Mediagazer: The Economist Films: The UK magazine launches its first film studio (Eric Blattberg/Digiday)

3:50 PM ET, March 17, 2015

Top News:

Politico Europe to launch April 21, with weekly print edition starting April 23; joint venture with Axel Springer includes main newsroom in Brussels — Staffed-up POLITICO Europe to launch April 21 — POLITICO Europe, the Arlington-based company's foray into the European media market …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Guardian, @ahmed, @tarapalmeri, Press Gazette, @matinastevis, FishbowlNY, @mattyglesias, @ronpatz, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Poynter, @exen and Media Wire Daily

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Apple aiming to launch online TV service in September with about 25 channels, anchored by ABC, CBS, Fox — Apple in Talks to Launch Online TV Service — Service would have about 25 channels, anchored by broadcasters such as ABC, CBS and Fox — Shalini Ramachandran and Daisuke Wakabayashi

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
NBC plans cable-dependent Apple TV app for second half of 2015

Discussion: @9to5mac, @markgurman, The Verge and Business Insider

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

Jay Yarow named executive editor at Business Insider — Jay Yarow, formerly the deputy editor at Business Insider, has been named executive editor there, according to an announcement from Business Insider CEO and Editor-in-Chief Henry Blodget. Yarow replaces former Executive Editor Gus Lubin …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @fmanjoo and @hblodget

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Ex-Washington Post columnist Jason Reid has his new ESPN radio show halted after criticizing station owner in a column — ESPN radio suddenly halts ‘The Man Cave’, and some blame NFL's Redskins — Sports columnist Jason Reid said goodbye to his Washington Post colleagues on Wednesday …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, ProFootballTalk, NBCSports.com, The Big Lead, Deadspin and @sbnlukethomas

John Cook / Gawker Politburo:

Gawker launches Public Pool, a site that collates original White House pool reports; raw copy normally available only to media on WH email distribution list — Here Are All the White House Pool Reports — Much of the mundane, day-to-day media coverage of the president's activities …

Discussion: @nora_kelly, @johnjcook and @onthemedia

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Lab:

BuzzFeed UK hit 18.8M unique visitors in February and is expanding editorial staff from 35 to 50 in 2015 — London calling: A look at BuzzFeed's British invasion — LONDON — BuzzFeed is, of course, known for mixing news with lists and quizzes, so it was inevitable that when British Prime …

Discussion: @niemanlab, @tomgara, @sarahdrinkwater, @broderick, BuzzFeed, @niemanlab and Financial Times

Peter Kafka / Re/code:
BuzzFeed's New Strategy: Fishing for Eyeballs in Other People's Streams

Discussion: @hblodget, @karaswisher, @joshconstine, @jbenton, @mccollumashley, @richjm, TechCrunch, @rafat and AdAge

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Trinity Mirror in early stage talks to buy Richard Desmond's Express Newspapers — Mirror owner in talks to buy Richard Desmond's Express — It is not known if negotiations between Trinity Mirror and Express Newspapers include the Sunday Express and Star titles

Discussion: The Times, The Drum, Press Association, Press Gazette, Featured Articles and @marksweney

Eric Blattberg / Digiday:

The Economist Films: The UK magazine launches its first film studio — Nearly 172 years since publishing its first edition, The Economist has arrived at a clear video strategy. — On Monday, The Economist Group announced the launch of Economist Films, which will work with Economist journalists to produce original video content.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, @edwardboches and @snorthfield45

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

YouTube To Replace Annotations With Smarter, Mobile-Optimized “Cards” — For years, YouTube has offered annotations as a way for video creators to add clickable text overlays to their videos as a way to boost engagement with viewers, provide more information, or help in navigation.

Discussion: YouTube Creator Blog, Fast Company, gHacks Technology News, Digital Trends, TechnoBuffalo, 9to5Google, Tubefilter, Android Authority, AndroidHeadlines.com, SlashGear, YouTube Creator Blog, The Next Web, Marketing Land, PCMag Australia internet …, VentureBeat, The Verge, Guardian and Engadget

Reuters:

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC in advanced talks to buy most of Digital First Media's assets for $400M — Exclusive: Apollo in the lead to buy Digital First Media - sources — (Reuters) - Buyout firm Apollo Global Management LLC is in advanced talks to acquire …

Discussion: Capital New York, Poynter, @jimbradysp, The Register Citizen, @nickwoltman, @dmjreports, @danielpetty, Salt Lake Tribune, @dbrauer and @gregroumeliotis

Brian Fung / Washington Post:

The FCC's internal watchdog has opened an investigation into agency's net neutrality rule-making process, according to a top Republican lawmaker — GOP: The FCC's inspector general has launched an investigation into net neutrality — The Federal Communications Commission's internal watchdog …

Discussion: Deadline, The Wrap, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Fox News, National Journal, Ars Technica, Reuters, Los Angeles Times and Associated Press

Janko Roettgers / Medium:

Chromecast can be controlled by select TV remotes, made possible by HDMI-CEC protocol — Chromecast now works with your TV's remote control — One of the most frequent complaints about Chromecast has been that it doesn't come with a remote control, requiring users to fiddle with their phone …