital-only — Townsquare Media is buying XXL, the 17-year old urban hip-hop magazine from Harris Publications, and will immediately stop producing a regular print edition, The Post has learned. — The October-November issue of the six-times-a-year title …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Radio & Television …, MediaWire Daily, @passionweiss, @joshokane, @thekidskoob, @refinedhype and @adampopescu

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

MGM Acquires Stake in Mark Burnett/Roma Downey Production Companies, Revives United Artists Banner — MGM has acquired a 55% stake in the production companies jointly owned by Mark Burnett, Roma Downey and Hearst Entertainment and has revived the United Artists banner to house the investment.

Discussion: Forbes, Multichannel News, Deadline, Los Angeles Times and Hollywood Reporter

Adam Hochberg / Poynter:

New project from Gannett uses Oculus Rift to deliver news via virtual reality — News for the Minecraft generation: Gannett experiments with virtual reality — One of America's largest media companies is hoping that young readers want to get their news the same way that video gamers play World of Warcraft and Doom.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Pocket-lint, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Businessweek and Guardian

Today's Zaman:

Twitter account of Today's Zaman editor faces closure — A Turkish court is seeking to withhold the content of tweets posted by the managing editor of Today's Zaman in a growing crackdown on journalists, a troubling trend that has become more worrisome as the government continues to consolidate its power.

Discussion: @bkenes, @istanbul_themes, @michaelvdgalien and @abdbozkurt

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

The FCC Hasn't Decided How It Will Enforce Net Neutrality — This morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indicated in a blog post that it is “reviewing” a number of legal methods concerning how to enforce new net neutrality rules. — The implication is plain: No choice has been made.

Discussion: FCC.gov and National Journal

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Blogging platform Svbtle moves to paid membership, costs $6 per month for new users — Svbtle, the stylish blogging platform that opened up to all users at the beginning of the year, has pivoted into a paid-for service, which costs $6 per month. — Created by prominent designer Dustin Curtis …

Discussion: The Digital Reader

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

New York Times Launches ‘First Draft’ Politics Site And Newsletter — NEW YORK — Carl Hulse, a veteran of The New York Times for nearly three decades, considers there to be a hole in the paper's Washington report. — The Times, online and in print, covers the day's big news and often looks more broadly at the political landscape.