Mediagazer: Twitter tests not showing usernames in replies and not counting them against character limit (TechCrunch)

5:15 AM ET, October 27, 2016

Top News:

Sources: Megyn Kelly seeks $20M for next Fox contract; Rupert Murdoch said he hopes to get contract signed soon and also wants to renew Bill O'Reilly's contract — ‘The Kelly File’ host is in active negotiations; keeping her at the network is a priority for management, including Rupert Murdoch.

Discussion: Adweek, New York Times, Variety, Mediaite, Politico, CNNMoney, Refinery29 and People.com

Ina Fried / Recode:

Verizon is buying and shutting down Vessel, founded by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar; co-founder Richard Tom to be CTO for Verizon digital efforts including Go90 — Kilar won't be joining Verizon, but his co-founder, Richard Tom, will. — Verizon said Wednesday it is buying the technology behind Vessel …

Discussion: Variety, Vessel, Hollywood Reporter, Engadget, VentureBeat, Multichannel News, @vessel, @pkafka, @rafat, @hankgreen, The Wrap, Mashable, TechCrunch, @pkafka and @inafried

Alex Barinka / Bloomberg:

Sources: Snap Inc. will seek to raise as much as $4B in its planned IPO, which could value the company at between $25B and $35B — Sale may value Snapchat at $25 billion to $35 billion — Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs are leading the offering — Snapchat will seek to raise …

Discussion: USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Fortune, VentureBeat, Vanity Fair, Fast Company, New York Magazine, Business Insider and TechCrunch

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Apple to unveil its new TV guide Thursday, aggregating available content and using deep links to ease searching; sources say Netflix won't be included — It's an easier way to find and watch video on Apple TV. — Apple plans to unveil its new version of a TV guide tomorrow during a product event in California.

Discussion: Guardian, USA Today, @pkafka, The Verge, TechnoBuffalo, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, Pocket-lint, Quartz, Engadget, Business Insider, AppleInsider, AppAdvice.com Latest, MacRumors and MacDailyNews

TechCrunch:

Twitter tests not showing usernames in replies and not counting them against character limit — Oct 26, 2016, 11:06 amOct 26, 2016, 12:08 pm — #Beyond140 is coming to fruition with the removal of one of the most annoying laws of Twitter. Some iOS users are now part of a test group …

Discussion: The Next Web, Gizmodo and Fast Company

Ernesto Falcon / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

US Copyright Office favored the MPAA and cable companies in the debate over TV set-top box rules, emails obtained through FOIA show — Months of aggressive lobbying by the MPAA and its allies at the Copyright Office gave them the result they desired — In the current debate …

Discussion: Techdirt and @efffalcon

Robert Levine / Billboard:

The sudden reassignment of the US Register of Copyrights, Maria Pallante, raises questions as government evaluates media and tech policy — Maria Pallante attends the U.S. Germanic Copyright Summit at the American Film Market at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel on November 5, 2013, in Santa Monica, California.

Discussion: hypebot, Publishers Lunch, @robertblevine_, @davidclowery, Future of Music Coalition and Plagiarism Today

Vauhini Vara / New Yorker:

With its internet and cell phone business having little room for growth, AT&T acquisition of Time Warner makes sense, allows it to tap into ad revenue — On Saturday, when A.T. & T. announced that it hopes to acquire Time Warner for more than eighty-five billion dollars …

Discussion: NPR, New York Times, Bloomberg, @mathewi, @ranimolla, @vauhinivara and @newyorker

New York Times:
AT&T has 100 registered lobbyists and has given $11.3M to lawmakers and their causes since 2015, but Time Warner deal will test its influence in Washington

Discussion: Fortune

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Lab:

Quartz launches first non-English product, La Agenda, a Spanish-language email newsletter combining original content with news translated from the Daily Brief — Quartz on Wednesday launched its first non-English product, a Spanish-language version of its daily Daily Brief email newsletter …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Jared Newman / Fast Company:

Pocket will start recommending popular stories saved by other users and will list them in categories like technology, food, and fitness — While Facebook and Twitter offer an endless parade of links, Pocket wants to promote only the good stuff. — Gathering good reading material from around the internet is hard.

Discussion: Engadget, The Next Web, Pocket Blog, VentureBeat, MacStories, @nateweiner and @chrismessina

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Behind the scenes at Trump TV, which is run by a five-person crew; viewers on Tuesday dropped to 23K, down from 60K on Monday — It was a few minutes after 7 p.m. on Tuesday when Trump TV conked out. — “We have to pause,” said Avi Berkowitz, the 27-year-old director …

Discussion: MediaFile, BuzzFeed, @katherinemiller, @jayrosen_nyu, @jbenton, The Wrap and VatorNews

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

Tow-Knight Center receives $3.5M in new funding from the Knight Foundation; it will use the money to continue its work in fostering entrepreneurial journalism — The journalism industry is changing quickly. And journalism schools often are slow to catch up.

Discussion: CUNY Graduate School … and @benmullin

Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:

Comcast Q3 revenue: NBCUniversal's cable networks revenue rose 22% to $2.9B, while broadcast revenue increased 56.6% to $3.1B — Comcast on Wednesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts' expectations. — The company reported third-quarter earnings of 92 cents a share on revenue of $21.31 billion.