Mediagazer: Townsquare snaps up hip-hop mag XXL, plans to go digital-only (Keith J. Kelly/New York Post)

5:45 PM ET, September 22, 2014

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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: Business Insider, @breakingbytes, @pkafka, @edmundlee, @ampressman, @sfiegerman, 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, Variety, AppleInsider, Shelly Palmer, Pocket-lint, hypebot, @indielabelnews, Engadget, EW.com, The Verge, @kevindgrant, @ambientrushton, @justinangel, @mikeisaac, Mashable, @viticci, @obrien, @jyarow, @tylerwillis, @navjosh, 9to5Mac, BGR, Electronista and MacRumors

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, @jbenton, @thestalwart, @b_fung, @adamclarkestes, @kansasalps and @clarajeffery

Scott Stossel / Nieman Reports:
Atlantic editor Scott Stossel on keeping one of America's oldest print magazines relevant

Discussion: FishbowlNY and bookforum.com

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 …

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

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, Businessweek, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and Guardian

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

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.

Discussion: Poynter, New York Times, NetNewsCheck Latest, Capital New York, Business Wire, @emilybell, Politico, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, @raju, @mlcalderone, FishbowlNY and MediaWire Daily

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

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

Donna M. Airoldi / Street Fight:

Report: Online and Digital Ads to Reach 25% of Local Media Revenues in 2015 — Total local media revenues are expected to reach $139.3 billion next year, up from $137 billion this year, for a 1.6% growth rate, with digital and online advertising surpassing the one-quarter mark for the first time …

Discussion: Capital New York and NetNewsCheck Latest

Folio:

How HBR Has Turned Its Old Content Into New Revenue — A Q&A With Sarah McConville, Harvard Business Review's VP of Marketing. — Smart media companies have figured out how to continuously pull in revenue from some of their oldest content—sometimes going back over a hundred years.

Discussion: @raju