Mediagazer: Pluto TV raises $30M from ProSieben, Scripps Networks, and more for European expansion of ad-supported streaming service; sources say its valuation is now $140M (Matthew Garrahan/Financial Times)

3:20 PM ET, October 12, 2016

Top News:

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Amazon launches Music Unlimited, a subscription streaming service that costs $4/month for Echo owners, $8/month for Prime members, and $10/month for all others — Rumors have been swirling around Amazon's plans to launch its own, standalone music streaming service, and now those reports …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Pandora launches Pandora Plus, its $5/month ad-free service that also gives users offline playback, more song skips and replays — Pandora is not taking today's debut of Amazon's new, on-demand music streaming service lying down. The company has conveniently timed the launch of its own new paid tier …

Discussion: Pandora Blog, RAIN News, Variety and VentureBeat

David Bixenspan / LawNewz:

Gawker Media files new motion as part of bankruptcy proceedings, asking court to authorize investigation into Peter Thiel's financing of lawsuits against it — On Tuesday, Gawker Media, the largely defunct media company that recently sold most of its assets to Univision at auction …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Hollywood Reporter

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Gerard Baker tells reporters writing must be sharper, shorter, and more creative as newsroom turns focus to digital — The Wall Street Journal is in the middle of a newsroom overhaul. And, according to its top editor, that transformation will include a sharper focus on cutting out editorial flab.

Discussion: @charliebeckett, @itsren, @jonathanhaynes, @brizzyc, @jdye, @bristei and @lydiadepillis

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

Newsroom memo: Huffington Post's Executive Editor Liz Heron is departing the site — Liz Heron, managing editor of The Huffington Post, is leaving that organization about a year after being appointed the newsroom's second-in-command. — Heron was hired on in September 2015 after serving …

Discussion: Liz Heron, FishbowlNY, The Wrap, Editor & Publisher, @mlcalderone and Politico

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

BuzzFeed aims to grow commerce revenue with Shop BuzzFeed, its online shop which sells merchandise created by the site's illustrators and designers — If you like your socks with milkshakes and French fries, good news: BuzzFeed has a store for you. — This summer, the online news …

Discussion: Business Insider

Ricardo Bilton / Nieman Lab:

California news site Berkeleyside launches a direct public offering, giving readers a chance to invest, with up to $800K in preferred stock available — Based solely on the numbers, the Green Bay Packers shouldn't exist. Its stadium, Lambeau Field, has a max capacity of 81,435 people …

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

Sources: Billy Bush to be dropped from NBC's Today show; one source says announcement will happen “in the coming days” — On Saturday night NBC was going to throw a surprise party for Billy Bush in Greenwich Village. Now it has been cancelled. — “Surprise,” indeed.

Caitlin Dewey / Washington Post:

The Washington Post tracked Facebook's Trending Topics section over three weeks, uncovering five fake stories and three profoundly inaccurate ones — The Intersect ran a little experiment a few weeks ago: During the work day, we'd check in with Facebook each hour, on the hour …

Discussion: Gizmodo, @mlcalderone, @vijayshekhar, @laurahelmuth, @caitlindewey, @brendannyhan, @mantzarlis and Mother Jones

Matthew Garrahan / Financial Times:

Pluto TV raises $30M from ProSieben, Scripps Networks, and more for European expansion of ad-supported streaming service; sources say its valuation is now $140M — Pluto TV, the free internet television service, has raised new funding from investors including ProSieben of Germany …

Discussion: Multichannel News and Variety

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Playboy launches nudity-free magazine on Apple iTunes, Google Play stores, available for $5.99 per issue or $17.99 per year — Playboy's 63-year-old magazine — recently stripped of nude pictorials — is now an app. — Playboy Enterprises is selling digital copies of the Hugh Hefner's …

Discussion: Fortune and FishbowlNY

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

NYT renames global edition “New York Times International Edition”, with focus on deeper coverage; homepage will deliver geotargeted content to non-US readers — As of yesterday, there was something called the International New York Times.

Discussion: Guardian

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Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
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Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:
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Philip Bump / Washington Post:
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From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Donald Trump announces that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at a16z, will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House OSTP

Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January

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