Mediagazer: Sky commits $19.6M over three years to production hub in Milan, to compete with the likes of Netflix, create products for UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany Austria (Henry Mance/Financial Times)

7:45 PM ET, May 26, 2015

Top News:

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

Vox Media acquires ReCode in all-stock deal, Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher to stay at ReCode after merger — Vox Media Acquiring ReCode — ReCode, the news website led by the veteran journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, is being acquired by Vox Media, a deal that reflects …

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox Media Blog, CNNMoney, FishbowlNY, TIME, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, @petersterne, @dangillmor, @dylanbyers, @rafat, @dancow, @mmasnick, @nitashatiku, @brianstelter, @nytimesbusiness, @mikeisaac, @petersterne, @mathewi, @pkafka and Poynter

Re/code:

Vox Media Acquires Re/code Owner Revere Digital — We are thrilled to announce that Re/code's parent company, Revere Digital, is being wholly acquired by the highly respected digital-native media company Vox Media. This is the next big step in our mission to bring you quality tech journalism …

Discussion: Gawker, VentureBeat, The Wrap, USA Today, Mashable, WWD, Guardian, Forbes, Business Insider, AdAge, The Huffington Post, @emilybell, GeekWire, E& and The Week

Nilay Patel / The Verge:

Recode's reviews team of Katie Boehret, Bonnie Cha, and Lauren Goode to join Verge staff, Mossberg to write reviews, columns for both sites — The Verge and Recode are joining forces — I'm excited to announce that The Verge's parent company Vox Media is acquiring Recode …

Discussion: The Next Web, @waltmossberg and Talking New Media

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

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: New York Times, CNNMoney, Bloomberg Business, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Thomson IR, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Washington Post, The Next Web, Los Angeles Times 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: WWD, Multichannel News, Home Media Magazine, Forbes, Reuters, Fortune and Broadcasting & Cable

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: Broadcasting & Cable, TVNewser, @deggans, Politico, @moisesnaim, Mediaite, BostonGlobe.com and FishbowlNY

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:

BuzzFeed adds Nitasha Tiku to its San Francisco bureau, now grown to 17 people since Mat Honan's hire as bureau chief — BuzzFeed hires a dozen reporters in Silicon Valley, including The Verge's Nitasha Tiku, to try to break more tech news — BuzzFeed has quietly been hiring like crazy in Silicon Valley …

Discussion: @nitashatiku

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, FishbowlNY, @anthony_dibona and Media Wire Daily

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

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, New York Times, TIME 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: Engadget and Consumerist

Henry Mance / Financial Times:

Sky commits $19.6M over three years to production hub in Milan, to compete with the likes of Netflix, create products for UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany Austria — Sky unveils Europe-wide arts push — Sky has made its first significant move to create pan-European television programming …

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