Disney shutters fledgling parenting title Wondertime
In hindsight, the timing could not have been worse. Disney Publishing Worldwide launched Wondertime in 2006, just months before a bad case of malaise began to grip the publishing industry and two years before ad pages went into a full-out tumble. Yesterday the company said it had shut down the more upscale parenting magazine, which targeted women with young children, after recently consolidating the title’s ad sales staff with sister publication Family Fun. Though Wondertime’s ad pages actually grew in 2008, up 21 percent from 449.56 to 543.99, it had the second-fewest of the six parenting magazines tracked by Media Life, and its revenue was a fraction of the other, largely more established titles. The closure of Wondertime, which was publishing 10 issues per year, leaves roughly two-dozen editorial employees out of work. Disney blamed the bad economy for the shutdown. Meanwhile, also yesterday, Hearst severely cut back publication of the quarterly newsstand-only title Teen, which will become an annual. The teen segment has seen several closures over the past few years, most notably CosmoGirl, ElleGirl and Teen People.

WLS-AM to Blagojevich: Come work for us instead
Perhaps embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is staying in office simply out of fear of the nation’s rising unemployment rate. If so, WLS-AM Chicago is offering the governor some peace of mind: Resign, and he’s guaranteed his own show on the station. That was the promise made by program director Bob Shomper on the “Don & Roma Show” yesterday morning. He said he’d give Blagojevich a weekly noon to 2 p.m. show on Sundays, in hopes that the unpopular governor would give up his post in a scandal that’s made national headlines. Blagojevich was recently impeached by the state legislature after being arrested on a range of corruption charges, including allegedly attempting to auction off President Barack Obama’s empty Senate seat to the highest bidder.

ABC Entertainment merging with ABC Studios
ABC is following NBC’s lead and merging its studios with its network, in a move that likely means more ABC Studios shows will make it on the primetime schedule. Yesterday ABC said Stephen McPherson will run both ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios, which he headed up for several years before becoming the top programmer. The move is seen as an economic one designed to cut costs amidst a dogging economy. No immediate layoffs were announced, but many expect they could start as soon as next week as the two units streamline their operations. The move follows a similar consolidation at NBC Universal last month, and it further suggests that the networks will stick to their own when culling pilots for the upfront season. The broadcasters have become more and more reliant on their own product in recent years. In the past, some of the biggest hits have come from competing studios, such as ABC Studios’ “Criminal Minds,” which airs on CBS. Some have complained that the trend leads to bad programming decisions, such as ABC renewing ABC Studios’ “According to Jim,” a low-rated show that nonetheless produces good syndication revenue.

Could Murdoch be the winner in Russian invasion?
For a man who most Londoners had never heard of until two weeks ago, folks are sure thinking a lot about Alexander Lebedev now. Today the media is full of stories about Lebedev, the Russian oligarch buying a controlling share in the London Evening Standard, the afternoon paid-for newspaper that has been under the ownership of Associated Newspapers. First there are the reports that Lebedev has sought permission from authorities for the staffers at Novaya Gazeta, a Russian newspaper that he also holds a stake in, to carry guns. This comes after two of the paper’s employees were killed on Moscow streets recently. Londoners are also wondering why Lebedev decided to buy an unprofitable London newspaper and, perhaps more importantly, who will gain from this change in the British newspaper landscape. In a blog post, Richard Addis, a former editor of the Financial Times, says the likely winner in the purchase is actually could be Rupert Murdoch. Associated Newspapers’ London Lite has been duking it out with Murdoch’s News International on the streets of London in an afternoon freesheet war. Addis suggests that it was Murdoch’s strategy that ultimately drove Associated to sell the stake in the Evening Standard. Without the Standard to protect it, Associated may close Lite, benefiting Murdoch.

Nielsen: CNN leads web coverage of inauguration
Tuesday’s inauguration of president Barack Obama wasn’t only big on TV, it was big online as well. On Jan. 20, more than 37 million unique visitors surfed the top five sites in the current events and global news category, according to Nielsen Online, with CNN Digital Network leading the way with 11.05 million unique visitors that day. CNN was followed by MSNBC Digital Network (10 million visitors), Yahoo News (9.13 million), Fox News Digital Network (4 million) and AOL News (3.95 million). The entire category saw traffic increase 12 percent versus the previous Tuesday, with ABC News Digital Network the fastest-growing, up 99 percent week-to-week from 1.14 million visitors to 2.26 million. CBS News Digital Network (96 percent), WashingtonPost.com (81 percent), Tribune Newspapers (56 percent) and Daily News Online Edition (46 percent) rounded out the top five fastest-growing sites in the category. TV coverage of the inauguration drew 37.8 million total viewers, according to Nielsen, making it the most-watched swearing-in since Ronald Reagan in 1981.