Mediagazer: A look at China's Gushi FM, a storytelling podcast with ~600K listeners, which presents the reality of everyday life and has mostly managed to evade censorship (Amy Qin/New York Times)

Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:

Quartz launched a metered paywall last week, now requires a $15/month or $100/year membership for unlimited access to all of its stories — At its debut nearly seven years ago, Quartz's model was to be everywhere — not behind a paywall, not locked inside a mobile app, ready to build an audience through social sharing.

Discussion: Quartz, @jbenton, @jbenton, @mariaramirezny, @moorehn, @lmoses and Talking Biz News

CNBC:

Comcast agrees to sell its stake in Hulu to Disney in five years at a $27.5B valuation or appraisal amount; Comcast to relinquish voting rights immediately — Comcast has agreed to sell its stake in Hulu in five years to Disney and give up its voting rights immediately.

Discussion: The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, Variety, MediaPost, Adweek, @stevekovach, Multichannel News, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Financial Times, @xpangler, @sherman4949 and @gerberkawasaki

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Sources: Discovery to buy Golf Digest from Condé Nast for $30M; W and Brides remain for sale — Discovery is buying Golf Digest from Condé Nast for an estimated $30 million, expanding its reach beyond its golf-streaming sweet spot, according to sources close to the situation.

Discussion: Golf Digest, Folio, The Wrap, @golfdigest, @golfdigest, Multichannel News, Awful Announcing, MediaPost, Adweek, Variety and Radio & Television …

Todd Haselton / CNBC:

Apple updates iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs with its new TV app with Apple TV Channels, which offers customers subscription access to premium networks like HBO — KEY POINTS — It's available through an update to your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV and exists inside the new TV app.

Discussion: Apple, VentureBeat, @stevekovach, @stevekovach, FierceVideo, Macworld, Fast Company, Latest Streaming & …, Thurrott, Macworld, iMore, MacRumors and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Amrita Khalid / Engadget:

Report: sources say WarnerMedia plans to prioritize its streaming service, set to launch in 2020, by streaming new episodes of popular shows before they hit TV — AT&T's WarnerMedia may debut new episodes of popular shows on its upcoming streaming service, right before they hit cable.

Discussion: The Information, @richbtig, @theinformation and @richbtig

Reuters:

Survey of 240 companies: 46% spent less on YouTube and more on TV networks' online services, including their YouTube channels, in Q1 2019 than in Q1 2018 — SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three years ago, the beginning of the end of the U.S. television business looked certain …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, New York Times, @awolk, @gigibsohn, MediaPost, Decider, @bristei, Wall Street Journal, @bristei, @mikevanesler, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, @mikeroyce and CNN

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Brian Williams' presence at NBCUniveral's upfront programming presentation suggests punishment for his misleading statements, uncovered in 2015, is over — Brian Williams didn't have much to say when he made an appearance Monday at NBCUniveral's massive “upfront” programming presentation.

Discussion: @jasonlynch, @mlcalderone, @bristei, @brianstelter and TVNewser

CNBC:

Bleacher Report will start its gaming-related programming from Las Vegas this summer, says its sports betting category grew 3x faster than any other category — KEY POINTS — Bleacher Report betting big on sports gambling — Sports gambling is about to get a big boost from the Bleacher.

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:

Research group identifies disinformation campaign that published 135 articles on sites impersonating media outlets or on sites where users can post content — An ambitious online disinformation campaign that impersonated major media outlets, used fake Twitter accounts to spread false articles …

Discussion: The Hill, @janelytv, @rondeibert, New York Times, The Citizen Lab and @ahmed

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Spotify-owned Soundtrap launches Soundtrap for Storytellers, a cloud-based podcast creation platform with advanced features, for $14.99 per month — In November 2017, Spotify picked up the online music studio Soundtrap as part of its efforts to offer more services to artists on its platform.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, VentureBeat, Hot Pod News and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

William D. Cohan / Vanity Fair:

Sources: CBS and Viacom boards have been in negotiations regarding a merger, but National Amusements can't initiate merger discussions until September 2020 — The more than $1 billion in “cost synergies” identified by bankers and executives in the long-rumored deal pushed by Shari Redstone is code for “big job losses.”

Discussion: @vanityfair

Amy Qin / New York Times:

A look at China's Gushi FM, a storytelling podcast with ~600K listeners, which presents the reality of everyday life and has mostly managed to evade censorship — BEIJING — Kou Aizhe, the creator and host of one of China's most popular storytelling podcasts, has only one criterion for selecting stories.

Discussion: Hot Pod News, @xinyanyu, @lizzlaw_, @amyyqin and @davidpaulk