Top News:
Jason Del Rey / Recode:
Amazon to raise the price of Prime from $99 to $119 in the US, the first increase in 4 years, going into effect for new subs on May 11 and existing subs in June — The increase is effective for new customers starting May 11. — Amazon is increasing the price of its Prime membership in the U.S. for the first time in four years.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Business Insider, CNNMoney, Hollywood Reporter and @jyarow, more at Techmeme »
Nate Lanxon / Bloomberg:
Facebook CTO says only verified accounts will be allowed to pay for political ads in the UK and users will be able to view all promotions paid for by a campaign — Social network's CTO makes promises to British lawmakers — Facebook Inc. said it will make sure political ads on its platform …
Discussion:
UK Parliament, Columbia Journalism Review, Washington Post, @commonscms, @chrisinsilico, @tictoc and @bpolitics, more at Techmeme »
Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Southern California's two large public TV stations, KCET in Los Angeles and Orange County's KOCE, are merging, with KOCE's Andrew Russell to run combined entity — After clawing for seven years over the same turf, Southern California's two large public television stations — KCET and KOCE …
Discussion:
KCET, Hollywood Reporter, Broadcasting & Cable, Deadline and LA Observed
Ashley Gold / Politico:
House hearing on social media content filtering devolved into partisan bickering as vloggers Diamond and Silk denied Trump campaign paid them despite FEC data — A House Judiciary Committee hearing headlined by pro-Trump video-bloggers Diamond and Silk quickly devolved into yelling …
Discussion:
@joeperticone, The Wrap, @ceciliakang, The Verge, @wexler, Mediaite, @melissaquinn97, New York Daily News, CNET, Fox News, CBS News, @melissaryan, @ngrossman81, @oliverdarcy, @abc, @melissaryan, @oliverdarcy, @thedextriarchy, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, @wexler, @wxdam and @beccalenn
Bloomberg:
A look at YouTube's strategy moving forward from a painful year, as it tries to rein in abusive content while encouraging creators and reassuring advertisers — Extremist propaganda, dangerous hoaxes, videos of tasered rats—the company is having its worst year ever. Except financially.
Discussion:
@sarahfrier, @mhbergen, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @mikeisaac, @pkafka, @cwarzel and Fast Company
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
A study of 43 people in the UK examines how those who rarely engage directly with news media rely on social media and search, counting on news to find them — Plus other findings from a new study's interviews with that increasingly common creature, the “news avoider.”
Discussion:
@cancercomdoc, @mariekshan, @niemanlab, @niemanlab, blog.wan-ifra.org and Journalism.co.uk
Deadline:
Plan B and Annapurna Pictures have acquired the rights to produce a film about how the NYT, Jodi Kantor, and Megan Twohey broke the Weinstein story — EXCLUSIVE: Annapurna and Plan B have partnered to acquire the rights to give Spotlight-like treatment to the story of how New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor …
Discussion:
@thehighsign, HuffPost, @adamgoldmannyt, New York Times, @caitlin__kelly, @samdolnick, The A.V. Club, The Guardian, Variety, IndieWire and The Wrap
Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:
Amazon and the NFL will once again partner to stream Thursday Night Football, with Amazon Prime Video streaming 11 games during the 2018 and 2019 seasons — While National Football League teams have made the usual offseason changes aimed at improving their competitive chances next season …
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Time Warner Q1: revenue up 3% YoY to $8B; Turner's and HBO's subscription revenues increased 8% and 10%, respectively as Warner Bros. revenue fell 4% to $3.2B — Time Warner saw a year-over-year decline in operating income in the first quarter largely due to higher programming and marketing costs at Turner and HBO.
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, MediaPost, The Wrap, Thomson IR and Hollywood Reporter
Hollywood Reporter:
MoviePass hasn't offered a $10/mo for 1 movie/day plan to new subscribers since April 13, offering 4 movies/mo and 3 months of iHeartRadio All Access instead — The subscription service famous for supplying a movie ticket per day for just $9.95 a month hasn't been offering that wildly popular package since April 13.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Business Insider, Engadget, 9to5Mac and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
A look at the future of Hulu, which, sources say, is nearing 20M subscribers, up 18% in 4 months aided by Handmaid's Tale and Live TV — As season 2 of the reigning Emmy champ debuts and the streaming service once nicknamed “Clown Co.” now nears 20 million subscribers …
Discussion:
FierceCable, @natjarv, @joanne_rowney, @thr and @webbarr
Gothamist:
Gothamist officially relaunches today after acquisition by WNYC; eight former staff members have rejoined the site — And, we're back! It's really terrific to see you again. (Not that we can literally see you through the camera in your computer or smartphone; it's just an expression) (You look great though.)
Discussion:
@jenist, @jakedobkin and @davidklion