Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is sorry if this sounds arrogant, but, the DVD service will be spun off into Quikster, and Netflix will be streaming-only. [inbox, PaidContent]
Although 2.6 million people slid into poverty in the past year, Discovery Communications executives believe cable lacks programming for the Rich Man. They’ve launched Velocity, a network devoted to boats, cars, high-stakes poker, and fishing. This is a secret political operation meant to incite revolution, right? [NY Times]
Tony Freston, one of the architects of MTV, is now importing American television tropes to Afghanistan’s Moby TV. [David Carr]
Alec Baldwin, giving Hugh Grant a run for top celebrity media critic, was supposed to do a Murdoch joke at the Emmys but pulled out when News Corp.-owned Fox’s executives censored it. [Wall Street Journal]
The Groupon gold rush is over. [Wall Street Journal]
There is no monoculture: America’s TV pundits sacrifice influence for control as they move from network to cable to digital outfits. [New York]
AOL’s traffic pivoted. [Forbes]
Sebastian Junger, friend and collaborator of late photographer Tim Hetherington, is through with war reporting.
“I’ve done this for 20 years and there is a point you come to where you’re repeating the same stunt. I’ll continue reporting from overseas but if I find myself getting shot at – this is how I explained it to my wife – I will consider it embarrassing and a personal failure in a similar way to as if I had a car accident,” he said. [Guardian]
