Top News:
Napier Lopez / The Next Web:
HBO Now is finally hitting Android and Fire OS devices — HBO Now is no longer exclusive to iOS on mobile. — The company announced it's bringing its internet-only streaming offering to Android and Fire OS tablets. New customers can download the app right from the Google Play Store or the Amazon Appstore.
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Ben Popper / The Verge:
Interview with HBO's Bernadette Aulestia, EVP of global distribution operations, about HBO Now, cord cutters, cannibalizing fears, and scaling for big events — An interview with Bernadette Aulestia, the woman expanding HBO beyond cable — Bernadette Aulestia's first gig helping HBO expand beyond cable was a short-lived effort.
Mackenzie Weinger / news:rewired:
Tow Center's Emily Bell: News organizations have lost control of distribution, must work with social media apps and develop their own tech — Emily Bell: news groups should harness tech in the service of ‘good’ journalism — With social media companies stepping into the news business like never before …
Discussion:
TheMediaBriefing, @mweinger and @mweinger
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Illicit sharing of HBO, Netflix, and other account passwords estimated to cost the VOD industry $500M+ in 2015 — Password Sharing: Are Netflix, HBO Missing $500 Million by Not Cracking Down? — Subscription VOD players, fighting for market share, aren't likely to crack down on cheaters
Discussion:
kottke.org
Drew Olanoff / TechCrunch:
Flipagram cuts deal with Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, and more for clips, raises $70M Series B led by Sequoia; John Doerr, Mike Moritz join board — Flipagram Raises $70M, Scores Record Label Deals Thanks To 30M+ Music Hungry Users — It's a mix of Instagram and YouTube...maybe a bit of a old school RockYou component.
Discussion:
iamWire, VentureBeat, The Next Web and Variety
Agence France-Presse:
Egypt drops proposed two-year jail penalty for journalists who report information that contradicts government — Egypt to revise anti-terror media law: MENA — Cairo (AFP) - Egypt agreed to revise a controversial article of its touted anti-terror law threatening journalists with jail …
Discussion:
Guardian and Al Jazeera English
Madeline Welsh / Nieman Lab:
As digital media organizations expand to India, Medianama founder Nikhil Pahwa says success requires India-specific content — Are you a Western news company looking to expand to India? First, decide who you want to serve — Over the past seven years, Nikhil Pahwa has built …
Discussion:
@saikatd and @dikshamadhok
Justin Ellis / Nieman Lab:
Twitter's new preview cards could help publishers better highlight stories by providing extra room for art, video, and text, and get around 140-character limit — Twitter's new article preview cards could be a boost for publishers — Publishers may be able to get more value …
Ewen MacAskill / Guardian:
UK watchdog report finds two police forces unlawfully accessed data records to find journalists' sources — Two police forces breached code on protection of journalists' sources — Report by interception of communications watchdog reveals breaches of new code of practice in force only since March
Discussion:
Press Gazette
Hollywood Reporter:
BBC's “Scale and Scope” to Be Reviewed, U.K. Government Says — Just over a week after it put the BBC at the center of a dispute regarding its financial arrangements, the British government said Thursday that it would have to review its “scale and scope” as the two sides start negotiating …
Discussion:
Guardian, Guardian, Hollywood Reporter, Mashable, @johnplunkett149, @psmith, @dcms, BBC, Telegraph, bbc.co.uk, Guardian and GOV.UK departments and policy
Nikhil Pahwa / MediaNama:
NewsHunt acquires BuyT for integrating contextual product recommendations — News and content app NewsHunt has bought BuyT, a product discovery and recommendation platform, which will be integrated with NewsHunt for delivering product recommendations to NewsHunt users, and help it improve its mobile advertising based monetization.
Discussion:
The Tech Portal, iamWire, The Economic Times, YourStory.com and Tech in Asia
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Former AOL exec Ran Harnevo raises $20M for Bkstg, a musician-fan app, expected to launch later this year — Bkstg, Backed by $20 Million in Funding, Promises to Connect Musicians and Their Fans — Justin Bieber blew up on YouTube and dominates Twitter. He also visits Instagram and recently started appearing on Snapchat.
Hollywood Reporter:
A look inside Jeff Bezos' Amazon Studios as it makes its push into original movies — Amazon's Hollywood Shopping Cart Secrets — “Can I show you my Pinterest board?” offers Roy Price, holding out his iPhone. “This is how we develop shows on Amazon.” — The head of Amazon Studios …
Discussion:
Business Insider, @neilcybart, @janicebmin, @jyarow, GeekWire and CNNMoney
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