Tribune’s LA Times slashing another 300 jobs
The Los Angeles Times is slashing jobs again, with the latest cuts reaching deep into the newsroom as it also prepares to eliminate a section. Friday word came that 300 positions will be eliminated at the Tribune-owned newspaper, which has already seen hundreds of layoffs over the past few years. Seventy positions will be in the newsroom, representing 11 percent of its staff, according to editor Russ Stanton. Tribune has been looking extra-hard for ways to reduce costs after filing for bankruptcy last year. The Times will also eliminate the California section of the paper as of March 4, integrating the state news instead into the national and international news delivered in the A section. Tribune has been making steady cuts at the Times since acquiring it in 2000. The paper’s newsroom reportedly has shrunk from 1,200 to roughly 600.

Meanwhile, Dallas owner Belo eliminates 500 positions
And speaking of job cuts, the ones at A.H. Belo are going even deeper. Friday the company, which owns the Dallas Morning News and Providence Journal, among other newspaper properties, said it will eliminate 500 jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce, citing the struggling economy. Belo whacked another 500 jobs last year, with advertising revenue for its papers falling steeply. The company said it also will suspend matching contributions to employees’ 401K plans, a measure that other newspaper owners have implemented during the downturn. Friday was a bad day all around for newspapers. In addition to the Times and Belo cuts, word came that Gannett, the owner of USA Today and dozens of other dailies, will write down the value of its papers by nearly $6 billion. Ad revenue for its publishing division plummeted 23 percent year to year during fourth quarter, according to the company.

Saturday overnights: Fox leads among adults 18-49
On Saturday night, Fox’s law enforcement lineup helped the network finish first among viewers 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights, edging out second-place CBS.
 
Fox was first among 18-49s with a 1.9 average overnight rating and a 6 share, with CBS second at 1.8/6, NBC third at 1.3/4, Univision fourth at 1.0/3 and ABC fifth at 0.9/3.
 
As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Twenty-eight percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.
 
At 8 p.m. Fox and CBS tied for first at 2.0, Fox for “Cops” and CBS for “The Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials.” ABC was third with a 0.9 for the first hour of the movie “Anchor Man,” Univision fourth with a 1.0 for its first hour of “Sabado Gigante” and NBC fifth with a 0.7 for “Crusoe.”
 
Fox was alone in first place at 9 p.m. with a 2.0 for “America’s Most Wanted,” followed by CBS with a 1.5 for a repeat of “NCIS.” NBC was third with a 1.3 for the first half of “Saturday Night Live: Sports Extra,” ABC fourth with a 1.1 for the second half of its movie and Univision fifth with a 1.0 for more “Sabado Gigante.”
 
At 10 p.m. CBS and NBC tied for first at 1.8, CBS for “48 Hours Mystery” and NBC for more “SNL.” Univision was third with a 1.2 for the end of “Sabado Gigante” and ABC fourth with a 0.6 for a repeat of “Life on Mars.”
 
CBS was first for the night among households with a 5.0 average overnight rating and a 9 share. Fox was second at 3.7/7, NBC third at 2.3/4, ABC fourth at 1.7/3 and Univision fifth at 1.5/3.

From pigskin to porn: Tucson’s Super Bowl blunder
For a few seconds last night, some viewers watching Tucson, Ariz.’s KVOA went from watching backfields in motion to backsides. Sunday’s Super Bowl telecast was interrupted by pornographic material for about 10 seconds on TVs carrying the Comcast cable feed. KVOA said no other feeds were affected by the glitch, and Comcast said the high-definition feed was not knocked out. The cable company is investigating how it happened, but it wasn’t the only technical glitch yesterday. During Matter Lauer’s much-hyped interview with President Barack Obama in the pregame show, the audio kept going out. NBC studio host Bob Costas later apologized but said the network did not want to switch away from the interview “because we knew you wanted to hear from the president.”