Mediagazer: Investigation continues into Sony hack, company claims news of North Korea being singled out as culprit is “not accurate” (New York Times)

10:40 AM ET, December 4, 2014

Top News:

Dish, Writers Guild, Glenn Beck's TheBlaze, consumer groups, and more launch Stop Mega Comcast coalition to fight $45B TWC merger — Coalition Opposes Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger — A group of companies, public interest groups and labor unions have joined forces to urge regulators …

Discussion: Consumerist, The Wrap, FierceCable, Multichannel News and Variety

Adweek:

Newly Released FCC Documents Show Just How Frustrated Comcast Is With Netflix — Giant cable merger under fire — Comcast is tired of Netflix, that's for sure. The cable giant had to answer a number of difficult questions from the Federal Communications Commission last week …

Ted Johnson / Variety:
FCC resumes AT&T/DirecTV and Comcast/TWC merger reviews, establishes new deadlines for comments

Discussion: Comcast Voices, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Reuters, Gigaom, Home Media Magazine and Broadcasting & Cable

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft sells its 17.6% stake in Nook back to Barnes & Noble for $62M and 2.7M shares — Microsoft sells its stake in Nook back to Barnes & Noble — Microsoft and Barnes & Noble unveiled a “strategic partnership” back in April 2012 which involved the software maker investing $300 million …

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Gigaom, Reuters, ABC News, ZDNet, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Lunch

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Saavn Partners With Twitter To Bring Tweet-Powered Radio To Its Streaming Service — India-focused music service Saavn is upping its social game after it partnered with Twitter to introduce a tweet-powered radio station for its users. — The company serves up “millions” …

Discussion: Radioandmusic.com, Trakin' the india …, Indian Television Dot Com, bgr.in, dna, TechTree.com and MediaNama

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

BuzzFeed expanding San Francisco bureau to 20 staffers, hires Mat Honan from Wired as bureau chief — Wired's Mat Honan Hired to Run New Buzzfeed Silicon Valley Bureau — Matt Honan, the high-profile Wired writer and editor, has been hired by Buzzfeed to be its new Silicon Valley bureau chief.

Discussion: Poynter, @karaswisher, @strngwys, @emilydreyfuss, @jguynn, @blam, @mat, @rafat, @peretti, @jessmisener, @reckless, @mathewi, @buzzfeedben, @jmbooyah, @fmanjoo, @digiphile, @davidbauer, @antderosa, @mikeisaac, @mattbuchanan, @zpower and @walldo

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Top Bloomberg Pursuits editors leave abruptly amid shakeup — The two top editors at Bloomberg Pursuits, the luxury personal finance magazine from Bloomberg LP, left the company on Wednesday. — Ted Moncrieff, the editor of Bloomberg Pursuits, had joined the magazine in December 2012.

Discussion: @joepompeo and @aubernalevy

ABC News:

Al Qaeda Group Threatens American Hostage Luke Somers in New Video … Al Qaeda's Yemen affiliate Wednesday night showed an American hostage on camera for the first time, who officials say was the objective of a U.S. rescue attempt last week, threatening to kill him in three days if President Obama doesn't “meet our demands.”

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Post, New York Times, International Business Times, Press Association, The Independent, CBS News, Telegraph, @mlcalderone and Mashable

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Sky to sell 80% stake in its betting unit Sky Bet to CVC Capital for up to $1.13B — Sky to Sell Controlling Stake in Betting Unit for Up to $1.13 Billion — The deal with private equity group CVC values Sky Bet at $1.3 billion — European pay TV giant Sky has agreed to sell …

Discussion: International Business Times, The Independent, BBC, Broadband TV News, New York Times, Reuters, RTTNews, Insider Media Ltd, Telegraph, Life Style Extra, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Advanced Television, The Drum and Financial Times

Human Rights Watch:

Iran extends Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian's pretrial detention for two more months — Iran: Journalist's Detention Extended — Washington Post Reporter Held 4 Months, but Not Charged — (Beirut) - Iran's judiciary has extended Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian's pretrial detention for another two months.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Voice of America, Agence France-Presse, Middle East, Daijiworld, @cathtaibi, @kooyjan, The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed

Courtney Sherwood / Reuters:

U.S. broadcaster intends to test newsgathering drones in Oregon — (Reuters) - A U.S. media company said on Wednesday it wants to be among the first broadcasters to launch news-gathering drones once the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues new policies governing the unmanned remote-control aircraft …

Discussion: eandt.theiet.org, AllAccess.com and KOIN-TV

New York Times:

Investigation continues into Sony hack, company claims news of North Korea being singled out as culprit is “not accurate” — Sony Pictures and F.B.I. Investigating Attack by Hackers — LOS ANGELES — Sony Pictures Entertainment and the F.B.I. on Wednesday were hunting …

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Wrap, The Wrap, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, Hollywood Reporter, BBC, Bloomberg Politics, Ars Technica, Fusion, BGR, Associated Press, SlashGear, Washington Post, @violetblue, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post and Deadline

Gustavo Arellano / Navel Gazing:

Layoffs at Freedom's OC Register, Riverside Press-Enterprise, affecting 100, mostly in sales — 100 Layoffs Happening at OC Register, Riverside P-E TODAY: UPDATE — 1ST UPDATE, 11:40 A.M.: Here's a note from new Orange County Register publisher Rich Mirman explaining the layoffs to his crew.