Mediagazer: Charter is buying TWC and Bright House Networks to gain edge in high-margin internet services, as TV business declines (Zachary M. Seward/Quartz)

4:40 PM ET, May 26, 2015

Top News:

Charter to acquire Time Warner Cable for $55B in cash and stock, including debt, values TWC at $78.7B; buys Bright House for $10.4B — It's Official: Charter to Acquire Time Warner Cable in Deal Valued at $78.7 Billion — Charter Communications, in which John Malone's Liberty Media owns a big stake …

Discussion: CNNMoney, New York Times, New York Times, Bloomberg Business, Variety, Los Angeles Times, Thomson IR, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNBC, Los Angeles Times, The Next Web and Boing Boing

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

TWC stock rises 4.33% following Charter bid, Charter shares dip slightly — Time Warner Cable Stock Soars On Charter Bid — Shares of Time Warner Cable rose noticeably in early trading Tuesday in the wake of an announcement that the New York company had agreed to be purchased …

Discussion: Forbes, Home Media Magazine, Multichannel News, Fortune, Broadcasting & Cable and Reuters

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

Charter is buying TWC and Bright House Networks to gain edge in high-margin internet services, as TV business declines — The charts and maps you need to understand why Charter is buying Time Warner Cable and Bright House — Charter Communications is buying Time Warner Cable for $55.1 billion …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Gizmodo, Business Insider, New York Times, Reynolds Center, @dkthomp, Talking Biz News, Poynter, AdExchanger, Fortune, Mashable, Light Reading and Bloomberg Business

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Charter CEO “Confident” Regulators Will Approve Planned Deals, Touts Consumer Benefits

Discussion: Adweek, Washington Post, Radio & Television …, Variety and @alexjamesfitz

Brad StoneSarah Frier / Bloomberg Business:

Snapchat claims 60% of smartphone owners age 13-34 in the US as active users, says they watch 2B videos a day on the service — Evan Spiegel Reveals Plan to Turn Snapchat Into a Real Business … Evan Spiegel begins a conversation in the offices of his startup, Snapchat …

Discussion: Mediashift, @evanchill, Business Insider, @caseynewton, @mdudas, @nickbelluk, The Verge, PandoDaily, @dannysullivan, @markmilian and TIME

Associated Press:

Media CEOs dominate ranks of top-paid executives — 7 photos — NEW YORK (AP) — They're not Hollywood stars, they're not TV personalities and they don't play in a rock band, but their pay packages are in the same league. — Six of the 10 highest-paid CEOs last year worked in the media industry …

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediaite, Multichannel News, Politico, @deggans, @moisesnaim, BostonGlobe.com and FishbowlNY

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Austin-based startup Knowingly purchases Gigaom assets, plans to relaunch tech site in August — Gigaom to Relaunch in August — Gigaom is getting another shot. Knowingly Corp, an Austin-based startup, has purchased the tech site that suddenly shuttered in March, and plans to relaunch it August 15.

Discussion: E&, The New York Observer, Fast Company, Guardian, @caleweissman, @harrymccracken, Talking Biz News and @pkafka

Time Inc:

Time Inc. Acquires FanSided, A Sports, Entertainment and Lifestyle Digital Network — Time Inc. Chairman and CEO, Joe Ripp said, “The FanSided business is an investment in a modern content strategy plus deeply engaged and passionate audiences. The entrepreneurial and agile FanSided leadership team …

Discussion: FanSided, MinOnline, Media Wire Daily, FishbowlNY and @anthony_dibona

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Ad blocking keeps rising, leaving publishers few options unless they change relationships with readers — Ad Blocks' Doomsday Scenarios — On the ad blocking front, the situation keeps getting worse. Until now, the media industry pretended to ignore the problem, perhaps waiting for a miracle cure.

Discussion: @charlesarthur, @charlescmann, @chartier and @jayrosen_nyu

Edmund Lee / Re/code:

AOL was approached by three bidders other than Verizon, considered selling Huffington Post, TechCrunch; CEO Armstrong gets bonus of about $59M for making deal — AOL Was Approached by Three Other Bidders After Verizon — AOL was approached by three other companies for a possible acquisition …

Discussion: Fortune and @williamalden

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Facebook adds critics' reviews to select restaurant pages in a pilot with seven publications including Bon Appetit, Conde Nast Traveler, and Eater — Facebook begins adding critics' reviews to restaurant pages — Two weeks after starting to host news articles on its servers …

Discussion: Consumerist and Engadget

Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:

Twitter cracks down on infamous conservative troll Chuck Johnson — Twitter has used new rules about violent threats to crack down on an infamous conservative troll. — Twitter suspended the account of Charles C. Johnson on Sunday after he posted that he had begun to solicit donations that would go toward …

Discussion: Washington Post, Salon, Mediaite, Politico, Re/code, PandoDaily, @hunterw, @wesleylowery, @romenesko, @popehat, @digiphile, @adamsteinbaugh, @blakehounshell, KQED News, @digiphile and The Wrap

Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:

Inside the labs where Netflix tests the latest TVs for its Recommended TV program — Inside the labs where Netflix is trying to make televisions suck less — In a nondescript room in the center of Netflix's headquarters, you can walk into a small, paper white chamber called the Shu.

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Taiwanese news site The News Lens raises between $1-2M from investors, including ex-Washington Post editor Marcus Brauchli's investment firm, North Base Media — Taiwan-Based Media Startup The News Lens Raises Series A To Grow Its Global Viewership — The News Lens, an independent news site based …

Discussion: @500startups

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