Top News:


YouTube Music standalone app launches on iOS and Android; YouTube Red subscribers get offline listening and no ads — YouTube Music is here, and it's a game changer — YouTube is first and foremost a video portal, the world's largest and most popular online collection of moving images.
Discussion:
App Store, YouTube Blog, Fast Company, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, Billboard, Digiday, SocialTimes, RAIN News, SlashGear, Pocket-lint, AppleInsider, TmoNews, Daily Mail, New York Daily News, Reuters, CNET, CNET, Lifehacker, SlashGear, ZDNet, The Next Web, Tech Insider, VentureBeat, hypebot, Re/code, Engadget, The FADER, 9to5Google, CNET, Ars Technica, Variety, Tech Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Technology Chronicles, Tubefilter, Vulture, USA Today, @drew, @caseynewton, @stevekovach, Wired and EW.com


Snapchat Signs Up Another Publisher: The Wall Street Journal — The Wall Street Journal is going after a new audience. So, apparently, is Snapchat. — The Journal will soon be joining Snapchat's group of Discover publishers, according to multiple sources, the first major business publication …
Discussion:
WWD, Media Wire Daily and Talking Biz News


Sources: publishers struggle to extract as much ad revenue from Facebook's Instant Articles as they do from their own sites; Facebook mulls changes to ad rules — Facebook Mulls Ad Changes for Instant Articles After Publisher Pushback — Publishers encountered challenges because of restrictions imposed by the social network
Discussion:
SocialTimes, Wall Street Journal, Talking New Media, The Whip, @scottthurm, Engadget, Forbes, The Digital Reader, @martinsfp, @sims and @abrams


Student journalists at University of Missouri talk about covering a local story that has become national — How student journalists at Mizzou are telling a local story that's become national — Missourian newsroom. Photo by David Rees/Missouri School of Journalism
Discussion:
USA Today, Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Washington Times, Boing Boing, The Daily Caller, Refinery29 and SBNation.com


Google Play Books improves comic book reading by adding vertical scrolling mode, curated pages for discovery, on Android in coming days, iOS soon — Google Improves Comic Book Reading Experience In Play Books For Android — Google today launched an upgrade to its Google Play Books store …
Discussion:
Official Android Blog, GalleyCat, 9to5Google, Re/code, Batman News and The Digital Reader


Sources: Hulu in early talks to sell stake to Time Warner in deal valuing Hulu at $5B-$6B; Time Warner would invest cash, commit to license content — Hulu in Talks to Sell Stake to Time Warner — Deal could help streaming-video service compete with Netflix, Amazon
Discussion:
CNNMoney, The Wrap, Fortune, Deadline, Business Insider, US News, Tubefilter, @brianstelter, Variety, The Next Web, @shaliniwsj, @tcarmody, @shaliniwsj and The Verge


Tribune Publishing approves buyouts for 7 percent of its employees … Tribune Publishing has approved buyouts for approximately 7 percent of its eligible 7,000 employees across its media portfolio, according to a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Discussion:
Fortune, Associated Press, @allymarotti, @joepompeo, @romenesko and Chicago Business


The New York Times hopes its first virtual reality film, The Displaced, plus mass distribution of Google Cardboard kick off greater VR adoption — The New York Times hopes its first virtual reality film, “The Displaced,” kicks off mass adoption of VR — “This is probably …
Discussion:
TOWCenter, Washington Post and Fortune


CNN's iReport to shift from users contributing photos and videos to directly sourcing them from Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter users — Defeated by social media, CNN overhauls iReport — Big platforms' media dominance is forcing traditional publishers to change many parts of how they do business …
Discussion:
Fortune

El País cancels column by Miguel Ángel Aguilar after he criticizes growing debt and dependence of Spanish news media — El País Columnist Says Dismissal Tied to His Criticism of Media Independence — MADRID — A veteran journalist said on Wednesday that El País …
Discussion:
The Spain Report and The Spain Report


ABC is developing exclusive shows for its Watch ABC app — ABC is working with comedian Iliza Shlesinger on a new show that could live entirely within the network's Watch ABC app, according to Variety. It's a move that has a little in common with CBS' reveal that a new Star Trek series …
Discussion:
Variety


Comcast launches Stream, its $15/month streaming service in Greater Boston; available only for Xfinity customers, and only within subscribers home — Comcast launches standalone streaming service in Boston area, but there's a catch — Comcast said Wednesday that its new $15-per-month …
Discussion:
PR Newswire, The Next Web, FierceCable, DSLreports, The Verge, Multichannel News, BetaBoston and Multichannel News