Top News:
Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / WWD:
The NYT will publish a print-only, stand-alone kids' section aimed at nine to 12-year-olds this Sunday, the latest installment in a new print initiative — Sunday's New York Times will include a special print section for kids. — The New York Times for Kids
Discussion:
The New York Times Company, Nieman Lab, HuffPost, Fortune, Adweek, Quartz, @educationiq, @loganhill33, @billwasik, @jackmarshall, @willystaley, @benharnett, @kbsmoke and @mathewi
John Paczkowski / BuzzFeed:
Sources: Apple to debut Amazon Prime Video app on Apple TV at WWDC; one source says the app may launch this summer — And Apple TV — which has been banned from Amazon since late 2015 — is returning to the retailer's virtual shelves. — Managing Editor, BuzzFeed San Francisco
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter announces a new deal for year-round NFL content that includes a 30-minute live digital show that will air five nights per week — Twitter lost the deal to stream the NFL's Thursday Night Football games this year to Amazon, but today the company is announcing a new multi-year agreement …
Discussion:
PR Newswire, Adweek, Engadget, @anthonynoto, @twittercomms, @tmfjmo, The Verge, SlashGear, @richbtig, GeekWire, Variety and iLounge, more at Techmeme »
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Sony Pictures Entertainment names Tony Vinciquerra, formerly of Fox Networks Group, its CEO, as the company shifts toward TV — LOS ANGELES — Hollywood has a new mogul. — Sony Pictures Entertainment, bedeviled in recent years by movie misfires, a devastating cyberattack and executive ejections …
Discussion:
Variety, Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, Variety, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap and Deadline
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
BuzzFeed Motion Pictures' Jessica Chambers docuseries, based on a BuzzFeed investigation, will air on the Oxygen channel, the studio's first TV show pickup — ‘What Happened to...Jessica Chambers’ will examine the death of a Mississippi teen, whose story was first told in an investigative piece …
Discussion:
Tubefilter, @natjarv, @maxstrasser, @katiejmbaker and @gerryfsmith
Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Sources: TPG Capital in talks to acquire 10% of Vice Media for just over $500M; other prospective bidders include CVC Capital Partners — A US private equity group which owns a stake in Airbnb is in talks about buying a shareholding in Vice Media, the millennials-focused news and entertainment group …
Discussion:
Media Wire Daily, Deadline and Variety
Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:
A 2015 Gawker post based on Michael Lynton's emails from Sony Pictures hack is deleted from Gawker archive; Denton says takedown was confidential by court order — The deleted article on Gawker, which is no longer in operation, published leaked emails from Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton.
Elsa Keslassy / Variety:
Cannes Film Festival allows two Netflix movies into competition this year but will require future films to screen in French theaters — PARIS - A week before its opening ceremony, the Cannes Film Festival said Wednesday that the Netflix movies “Okja” and “The Meyerowitz Stories” …
Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:
FCC's website has been flooded with 128K+ identical fake anti-net neutrality comments via its public comment system API — Several people we spoke to denied they had posted comments to the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) feedback pages. — A bot is thought to be behind the posting …
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, Softpedia News, The Verge, The Verge, BGR, Washington Free Beacon, Recode, Naked Security, @benpopper, @lightcoin, @nostrangenames, Mashable, @mmasnick, @dangillmor, @zackwhittaker, @digiphile, Cyberscoop, The Hill, New York Magazine, Fortune, The Daily Caller, Axios, DSLreports, Consumerist, Fast Company, Engadget, Techdirt, Business Insider, Multichannel News and Boing Boing
Rishika Sadam / Reuters:
Verizon to buy 5G spectrum holder Straight Path Communications for $3.1B — Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), the No.1 U.S. wireless carrier, is buying wireless spectrum holder Straight Path Communications Inc (STRP.A) for an enterprise value of about $3.1 billion, ending a bidding war with rival AT&T (T.N).
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Verge, BGR, ZDNet, TechCrunch, Engadget, @felixsalmon, CNBC and Investor's Business Daily, more at Techmeme »
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Google acquires Owlchemy Labs, the VR-focused game studio behind Job Simulator and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, for an undisclosed sum — Google announced today that it's acquiring Owlchemy Labs, the VR-focused studio that created Job Simulator and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality.
Discussion:
Owlchemy Labs, ValueWalk, Forbes, Mashable, The Next Web, Engadget, Android Police, SlashGear, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Google, Polygon, Business Insider, 9to5Google, Seeking Alpha and ZDNet
Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Robert H. Phelps, who missed the Watergate scandal as an editor at The New York Times, has died at 97 — Robert H. Phelps had a distinguished career at The Boston Globe, shaping the modern paper, overseeing the coverage in major series that won Pulitzer Prizes, and serving as the newspaper's executive editor for 11 years.