Andre Agassi expands commitment to charter schools.

Apple signs deal with Universal Music Group and other publishers for iCloud.

AT&T Wireless CEO "not happy" with US network.

Benetton refreshes visual branding.

Citigroup shuts down $400M hedge fund in wake of new regulations.

Denny's all-you-can-eat pancakes inspires teen marathon.

Disney, looking up at the cloud, relaunches Disney.com to offer TV and film titles.Continue reading...

The New York Times today announced the news its fans and subscribers have been waiting for — the terms of its so-called paywall.

The Times will begin charging frequent users of NYTimes.com $15 a month for web-only access (or $20/month for web and iPad access, and $35 "all access") on March 28. The subscription plan will allow readers 20 articles a month free, and print subscribers will have unlimited access. 

The new digital monetization strategy's goal: “to draw in subscription revenue from the most loyal readers while not driving away the casual visitors who make up the vast majority of the site’s traffic,” according to the Times' Media Decoder blog.Continue reading...

This is the video that yesterday brought down the head of fundraising — and today, the CEO — of NPR.

It's a self-styled bit of muckraking — a covertly taped conversation with Ron Schiller, who until yesterday was president of the NPR Foundation and SVP of development (read: fundraising) for America's National Public Radio. His was a critical role, as NPR has been fighting to maintain funding and political support in the face of criticism from the political right in the US.

Today, he was followed out the door at NPR by Vivian Schiller, no family relation but certainly related as a fellow executive at NPR — one also caught in the crosshairs of rising political tension between the left and right in the US.Continue reading...

The budget knives in Congress may be out for a particularly sacred cow – or should we say, fowl – and the Muppet world is striking back. Sesame Street even found some friends to come and play in the political fray.

PBS Kids icon Arthur, a beloved animated aardvark that sprang from books to the screen, along with Sesame Street stalwarts Big Bird and Elmo, lined up on Wednesday morning as props for Democratic congressmen who are opposed to Republicans’ targeting of government funding for their broadcast homes.Continue reading...