Mediagazer: Next up for Netflix: An expansion to South Korea, Italy or the Middle East? (Janko Roettgers/Gigaom)

7:35 PM ET, October 8, 2014

Top News:

NBC Wanted to Hire Jon Stewart As Host of Meet the Press — “They were ready to back the Brink's truck up,” one source said — This Sunday marks Chuck Todd's one-month anniversary in the anchor chair at Meet the Press. Despite an opening-week ratings spike from his exclusive sit …

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, @tomgara, Inside TV, Talking Points Memo, @elizabeth_calo, Business Insider, @ewerickson, @jjsimonwp, @alexweprin, The Daily Caller, The Week and Mother Jones

Glenn Fleishman / The Magazine:

Subscriber-supported magazine app The Magazine will produce its last issue Dec. 17 — Last Issue Is December 17, 2014 — Hello, readers, The Magazine will stop publishing its every-other-week issues on December 17, 2014, cancel all outstanding subscriptions, and automatically provide pro-rated refunds …

Discussion: Bring Me the Head Shot …, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @jasonalcorn, The Digital Reader, @lschmeiser, Talking New Media, @jamiemsmyth, Cult of Mac, @chrispirillo, @glennf, @themagazineapp, @glennf and @harrisj

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Comcast Shareholders Approve Time Warner Cable Merger — More than 99% of Comcast shareholders voted this morning in support of the company's planned acquisition of Time Warner Cable. TWC shareholders, who are expected to vote on the merger tomorrow, would get 2.875 shares of Comcast Class A stock for every one of their TWC shares.

Discussion: Multichannel News, Radio & Television …, GalleyCat, The Wrap, Lost Remote, VentureBeat, Variety and FishbowlNY

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

Funny or Die Launches News Hub (Exclusive) — “You can be entertained while getting your news” — Funny or Die is tackling the news with the Wednesday launch of its newest content vertical. — Funny or Die News will feature daily editorial content about current events from the comedy website.

Discussion: Mediaite and @funnyordie

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Next up for Netflix: An expansion to South Korea, Italy or the Middle East? — Netflix is looking for people who can speak Korean, Arabic and a number of other languages. The job offer could give us clues about the company's international plans. — Netflix isn't done with its international expansion …

David Higgerson:

Instead of fearing Facebook, journalists should be exploring how to make the most of it — Why journalism needs to get over its fear of Facebook — At the Online News Association conference in Chicago, Facebook went under the microscope, challenged almost to prove it was a force for good in journalism …

Discussion: @davidhiggerson, @raju, @macloo, @marcsettle and HoldTheFrontPage

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Hulu CEO mulls cutting number of ads running on Hulu Plus — Hulu is looking to lighten its ad load. — CEO Mike Hopkins, who took the helm in May, is considering cutting back the number of ads that appear on Hulu Plus, the $7.99-a-month paid tier of the online streaming service, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Gigaom

Abigail Edge / Journalism.co.uk:

Shorthand launches immersive storytelling tool aimed at freelancers — Immersive aims to offer individual journalists a quick and cost effective format for producing media-rich stories combining text, images and video — Shorthand, the immersive storytelling platform …

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Ongoing crowdfunding sites like Patreon are becoming a source of revenue for journalists — Can Patreon's crowdfunding platform help journalists go direct? Jesse Brown is going to find out — Canadian journalist Jesse Brown decided he needed to get paid for his podcast or give it up …

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Gannett shifts some costs of USA Today layoffs to states — USA Today laid off about 70 people last month. Those who lost their jobs received a week of pay for every year of service, health care through the end of September and the vacation pay they'd already accrued for the year.

Discussion: @abeaujon

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Newsweek announces it's profitable — IBT Media is celebrating the first anniversary of its Newsweek ownership with some good news. — The publisher, which closed on a sale of the title last October for an undisclosed sum, told staff this week that it plans to reveal Newsweek is now profitable …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, The Wrap, @joepompeo, FishbowlNY, @joelcifer and @granteb

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

George Gallup's 1928 college thesis showed readers lie about how much serious news they want — Readers Are Liars: The 1928 Study That Predicted the Future of News — It's a simple enough question: What do you read all day long? — For hundreds of years, it was also an utter mystery to the publishing business.

Discussion: @dkthomp and @alexweprin