Top News:

Axel Springer's $343M purchase of Business Insider sets new high mark in digital publisher sales, beating AOL's 2011 purchase of Huffington Post for $315M — Sold! Axel Springer Bets Big on Digital, Buys Business Insider. — Earlier this year, German publisher Axel Springer tried and failed to buy the Financial Times.
Discussion:
Bloomberg View, Gawker, Adweek, Fortune, The Wrap, New York Times, @hblodget, mUmBRELLA, @danprimack, @om, The Awl, @rosslevinsohn, Guardian, @pkafka, Fusion, Press Gazette, @pmarca, Folio, The Wrap, @waltmossberg, The Atlantic, Poynter, @m_d_4, AdExchanger, FishbowlNY, @anildash, @ritholtz, @morningmoneyben, @lock, @felixsalmon, @digitalshields, @sirsteven, @mathewi, @rafat, @socarolinesays, @brianstelter and @ivanthek
RELATED:

Axel Springer Buys 88% of Business Insider for $343 Million — German media company Axel Springer SE agreed to buy an 88 percent stake in Business Insider Inc. for $343 million. — Axel Springer already owns a 9 percent stake in New York-based Business Insider, which runs …

Sources: Twitter building new product to let users share tweets longer than 140 characters, enabling publication of long-form content on the platform — Twitter Plans to Go Beyond Its 140-Character Limit — Twitter is building a new product that will allow users to share tweets that are longer …
Discussion:
Forbes, TechCrunch, WIVB-TV, SFist, The Information, Adweek, Net Worked, Slate, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, @peter_tl, Telegraph, GeekWire, US News, mUmBRELLA, Variety, @dangillmor, The Next Web, Daily Mail, ABC, Consumerist, Engadget, @mims, Fortune, VatorNews, Guardian, @lexalexander, @the_author_, VentureBeat, Mashable, MacRumors, The Verge, App Advice, KRON4.com, The Week, New York Times, Digital Spy and BuzzFeed

Financial Times CEO John Ridding on the paper's acquisition by Nikkei and how journalism shot itself in the foot by going for mass-reach, low quality — The Financial Times and the Future of Journalism — In a generally depressing decade for newspapers, the Financial Times …
Discussion:
Beyond Search, Financial Times and FishbowlNY
Apple:
Apple Music, iTunes Movies, and iBooks now available in China, music free for three months then 10 RMB/month, movies start at 5 RMB, iBooks from 0.5 RMB — Apple Brings Apple Music, iTunes Movies & iBooks to Customers in China Starting Today — Apple® today announced that Apple Music™ …

IAB is forming Ad Blocking Working Group and plans to distribute code that detects ad blockers — Ad Blocking - Unlike Fraud - Comes At The User's Behest — If ad blocking is war, long-tail publishers will likely be its earliest casualties. — “Ad blocking is a threat to the whole industry …
RELATED:

Netflix and Virgin America to offer free in-flight WiFi for movies and shows on select flights through March 2, 2016 — Netflix partners with Virgin America to offer free in-flight Wi-Fi for movies and TV shows — With more and more video-streaming companies offering downloads for offline access …
Discussion:
Forbes, Mashable, Variety, The Verge, Business Insider, UPROXX and The Next Web

Facebook's Head of News Partnerships, Liz Heron, joins The Huffington Post as Executive Editor, will jointly steer site alongside Arianna Huffington — Huffington Post Names Liz Heron Executive Editor — Ms. Heron was Facebook's head of news partnerships
Discussion:
Poynter, CNNMoney, @huffingtonpost, @mitrakalita, @marklittlenews, @lheron, Liz Heron, @jimbrady, @digitalshields and @sarahmarshall

Comcast launches web video service Watchable with 30 partners including Vice, Vox, and Buzzfeed — Comcast Launches Watchable: Can Web Video Help Save Cable TV? — Cable giant debuts service with 30 content partners, available on set-tops, apps and online
Discussion:
Comcast, Home Media Magazine, Ad Age, CNNMoney, LostRemote, Adweek, FishbowlNY, The Wrap and NetNewsCheck Latest

Zane Lowe: 'I'm not sure that Apple Music needs Beats 1' — The Beats 1 and former BBC DJ said he is uncertain as to why Apple's streaming service Apple Music needs his station Beats 1 — DJ Zane Lowe has admitted he's unsure if Apple Music needs the digital radio station Beats 1 …
Discussion:
The Next Web and Digital Spy

YouTube announces Shopping ads, which overlay the video player, with testing this fall — YouTube Introduces Shopping Ads — YouTube videos are going to get more shoppable, with the company announcing a new ad unit today called Shopping ads. — The Google-owned video site has been moving …
Discussion:
Globe and Mail, New York Times, Inside AdWords, Engadget, Variety, Adweek, Business Insider, 9to5Google and Re/code

Activist opposes Media General's planned acquisition of Meredith — Media General, the US television station owner, is facing pressure from an activist shareholder to call off its proposed $3.1bn deal to buy Meredith and instead sell itself to Nexstar Broadcasting Group.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, TVNewsCheck.com, Broadcasting & Cable and Variety

Digital measurement firm ComScore to acquire TV measurement firm Rentrak in all-stock deal — Measurement Firm ComScore to Acquire Rentrak — Merger could create more formidable rival to No. 1 player Nielsen — Measurement firm comScore Inc. on Tuesday said it agreed to acquire rival Rentrak Corp …
Discussion:
Variety, USA Today, The Wrap, New York Times and FierceOnlineVideo News