I Want Media Courted by Adweek Suitor
The Wrap
James Finkelstein considered an acquisition of I Want Media, only to walk away after learning that Nielsen Business Media had put The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek and other titles up for sale. Finkelstein "has a habit of talking up dealmaking and then walking away."

Twitter Eyes Acquisitions, Making Money
Reuters
Twitter is interested in making more acquisitions, says co-founder Biz Stone. "That is something we are definitely interested in." He adds that there is nothing specific on the horizon. "As our attention is grabbed by some of these developers, we will take a hard look at them."

Media Books for Holiday Gifts:

"Googled" "The Curse of the Mogul" More new titles ...

Google Buys Display Advertising Startup
Dow Jones
Google plans to acquire display advertising startup Teracent, which has developed machine learning algorithms designed to deliver optimized Web ads in real time. The acquisition is Google's latest move to bolster its presence in the online display ad market.

Microsoft Talks of Bing News Exclusives
Financial Times
Microsoft is offering different terms to different publishers as it seeks to boost Bing by paying some content owners to cut their sites off from Google. Microsoft is also discussing deals in which news would be provided to Bing earlier than it appears on Google News.

MediaNews, Belo Mull Blocking Google
Bloomberg
Denver Post publisher MediaNews plans to block Google News when it starts charging readers in Pennsylvania and California for online content next year. Similarly, Dallas Morning News owner A.H. Belo may also introduce online subscription fees and also block Google.

TiVo, Google Team Up in TV Data Deal
Variety
TiVo is pacting with Google to provide analytical information to advertisers about viewers who watch television via the DVR service. Through the Google TV ads program, TiVo will supply highly detailed data never previously reported to Google TV ad clients.

Hulu Adds Tagging for Movies, TV Shows
CNET
Hulu, the movie and television show streaming service, is adding tagging to the mix, allowing users to add up to 30 tags to each piece of content for the sake of organization. These tags also work site-wide, which means that users can view all types of related content.

Fox CEO Seeks Web Piracy Crackdown
Associated Press
Fox Filmed Entertainment chief Jim Gianopulos says the U.S. should join France in cutting off the Internet connection of users who repeatedly download pirated films. "If we can do that, it would be a big victory against piracy. The bad news is that the Internet is big."

GE Considers IPO of Vivendi's NBC Stake
Dow Jones
General Electric is said to be leaning toward allowing an IPO of Vivendi's 20% holding in NBC Universal as talks to purchase the stake stall. The two sides are still about $500 million apart on a valuation for Vivendi's stake in the company. An IPO may force GE to adjust its plans.

Disney's ESPN vs Univision in World Cup
Wall Street Journal
ESPN plans to broadcast soccer games from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Portuguese on its Spanish-language channel, in a shot across the bow of Univision. By airing the games in Portuguese, the Disney network aims to chip away at Univision's dominant foreign-language ratings.

CNN: Dobbs' Staff Must Re-Apply for Jobs
New York Post
The axe is starting to fall on the staff of 20 producers and reporters that Lou Dobbs left behind when he left CNN two weeks ago. CNNers are being told that they can start applying for new jobs at the news network, with the implication that their old jobs will soon end.

ABC Relaunches TV Station Web Sites
Broadcasting & Cable
The ABC-owned station group is relaunching its 10 station Web sites in an effort to make content easier for users to find. The sites also feature headlines provided by corporate sibling ESPN, which is in the process of rolling out a network of local sports sites.

Magazine Giants to Harness Digital Media
New York Observer
Time Inc., Conde Nast and Hearst are on the verge of forming a new company that will allow them to prepare magazines to work across multiple digital platforms, including the iPhone and the BlackBerry. Time Inc. exec John Squires will head up the new venture.

Conde Nast to Make Vogue Into Pay Site
Wall Street Journal
Vogue is hiring Blue State Digital to help analyze the Conde Nast publication's audience as part of a broader, revenue-generating push that ultimately will involve implementing paid subscriptions on Vogue.com. The Web consulting firm previously helped the Obama campaign.

Playboy Outsources to American Media
Wall Street Journal
Playboy magazine plans to outsource most of its business operations to American Media, the publisher of more than a dozen titles, including Star and Men's Fitness. The five-year partnership aims to help return Playboy magazine to profitability by the end of 2011.

Rolling Stone Names Berlusconi 'Rock Star'
Reuters
The Italian edition of Rolling Stone is naming prime minister Silvio Berlusconi its "Rock Star of the Year," in tribute to his "lifestyle worthy of the greatest rock star." Editor Carlo Antonelli says: "Rod Stewart, Keith Richards in their prime were schoolboys compared to him."

Tribune: Personal, Social Life to Merge
Los Angeles Business
Los Angeles Times employees are being advised in a company memo to watch what they post on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or any online social space. The memo states that employees should "assume that your professional life and your personal life will merge online."

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MAGAZINES & NEWSPAPERS
 
Hearst Planning Makeover of Oprah Magazine
New York Post
O, The Oprah Magazine is in the midst of a sweeping redesign that will be unveiled as part of its 10th anniversary issue next May. The redesign comes as the magazine comes off one of the rockiest years since its launch in 2000. The Hearst-led redesign will be "extensive."

Bauer's Life & Style Weekly Sued by Cibrian
Associated Press
Eddie Cibrian is suing Life & Style Weekly for defamation over a recent story claiming he was cheating on girlfriend LeAnn Rimes. The "CSI: Miami" actor is seeking more than $1 million. The story ran in the Bauer Publishing's magazine and on its Web site earlier this month.

Bloomberg to Shutter Book Publishing Unit
MarketWatch
Bloomberg LP plans to close Bloomberg Press, a small unit that publishes books, following its acquisition of BusinessWeek magazine. The unit published a handful of titles a year and has eight staffers. Bloomberg hopes to place the employees elsewhere in the company.

Conde Nast Offers Peek of Tablet Edition
AllThingsD
What will Conde Nast magazines look like once they show up on tablet computers? The publisher has produced a demo video to show to advertisers. The video is also being screened in the promotional Wired magazine store in New York City, as well as on YouTube.

E-Readers in Short Supply for the Holidays
Financial Times
The Barnes & Noble Nook is sold out and the Sony Daily Edition is in short supply. E-readers have proven a rare hit in a year when sales of most other consumer electronics have fallen. Amazon, which faced Kindle shortages this time last year, is well stocked this season.

McClatchy Launches Digital Editions on Kindle
Editor & Publisher
Five of McClatchy's newspapers are now available on the Amazon Kindle, including the Sacramento Bee. Other McClatchy papers will be available soon. McClatchy did not reveal the subscription revenue split. Amazon is said to take a 70% cut of subscription revenue.

Newspaper Circ May Be Worse Than It Looks
Associated Press
Since April 1, new auditing rules have made it easier for U.S. newspapers to count a reader as a paying customer. If a newspaper sells a "bundled" subscription to both the print and electronic editions, the publication is often allowed to count that subscriber twice.

Times Publishing Sells Governing Magazine
Tampa Bay Business
Times Publishing, publisher of the St. Petersburg Times, is selling Washington, D.C.-based Governing to media/research firm e.Republic for an undisclosed price. Governing distributes 85,000 magazines a month to governors, legislators and other government officials.

Sun-Times Names Execs for Digital Growth
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times publisher John Barron is being named group publisher for Sun-Times Media. Also, Fred Lebolt, publisher of the Sun-Times Media suburban news division, is being charged with integrating online and print news for the company's newspapers and Web sites.

WaPo Cutting Staffers in Web-Print Merger
Politico
The Washington Post is cutting several positions, primarily on the Web side. About 10 to 12 staffers are said to be leaving the company. The Post declines to discuss names, but says that "a small number" of positions are being eliminated "as a result of efficiencies."

TheStreet.com Enjoys Big Jump in Traffic
Washington Business
Wall Street's big gains since spring have led to a jump in visits to finance Web sites, with CNBC commentator Jim Cramer's TheStreet.com seeing the biggest jump in visits last month. ComScore says TheStreet.com saw unique visitors jump 96% in October, to 4.4 million.

Salon.com Tries Once Again to Reinvent Itself
ClickZ
Salon.com has struggled for years to make money. The online magazine lost almost $10 million over the past three years alone. CEO Richard Gingras aims to turn the business around by, among other moves, opening an online store that will "curate" goods from around the Web.

Murdoch Jr Sees Wholesale Future for News
Financial Times
James Murdoch, CEO of News Corp. Europe and Asia predicts "a huge shift" is coming in the news business to a model in which journalism could be sold direct to customers, as well as at wholesale prices to those who might want to use it for business purposes.

Media, News Business Hit by Massive Layoffs
Portfolio
Last week turned out to be another grim week in the media business, as an astounding number of job cuts were announced at AOL, the Associated Press, BusinessWeek, and Time Inc. Workers in the news and information business have to adjust to "a new reality."

Twitter to Help News Outlets Monetize
New Media Age
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone says that tools to help brands and publishers monetize their Twitter presence are close to launch. He adds that services will help news publishers generate extra revenues online. "We look forward to opening up the doors to news organizations."

Twitter Guy Urges Murdoch to Be 'Open'
BBC News
Newspapers should become "radically open" if they want to make money online, says Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. He adds that he would "love to see what happens" if Rupert Murdoch went ahead with plans to block Google from his Web sites. Murdoch may "fail fast."

Murdoch Targets Sulzberger as Ads Slump
Bloomberg
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are pursuing readers from regional U.S. newspapers in their fight to survive steep advertising declines. The New York Times is taking the latest shot with the debut of two pages of local content in Chicago editions.

NY Times: Harbinger Cuts Stake Again
Reuters
Hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners is cutting its stake again in the New York Times Co., almost two years after it bought a big stake in a bid to shake up the newspaper publisher. Since Harbinger bought its shares in late 2007 and early 2008, the stock's value has plunged.

Tribune Newspaper Accused of 'Pirating'
UPI
The Journal Inquirer, a family owned newspaper in Manchester, Conn., is filing a lawsuit against the state's largest paper, the Hartford Courant. The suit accuses the Tribune paper of plagiarizing 11 local news stories after cutting its own reporting staff to save money.

Newspaper Ad Sales Decline 'Only' 28%
Bloomberg
U.S. newspaper industry advertising revenue fell 28% in the third quarter, according to data from the Newspaper Association of America -- a narrower decline than the previous period. "The broad consensus is that the worst has passed," says NAA CEO John Sturm.

Conde Nast, Adobe Eye Digital Magazines
New York Post
Conde Nast is teaming with Adobe to help develop software for digital e-readers. The company is also in talks with PC maker Hewlett-Packard. The deal with Adobe is to collaborate on "creating technologies" that will produce "a new generation of digital magazines."

BusinessWeek Lays Off 130, AP Cuts 90
Reuters
BusinessWeek will lay off up to 130 workers, about a third of its staff, as Bloomberg LP prepares to take over the magazine. News of the job cuts comes as the Associated Press says it is laying off 90 news workers, or about 3% of its worldwide news staff.

Hearst Exec Optimistic About Print Future
Masthead
Hearst magazines president Cathie Black, speaking at a event in Toronto on the future of magazines, says print media "will be around for a very long time." She notes that magazines have three revenue streams -- newsstand sales, subscriptions and advertising -- while digital doesn't.

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TELEVISION & RADIO
 
Oprah Pal Gayle King, CBS in TV Show Talks
New York Post
Oprah Winfrey's announcement that she will leave her television show appears to have opened the door for her best friend, Gayle King. CBS is said to be in talks with King, currently editor-at-large at O, The Oprah Magazine, to get her own show after Winfrey goes off the air.

CNN Looks Past U.S. for Digital, Global Growth
Crain's New York
Advertising on CNN U.S. prime time accounts for only 10% of the news channel's total revenue. CNN's global operations and a top news Web site now drive profits. The network's global strategy depends on an impartial news voice to appeal to audiences from Dallas to Tokyo.

DirecTV Not For Sale; Merger Seen 'Doable'
Reuters
Media mogul John Malone said the U.S. No.1 satellite television operator DirecTV is not up for sale. But Malone, who is chairman of DirecTV, says a combination of the satellite company with either AT&T or Verizon would be "doable" from a regulatory perspective.

Lou Dobbs Mulls Run for White House, Senate
Reuters
A week after abruptly quitting his longtime job as a CNN television news host and commentator, Lou Dobbs says he is considering career options including runs for U.S. Senate or even the White House as a third-party candidate. President Dobbs? "I am ruling nothing out."

ESPN: Two More Employees Axed in Scandal
New York Post
It's game over for two ESPN execs whose intra-office affair embarrassed the network during the Steve Phillips scandal. VP of marketing Katie Lacey is being shown the door while once-influential programming VP David Berson is being stripped of responsibility.

CBS to Lose Millions from Oprah Departure
New York Post
In addition to bringing CBS hundreds of millions in revenue, Oprah Winfrey has provided a powerful boost to CBS' television syndication arm. Her "halo effect" served as leverage for CBS to use as a bargaining chip to get advertisers to buy time on its other syndicated shows.

Comcast NBC Deal Hit by Stake Valuations
Financial Times
General Electric and Vivendi are said to be at least $1 billion apart on their valuation of the French group's stake in NBC Universal. The situation is dampening hopes of a quick resolution to a stand-off that is holding up Comcast's planned bid for a majority stake in NBCU.

NBC: More to Leno's Move Than Finances
Dow Jones
NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker is expressing "regret" about the perception that NBC is airing five nights a week of Jay Leno's show as a financial decision over a creative one. The "idea that it's all about cutting costs ... that hasn't been the case at any of our other assets."

Murdoch Jr: TV is News Corp's Future
Telegraph
Broadcasting and entertainment are the future for News Corp., with newspapers playing a much smaller role, says James Murdoch, the company's head of Europe and Asia. "Journalism plays a role" in our business. But, "television is vastly more profitable."

Oprah May Host Show on Her Network
Deadline
Oprah Winfrey, who plans to end her iconic syndicated television talk show in 2011, says she won't bring "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to cable. "I'll do something else." Winfrey is said to be mulling hosting a show on the Oprah Winfrey Network "that's smaller and different."

MTV, Real Networks to Rework Rhapsody
Reuters
MTV Networks is in talks with partner RealNetworks to restructure the ownership of their two-year old joint venture in the Rhapsody America digital music service. Rhapsody's impact, even with the backing of MTV, has been relatively minimal on the music space.

Liberty Sets DirecTV Loose for a Sale
Reuters
The appointment of PepsiCo veteran Michael White -- who has no experience in television -- as the new CEO of DirecTV is a sign that owner Liberty Media just wants a "baby-sitter" before a sale, observers say. Verizon and AT&T have already expressed interest.

Disney Sees 'Possibility' in Web Show
Advertising Age
Disney is launching its first branded-entertainment program, "The Possibility Shop," a Web video series at Disney.com/PossibilityShop produced with the Jim Henson Co. and sponsored by Clorox. The series is customized in part to promote Clorox brands.

BBC America's President Ancier Exits
Mediaweek
Garth Ancier is stepping down as president of BBC Worldwide America after three years. Ancier will continue to be associated with the company as a consultant. There is no word on Ancier's replacement. Leaving the post is said to be Ancier's decision.

Oprah Will End Her TV Show in 2011
Chicago Sun-Times
Oprah Winfrey plans to end her iconic syndicated television talk show in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air. Winfrey is expected to host a new show on her new Discovery-backed Oprah Winfrey Network, which is scheduled to launch on cable in late 2010 to early 2011.

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INTERNET & DIGITAL MEDIA
 
Web Piracy Fight Eyes Audience Perception
Chicago Sun-Times
Pirated versions of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" were available online within hours of its release in movie theaters. But as the entertainment industry continues to battle online piracy, a new generation growing up on the Web doesn't see the so much harm.

Perez Hilton Among Most Important on Twitter
Reuters
Perez Hilton, Ashton Kutcher and Mashable are among the highest scorers on TweetLevel, a free tool that measures the importance of a user on Twitter. The tool, developed by public-relations firm Edelman, uses an algorithm that ranks the quality and quantity of tweets.

Wikipedia Volunteers Flee From New Rules
Wall Street Journal
Wikipedia is losing unprecedented numbers of the millions of online volunteers who write and edit the world's fifth-most-popular Web site. As rules for editing the user-generated encyclopedia proliferate, Wikipedia is "becoming a more hostile environment."

Google Faces Threat from Twitter, Facebook
Globe and Mail
As Google ends its first decade atop the online world, its biggest threat may be the evolving social networks that allow users to query a close circle of trusted sources for information. Twitter and Facebook "are a real potential threat," says "Googled" author Ken Auletta.

Twitter Ad Business Planned for Early 2010
Bloomberg
Twitter says it is generating sales of more than $4 million a year and plans to build on that revenue with advertising in early 2010. Ads, says COO Dick Costolo, will be "organic and in the flow of the way people already use Twitter -- and not, 'Here's the tweets and here are the ads.'"

Microsoft, News Corp Talk Google Content
Financial Times
Microsoft is said to be in early stage talks with News Corp. and other publishers about the possibility of paying them to remove their sites from Google's search index, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to newspapers.

AOL Prepares for Post-Time Warner Look
CNET
AOL is unveiling a "new brand identity" for its post-Time Warner era, slated to begin Dec. 10 when it begins life as a separate company. A new plain text logo will be presented with various backdrops. AOL's niche blogs are to become the company's new centerpiece.

AOL-Time Warner Divorce to Take Toll
Associated Press
AOL plans to cut one-third of its workforce ahead of next month's spinoff from Time Warner. The struggling Internet outfit is looking for up to 2,500 employees to voluntarily accept buyouts starting Dec. 4, just days before the divorce from its parent company.

Google Wins Early OK for Books Deal
Bloomberg
Google and a group of authors and publishers won preliminary approval of a revised settlement over the company's plans to make millions of books available online. Books are limited to those published in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Canada. The final hearing is set for Feb. 18.

YouTube Videos Add Automatic Captions
AFP
Google, in a development for deaf Internet users, is adding automatic caption capability to videos on YouTube. The captions will initially be available only in English and on videos from 13 YouTube "partner channels" but it hopes to extend the feature to all videos on the site.

Facebook Becomes a Popular Video Site
CNET
YouTube might still reign supreme in online video, but the big surprise coming out of Nielsen's VideoCensus release is that Facebook is now the world's third most popular place to view video online. Facebook easily beat out Bing, Yahoo and several other online sites.

Yahoo Adds News 'Shortcut' With Tweets
V3.co.uk
Yahoo is adding a feature to its search service which the company hopes will improve coverage of breaking news. The new "Shortcut" component will not only display news on breaking stories, but also offer related Twitter posts as well as photos and video files.

Twitter to Help News Outlets Monetize
New Media Age
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone says that tools to help brands and publishers monetize their Twitter presence are close to launch. He adds that services will help news publishers generate extra revenues online. "We look forward to opening up the doors to news organizations."

Microsoft's Xbox to Woo TV Advertisers
New York Post
Microsoft's Xbox videogame console, which streams television shows, movies and original content, is seeking to woo ad buyers by measuring its audience in the same way that Nielsen tracks traditional TV viewers. Advertisers are "very comfortable" with the notion.

Hulu Signs Up EMI to Take On YouTube
Los Angeles Times
EMI Music is becoming the first major music company to agree to distribute its music videos and concert footage on Hulu. Music videos already have shown appeal for rival online video site YouTube, which is working with Universal Music to develop the music video site Vevo.

Vevo, 'Hulu for Music,' Sets Launch Date
GigaOM
Vevo, the premium music video site developed by major labels Universal and Sony in conjunction with Google, says it will launch on Dec. 8. Vevo is frequently touted as a "Hulu for music," a premium alternative to YouTube's comparatively lo-fi music video offerings.

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ADVERTISING & MARKETING
 
Hollywood Cutting Ads in Traditional Media
New York Times
Cost-conscious Hollywood studios are cutting advertising in newspapers and television while leaning more heavily on publicists generating free coverage in magazines, newspapers, TV outlets and blogs. More publicists are setting up pages for movies on Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter Ad Business Planned for Early 2010
Bloomberg
Twitter says it is generating sales of more than $4 million a year and plans to build on that revenue with advertising in early 2010. Ads, says COO Dick Costolo, will be "organic and in the flow of the way people already use Twitter -- and not, 'Here's the tweets and here are the ads.'"

CBS Nearly Sold Out on Super Bowl XLIV
Advertising Age
CBS is approaching a 90% sell-out for its Feb. 7 broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV, according to the network's head of sports sales, meaning the network likely has only between six and 12 30-second ad spots left to sell. Sales have been "surprisingly good."

Comcast-NBC May Spur Interactive TV Ads
Wall Street Journal
As Comcast closes in on a deal for control of NBC Universal, the cable operator thinks the merger could help speed the development of interactive TV ads and "addressable advertising." Comcast execs are said to be looking at such ads as a benefit of a deal.

Google: AdMob Will Expand Mobile Ads
Bloomberg
Google CEO Eric Schmidt says his company's $750 million purchase of AdMob will expand sales of ads that appear in apps on smart phones. Together, AdMob and Google will be the largest mobile-ad company. Ad-supported apps could become "a big business."

YouTube to Let Users 'Skip' Some Ads
ClickZ
YouTube is adding a "skip" button to some pre-roll ads, in a test it hopes will improve user experience and lead to better ad creative. The ultimate goal, says YouTube, is to create a scenario where advertisers pay only for ads users watch in full or engage with some other way.

WPP Chief: More Print Media Must Die Off
BtoB
Newspapers and magazines are "dropping like flies, and that has to continue," says WPP chief Martin Sorrell. "There has to be a winnowing out and consolidation." The solution is to offer content for sale to those who are willing to pay for it. "The old models don't work."

WPP Sees Ad Improvement, Not 'Armageddon'
BBC
Global advertising giant WPP is announcing a drop in quarterly revenues but says things are "less worse" than the previous three months. "Armageddon and Apocalypse" have been avoided. Still, improved confidence is yet to transfer to consumers' "check-writing hands."

Interpublic: What Advertising Comeback?
MarketWatch
Media pundits are whispering that an advertising comeback may be occurring. But don't bother telling Interpublic Group of Cos. The ad giant's third-quarter profit tumbled 47%. "Recent improved sentiment in the world economy hasn't translated to rising orders."

Publicis CEO Forecasts Recovery Next Year
Reuters
Publicis, the world's third largest advertising group, says the worst of the economic downturn is over, forecasting a return to growth in the second half of 2010. "The recovery will be slow," says CEO Maurice Levy, "but all the signs we have are going in the right direction."

Carat to Join Media-Led Research Group
Broadcasting & Cable
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, the new media-led research initiative that aims to rival Nielsen, is launching a Web site and may name a managing director next month. The group is expected to announce more members including media agency Carat.

Internet Advertising Poised for Comeback
Associated Press
After bogging down in the recession, Internet advertising is regaining the momentum that has made it the decade's most disruptive marketing machine. The signs of an online revival are emerging even while advertising in print and broadcast remains in a slump.

Ad Decline is Slowing, ZenithOptimedia Says
World Screen
ZenithOptimedia is downgrading its 2009 advertising forecast, but has somewhat rosier expectations for the second half of the year, with a "clear improvement in the rate of decline," setting the stage for "modest" growth in 2010. The coming months "will be much less painful."

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MEDIA COMPANIES
 
Vivendi, GE Haggle Over Price of NBC Stake
Wall Street Journal
General Electric and Vivendi are wrangling over the value of the French media group's stake in NBC Universal. GE has offered about $5 billion for the stake. Vivendi, meanwhile, has asked for a price somewhere from the "mid-five" billion dollars to closer to $6 billion.

News Corp, Time Warner Interested in MGM
Bloomberg
News Corp., Time Warner and Qualia Capital are said to be interested in buying the debt-laden Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio, owner of the "James Bond" franchise. The companies haven't examined the studio's finances and their level of interest will depend on price.

Disney Eyes Web for New Hollywood Model
Los Angeles Times
Disney Studios head Rich Ross and his boss, Disney chief Bob Iger, want to create a new business model to address the sweeping changes impacting the business. Rather than spend millions on television advertising, Ross says studios should harness social networks and the Web.

Microsoft, News Corp Talk Google Content
Financial Times
Microsoft is said to be in early stage talks with News Corp. and other publishers about the possibility of paying them to remove their sites from Google's search index, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to newspapers.

Media Job Cuts: The Worst Is Not Over
Reuters
Although many U.S. media conglomerates are reporting strong earnings and their CEOs are touting a long-awaited uptick in advertising spending, analysts warn that more cost cuts lie ahead. Layoffs are "nowhere near over." Business models "are still in flux."

NYC Loses Nearly 60,000 Jobs In Media
WCBS
The New York City comptroller's office says the city has lost nearly 60,000 communications jobs since 2000, including in publishing and broadcasting. San Francisco has lost a third of its information industry jobs. Phoenix, Atlanta and Dallas lost more than one quarter.

Murdoch Jr: TV is News Corp's Future
Telegraph
Broadcasting and entertainment are the future for News Corp., with newspapers playing a much smaller role, says James Murdoch, the company's head of Europe and Asia. "Journalism plays a role" in our business. But, "television is vastly more profitable."

AOL-Time Warner Divorce to Take Toll
Associated Press
AOL plans to cut one-third of its workforce ahead of next month's spinoff from Time Warner. The struggling Internet outfit is looking for up to 2,500 employees to voluntarily accept buyouts starting Dec. 4, just days before the divorce from its parent company.

Sony to Launch Product-Linking Service
Dow Jones
Sony plans to launch an online network service in early 2010 to distribute games and videos for various hardware devices. The service, which is tentatively named Sony Online Service, is expected to connect to televisions and various mobile devices.

Comcast NBC Deal Hit by Stake Valuations
Financial Times
General Electric and Vivendi are said to be at least $1 billion apart on their valuation of the French group's stake in NBC Universal. The situation is dampening hopes of a quick resolution to a stand-off that is holding up Comcast's planned bid for a majority stake in NBCU.

Sony Still Haunted by Decline of Walkman
Associated Press
Sony says it aims to become profitable in gaming and flat-panel TVs as it cuts costs to turn around money-losing businesses. "We still have more work to do," admits CEO Howard Stringer. Sony's big challenge is coming up with an equivalent of the Walkman.

Vivendi Seeks More Money for NBCU Sale
Bloomberg
Vivendi is said to want a bigger portion in cash from partner General Electric for its 20% stake in NBC Universal. The talks are key to GE's plan to form a new venture with Comcast. Vivendi may decide not to sell its stake. A final decision depends on the talks with GE.

Martha 'Pissed' Prison Hurt Her Company
UPI
Martha Stewart says she never thought her 2004 prison sentence for lying to investigators about a stock trade would cost her her media empire. "I was pissed. OK," she admits in an interview on ABC's "Nightline." "Pissed that something could actually affect that."

Murdoch, Google Poised to Start 'Web War'
InformationWeek
The Web is in danger of becoming segmented into a federation of closed camps led by the likes of Google, Microsoft, Apple and Rupert Murdoch. So says Internet pundit Tim O'Reilly, during a keynote address at the Web 2.0 Expo. "We're heading back into an ugly time."

Hollywood Studios Spy On Redbox Kiosks
New York Times
News Corp.'s Fox is keeping a close eye on an effort by Redbox, the operator of dollar-a-day DVD rental kiosks, to stock its movies, despite a refusal by Fox, Universal and Warner to sell new releases to the company and a pending legal fight over the dispute.

Time Warner, AOL to Split in Three Weeks
USA Today
Time Warner is making it official: On December 9 the media giant will spin off AOL, closing the book on one of the most disastrous mergers in business history. Ted Turner once described the AOL deal as "better than sex." AOL will become a separate public company.

Murdoch Sees More Media Opportunities
Dow Jones
The globalization of media presents opportunities for the industry even as it navigates the uncertainties posed by the digital world, says Rupert Murdoch, in videotaped remarks to promote the Abu Dhabi Media Summit. "Our aim must be to enhance the lives of our citizens."

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