Archives 2001

Tuesday, January 2, 2001

• 'Twas a chilly November for syndicated TV
  Booted into the basement by election folderol; old and new ache
• Reality jag fails to halt networks' loss to cable
  Research report: Big Three all decline in key 18-49 viewers
• SmartMoney's Lambiase on the coming hard times
  Interview: Opportunities for personal finance titles and sites
• Cable and satellite face off over interactive TV
  Technology: Each has a unique foothold for coming struggle

People

Wednesday, January 3, 2001

• Worth abruptly scraps site aimed at super rich
  Low traffic and capital pullback cited by brass
• Young media woman slain by ex-boyfriend
  Cops: Empower worker shot in car as child slept; double slaying
• Florida chad-fest pumps TV in all dayparts
  Season-to-date numbers up smartly over last year's figures
• Seldom humble TV critic confesses to flubs 
   Wallenstein: Some doozies among a slew of able predictions
• On Moscow's M1, 'Naked Truth' is just that
  Stripping anchor and now a chimp-hosted talk show. Honest.
• Ad buyers: Content sites do have a bright future
  New media: Back study predicting ad splurge in two years

Reginald Brack, Peter Georgescu, Patricia Martin and William Paley elected to AAF’s Advertising Hall of Fame
Actor Ray Walston dead at 86
Thursday, January 4, 2001

• Hearst cuts cord on Offspring
  SmartMoney sibling fails to draw parent readers
• For WebMD, a diet too rich in expectations
  Collapse of Fox deal follows bout of overeating
• NBC's easing grip on the 18-49 demo
  Ratings recap: ABC and Fox climb. What will midseason bring?
• Real meaning of web Xmas: Saying howdie
  Study: Shopping dwarfed by flood of best wishes for holidays
• Buyers think radio may be off the dial
  See ad growth in low single digits, not RAB's  7.5% to 8%
• Portable People Meter's long march to Wilmington
  Technology: Not so simple challenge to measure multi-media

News Shorts
ABC rides high on college pigskin power
Zucker's first day as NBC entertainment big
Marines tell it to Wallace: You're insensitive
National Geo Channel debuts this Sunday 
'Survivor II' contestants on free-range diet
Two more stations pull plug on plucky Dr. Laura
Rabbi: 'Temptation Island' an insult to matrimony

Web Shorts
EBay goes down twice, out for 11 hours
Starbucks and Microsoft pair in internet café deal
More then 200 dot.coms folded in 2000
EToys shutters European operations
DotComGuy ends with a whimper
Napster: Don’t violate our copyright

People

Friday, January 5, 2001

• Hachette delivers death ax to George
  Revived JFK Jr. poli-celeb title never caught with ad buyers
• Teen People editor bolts for Europe and love
  Resigns to join ex-Time Inc. edit director Muller in Geneva
• Primedia hires Brill as its media kingpin
  Heading unit to repurpose edit from myriad outlets
• Two worthy sitcoms offer an escape from reality
  Wallenstein reviews of  'Three Sisters' and 'Grounded for Life' 
• Express owner mobbed up with wise guys?
  London letter: Pornster gone legit splashed by rival papers
• Billion $ prize deadline spikes traffic at lotto site
  New media: Heedless of odds, webheads flock to Grab.com

News Shorts
CMR report: 2000 ad spending up 14.5%
NBC wins last night, but problems loom
At last, full IDs for cast of 'Survivor II'
Wolfgang Puck in a Food Network gig
NBC's nightly news show in year-end mop up

Web Shorts
News Corp. chops its internet division
Engage hands walking papers to 550 workers
EToys also slims ranks, lopping 70% of staff
Kmart: We'll charge heavy BlueLight.com users
Barnesandnoble.com will publish e-books
'Cast Away' movie props for sale online

People

Monday, January 8, 2001

• Wall Street tips Rogers an approving nod
  Credits with smartly overhauling ailing Primedia
• Read it and weep: Big cable is aching
  Study: Lifetime is only large network with sizable viewing increase
• College bowls score big with holiday viewers
  Sports TV: Top 4 pigskin romps beat everything but Super Bowl
• Viacom's clout may be best hope for 'Gary & Mike'
  Wallenstein: Art of cross-promotion to bolster UPN newbie
• Reaching America as it munches popcorn
  Out of home: Put your client on towelettes at movie theaters
• People en Español adds a touch of InStyle
  Magazines: Kicks up coverage of celebs and fashion
• It was a blue blue Xmas for web-only e-commerce
  New media: But big traffic leaps for bricks and clicks joints

News Shorts
'People's Choice' wins households for CBS
'ER' and other non-surprises win People's Choices
Dick Clark's New Year's blast sets a record
Here's the word: New lease on life for UPN
Texas anchor indicted on kid porn charges
UPN reality: Tour of dirty beaneries
Sniff! 'Star Trek' in end-of-gig special on UPN

People

Tuesday, January 9, 2001

• Time Digital relaunching as On, for web readers
  Post-merger synergies with America Online
• Maxim crew launching mega music magazine
  Blender will go head to head with Rolling Stone
• PAX attax with original shows. Will it matter?
  Television: Minor league network plots iffy course to majors
• FCC okay for AOL-TW could come this week
  Washington: Big mystery: How harsh might the terms be?
• Nude billboard model puts Brits in renewed fits
  London letter: Ah, Sophie, regs rule, too little here is too much
• Think wireless if you're into future-think
  Technology: Cell phone's promise as an ad-delivery vehicle

News Shorts
Industry Standard lops staff in ad slide
Music awards take the night for ABC
UK Express editor's scrabbled good-by: %#@
Fox: VD check for 'Temptation Island' couples
Study: Lifetime Movie Network tops with viewers
ABC's Clinton retrospective, first among many
 
Web Shorts
NY Times sells off stake in TheStreet
Excite@Home backs out of Pogo purchase
Women.com gets delisting warning
Kozmo shuts San Diego, Houston service
Ameritrade joins the layoff parade
First accredited online MBAs granted

People

Wednesday, January 10, 2001

• Forget 18-49. Hot TV demo is really 25-54.
  Advertisers value older demo as Americans age
• Facing reality, networks tout midseason switches
  Press tour roundup: Spin City West as top suits crow and shuffle
• ABC bowls nearly bollix NBC's 18-49 edge
  Ratings recap: All eyes now 'Mole'-ward. Will it do the trick?
• Your Passport to the gay travel crowd
  Magazine review: Where to go in Budapest for the wild thing
• When surfers gander here are the sites they see
  New media: Ranking the most visible destinations on the web
• Supremes: We'll mull tobacco billboard bans
  High Court will rule whether smoke ads can be outlawed

News Shorts
'Mole' underwows, 'Three Sisters' sings
FCC: High-speed DSL web access gains on cable
CBS hit 'C.S.I.' to Thursday face-off with NBC
CBS: Look forward to 'Survivor' III and IV
Yes, it's final, it's Rosie, not Rosie's McCall's
Fox: We ousted two from 'Temptation' for lying
Slew of appointments at Real Simple

Web Shorts
Teetering MVP.com lays off 36
Group-buy site Mercata: We're done too
Study: Online holiday spending tops $10 billion
NFL tackles Cincinnati Bengals spoof site
Culturefinder: What the hell, we're a nonprofit
Turkish kids detained for chillin’ at net cafes

People

 
Thursday, January 11, 2001

• Maxim big Dennis plans major U.S. newsweekly
  Brit takes aim at Time, Newsweek and U.S. News. April launch.
• NBC marches out its midseason lineup
  But big mystery remains: What about Thursday night, huh?
• Media buyers: Network strike plans are limp
  Reality, schmeality, settling is the only solution
• One hell of a year for America's magazines
  2000 ad revenues climb 14%, to nearly $17.7 billion
• A different approach to women on the web
  Interview: Jodi Turek on the value of talking with, not at
• EchoStar's doublespeak on satellite's web access
  Technology: Crafty pitch to gain open access to cable's pipes

News Shorts
Fox sweeps last night; 'Temptation' fares well
Report: Fourth of CNN staffers may be axed
Yet more fame for 'Survivor's' Richard and Rudy
Court TV picks up crime web sites
'60 Minutes': V word not fit for primetime

Web Shorts
Expedia agrees to pay royalties to Priceline
Snowball lays off 20 percent of workforce
Rosie in URL battle with cybersquatters
Most online crime related to auction sites
Sign of future? Yahoo gains B2B revenue
Microsoft and La-Z-Boy introduce 'e-cliner'

People

Friday, January 12, 2001

• FCC okays merger of AOL and Time Warner
  Yes vote comes with relatively few restrictions
• Turner sells WCW but not to Vince McMahon
  Sports TV: Ailing wrestling franchise goes to Fusient
• 'Temptation Island' protests are misfires
  Wallenstein: Breaking up these couples is a public service
• 'Mole' ought to be a hit. Here's why it isn't.
  Review: Great TV demands characters viewers relate to
• Alyce Alston on W and her life after O
  Interview: Why she jumped and the state of fashion titles
• Credit docs flood web with post-Xmas cures
  New media: Neway debt clinic has two of most-viewed ads

News Shorts
For CBS, 'Survivor II' can't come soon enough
Another Teen People editor on the way out 
U.S. newsweeklies unrattled by Dennis launch
'Millionaire' jacks up the payout for sweeps
XFL announces its broadcast team
'Survivor' cast member becomes a Trump model

People

Tuesday, January 16, 2001

• Nielsen creates lab to track TV-web use
  Research: How two media are used in same households
• As dot.coms tumble, whither Dobbs' Space.com?
  New media: Nowhere good, it appears, as web carnage widens
• ABC 'fesses: We're aging and not happily
  Press tour report: Vows sked fixes to bring in younger viewers
• Lumet's '100 Centre St.' is a lion's roar for A&E
  Wallenstein: Famed director struts his craft in courtroom series
• Reaching mall shoppers when they stop to dine
  Out of home: Food-court video screens featuring news and ads
• Dot.com splatter? Not at Technology Review.
  Magazines: Ups frequency to monthly as New Economy falters
• Britain's Felix Dennis is a cut-up from way back
  London letter: Ex-hippie behind Maxim, The Week and Blender

Web Shorts
CDNow and Napster link to sell CDs
FBI: Hackers plotted to crash net on New Year's Eve
Pop culture site launches amid dot.com turmoil 
DoubleClick breaks even in fourth quarter
EMusic cans 66 employees, a third of its staff
EYada axes third of staff--30 workers

People

• New Yorker publisher spirited away by G+J
  Brewster nabs Carey to head new biz publishing group
• For Super Bowl ads it's, like, party hearty
  Research: Highest retention among young in a group setting
• Ouch! Remembering the 1988 writers' strike
  History lesson: Nasty set-to from which TV never recovered
• Shape's lesson: Small can be beautiful
  Magazines: You don't always need a giant publisher to succeed 
• Study: Technology is real driver of cable growth
  Research: Allowing smaller networks into more homes
• On the web, age of Wal-Mart begins
  New media: As dot.coms splatter, retail giant joins top ranks

Web Shorts
DrKoop goes west, trimming staff in the move
Mediapassage and OneMediaPlace merge
Amazon and MS yank ads from terrorist site
Another group-buy site shuts B2C operation
Study: Brand-name e-tailers fall short on service
Snail-mail virus hoax recirculates online

People

Thursday, January 18, 2001

• Proof is in: Reality is bigger than 'Survivor'
  Ratings recap: New shows' ratings reveal strength of the genre
• Is 'SNL' at last ready for primetime? Pundits ponder.
  Heads scratch over NBC's Thursday move against 'Survivor 2'
• BW's Steve Shepard on New Economy's impact 
  Interview: Separating the hype from the substance of change
• Super Bowl's hot but not so SuperBowl.com
  New media: Few non-TV advertisers are signing up 
• Coming BS blitz: Xbox vs. PlayStation 2
  Major $ hype assault aimed at America's kids
• Cable's sweeps strategy this February: nada, zip
  Let the broadcast networks duke it out with cheesy stunts

News Shorts
'Temp Island' scores even better on second outing
CNN cuts 400 jobs, fewer than expected
Study: Media gets just a tad of blame for violence
'Survivor's' Susan in TNN trucker series 
Kathie Lee hisses back on 'The View'
Bill Maher and Dr. Laura rapped for trash talk
MTV's '2gether' star dead at 16

Web Shorts
LookSmart and Amazon in partnership
Now it’s really curtains for Pets.com
Whitehouse.gov joins the transition
Martha Stewart and EthnicGrocer may team up
IVillage and Hindustan Lever to launch web site
Britain abuzz over internet sale of twins

Jed Petrick named president & CEO at the WB
Susan Rerat to managing editor at CondéNet's Epicurious website
Robyn Borok named national co-publisher at National Modern Bride group; Steve Portnoy named VP and publisher of Modern Bride Connection and Internet Sales
Barry Soicher named VP of conferences and events at Standard Media International
Ken Kurson named editor at large at Money magazine
Brian Kelly to managing editor of  U.S. News & World Report


Friday, January 19, 2001

• Yo, don't bet the farm on Super Bowl XXXV
  Forget the hype. Buyers say viewership will be off from last year.
• Health magazine to staff: It's 'Bama or bye bye
  Stink over editorial move from SF to Birmingham
• Funereal musings on the ills of syndication
  Wallenstein: Viewers deserve innovation, not more celebrities
• Cybill's not to blame for 'Men are from Mars'
  TV review: Axing Shepherd won't save this ratings disaster
• A new year and time to visit your online astrologer
  New media: Astrocenter floods web in banner ad splurge
• Financial Times facing trench warfare in Germany
  London letter: New biz daily has native press barons in a lather

News Shorts
'Temp Island' scores even better on second outing
Fox: OK, no more 'Island' promos in family time
Trekkie jailed for stalking 'Voyager's' Ryan
New Yorker boosts Kahn to publisher 
'South Park' pair tone down Bush parody
'Survivor 2' player joins Entertainment Weekly
Super Bowl fad: Team-colored nose strips?

People

Monday, January 22, 2001

• Media departments trim staff in 1Q sobering-up
  Positions are axed as budgets are cut amid consolidation
• End appears nigh for TW's Entertaindom
  Site will likely be folded into Warner Bros. as part of merger plan
• Discover struggles to re-ignite some buzz
  Magazines: A new publisher in search of a stronger identity
• 'Temptation Island' is all hot air and little steam
  Wallenstein: 'Survivor' rip-off is void of both sex and substance
• Mounting your message above the cash register
  Out of home: Videos put ads in stores and near the cha-ching
• On cable, flix still outdo touted original series
  Ratings recap: And old movies do best of all among 18-49s
• BBC looks to films and the Disney model
  London letter: Dyke seeks revenue streams beyond TV tax

Web Shorts
AltaVista threatens to sue other search engines
Melissa virus is on the rebound
Atom Films and Ford team for film promotion
IBM: We've got Napster-proof technology for you
Yahoo debuts money transfer service
In Japan, men like their girlfriends virtual

People

Tuesday, January 23, 2001

• Web advertising surges amid dot.com shakeout
  New media: More $s spent on more sites by more marketers
• Blue, where life is stylish adventure
  Magazines: A travel title for those who live as others vacation
• All the darn Super Bowl #s you could want
  From ad spots to potato chips anxiously munched
• When all else fails, love may be the answer
  Syndicators drop robes for relationship shows
• Funny, cable's looking a lot like broadcast
  Original shows have a me-too look and feel: coppers and reality 
• Near-forgotten HDTV finds a friend in satellite
  Technology: EchoStar hawking cheap high-definition receivers

Web Shorts
FTC: We're ending our probe of DoubleClick
Hackers hit a slew of government sites
Factoid: Media players found on 99% of PCs
Congressman becomes last to put up a site
Glitch sends Yahoo and MS surfers elsewhere
'Temptation' knockoff with a gamier twist

People

Wednesday, January 24, 2001

• AOL-TW in major job chop: 2,000 pink-slipped
  Closing Entertaindom web site in post-merger restructuring
• Study: Coming flood of web marketing $s
  New media: To $62.7B in 2005 from $10.5B in year 2000
• Hispanic radio's hot but ad prices are not
  Great buys still to be had in third most-listened-to format
• Fox gains smartly among 18-49 viewers
  Ratings recap: Chews on NBC's lead, powered by 'Temptation'
• Primedia's Caploe on the changing teen scene
  Interview: Engaging the minds of the Echo Boom generation
• Super Bowl ad hype may be its magic
  Research: Viewers beef but still pay extra attention to the ads

People

• Yet more toss-outs from AOL-TW merger
  Three magazines closed in drive to cut costs
• Counter-program Super Bowl? Forget about it.
  Well, not entirely. Some cable networks are trying.
• Mainstream sports turning off young men
  Study: Ratings decline as viewers skew older--and fewer
• TNT's 'Crossfire Trail' kicks WWF out of ring
  Ratings recap: Hot L’Amour oater breaks cable movie record 
• Plastic's Anuff on the value of cheap 
  Post-shakeout sensibility on making it online
• New brickbats  for Northpoint's Broadwave
  Technology: Congress cooks new delay for satellite alternative

News Shorts
'Temp Island' keeps lustful eyeballs leering
Dads magazine calls it quits after three issues
TNN to lay off 125 in move to New York
'Survivor's' Richard signs on with 'Early Show' 
'Buffy' star Gellar says it's WB or bust
Spade's stun gun assailant: I'm innocent
'ER's' Edwards checks out after seven years

Web Shorts
Conde Nast puts web site rollout on hold
Top three executives split from InfoSpace
Microsoft suffers second round of outages
Resurrection in the works for Pseudo.com
Come see the best banners of 2000
Ku Klux Klan kiddie site causes a stir

People

Friday, January 26, 2001

• Whew! Car $s should cushion the ad market
  Detroit spending is expected to increase modestly 
• Start your engines, pull out your wallets
  Sports TV: Advertisers in snit over major NASCAR price hikes 
• A cruel February for midseason series
  It's sweeps time and no new show yet walks on real legs
• Joan and Melissa, dirt-mouth celeb hounds
  Wallenstein: Why must the Rivers duo ruin every awards night?
• Fingerhut banner blitz appeals to the masses
  New media: Further evidence that web's going mainstream
• Euro media stocks dunk in ad slowdown
  London letter: Bank lowers ratings as web dreams evaporate

News Shorts
NBC takes Thursday on repeat power
Pols resume fight against H'wood violence
George, shuttered, may live again on the web 
Griffin to host reality roundup a la 'Talk Soup' on MTV 
Kathie Lee's new career: Substitute hosting
CBS prez Moonves makes a cameo on soap

Peter Alsberg, art director of The Washington Post's Outlook section, dies at 41 of colon cancer
Rick Salcedo, SVP of marketing and creative services, latest casualty at CNN
Jane Fonda’s show 'People Count' cut from CNN
Monique Dominique named category manager at Departures
William Li to publisher of Homestyle magazine
Linda Witulski named VP of Detroit sales for Hachette Filipacchi Magazines

Monday, January 29, 2001

• Super Bowl rout also a ratings bomberoo
  Worst viewership numbers since 1990 game;  39.8/59,
• Ah, sweeps, and Fox resorts to its old tricks
  String of worst-caught-on-tapes for Thursdays
• New advertisers debut on web at healthy pace
  New media: Numbers up nearly 11 percent from a year ago
• CBS's risky Thursday  gamble on 'Survivor 2'
  Wallenstein: Don't read too much into the wrinkling 'Friends'
• Times Square, where the message is spectacle
  Out of home: It's big, it's bold and draws millions of eyeballs
• JD Jungle, for young lawyers and wannabes
  Magazines: A dream target for marketers, all joking aside
• UK's do-good Ch. 4 does better and better
  London letter: Public TV network's lush deals rile Conservatives

People

Tuesday, January 30, 2001

• Super Bowl: How bad? Here's all the numbers.
  On edge of ignominy with lowest share ever
• Disney's Go.com is, like, way gone
  New media: Huge losses on entertainment portal that wasn't
• Financial services cutting ad $s to pre-2000 levels
  Down from 24% growth but still above other sectors
• Beer and boredom leaving Las Vegas
  NATPE: Syndicators danced and sang. Buyers yawned.
• Under FCC's Powell, expect a spurt of mergers
  Profile: Champion of market forces will stand back
• Satellite promises a new life for radio
  Technology: Quality programs, including old-style dramas

Web Shorts
Terra Lycos buys Raging Bull from AltaVista
SuperBowl.com underwhelmed by visitors
SportsLine.com to buy MVP.com assets
Latino.com fires most of its staff
Grad student puts his life up for sale on eBay

People

Wednesday, January 31, 2001

• XFL, just days to go, is behind on ad sales
  Bigger issue: Will bookies take the games seriously?
• Media sages neutral on 'Survivor 2' odds
  Post-Sunday opinings: Thursday 'Friends' gambit no sure winner
• CBS Super Bowl week a dud next to last year
  Ratings recap: Aided by 'Millionaire,' ABC drew 6.4M more eyes
• Print buyers resisting magazine rate hikes
  Greater leverage as ad economy slows down
• Large players slow to advertise on web
  New media: Small companies still lead in ad impressions
• Fore! Advance picking up Times' golf titles
  Sale of four magazines could come today; Newhouse on a roll.

Web Shorts
Amazon: We're dumping 15% of our staff
Founder of LifeMinders steps down as CEO
Sports retailer MVP.com is shutting down
Study: High-speed access is the rule at work
New Yorker to publish e-books
Study: Smart site seem to download faster

People

Thursday, February 1, 2001

• Here they are, TV's Dirty Dozen
  The twelve shows most avoided by advertisers
• Ugh! USA mat-slammed by loss of Vince's WWF
  Cable ratings recap: Double rope-a-dope in numbers by TNN
• Day of rich media may finally be here
  New media: Motion and sound ads gain as click-throughs fall
• Now, a music title for folks who think
  Magazines: Music.com will explore the ideas behind 
• AOL-TW rolls out first mega ad deals
  Four advertisers across cable, print and web
• Imagine, interactive TV sans the gizmos
  Technology: Two makers introducing sets with brains built in

News Shorts
'Temp Island' buries last night's 'Survivor 2' rerun
Big plans for CNN Money, née CNNfn
Bertelsmann hires antitrust pro Klein
'Raymond' now the top-rated sitcom? Sort of...
Smokin' Joe in a big stew over MTV's 'Jackass'
Rick and Darva: Together again

Web Shorts
Sony, trusted brand, is opening an online bank
Pogo.com easily wins as stickiest site of 2000
Study: B2B e-commerce to $2.7 trillion by 2004
Bertelsmann boots CDNow's ad team
Snowball.com pulls back in ad slowdown
Super Bowl dot.commers claim victory

Alexis Buryk to group vice president for advertising sales at The New York Times
Ann Marie Lipinski to editor of the Chicago Tribune
Robert A. Lee to publisher of Gear magazine
Stan Taigen named associate publisher for the Western division at Red Herring magazine
Chris McCumber named SVP of on-air promotion at the USA Network
Richard McCarthy named VP of consumer and client marketing at Standard Media International
Kate Rodler to West Coast associate publisher at The Standard

Friday, February 2, 2001

• Wonder where the fans went? Think X Games.
  Growing audience of young and adventurous; airing tonight
• Contract talks stall between writers and studios
  Not a good sign for efforts to head off a crippling strike
• A rare kind word from Wallenstein on Tivo
  Technology: Simply miles ahead of VCRs for recording TV 
• Beauty Biz, for the inside stuff on cosmetics
  Magazines: New hybrid consumer-trade title from Fairchild
• Pepsi's post-Bowl play: a mega online contest
  New media: Victoria's Secret primps for you-know-what-day
• France's TV ad rates shoot up under new regs
  London letter: Government cuts amount of commercials per hour

News Shorts
'Survivor 2' does a number on 'Friends' 
Regis: I'm naming my new co-host any moment
Renamed 'Guido' will lead into moved 'Bette'
Citizen Bill will edify at media-big powwow
'Temp Island' says no to spermicide ad
NBC scraps pop-culture quiz show 'On the Cover'

People

Monday, February 5, 2001

• Upfront looks grim for TV ad peddlers
  The early word: Market will be flat to down
• So CBS kicked NBC on Thursday. So what?
  Analysis: Network lacks the backup forces for a true victory
• Roger Black on the art of web design
  Interview: Medium may be new but principles don't change
• Good try, Vince, but XFL's a big fumble
  Wallenstein: Sports TV certainly needs something. This isn't it.
• When a big Kiss can stir up a lot of talk
  Out of home: Brand mobiles turn a message into a road show
• National Geo Channel: What ad chill? We're cool.
  Cable: Advertising will spring forth when budgets loosen
• UK 'Big Bro' turning gray to pull in oldsters
  London letter: Bid to widen viewing audience of hit reality series

Web Shorts
Netpliance sheds more than half of staff
Petopia joins Pets.com in dot.com heaven
Juno to harness users' computing power
Buy.com says bye-bye to 10 percent of staff
Study: Spam's not just annoying, it's pricey
Google can now search PDF files on web

People

• Ailing iVillage buys troubled Women.com
  Urge to merge in ad slowdown. Too horizontal? 
• Buyers opine: Vince's XFL is real football
  Sports TV: Promising cure for post- Super Bowl depression
• Milestone: GM is top web advertiser in 2000
  New media: Passes even Microsoft, spending $48 million
• Tom Moloney on Emap's  real U.S. ambitions
  Interview: Hint--it's not to launch a bunch of Brit titles here
• Study: Best networks make the big bucks
  Research: What matters most is $s generated per viewer
• Smokin' Joe's hardly the first to attack violence
  Feature: Beefs over media's evil powers go way back

People

Wednesday, February 7, 2001

• Don't read $ breaks in the TV ad slowdown
  Healthy price hikes even as viewership remains flat
• 'Survivor' fails to eat NBC's lead in 18-49s
  Ratings recap: Real Thursday night damage is to ABC's lineup
• TME's Ken Sacharin on getting people's attention
  Interview: Being heard above the din of hooters and shouters
• FringeGolf, for the hip, the young, the elusive
  Magazines: Celebrating the individual vs. the country club set
• Geez, Al, you shudda campaigned online
  New media: Study finds internet ads sway even reluctant voters
• Ted, George, Moscow's lots colder than you think
  Moscow letter: Turner and Soros aching for a bruising in TV bid

News Shorts
Rupe is poised to gobble up GM's DirecTV
NBC's Tuesday takes a nosedive
Ex-Survivor suit: Show rigged to favor Rudy
FCC's Powell: Look, no hands, honest
Oprah series to breathe some life into Oxygen
Uncle Mel: Mark my words, '01's gonna be big

People

• Mama mia! Ad pages take a tumble.
  Cruel and cold January for many top magazines
• Radio growth sputters and the dealing begins
  December revenues down for the first time in years
• Signs of Super Bowl malaise were aplenty
  Sports TV: Waning interest apparent long before the game
• Attila shows Vince a nifty ratings slam
  Cable ratings: USA's Hun two-parter drops TNN's WWF grappler
• Study: Hispanics and blacks use web differently
  New media: Less for entertainment, more for getting ahead
• Ah, synergy. Hoopsters and their fave tuna melts.
  Cable review: Food Network's NBA specials seem a stretch

News Shorts
NBC's Tuesday takes a nosedive
Nasty 'Nash' Johnson accused of über-lewdness
Other 'Survivor' vets may back fixing charges
Death with dignity: Mike blooper on 'Nightly News'
Study: TV's getting sexier as we speak
Inc.com scales back under new owners

Web Shorts
Icebox headed for the deep six unless cash arrives
Joining layoff brigade, CNET cuts 10 percent 
Barnesandnoble.com sheds staff too
Just what we need: PayPal to offer credit cards
Amazon to charge publishers for email promos
Who goes to porn sites? The young and poor.

People

• Is 'Survivor' crooked? One woman's story.
  Booted early from the series, she alleges the fix was in big-time
• Tiger, Tiger, burning bright--and costing big $s
  Sports TV: PGA golf spots, thanks to himself, will get pricier
• Time Inc.'s On, for the tech-curious among us
  Aiming for regular people, leveraging AOL's clout 
• MTV's 'Jackass' was a disaster in the waiting
  Wallenstein: Some lessons to be learned after a boy is burned
• Oops. Precipitous dropoff in web traffic
  New media: Slide of 10 percent since early December
• Bertelsmann takes helm of Europe's top TV group
  London letter: RTL stock deal vastly expands media giant's sway

News Shorts
'Friends' and 'Survivor' in Thursday nose-to-nose
Spears' Pepsi plug to premiere during Oscars
Smokin' Joe to MTV: Please get rid of 'Jackass'
CNN reporters to be tried for Chinese cult deaths
Reality TV to be recognized at next year's Emmys
'7th Heaven' star: Why oh why did I pose for Gear?

Web Shorts
NetZero: Free no more, you got to pay to surf
Study: Most people still dial up, even as DSL gains
eCountries: We're closing down too
Song may be over for web's oldest music site, IUMA
AdZone Interactive is bought by office design firm
Motley Fool in major divestiture of staff:115 workers
Okay, one last layoff story: Stamps.com 

People

Monday February 12, 2001

• Randi Mandi and the death of hot sex
  Lustful Mademoiselle remake is a, well, turnoff
• I'm 22 and hip. I don't watch 'Friends' anymore.
  Commentary: I'm here to tell you why. It has to do with boredom.
• Study: When chasing webheads, think cerebral
  Research: Heavy internet users prefer their media brainy
• What killed Icebox? Same-old, same-old.
  Wallenstein: Web creators need to find the Next Big Thing
• Make a splash where folks get their cash
  Out of home: ATM ads are hot, with a boost from technology
• Smart buzz powers some of the hottest sites
  New media: Dot.edus and dot.orgs are deft at building recognition
• London roil over title for boy-crazed tweenies
  London letter: Makeup, lovelorn tips, hint of sex for girls 9 to 12

News Shorts
NBA all-star a dud hoopster for NBC
GLAAD mad about Eminem-Elton Grammy duet
'Survivor's' Richard: I fixed Stacey's wagon
Producer Burnett taps Rudy for yet more reality
Trump ups the ante with 'Billionaire'

Web Shorts
BlueLight.com ends free internet access
With ruling due today, MP3 fans swamp Napster
American Express jumps into free ISP ring
Webcast of asteroid landing today
Hobbyists also combat copyright theft online
Prince to launch subscription music site

People

Tuesday, February 13, 2001

• 'Dr. Laura' put on ice. Is death nigh?
  Paramount: She's resting. Gays: She's a goner.
• Buyers on XFL's ratings drop: No sweat
  Sports TV: Real test will be over coming several weekends
• Mon Dieu! TV ad prices sink as inventory loosens
  Weak scatter and cancellations give buyers edge to wedge
• 'Baywatch' ends. Sniff. We will endure.
  Tender ruminations on the end of a television era
• Editing Teen People in a fast, adult world
  Magazines: Once-open category is now hotly competitive
• Study: Online spending will rebound with a snap
  New media: But a brief hiccup in a robust advertising climate

News Shorts
Appeals court deals Napster a decisive blow 
'Old Broads' ropes 'em in for ABC
Talk gets beat up for its newsstand woes
Meredith cashiers Family Money 
XFL trimming minutes to avert schedule snafus 
No more setbacks: New Yorker is on the web

Web Shorts
Google buys Deja
Anna Kournikova virus sprints across the net
AdZone: Web advertising growing
Vivendi unveils trilingual Education.com
Amazon now peddling downloadable software
Quokka Sports boots 217 workers

People

Wednesday, February 14, 2001

• Major ulcer attack hits newsstands
  Oddly, Americans are buying fewer magazines
• Forgotten 'Bette?' So have viewers.
  Weekly recap: Once-hyped show is eating ratings sawdust
• Diversity is in vogue but not in the numbers
  Research: TV viewers still prefer shows where their race stars
• For the WB, 'Popstars' pulls just the right fans
  No 'Survivor' yet a reality hit with young women
• As web grows, two big portals begin to fade
  New media: Lycos and NBCi ail as traffic climbs 21% in 2000
• Busting the myth of media and violence
  Social studies: Research that links the two is either thin or cooked

News Shorts
'Frasier' props up NBC's Tuesday night
Fortune's Huey gets control of Money
Interesting if true: Conde Nast to buy Biz 2.0?
CNNfn, gearing up for relaunch, retools its lineup 
Sesame St. mag axes 60 in move to Time Inc.
King World pulls the plug on web babe Margolis
UPN gets cracking on 'Chains of Love'

Web Shorts
Anna virus baddie: 'Learned your lesson?'
Rich media ad shop ePod at the end 
Buy.com bigs fly the coop
NY Times Digital and Yahoo forge content deal
Army uses internet to cure V-day blues

Actor and comedian Lewis Arquette dies
Tricia Keating to director of advertising sales at EW.com
Bill Cella chairman of new UM Cross Media Council

Thursday, February 15, 2001

• Industry Standard axing 65 more staffers
  Second, deeper round of cuts from ad drought; 15% of workforce
• UPN nosedives in first days of sweeps
  'Survivor' and programming woes sink ratings below ground
• User ignorance may drive much portal traffic
  New media: Surfers rely on search boxes to take them to sites
• XFL gives TNN its third top cable show
  Cable recap: Actually, credit goes to Vince. Other two are WWF.
• Move over, Oprah, for the Olsen twins
  Magazines: Ex-'Full-House' duo launching edgy tweens title
• Here's an idea, interactive TV for Luddites
  Technology: Less gadgetry may be just the thing for many of us

News Shorts
Fox's Babs concert no match for 'Temp Island'
CBS throws 'Apple' against NBC's 'ER'
News moguls promise election cleanup
Downey joins 'Ally' for eight more episodes
NBC joins layoff spree with axings in three units
'Springer' guest arrested for sex with a minor

Web Shorts
Whole lotta love overwhelms card sites
'Temp lsland' Alison bares all on Playboy.com
Yahoo rolls out paid directory listings
Creator of Anna K. virus surrenders to Dutch cops
Accessmagazine.com launches ad network
Court lets B&N use Amazon-like system

People

Jerry Powers to publisher of Ocean Drive en Espagnol; Sara Castany named editor
Jill Bright to EVP of human resources at Conde Nast
Marc Osgoode Smith named senior director of communications at NCTA
Thomas Culligan moves up to sales manager at Continental Television Sales

Friday, February 16, 2001

• Rash of XXX's for new syndicated shows
  Axe falls on series that seemed so promising at NATPE
• Streaming media goes mainstream
  New media: More agencies are recommending it to clients
• A year old, Metro has yet to wow Philadelphia
  Free commuter paper struggles to win advertisers
• Like radio? You'll love Live365's 28,233 stations
  Things we like: A vital web community of the esoteric and quirky
• Bob Costas, you're just not mean enough
   Wallenstein: New HBO sports talker lacks grit. Get me Gumbel.
• Dyke's plight: Rising foes of BBC's £ ambitions
  London letter: Want end to competition with private sector

News Shorts
'Survivor' losing edge over 'Friends'
Iceman Blaine plots next stunt: Skyscraper dangle
CBS taking applications for 'Survivor 3'
XFL cheerleader: Ugh, they treat us like strippers
'Baywatch' stud loses legal battle with Playgirl
No joke: Australian man  marries his TV
Oklahoma's Tim McVeigh wants TV execution
'Daily Show's' Stewart will host Grammys

Web Shorts
CBS to fold web sites into TV group
CNBC.com also consolidates, with cuts
AltaVista scraps chat rooms but denies pressure
Redesigned TheGlobe faces delisting
Broadband Sports is out of the game
Low United airfares don't fly

People

Jordan Levin to co-president of entertainment at the WB
Renee Moskowitz to publisher of WWD.com
Brendan Monaghan named wine & spirits manager at GQ
Jeffrey Auerbach named president of new division at Will Vinton Studios
Laurence R. Ferber and April Benimowitz to head producers for 'Sally Jessy Raphael'
Mary Duffy named executive producer of upcoming 'Ananda'

Tuesday, February 20, 2001

• Business 2.0 is put up for sale
  Parent reorg as New Economy goes wrinkly
• Vince's XFL takes another ratings hit
  Sports TV: Long holiday weekend may account for 25% drop
• Online usage surges even as dot.coms fail
  New media: 56% of Americans were surfing by year-end 2000
• R.I.P. Ripa. Bring back Kathie Lee.
  Wallenstein: She was a human train wreck. She was not bland.
• Messages that walk on the wild side
  Out of home: Posting your client around construction sites
• Every darn thing to know about wireless
  Technology: Imagine traveling on a train and being online 
• Brit TV faces push for more public service
  London letter: New law to extend idea deep into private sector

Monika Miller, Kyle Acquistapace & Tristan McManaman to VPs and group media directors at Deutsch L.A.
Sofia Escamilla named associate media director at La Agencia de Orci
Bill Hamilton named assistant managing editor of Enterprise at the Washington Post; Kevin Merida to associate editor
Mark Fiore to political cartoonist at the San Jose Mercury News

• ABC, say wha? You're in the tank.
  Aging 'Millionaire' tumbles 18-49 demo by 23 percent
• Daytona 500 breaks 20-year ratings record
  Sports TV: Ad market skid keeps ad rates on cruise control
• Betting on the hearts and minds of women
  New media: Can women.com and iVillage make it as a team?
• L.A. Times pokes, and its rivals poke back
  Feature: Questions over series on Hollywood reporting
• With Rosie on, G+J gives writers a break
  Dumps disputed contract taking away rights. Coincidence?
• An amazing tale of tycoons and ten pins
  New media: Did a bowling ball end Yahoo! and eBay merger?

Web Shorts
Valentine's Day proves an online ad bonanza
Primedia threatens workers who whine online
Latest Napster offer gets cold shoulder
Yahoo sheds two international executives
FairMarket: We can’t beat eBay, we’ll join ’em
United: OK, fly our friendly skies for cheap

People

• Yes, the web will mature, and soon
  New media: Less clear is what it will mean to marketers
• Fox sweeps stunts dissolve into pratfalls
  Ratings wrapup: Two turkeys: 'Barbra' and 'Conspiracy Theory'
• New Economy titles assess the hangover
  Magazines: When will it get better? Will we all be here?
• Hup two three four, it's off to 'Boot Camp'
  Co-ed maneuvers to replace Fox's 'Temptation.' Lust in the dust?
• Now the envelope. Oh, and $1.4M, please.
  ABC wiggling to unload 10 Academy Award spots as clock ticks
• Video on demand vies for acceptance
  Technology: It's smart and obvious--but a lot like pay-per-view

News Shorts
Grammys slide, hexed by 'Temptation'
Time Inc. chills plans for bimonthly Hotdots
New round of pink slips at Industry Standard
Star-crossed Rick and Darva on 'Larry King'
Honda pulls ads from too-nasty XFL
Fox picks up two bargain-basement soaps

Web Shorts
BlueLight: Shop here and the surfing's free
Excite@Home takes Enliven private
Nielsen//NetRatings works to fix faulty data
EBay snaps up European rival iBazar
Columbia House site reveals customer data
Old Deja users fume at Google

People

Friday, February 23, 2001

• CBS Thursday getting big nods
  Buyers: 'Survivor' is doing damage, with more to come
• Pallored Mad takes on some color
  Magazines: Ads, too, in a bid to win back readers. No joke. 
• Kid fave 'Jackass' gains on cable charts
   Cable wrapup; Westminster pooch parade also hits with 18-49s
• Grammys' Eminem ploy as pure showbiz
  Wallenstein: Manipulation was the real star of the show
• Wireless ad boom: Only in your dreams
  New media: Forget the hype. It will happen way off if at all.
• UK celeb mags get hot. So where's the stars?
  London letter: Small A list of local talent for cover mugging 

News Shorts
'Friends' fades against 'Survivor'
Oxygen chops 30 employees in teen show re-do
Watch McVeigh die for $1.95 on the web?
One oldster mag folds as another cuts back
Ah-nold peeps protest Premiere profile
People prints Earnhardt cover for Dixie readers
'Survivor' player gets his own overpass

Web Shorts
Forrester: Stand-alone web units don't make sense
Hill Holliday acquires SF Interactive
N2H2: Okay, we'll quit spying on kids
Harry Potter fans wage online WB boycott 
News flash: One web site actually gets funding
Naked News: We have a position for you

People

Monday, February, 26, 2001

• Kid viewing skids as TV morphs into game box
  Research study: Tougher task reaching young with ads
• NBA hurt will turn to pain at contract time
  Sports TV: Viewer flight will mean only modest increases
• In 'Black Scorpion,' good vs. evil boobs
  TV review: Sci-Fi's campy comic book romp through dark LA
• CBS's cozy faces in too-familiar places
  Wallenstein: Masterson and Bateman starring in tried and trite
• Putting your client where America dials
  Out of home: Just out, pay phones with snazzy ad screens 
• Local TV web sites can bring in crowds
  New media: Four even outdraw those of local newspapers
• Broadcasters up attacks against BBC
  London: Digital channels would encroach on private sector

Web Shorts
Internet bigs join forces on new ad formats
CNET scraps paid moderator positions
Job sites cash in on dot.com downturn
Pricing glitch sends classical tunes up the chart
Kozmo reinventing itself, minus the dot.com
Feds: Pornmeister gouged free-peek visitors

People

Edward J. Wollock promoted to SVP and GM of central division sales for ABC; Michael Rubin to SVP and managing director
Dirk Johnston, Steve Maddox and Tom Warner promoted to SVPs of respective regions of Columbia Tristar Television Distribution
Shelly Lewis has been hired as producer of the yet-to-be-titled primetime CNN news show 

Tuesday, February 27, 2001

• Gloom of flop spreads over XFL
  Sports TV: Falling numbers stir many to utter 'disaster'
• Premiere's new face can't hide the pain
  Magazines: Movie title struggles for a part on a crowded stage
• More Americans visit the web daily
  New media: Everyday use grows as people find more things to do
• NBC facing icy slopes for coming Olympics
  Sports TV: Chill-filled ad outlook for the Salt Lake games
• Clean-TV folks cool to preaching to faithful
  Fox Family and Odyssey: We deserve support too

Web Shorts
EToys, once a superstar, is now kaput
Disney Internet Group pares away more staff
Will users pay? Microsoft to charge for UK portal
EarthLink TV ads to capitalize on privacy fears
NBCi draws users through movie promo
Microsoft hoax site annoys Redmond bigs

People

• NBC: XFL's going to look more like WWF
  Undergoing revamp to pump up the crowds
• Disney buys into Us in mega cross-media deal
  Vows to brand lagging Wenner celeb magazine across ABC
• Divorce, for those who've said I don't
  Review: Magazine of practical advice for the newly single
• Even Judy's warbles can't halt ABC's slide
  Ratings recap: Hands household lead to CBS as 18-49s flee
• Busting myths about country music radio
  Research: The listener base is huge, and they spend money
• Advertisers miss out on the power of portals
  New media study: Brilliant for branding, not direct marketing

Web Shorts
AOL TW sites claim a third of surfers' time
ESPN spoof site develops a real following
Report: FortuneCity shutters its UK offices
Buy.com, amid turmoil, axes 40 percent of staff
New eBay filter blocks legitimate messages
Odd joke site draws flak from animal lovers

People

• XFL sales chief hotfoots in haste
  Splits as football league faces ratings tumble
• Another spring, a grim kids upfront
  Lots of inventory, a scarcity of anxious buyers
• A new voice shapes Men's Journal
  Magazines: Sid Evans' editorial mission: Live the great life
• How cable's coming to look like broadcast
  Ratings recap: It's now nose-to-nose with fading of USA and Nick
• Are we too rigid about new web ad formats?
  New media: Bristly debate over IAB's plans to standardize
• TiVo takes its case to advertisers
  Technology: Interactive ads are a cool idea, but will they sell?

News Shorts
'Mole' and 'Temp' end with decent numbers
Drake resigns as Sinclair TV CEO
MPA grits its teeth to fight even bigger postal hike
Revealed: Clinton's sketchy call to CBS boss
'Mole' unearthed; 'Island'-ers not Tempted to stray
CNN rolls out three new shows
Study: NBC aside, network ad clutter lessens

Web Shorts
Amazon.com: No, we are not filing for bankruptcy
Netpliance sells subscriber base to EarthLink
Walmart.com axes 10 percent of staff
Online music sites in sticky situation in Europe
AmericanGreetings.com teams with WB online
Nice day for a web wedding

James Follo named CFO at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.
Richard Schwartz to editorial page editor of The New York Daily News

• Fox, in a sweeps stunner, nips at NBC
  Nearly steals away lead among 18-49 viewers
• Post Office: Yo, slap your ad on us
  Out of home: Agency renting sides of trucks and boxes
• Blitz of reality shows waiting in the wings
  All manner of contests in the spirit of 'Survivor'
• In 'Andy Dick,' an MTV spoof of MTV
  Wallenstein: Mooks, poops, parodies at the network's expense
• Streaming media's hot in less-cool places
  New media: Turning to web as alternative to drab local fare
• Brits cracking down on oily stock tipsters
  London: Reporters will have to reveal ownership of shares

News Shorts
CBS's 'Big Apple' under-wows its first time out
Inc. and Fast Company get new publishers
The numbers in, Fox green-lights 'Temp Island 2'
'Temp Island's' Mandy says no way to Playboy
XFL announcer 'The King' exits in a snit
'Dr. Laura' hiatus lengthens. Is this the end?
TV writers' talks tank and strike worries deepen

People

Monday, March 5, 2001

• Vince's XFL slips closer to oblivion
  Another ratings fumble for faux football league
• Teen's breakout from the same-old same-old
  Magazines: Revamp to shopping guide to celeb fashions
• Sweeps mania pulls away cable viewers
  Networks' primetime up 3% versus 5% slide
• 'Fighting Fitzgeralds' are a tad punch-drunk
  Wallenstein: Echoes of Archie Bunker a few tired decades later
• A message too sweet for words alone
  Out of home: Putting your client's logo on after-dinner mints
• Skyscraper ads come into their own
  New media: Long, tall and the favorite of media buyers
• Malone's German play roils European cable
  London letter: Liberty takes chunk of Deutsche Telekom network

People

• Ohlmeyer exits Monday Night Football
  Retires after revamp fails to boost viewership for ABC show
• At NBC Sports, hurt runs wide and deep
  Sports TV: Muddy playing field but for golf and NASCAR
• Ray Giacopelli on USA without wrestling
  Interview: WWF brouhaha obscures success with 25-54s
• Unbundling is hot but does it pay off?
  Media chiefs ponder its upsides and downsides
• Surfers just say no to paid content
  New media study: Hell, we're already paying big $s to go online
• TV sex is less safe and lots sorrier. So?
  Social studies: Real debate is over tube's ability to shape values

Web Shorts
Wal-Mart-Amazon rumors boost Amazon stock
Napster swapping goes on, despite court ruling
Egghead.com axes 12 percent of staff
Hotmail takes flak for facilitating spammers
Still looking for clicks? Here are some rules.
U. Of Dayton: Don’t apply via snail mail

Heather Locklear signs with 'Spin City' for another year
Jane Fonda donates $12.5 million to Harvard
Jeff Gaspin joins NBC as an EVP
Bill Morningstar heads of ad sales at the WB
Brian Wolfe to Time's VP of consumer marketing
Deborah Thompson to GM of On magazine
David H. Nevins to president of regional sports network Home Team Sports
Steve Longley hired as a strategic consultant for Danilo Black

• WB's Kellner to head merged AOL-TW TV group
  Mandate: Build synergies of broadcast and cable
• Name-dropping at Smart Business 
  Magazines: 'For the New Economy' trimmed in retrenchment
• At newspapers, the pain is doubly felt
  Ad slowdown and rising costs spell layoffs and worse
• ABC ties CBS for season lead
  Ratings recap: Post-sweeps, Fox in No. 2 tie for 18-49s
• Study: CEOs are indeed avid web surfers
  New media: Rank among most tech-savvy, contrary to myth
• Cable: Broadcast sweeps #s are cooked
  Research: Year-to-year we're the real audience-gainer

People

Thursday, March 8, 2001

• Herzog joins USA to lead its comeback
  Programming whiz back from exile after Fox boot
• My Generation, soothing advice about getting on
  Magazine review: Helpful tips and a cosmic guide for Boomers
• Cable steams in post-sweeps lull
  Bursts of original shows as broadcast slides into reruns
• Surfers venturing beyond major sites
  New media: Top ten see a decline in share of web traffic
• Oscar night losing none of its draw
  This year's hit movies ensure a strong viewership
• Untangling a snag in ITV advertising
  Technology: Speeding interaction so the viewer misses nothing

News Shorts
'Millionaire' wins households and 18-49s for ABC
Yahoo boss exits as portal's earnings disappoint
Another leak on 'Survivor' web site. Or is it?
Meow! 'Frasier' star slams 'Seinfeld' and Brokaw
Man loses a finger on Japanese game show
Woman nabbed for stalking Pamela Anderson
CNN-er blasts King for sucking up to George W.

Web Shorts
AOL Time Warner launches Netscape toolbar
EToys, officially bankrupt, goes off-line for good
EMusic sues Napster for copyright violations
Bill Gates for president?
Study: The time for online voting has not arrived
Pioneer "Coffee Cam" will brew its last online pot

Robert Friedman appointed president of AOL TV
Richard Fielding to VP and director of U.S. media research at Starcom
Marc Juris promoted to EVP and GM at American Movie Classics
Jim Dwyer moves to NY Times from Daily News
Adam Perel to VP of national advertising sales at Comcast Cable

• Psst! Want a deal? Call Vince. Now.
  Discounts on XFL spots targeting post-pimple set
• ITV's a snore, not so its tools
  Study: Viewers high on some of basic functions
• Bust, where sex is a girl thing
  Magazines: Not your typical snag-a-man women's title
• With 'Chris Isaak,' stardom begets boredom
  Wallenstein: Missing: The inside skinny on rock's lurid goings-on
• Web ad slowdown? Nos. say au contraire
  Top 10 advertisers delivering 64% more impressions
• Czech TV imbroglio boils into EU debate
  London letter: Was U.S.-owned CME duped by political big?

News Shorts
CBS's 'Big Apple' melts down, finishing last
'Survivor' finale postponed for May sweeps
Death threats for flopped storm of the century
'Chains of Love' readies for UPN debut
Howard Stern loses top joke writer in $ dispute
Bravo signs up for 'West Wing' rerun rights
International Herald Tribune taking page 1 ads

Primalia Chang named SVP of planning and development at Condé Nast; Robert Silverstone to SVP of advertising services
Deborah Dugan promoted to EVP and managing director at Disney Publishing Worldwide
Arthur Sando named SVP of communications at CBS Enterprises
Jean Mordo named CFO of Knight Ridder
John F. Hardman promoted to VP of programming at Kids’ WB
Jason Wagenheim named advertising director for Maxim Online
Larry Oliver promoted to VP and group publisher of Cahners Television Group
Sharon Rosenhause joins Sun-Sentinel as managing editor

Monday, March 12, 2001

• Ad slump really whammies biz titles
  But February was kind to Seven Sister magazines
• Study: Women gaga over web's usefulness
  New media: Great time-saver and step-saver for family-rearers
• Nerds of 'Lone Gunmen' are just that
  TV review: 'X-Files' spinoff is supposed to be funny. It isn't.
• 'Jobs' risky bet on the dark wit of cops
  Wallenstein: ABC sitcom's edgy, tough-talking and problematic
• Hanging your client up at the local cleaners
  Out of home: Bags and hanger covers are the new hot venues
• Meet Washington's top 50 journalists
  Feature: Magazine's list of folks who most shape our views

Web Shorts
Work.com doesn't and will be scrapped
Monster.com sues upstart rival over ex-workers
Napster gets list of 135,000 songs it must drop
Microsoft and eBay strike up a partnership
Kentucky blunder puts personal information online
Penthouse will peddle content online

Jon Spaet named president of USA Cable Sales

Tuesday, March 13, 2001

• Web users share a happier outlook
  New media study: They're a unique group with common traits
• March Madness losing little of its $ bounce
  Sports TV: Viewers may be falling away but not advertisers
• Top editor at Wired tells Si: I'm outta here
  Magazine: Katrina Heron says she wants more family time
• Amid the debris, voilà, Cartoonnetwork.com
  New media: Quiet success story building on its cable franchise
• Reaching people as they imagine themselves
  Research: Understanding why some brands succeed
• Endangered species: Rural cable operators
  Technology: Upgrade costs will wipe out most. Who'll step in?

Web Shorts
Disney resurrects Go.com, sort of
Napster work-around foils filters using pig Latin
Yahoo is top search engine in 100 countries
Study: Web-savvy doctors are in the minority
Oscar thank-yous to be posted online

Stephanie Fray named VP of marketing for sports and gravity group at Emap USA
Tricia Mirarchi promoted to VP at Wilkins Media Company
Nick Ferrari elected president of the Business Marketing Association of NY
Robert Acquaotta joins American Baby Group at Primedia as director of online sales
M. Steven Cox named VP of web operations and business development at Steamtunnels

• Mostly duds crowd crop of new shows
  Ratings recap: Noted exceptions: 'Three Sisters' and 'Fitzgeralds'
• Stock tumble bodes ill for ad spending
  More jitters in an already jittery economy
• Let's not clean up the Washington press
  Commentary: Sure, it's mostly gas-baggery. But why change it?
• Jalouse, high fashion most French
  Magazines: But these American shores may not be hospitable
• Gannett emerging as a web player
  New media: Some 700 sites place it at No. 43 on Top 50
• Poland's now a hot market for commercial TV
  London letter: Foreign ownership caps protect local interests

Web Shorts
Britannica, laying off more, may end free content
Yahoo sales chief quits, following CEO
Cops finger 15-year-old in NASA hack job
Napster teams up with database company for filter help
Digital divide narrows as less affluent go online
Zappa estate sues online music vendor EMusic

Former NBC President Robert T. Howard dies
Fred Gaudelli named producer of 'Monday Night Football'
Ellen Kunes named an editorial consultant to Health magazine
David Friedman to develop and produce reality programming for NBC
Joanne Burns named SVP of marketing, research and strategic planning at Twentieth Television

• New Yorker leads in magazine award nods
  Receives 11 nominations, followed by eight for Esquire
• Cable's hold widens from kids to teens
  Research: Edges out Big 4 networks as upfront approaches
• A lost generation found: Meet the Joneses
  Social studies: 'Twixt Boomers and Gen-X--and unlike either
• Sunday is cable's night to score with viewers
  Ratings recap: Leads the week in airing of top-rated shows
• Baffled by the buzz over skyscraper ads
  New media: Latest Big Thing but no evidence they work better
• A better way to find the right radio station
  Technology: Arbritron software sorts a wide range of data

News Shorts
'Job' sings but 'Big Apple' only groans
Seinfeld set for stand-up gig with Dave
Fox's O'Reilly nabs $24 million for six-year re-up
Varney bolts CNN. Might Dobbs return?
Underwear flap over 'Three's Company' rerun
Big names sign for new fall shows
At last, two Emmy shots for Regis

Web Shorts
Infoseek to rise from Go.com ashes?
Grassroots.com slashes quarter of staff
ESPN.com launches a web radio site
DrKoop, still on a gurney, gets acquisitive
Yellowstone Park bids on an old document on eBay

People

Friday, March 16, 2001

• Ad spending recovery appears further off
  Forecasters trimming expectations in ailing economy
• For Upside, ad slides are old stuff
  Magazines: New Economy title before the New Economy
• Danni Ashe on making it in the web porn biz
  The skinny from famed stripper turned entrepreneur
• Why I'm gaga over 'Name That Video'
  Wallenstein: TV quiz show on the music of the forgotten 80s
• Bonzi schemes: Fake Windows ads flourish
  New media: Duping users to click onto a bogus system alert
• Logo's big score on soccer refs' shirts
  London letter: Spanish TV company invades last ad-free space

News Shorts
NBC Thursday triumphs against CBS basketball
Brewing Ventura-McMahon feud smells phony
George's Lalli rides again at Mort's Daily News
Cash-crunched PBS shaves 9% in reorg
Bochco takes Fox to court over money dispute
Six weeks later, 'Dr. Laura' is still, like, MIA
Russian Playboy editor survives shooting 

People

Monday, March 19, 2001

• Come fall, New York's passé. It's, like, LA.
  Programming: New TV shows taking on California settings
• Targeting web ads by the time of day
  New media: Budweiser gives it a try. Is it the next big thing? 
• Starcom's Fielding on research's new tools
  Interview: Rising client expectations in a global economy
• NBC's 'First Years,' and, one prays, its last
  Wallenstein: Fleecing 'McBeal' of everything but its chemistry
• Put your message before soccer moms
  Out of home: Arenas are the rage and an ideal venue for signage
• Hosing down the slop trough of political TV $s
  Reformers argue that no one wins but the television stations
• Sucker-punch for ITV as ad £s head south
  London letter: Nasty slump for UK's largest commercial network 

Web Shorts
Slate redesigning for larger ads
Primedia chops 160 jobs as it absorbs About.com
Slashdot bows to Scientologist pressure
F-kedCompany now charging for high-end content
Potter fan site shoos off Warner Bros. threats
Tennis's Kournikova to shill for Terra Lycos
Poll: Dot.com crash is investors' fault

People

• Surprise findings in new census data
  Impact of ethnic explosion greater than predicted
• Oddest  of odd, TBS's very hot 'Ripley's'
  TV review: Freak show scores big on a most unlikely network
• Reese Schonfeld on the rise and fall of CNN
  Interview: Co-founder blames Ted for resisting innovation
• For Jean Pool, a life beyond the typewriter
  Women of media: Mindshare media guru's long road from Detroit
• Finally, some cachet for PSAs
  Networks run lots of them, and it's all on the cuff
• Top awards given to best trade journalists
  Prestigious Neal Awards for excellence to 24 

Louis Cona named publisher of Vanity Fair
Scott Grogin named VP of corporate communications at Fox Broadcasting
Vivian J. Carr retires from Liberty Media Corporation; Michael Erickson to VP of investor and media relations
Michael Silberman promoted to managing editor of East Coast at MSNBC.com
Melissa Spiegelman joins TransMedia Group as VP and GM
Robert D. Slagle to creative director at marketing and creative services at USA Weekend

• Women's magazines get no respect. How come?
  Men's titles win the awards and by huge numbers 
• Sunday mags see a surprise boost in ad pages
  CMR: Flush year-end as other media feel pinch of slowdown
• NBC's skids greased as new shows fumble
  Ratings recap: Notable season drops in 18-49s and households
• When imitation goes beyond flattery
  Magazines: Men's Journal reads a lot like Esquire these days
• Salon: Give us $30 for an ad-free read
  New media: New premium service to generate revenue
• Street chills hopes for online ad spending
  New media: Analysts, turning sour, see declines for 2001

Web Shorts
Hackers hit Associated Press site
Abandoned Pogo.com sues Excite@Home
NY busboy used web to steal bigs' I.D.s 
Study: Online travel industry hits $1.2 billion
New site offers chess for profit
Tripod closes personal sites, causing a stink

People

• Advice: Keep the job you've got
  Salary offers for new hires are down 10 percent
• 'Millionaire' fading, ABC slots slew of new shows
  Some 34 pilots in the works for 2001-2 season
• Aristotle, drama, and the craft of reality TV
  Great philosopher's insight applied to 'Survivor'
• MTV kicks butt with original shows
  Cable ratings: 'Jackass' and Janet Jackson 'Icon' in week's top 10
• Eyeballs? Traffic? Last year's bad ideas.
  Wang: They can drive up costs without building a business
• Much-swatted CueCat coming to your TV set
  Technology: Gimmick beams ad web sites into your PC 

News Shorts
'Survivor' puts CBS on top, even as 'Apple' falls
Industry Standard nabs a CEO from CNET
Report: Time Inc. imposes 5% budget chop
Senate OKs price caps on campaign ad air time
'Buffy' creator harumphs: To hell with Kellner
Red Herring honcho ponders a political run

Web Shorts
DoubleClick cuts staff as it reorganizes
24/7 Media considers liquidation
Hackers strike Parkinson's site
AOL pairs up with Ticketmaster
Shutterfly restructures, laying off workers
‘Perfect Storm’ rescue boat for sale online
This is not a goof: Brick-and-mortar boycott

Retired editor of Daily Variety Thomas M. Pryor dies at age 89
Sander Schwartz named president of Warner Bros. Animation
Tucker Carlson to pen bi-monthly national politics column at New York magazine
Delilah Loud promoted to SVP of advertising and promotion at King World
Jay Meyer named corporate sales development manager at American Express Publishing
Debra Birnbaum appointed news editor at Mademoiselle
John Kozlowski named director of fashion & retail merchandising for GQ

• Geez, rare good news for syndicated TV
  Ratings: Forget 'Dr. Laura.' Some shows are doing quite well.
• MTV stonewalls over success of 'Jackass'
  How weird, we thought. It gets weirder still as we look even deeper.
• Full skinny on use of magazine web sites
  Research: MPA study details habits and likes of consumers
• Wallenstein's wry guide to fall TV pilots
  Our critic's rundown on sure bombs versus hopefuls
• Microsoft's odd stand on Windows ripoff ads
  Flack: Hey, consumers aren't complaining, why should we?
• Major TV-retail deals test Brit appetites
  London letter: Food and drug chains in multimedia partnerships

News Shorts
'Friends' shows old stuff last night
Bon voyage: Saveur's Kalins joins Newsweek
Report: Salon is hot to get acquired. Or is it?
Fox: Look what we have coming for fall
Vietnam gets its own 'Wheel of Fortune'
TBS Media Management is now Catalyst
'Survivor's' Kimmi's cash-in: trading cards

Animation pioneer William Hanna died Thursday at age 90
Sachnowitz & Co. president Larry J. Sachnowitz dies
John Wolters promoted to EVP of the ABC Broadcast Group
Susan Green named GM and consumer marketing director of Time for Kids and Time Classroom magazines

Monday, March 26, 2001

• Hollywood, puppies, simple web truths
  Commentary: Clearing the air on all the talk of doom & collapse
• Just dying to get into the NY Times
  Ya gotta be big to earn an obit. Here's how big, by the numbers.
• The new big thing: Small biz magazines
  As dot.coms crash, focus shifts to entrepreneurs
• Here's our Wallys for the worst Oscar moments
  Wallenstein's nods for lapses that made a dull evening less dull
• Getting your message before folks on the go
  Out of home: A line at a rent-a-john defines 'captive audience'
• Soon, web newspapers that look like the real thing
  New media: Offering actual news pages from printed editions
• Rupe's kin takes a Shine to the TV biz
  London letter: Daughter Elisabeth launching a production house

Web Shorts
Variety begins charging for online content
Layoffs are imminent at Atlantic Unbound
Scholastic is highest bidder on eToys' assets
Virgin Atlantic flights wired for web access
Drkoop offers doctorly advice on being laid off
JFK Jr.’s Jeep fetches big bucks on eBay

People

• Buyers: Next season's shows look promising
  Pre-upfront: But looming threat of strike looms even larger
• For MTV, a new gorilla on the block
  Pondering AOL TW's plans for a competing music network
• Delivering brand by the truck loads
  Research: Mobile ads give the impression of wide acceptance
• Argument: New York is media snooty
  Feature: Concentration leads to a jaded view of America
• Women from Venus, men from Hooters
  New media: How sexes surf varies little in advanced cultures
• Don't dis the PC for entertainment
  Technology: Surprising strength vs. the TV set among users

People

Wednesday, March 28, 2001

• Study: Web ads build brand and drive sales
  New media: High conversion rates among return visitors
• Soon, The Week, news in nuggets
  Magazines: Dennis's Brit-style newsweekly of facts without fluff
• Spritz of glitz to grime of Eco-Challenge 
  Sports TV: 'Survivor's' Burnett ups pain factor. Mock reality?
• NCAA playoffs set remotes a-clicking
  Ratings recap: 'Gilmore Girls' and 'Whose Line' pull in refugees
• So we asked Marilyn, one smart cookie
  Interview: Parade columnist on writing, her life and work
• Too cute for words, and way too many
  Magazines: Negotiating the meringue of David Foster Wallace

People

Thursday, March 29, 2001

• It's here! It's Rosie! It's, ah, well, kinda...
  Sneak preview: OK execution but maybe too quirky for masses
• As NCAA dribbles, Las Vegas drools
  Sports TV: In these final days, heavy gamblers fill the stands
• How readers see a magazine counts
  Research: Study finds planners undervalue some major titles
• Oscars land cable a Sunday punch
  Cable recap: Viewers flee original fare for Tinsel back-slapper
• Dammit, Salon, band together
  Wang: Content sites ought to offer group subscriptions
• Rife finger-pointing over high-def TV
  Technology: Everyone wants to see it. Who will get it rolling?

News Shorts
'Boot Camp' and 'My Wife' draw big with 18-49s
Cramer takes yet another stab at cable on CNBC
'Temp Island's' Mandy gets modest at FHM shoot
And the Oscar--and digital TV--goes to...
Oscar pre-show on E! scores ratings gains
Bcom3 scraps IPO plans in soft market

Web Shorts
Cramer: Readers will have to pay to read me
Study: A fourth of content sites turn a profit
Mormon Church: Only the official church site, please
SFGate suspends staffers over sex column
Jupiter Media Metrix settles suit with defunct rival
Australia attempts to bar net gambling

People

• Media big Brill buying struggling Inside
  To be added to growing stable of properties
• Might 'Crossing Over' raise the ghost of syndie?
  Television: Dead-talker may be miracle worker of daytime
• On radio, AC format's the wave of the present
  Adult Contemporary is No. 1 among 18 and over. Here's why.
• Give 'Boot Camp' a kick in the pants
  Wallenstein: This Fox reality contest is so off it's laughable
• Bear-bitten ETrade is downplaying trades
  New media: Banner blitz touting full-service banking products
• Brits in a bristle over confusion marketing
  London letter: Copycat packaging confuses consumers

News Shorts
'Survivor' returns, but NBC wins Thursday
Rosie to show producers: I'm outta here, get it!
Whining Jerri gets heave-ho from 'Survivor'
'Temp Island' couple sue Fox: We've been slimed
Oxygen in new round of chops from web sites
New name and look for Odyssey Network: Hallmark

People

Monday, April 2, 2001

• RIP: 'Dr. Laura' gets boob-tube boot
  Paramount ends bottom-feeding talk show; gays jump for joy.
• Hot billboard craze: Tattoos on athletes
  Issue: Do leagues have power to ban skin ads?
• ABC tries laughs to cure age wrinkles
  TV: New sitcoms aim at young as 'Millionaire' fades 
• 'That's My Bush' lacks real thorns
  Wallenstein: More a spoof of the tired American sitcom
• Seating your client at restaurant tables
  Out of home: Funpad ads for diners waiting for their orders
• E-commerce boom a bust for web-only shops
  New media study: Brick & clicks will capture most of 400% growth
• UK's Mirror reflects a coming tabloid war
  London: Slipping circ and new blood behind the Express

Wilkins' Rob Figa appointed to Outdoor Advertising Speakers Bureau
Eddie Dalva promoted to SVP of programming, co-productions and creative affairs at VH1 and Country Music Television
Joanna Lowry named SVP of corporate communications at UPN
Keith Simmons named SVP of national sales at Court TV

• Fresh blood as Brill dices up Inside
  Content gut-a-thon, Media Central menagerie. Map, anyone?
• U.S.'s top markets are now well-wired
  New media: All 25 have more than half of households online
• Targeting elderly by their values
  Research: Sharply different mindsets separate over-62s
• ABC bets on rub-off of Oscars
  Television: Awards night promos for 'Joan' and 'My Wife'
• TV strike update: Grim but a twinkle of hope
  Writers likely to keep talking until actors' deadline
• Minorities championing Broadwave over DBS
  Technology: Levels playing field, providing better TV for poor

People

Wednesday, April 4, 2001

• This upfront, buyers are rattling the spears
  Fewer ad $s to spend and a darker media economy = clout
• NCAA finals see a jump in viewers
  Ratings recap: Defying trend, games up 9 percent over last year
• Adrift, Spin awaits the next big music thing
  Magazines: Surviving in the vacant era of Britney and *NSync
• In SF, a bleaker dot.com reality sets in 
  Feature: Armies of out-of-work, yet many hold onto dreams
• Noxious pop-up ads are gaining respect
  New media: Sure, users complain, but they all click on them
• Zappers don't mean an end to TV ads
  Research study: Viewers will watch messages that engage

Web Shorts
Wine.com, facing bankruptcy, slashes jobs 
AdZone to start measuring web traffic
David Bowie launching internet radio service
Study: Virtually nobody rejects cookies
Distributed computing project will tackle cancer
MIT will put all classes on the web

Kara Lazarus promoted to SVP and director of National Broadcast Buying Group of Bates North America
Sting, Cheri Oteri, Paul Reubens, Cindy Margolis make 'Ally McBeal' appearance April 30
Bill Haber named president and CEO of USA cable network TRIO
Kevin Davis appointed Western regional VP of sales at Premier Retail Networks

Thursday, April 5, 2001

• Advice: Spend ad $s in tough times
  Research: Studies show it's a smart way to build market share
• Poor Vince nut'in. WWF's still king cable.
  Cable ratings: Real clout: 16 of 20 top shows for first quarter
• Radio's Ira Glass, an 'American Life'
  Interview: Master storyteller who talks to listeners as friends
• Texas Monthly picks up the story
  Magazine critic: New, fresh voices that speak of place
• Art of data-mining holds web's real hope
  Wang on the web: Custom content to serve users and advertisers
• Satellite's struggle to offer broadband
  Technology: Various innovations to provide two-way service

News Shorts
ABC's 'My Wife and Kids' holds in households
CBS and Infinity ditch NAB over ownership caps
Ted Turner to the rescue of Russian TV station
'Survivor's' Jerri says she'll strip for Playboy
Fox News Channel overtakes CNN in 4th Q
Letterman guest in Gore's J-school class
Online newspaper ad buying made easy

Web Shorts
TheStreet.com fires 20 percent of staff
Yahoo pairs with SAP in biz-portal deal
Burst.com slims down, picks new head
Airline sites gaining on travel sites
Sex.com domain nets big bucks in court
Now, a net-friendly Boston Marathon

People

Friday, April 6, 2001

• Upfront blues? Not for Hispanic TV.
  Booming viewership could mean 10-15% $ hikes
• Sniff, we're Nylon, and we're downtown
  Magazines: Hot fashion title thrives far from corporate towers
• XFL winning play: Drop back to UPN
  Sports TV: It only makes sense when you look at the numbers
• Now let's imagine McMahon's XBL brawlball
  Wallenstein: That's old, dull baseball with a few Vince twists
• Stodgy H&R Block flogs its services online
  New media: $1 million contest promoting tax prep software
• Targeting Brit shoppers by their mobile phones
  London: ZagMe sends text offers as customers enter malls

News Shorts
'Survivor' beats up NBC reruns
Suit: 'Sopranos' maligns Italian-Americans
'Millionaire' to hand out $2 million jackpot
Wife fatally shoots hubby over remote control
Nat'l Geo channel picks up 4M new homes

Web Shorts
Yahoo will offer subscription music service 
Amazon pulls NASCAR autopsy links
MTV takes to peddling music files over the web
Hackers hit government networks
Financial Times will chop 10% from FT.com
Prez Dubya swears off using email

People

Monday, April 9, 2001

• Sophie, the faux sheik, and a scandal royale
  Rupe's wily reporter tricks in-law into taped tell-all; London groans
• The new TNN: T&A, trekking and sleuths
  Cable: Firmer identity with media buyers but a way to go
• Convergence, thy name is Carson Daly
  Commentary: He's Viacom's poster boy for the brave new world
• With 'Robotica,' TLC is on automatic pilot
  Wallenstein: Motto: Life unscripted. Reality: Boring television.
• Putting your client up at the Post Office
  Out of home: Ads where once only the most-wanted hung
• Donna Hoffman on why web advertising fails
  Interview: What's missing is true interactivity with users

Web Shorts
Egghead.com cans a third of its staff
On this web site, Pig Brother is watching
At last, a site for the lonely hearted
Webcaster sues to broadcast McVeigh execution
New.net will promote new domain name suffixes

People

• A few titles sprout roses in the blood
  Magazines: Ad $s up for Martha, YM and, yo, the Enquirer
• Returning from space, Dobbs rejoins CNN
  Television: Or that's the latest buzz in the cable news wars
• Fox hangs tough over NASCAR ad rates
  Sports TV: Hey, look at these numbers. Pay up or shut up.
• Coming: Better way to evaluate newspapers
  Research: Forget circ. This gauges reader involvement.
• The seven models of web behavior
  New media: Meet the Quickie, Just the Facts and the Loiterer
• Reaching cable viewers in many languages
  Ethnic channels are turning to grass roots tactics

Scott Kerr becomes the VP and director of media services at Stein Rogan + Partners
Jeane MacIntosh signs on for gossip column for Women's Wear Daily's web site
Debbie Kane appointed New England advertising director of Entrepreneur Media Inc.
Beth-Ann Eason named SVP of business development at Ziff Davis Media’s Business Media Group
Ann Urquhart named WGN-TV director of research

Wednesday, April 11, 2001

• Clear Channel holds a knife to Arbitron
  Better terms or we scoot, says huge radio player
• CBS sues Fox over 'Boot Camp.' Uh huh.
  Television: You ripped off our 'Survivor,' oh, yes you did. 
• New Lifetime network featuring real-life women
  Cable: Spate of original shows set for Saturday nights
• Perhaps it's time to set Graydon free 
  Magazine critic: Whither Vanity Fair? There's a restlessness, a... 
• Radio web sites are a growing attraction
  New media: Major kickup in visitors, despite little promotion
• Oxygen's big deal could come too late
  Cable: It gets New York, but Lifetime's now way ahead

People

• Sports TV get pricier and pricier. Here's why.
  Primer on the economics of jumping jockstraps
• Wired steals away a top Economist editor
  Magazines: Anderson helming biz-tech title through shakeout
• Here's a trip: Subway tunnel ads in animation
  Out of home: Clack, clack, clack--frames that tell a rolling story
• For A&E, brand isn't the problem
  Cable: That's strong. The trick now is to reverse a slide.
• Post-Napster, let there be light, please
  Wang on the web: Record labels cutting wacky download deals
• Receiving broadband from circling airplanes
  Technology: It takes all kinds. Meet Marc E. Arnold, high-flyer. 

News Shorts
ABC shows its youth power with 'My Wife'
Nielsen glitch screws up Sunday TV numbers
News Corp./Chris-Craft merger gets OK'd
Stalking case closed against dead Ohio b'caster 
MPA slams latest hike effort by Postal Service
Ashcroft OKs TV access to McVeigh execution
RD relaunches U.S. Spanish-language title

Web Shorts
Yahoo: We've got the porn to bring in the bucks
Final curtain for online delivery service Kozmo
About.com sacks 12 percent of web guides
Autobytel is buying rival Autoweb
Online hoax takes aim at Citigroup

People

Monday, April 16, 2001

• Think upfronts, think trench warfare
  They'll be drawn out, confusing, with few victors
• Use of the internet rises dramatically
  New media: Average time up from 13 to 20 hours a month
• NBA's rule change for a smarter game
  Sports TV: Zone defense promises more strategy on the court
• 'Weakest Link' is forged of tough stuff
  Wallenstein: Best of 'Millionaire' and 'Survivor,' and a tad brutal
• Taxi! Taxi! I have a message for you!
  Out of home: Digital roof-top billboards target those in a hurry
• 3-D bra ad is sure to raise public feeling
  London letter: Poster invites passersby to touch the merchandise

Web Shorts
Yahoo: Fine, we'll stop selling smut
24/7 cans workers and may close offices
Chinese nationalists seek revenge online
Email environmental protest swamps White House
AOL vows to clarify ad privacy policy
Study: Journalists are indeed web-savvy

Ivan Purdie appointed EVP of global broadcast services at Medialink Worldwide; Victor L. Lee joins as SVP of strategic planning
Ellen Carucci to advertising director at GQ magazine
Donna Harrison named SVP of unscripted and reality programming at Tribune Entertainment

• Mort to Rupe: Hah, I'll buy your NY Post
  Tit-for-tat: News owner rat-finks rival with FCC ploy
• Relief! Less clutter as radio ad $s drop
  Fourth quarter off 9% as fewer advertisers tune in, but it's still bad.
• Eavesdropping on tales of private hell
  New media: You want to be a shrink? Try CouchConfessions.
• Organic Style, a hipper kind of natural
  Magazines: Rodale title for wholesome life beyond the garden
• Learning from the fall of Go and NBCi
  New media: Big dollars, bigger dreams--now the scapegoating
• An old pro on why TV isn't funny anymore
  Interview: Jim Burrows laments the decline in good writing

Craig Pavia appointed senior account manager at T&L Golf
Rob Lowe named as one of two leads in new TV movie 'Framed' on TNT
Mario Lopez joins cast of NBC’s new talk show 'The Other Half'

Wednesday, April 18, 2001

• Cable and mags faring well, even in slowdown
  Biggest ad hits in first quarter: radio and papers
• How do you say sports in Spanish? Deportes.
  Sports TV: ESPN rolls out jock block entirely in Spanish
• 'Survivor 2' has 'Friends' for lunch
  Ratings recap: Duet with 'CSI' does chop-chop on NBC Thursday
• It's here, McWeek, quick-chew news
  Magazines: Felix Dennis's bits, snips and clips newsweekly 
• Flush of new online advertisers 
  New media: Up 29% from a year ago, slowdown be damned
• Europe's top court takes a swipe at ad bans
  London letter: Favors Gourmet versus Sweden's no-booze rule

Web Shorts
Excite@Home: We're getting out of the portal biz
Black-outs at CNN.com and MSNBC.com
Snowball slashes staff as it faces delisting
Major airlines get fed OK to run travel site
Last-minute filers rush to tax sites
Pornsters snap up Idaho town’s web site. Oops.

Terry S. Semel named chief executive and chairman of Yahoo
Dianna Babb Coleman named VP of the NAB membership division; David Gunzerath to VP of research and planning; Joanie Heavy to VP of personnel and benefits
Former 'Party of Five' star Scott Wolf guest stars on ABC's 'Spin City' during May sweeps
Shari Cohen joins Mindshare U.S. as senior partner and managing director of national broadcast department
Paul A. DeBenedittis promoted to SVP of program planning and scheduling for MTV
Scott Drake promoted to VP of information technology at CNBC
Dennis Wiesnoski heads new Midwest office sales team at Gear magazine; Ali Boneval to sales manager of New York office

Thursday, April 19, 2001

• Hot start for 'Weakest Link.' Now what?
  Early #s have 'Survivor' written all over them
• 'Jesus' power pulls as 'Mary' falters
  Ratings recap: Smash for Discovery, illustrating cable's strength
• Latest word on teens' buying clout
  Research: Which media most shape their brand preferences
• In defense of GQ, when you're old enough
  Magazine critic: Unhip, unslick, a bit creaky, but artfully crafted
• On the web, don't intrude, entertain
  Wang on the web: Real power is in advertising that engages
• Family TV's struggle in this age of loners
  Television: Fine notion faces reality of a changed America

News Shorts
'Weakest Link' host spars with Post critic
'Millionaire' and 'Link' bring home the bacon
VH1 adds four new series to its playlist
'Weakest Link' host a Welsh-hater?
Interesting if true: Rhea replacing Rosie
Japanese tabs offer $1M for nude ballplayer pix
Fox sends 'Phantom Menace' into the future 

Web Shorts
More layoffs for New York Times Digital 
Rudeness closes Jerry, Maury and Sally boards
Internet.com changes its name
Study: Auto sites inflate prices
Half.com uses cookies. The kind you eat.
Study: Dial-up access will dominate for years

People

Friday, April 20, 2001

• Uncle Mel's risky ploy to hold back ad inventory
  Media bigs: CBS upfront strategy would likely bomb
• Study: Sponsorships don't get enough respect
  Research: Smarter play when marketing $s become scarce
• 'Chains of Love' wears a lead sinker
  Wallenstein: Snoozer that fails to deliver on its sexual promises
• Breather for action sports magazines
  SI Adventure launches but ESPN and Hearst chill plans
• In tough times, it's sell, sell, sell, cheap, cheap, cheap
  New media: Web discounters flog the deals they have for you
• UK women's titles feel the aches of aging
  London letter: Major merger as celeb titles lure away readers

News Shorts
Ever-tight race for Thursday nights
The word: NBC about to ax XFL. But what of UPN?
Primedia: Yup, we got our eyes on Emap too
Smokin' Joe gets a cool reception in H'wood
Newsday publisher: Layoffs are imminent
Union and advertisers in spat over webcast fees
Elle and Naomi will host Miss Universe contest

Web Shorts
Ad bigs launching online buying exchange
SportsLine eliminates 92 positions
Ellis Island site is overwhelmed by traffic
Judge nixes McVeigh execution webcast
Study: E-tailers clutter their web sites
Easter and taxes boost web traffic

People

Monday, April 23, 2001

• UPN may now grow into long pants
  FCC ruling is a breath of life. What will the network become?
• Radio's latest fad: The '80s. Natch.
  It's hot, notably in offices. This too shall pass.
• Nest as the interior of imagination
  Things we like: A shelter magazine like no other, praise be
• If you want reality, turn on the music
  Wallenstein on 'Bands on the Run' and 'Making the Band' 
• Taxi! Taxi! I have a message for you! (Part II)
  Out of home: All sorts of new venues are appearing inside cabs
• All you need know about the Brit bitch
  London letter: Backgrounder on 'Weakest Link's' Anne Robinson

Web Shorts
Harper's Bazaar to get a web site, finally
Disney offs MrShowBiz and WallofSound
Coming soon: Your doctor's latest botch
Radio stations halt streaming broadcasts 
EBay bidders get pix rather than the real thing
Wanna be a Jedi? Say it’s your religion

People

Tuesday, April 24, 2001

• This sweeps, Fox goes light on schlock 
  Pushing to win season's 18-49s on power of its regular programs
• For Kathy Crawford, it began with a call
  Media woman: It was her mother. So long Skidmore. Off to work.
• Blender, for fans of all kinds of music
  Question: Can this new Dennis title pull it off?
• Mike Lotito on the move to electronic buying
  Interview: Mega-system that promises to slash paperwork and $s
• Content sites are tops in visibility
  New media: Lead in brand awareness among internet surfers
• Digital radio picks up some static
  Technology: Roll back the clock on when they'll be in cars

Patti S. Hart named chairman and CEO of Excite@Home
Jeff Green to editor in chief for Computer Gaming World
Dan Hsu named editor in chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly
Jeff Greif hired as Jungle Interactive Media's new ad director
Amie Deutch promoted to advertising director at FHM magazine
David Guarascio and Moses Port sign four-year deal with NBC studios
Elisabeth Rohm cast in NBC's 'Law & Order'

• ABC's surprising strength going into sweeps
  Buzz, smuzz. It could win the tight season race
• Looking for work, just don't tell mom
  Porn biz sees résumé flood as hard times hit the media industry
• Can Michael Jordan revive pro basketball? 
  Sports TV: Maybe. He'll certainly boost $s in contract talks
• 'Survivor's' flat when it should be bubbling
  Ratings recap: Two episodes to go but no growth in 18-49s 
• Web advertising is still quite brisk
  New media: Catching up with cable, even with slowdown
• Glistening of hope in the pages of Details
  Magazine critic: Still plenty to grouse about. But here and there...

Web Shorts
Causey, ex of Post, leaving faltering dot.com
Court TV and AOL will swap and cross-promote
Poll: Almost half of Americans shop online
Banned 'GWTW' sequel appears on web
Study: Music downloading population surging
T-wolves fans bombarded with emails

People

Thursday, April 26, 2001

• Rocky stocks a boon for cable biz news
  Anxious viewers flock for latest financial reports. CNBC up 30%.
• Going into sweeps, NBC feels the squeeze
  Television: Lead in critical 18-49 demo is way, way close
• Portable People Meter does well in early tests
  Research: Arbitron finds pocket device works in the field
• Cable's less and less about reruns of reruns
  Ratings recap: Original programs now dominate top shows
• Thinking content? Look to your online retailers.
  Wang: Expedia and Travelocity turn shoppers into readers
• Fixed-wireless's promise for broadband delivery
  Technology: Capitalizing on the stumbles of DSL and cable

News Shorts
NBC wins with repeats of 'West Wing' and 'L&O'
Schwarzenegger quits race over sex exposé
Downey's officially booted from 'Ally'
CNN skunked by fake CIA agent
Forbes links with WWP in custom publishing deal
Rupe's ambitions for a piece of UPN
A&E and History Channel in new series

Web Shorts
Salon unveils fee-based premium service
Terra Lycos starts a financial news service
Ask Jeeves lays off 15 percent of staff
Yahoo: No journalists at our shareholder meeting
Sports announcer tossed over porn site promo
Virginia weekly goes entirely online

People

• Kids upfront's here. Anyone notice?
  High inventory, low demand, no rush to do deals
• This sweeps, CBS bets older is better
  Strategy: Win in households with tried and true
• Boss is a step closer to Yanks cable empire
  Sports TV: Steinbrenner deal could ease break from MSG 
• A new, glitzier CNN. Oh, lordy me.
  Wallenstein: Imagining ways Kellner might suds up the news
• Online baby shop rises from the meltdown
  New media: Next-generation retailer shows how you do it right
• Brit pornster reviving UK Express tabloids
  London letter: Cigar-chomper pulls readers with celeb features

News Shorts
NBC wins with repeats of 'West Wing' and 'L&O' 
Nude shots of new CNN anchor on the web
Kathie Lee: I might be the next Rosie
Hollywood: Smokin' Joe out to kill ratings system
Fox News Channel and Forbes team for new show
PAX picks up 'Weakest Link' reruns
USA and Sci-Fi unveil new season shows

Web Shorts
Here they are: The Webby Award nominees 
KB Toys picks up eToys inventory
BMW sponsoring big-name online movies
Web-enabled watches from AOL TW and Swatch
Oops, Microsoft anti-bug site may spread a virus
'Hitchhiker's Guide' finds a home online

People

Monday, April 30, 2001

• In circ, what you see you may not get
  Flawed system allows puffing of readership #s
• WB in sweeps spurt as UPN splutters
  Neck and neck into finale for season lag-a-thon
• Life after death for McMahon's XFL
  UPN and TNN make sense. Is the money there?
• Crystal hits home with HBO's '61*'
  Wallenstein: Mantle and Maris, and the hawking of celebrity
• Putting your client where folks commute
  Out of home: Now, video news kiosks with full-motion ads
• Why do web ads fail? Bad management.
  New media: Marketers ought to tinker and tweak. They don't.

Web Shorts
Disgruntled ex-CNNers now griping online
Knight Ridder chops free email service
About.com: We're spinning off our sexier side
eVineyard buys Wine.com remains
Study: Most newspapers make pennies on archives
Man wins $90 in court for MSN woes

People

Tuesday, May 1, 2001

• As sweeps open, NBC and CBS lead
  Television: Thursday victories in 18-49s and households
• For cable, it's about finessing your niche
  Networks add shows aiming to broaden their brands
• Television strike? It's anyone's guess.
  Too close to call whether writers will walk tomorrow--or ever
• Emap titles facing a tough sale
  Magazines: Bad economy may dampen price for pub group
• If at first you don't succeed, try failing
  New media: Disney's Go, all but abandoned, is doing quite well
• Pondering Smokin' Joe's violence stance
  Social studies: Are TV ads for R-rated movies really deceptive?

People

Wednesday, May 2, 2001

• Reality shows appeal across racial lines
  Study: 'Temp Island' and 'Survivor 2' score with blacks
• Urban radio's hot--maybe too hot
  Fragmentation splits strong inner-city audience
• American Scholar, for beyond the moment
  Magazines: Prize-winning quarterly of the well-crafted essay
• In heated sweeps, WB has the advantage
  Ratings recap: 'Gilmore Girls' gains while UPN's 'Chains' sinks
• A diet plan that really works, online
  eDiets: Making $s eating its competitors' lunch
• A good read for legal beagle pups
  Magazine critic: JD Jungle steps beyond the usual career tips 

Craig Kilborn to guest edit Gear magazine’s third anniversary issue
Kim Becker named VP public relations at Bravo
Wayne Powers named president of Media Networks Inc.; Brendan Condon to EVP
Joe A. Campanella III to West coast regional sales manager at Maxim Online; David Wade to Eastern sales manager

Thursday, May 3, 2001

• New Yorker stomps, taking five magazine awards
  Teen People wins General Excellence for big titles
• An anxious Boston on eve of Nielsen results
  Research: People Meter report, due Monday, will hurt some
• Established brands now rule the web 
  New media: Push aside dot.coms and high-tech advertisers
• Big cable's new losses to niche channels
  Ratings recap: #s in slide as audiences drift to targeted viewing
• A second chance for some web ideas
  Wang: Imagine a Kozmo delivering for, say, Kroger
• Just why minorities are less connected
  Social studies: Is it lack of money or are they being underserved?

News Shorts
NBC in 18-49 win with 'West Wing' and 'L&O'
Union: Don't believe press on talks progressing
'Survivor 2' finale won't match last summer's
Three more stars departing 'Ally McBeal'?
First Lady on People's 50 Most Beautiful list
Study: Wrestling brings out the bad in teens
Radio ad sales down 10 percent in March

Web Shorts
Future Network pulls the plug on web sites
Online ad agency Hook Media files for bankruptcy
Napster downloads fall 36 percent
This year place your Derby bets online
WB online launches Looney Tunes cartoon site
NYTimes.com dabbles in subscription-based content

Stephen D. Twombly appointed publishing director at Natural Health magazine
Rich Cronin named president of the Game Show Network
Laura Linney, Steve Buscemi and Christina Ricci added to cast of HBO film 'The Laramie Project'
Barry Thurston teams with Nick Evans, Jack West and Steve Castellaw to form Associated Media Partners Llc.
Michael Cascio named EVP and general manager of the Animal Planet network
Dewy Ip named SVP and managing director of Asian operations at Columbia TriStar International Television
Terry Keenan named new host of Fox News' 'Cashin' In'
Tim O'Brien hired as reporter on 'Moneyline' on CNN; Rhonda Schaffler to weekend host of 'Moneyline'

Friday, May 4, 2001

• A better way to reach consumers who buy
  Television: Erwin Ephron's pitch for geographic targeting
• Telemundo gets aggressive for sweeps
  Television: Push to take yet more share from Univision
• XFL? Bum #s ail most network TV sports.
  Sports TV: Case for regular-season games on cable 
• Here's what shows ought to be snuffed
  Wallenstein: It's the killing season as TV suits plan fall lineups
• ClassMates shoots to the top of the class
  New media: Building traffic the old-fashioned way--advertising
• UK ad slowdown a real sock to ITV
  London letter: Revenue drop for largest commercial network 

News Shorts
'Survivor' finale well off from first
Tina wins, the last remaining 'Survivor'
Hollywood Reporter publisher: I did the right thing
Ziff Davis sends 50 staffers packing
Hollywood talks go on in search of a contract
WB: 'Buffy?' Who's 'Buffy?' She slays what?
Alternatives to traditional cable on the upswing

Web Shorts
EBay now forbids online sale of hate items
Immigration records site a smash hit
Disney: We're going to further consolidate sites
Study: Consumers shun buying their cars online
E-tailer Jungle.com taken in by old virus hoax 

People

Monday, May 7, 2001

• Now, on we go to the actors' talks
  Settlement is no sure bet, even with Friday's writers' pact
• Pfffft. Brill scuttles Content and Inside
  Magazines: Journalism review shrinks to quarterly frequency
• As it wanes, whither 'Weakest Link?'
  Television: Ouch, Anne! But even with #s slide, NBC is ahead.
• Cable's new hot thing: Plastic surgery
  Wallenstein: Gruesome, yet irresistible, quests for beauty
• Put your client on a bicycle built for view
  Out of home: Wheeled billboards float through summer crowds
• Web tobacco ads become UK tar baby 
  London: Flap over ISPs' liability may spread across Europe

Web Shorts
White House web site is hacked
EBay classified ads heading to print
AOL users get first shot at Madonna tix
Southwest Airlines sues travel site Orbitz
ESPN.com is backing kiddie sports highlights
Brazilian hackers deface Microsoft sites

Michael Elliott named an editor at large for Time magazine
Julie Kantrowitz steps down as EVP of media sales at Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution
Jeffrey A. Dachis and Craig Kanarick resign from management positions at Razorfish

CAB: TVB is, like, very full of it

• Slow upfront could drag well into June
  Television: Buyer's market, with no urgency to make deals
• Working Woman titles put up for sale
  Magazines: MacDonald cites slowdown in the ad market
• At last, teen magazines get taken seriously
  Ad page boom and a top editorial award for Teen People 
• Book 'em: IBM's bungled sidewalk caper
  Out of home: SF fumes over graffiti stunt. Red face for Big Blue.
• Web ad sales heading for a boom
  New media study: Modest growth this year but kickup in 2002
• The rubber band that is family programming
  Social studies: Just what is it anyway? Depends on who's talking.

Web Shorts
Yahoo: You'll be paying for internet phone calls
ABC.com hawking clothes from 'The View'
MusicMatch launches a subscription service
Internet.com launches CyberAtlas division
Study: Online shoppers still ditching their carts
Oxford plans an institute to study the internet

People

Wednesday, May 9, 2001

• 'Survivor' gives CBS a sweet sweeps boost
  Ratings recap: Leads in households and takes second in 18-49s
• Study: Pop-ups can sully a brand's image
  New media: Surfers tend to hold advertiser in lower regard
• Nothing spooky about NBC's daytime surge
  Television: Trimmed back schedule ties it up with ABC
• Bronx cheer for new ABC circ rules
  Critic: Adding in bulk newspapers is no boon for buyers
• Surprise! PC owners watch more primetime.
  Research study: Logging off to watch their favorite shows
• Economist adds color to its commentary
  Magazines: Major redesign for a reader-friendlier feeling

Web Shorts
Winter Olympics web site host pulls out
AtomShockwave moves to fee-based content
Napster will use ‘fingerprinting’ to filter songs
WebMD will provide content for AOL
Terra Lycos announces layoffs
Study: As free ISPs die, wired homes decline 

People

Susan Zevon promoted to executive editor at Home magazine; Heather Leahy to art director
Fred Graver named head of programming at VH1
SNL's Darrel Hammond and Will Ferrell to be honored at the International Radio & Television Society’s annual Foundation Awards luncheon
Lew Schneider, Tucker Cawley, Steve Skrovan and Jennifer Crittenden promoted to executive producers of 'Everybody Loves Raymond'
Deirdre O'Grady to VP of pricing and planning/traffic at Court TV

Thursday, May 10, 2001

• Great time to be a Spanish network
  Television: Rosy upfront forecasts for Univision and Telemundo
• Men's magazines flex their ad muscles
  Big gains despite industry-wide slowdown; Maxim most muscular
• NBA and fast cars pull crowds to cable
  Ratings recap: Sports dominate list of top shows in key demos
• NPR's Linda Wertheimer, all things considered
  Interview: A top radio host on what makes her news show work
• Some good advice Yahoo can bank on
  Wang: Real opportunity is in online financial services
• An idea, video on demand through PCs
  Technology: Backed by Disney and Sony and their libraries 

News Shorts
NBC lineup bests CBS country music special
CNBC plumps 'Biz Center' as Dobbs returns
Congresswoman: Enough already with 'Sopranos'
E! Entertainment adding eight new shows
'Survivor's' Burnett: Fakery was harmless
Jackass: Pleeeze, don't do what I do
Senate torpedoes Pearl Harbor 'Millionaire'

Web Shorts
Chinese hackers back off U.S. attacks
Songwriters sue MP3.com over copyrights
Porn ad virus scoots across the web
Study: Net beats print as information source
Man ordered to erase URL from gravestone

John Gaffney to managing partner at Arnold Worldwide
Louis D. Boccardi elected chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board
Jamie Foxx signs development deal with Nickelodeon to co-write, executive produce and star in family comedy
Thomas Garry and Jerry McKenna named presidents of the Midwest and Far West regions of the Citadel Communications Corporation
Seth Skolnik promoted to SVP of business development at Paramount Digital Entertainment

Friday, May 11, 2001

• Say adiós to Vince's gridiron gladiators
  Extreme football league shut down when UPN backs out
• One uptick does not a recovery make
  Research: Overall, February ad spending was off by 8.5%
• In this internet age, radio's the big turn-on
  New media: Listening is actually up 11% among web users
• MTV redeems itself with hip-hop 'Carmen'
  Wallenstein: Up from mire of 'Jackass' with rapped Bizet opera
• Diet site stays lean counting ad calories
  New media: DietSmart axes campaigns that don't pull instantly
• Media control is Italy's hot election issue
  Europe: Candidate Berlusconi may have to divest giant holdings

News Shorts
NBC edges out CBS in 'Survivor' duke out
Real skinny behind the UPN 'Buffy' deal?
Talk: 'Weakest Link' will be on two nights
Fox to CBS: You can't have your reality both ways
Another top editor departs the Brill camp
Wall Street Journal pondering color on front page?
Bakula signs to captain new 'Star Trek' 

Mickey Marks upped to president and CEO at Creative Media; Anthony Brescia to chief marketing officer
Robert V. Cahill to to vice chairman of Univision
John A. Dimling named chairman and CEO of Nielsen Media Research; Susan D. Whiting to president and COO
Donald Kummerfeld named president of the International Federation of the Periodical Press
Neal Shapiro to president of NBC News
Michael Parsons joins Red Herring magazine as international editor and European bureau chief
Kristen Jones Connell named director of public relations at Real Simple magazine
Jerry Gulley named editor of Health.com

Monday, May 14, 2001

• NBC's new lineup aims to hold 18-49s
  Upfront preview: Few changes, few new shows, much tinkering
• Rich are different. They watch 'West Wing.'
  Research: Biggest-buck viewers, tailed by 'NYPD Blue' and 'L&O'
• A prettier DNR, for consumers of style
  Magazines: Men's rag trade title gets a glossy makeover 
• New take on reality as new season unfurls
  Wallenstein: Expect summer rollouts for some, death for others
• Moo! Take your client to the state fair
  Out of home: Dandy way to reach millions milling and munching
• Lessons to take away from the big meltdown
  Interview: Raging Bull's Martin sorts out the good from the bad
• Brits in a big snore over digital TV sets
  London: Analog sales brisk as switch-over date recedes

Eric Gruseke promoted to U.S. publisher of Reader's Digest
Marlene Greenfield named director of research for G + J USA
Bruno Cohen promoted to EVP at CNBC Business News
Dick Ross upped to SVP for operations and production at USA Cable
Kiss drummer Peter Criss to appear on the HBO prison series 'Oz'
Paul Reiser, Joe Mantegna and Christine Lahti sign on to star in Showtime pic 'Oooph!'

Letters

• ABC trims back 'Millionaire' in major lineup shift 
  Television: WB also presenting new fall schedule today
• Mort: Nuts to wild talk about U.S. News
  Magazines: Says staying newsweekly and staying on course
• Grim and grimmer for syndicated shows
  Television: Delayed upfront start bodes poorly for sellers
• No language barrier for soccer fans. Nada.
  Sports TV: English-speakers flocking to Spanish broadcasts 
• Older folks lead boom in web users
  New media: College-agers right behind, up 32% in past year
• Quiet applause, please, for live TV
  Television: 'Golden Pond' sunk but genre has strong roots

People

• CBS rinses out the gray for next season
  Television: Replacing aging shows to draw younger viewers
• Kids upfront dawdles in glut of inventory
  Television buyers: What's the rush? We've got the edge
• Small biz titles pretty up for hard times
  Magazines: Entrepreneurship thrives when economy goes sour
• NBC edging to win adult 18-49 viewers
  Ratings recap: Strong season finales blunt competitors' stunts 
• Primer on tallying newspaper circulation
  Research: New ABC regs break out data on off-price copies
• Broadband access is mostly an urban thing
  New media: Economics favor larger, more affluent user bases

Web Shorts
FTC may scrutinize AOL Time Warner
Yahoo cracks down further on adult content
MVP.com is back in the game 
Coming to a URL near you: dot.biz
PlayStation2 will soon include AOL
On eBay: Your great-great grandpa’s Levi's

People

Thursday, May 17, 2001

• Fox going light on the sked scalpel
  Television: Troubled UPN is adding four new shows
• Radio's ad recovery appears farther off
  Second-half projections are being scaled back by analysts
• Start your engines. Nod to your teammates.
  Sports TV: Latest idea in alternative sports: Team auto racing
• NBA playoffs boost TNT and TBS 
  Games dominate cable, taking five of top 10 slots last week
• The jock appeal of video streaming
  Technology: Sports leagues are taking an early-game lead

News Shorts
NBC in easy win with 'West Wing' and 'L&O'
New titles aplenty at Time Inc.'s People Group
'Moneyline' slides on Lou's second day back
'Roswell' follows 'Buffy' from WB to UPN
'20/20's' Babs to ABC: I may just walk
Advance snaps up Golf for Women from Meredith
ABC also in talks with CNN about news pact

Web Shorts
Britannica reabsorbs its internet spinoff
Ex-Webvan chief's pension is quite a burden
AOL TW to workers: You'll be using AOL email
Hong Kong nabs 14-year-old for online piracy
Embittered Peruvians take revenge online
Ad network L90 buys off-line marketer Novus

People

Friday, May 18, 2001

• Job ax may be cutting too close to the bone
  Loss of skilled media people may hurt agencies in time
• UPN's logic behind 'Buffy' and 'Roswell'
  Television: Ex-WB shows will pull loyal fans on buzz power
• As web mainstreams, whither interactive shops?
  New media: Many being reabsorbed or targeted for acquisition
• Now, the good, the bad, the ugly
  Wallenstein picks the winners and losers among new fall shows
• Columbia House sings its tune on the web
  New media: Direct marketing splash by top music-video club
• UK's Ch. 4 yanks away the young
  London: It's also grabbing ad £s from the far larger ITV

News Shorts
'Friends' finale sweeps the field
More hurting: Red Herring and Forbes ASAP
Shatner will host U.S. edition of 'Iron Chef' on UPN
'Survivor' vets handed setbacks by L.A. judge
Dave apologizes to Miss Colombia for drug joke
French force rule change on 'Loft Story'
'Jackass' model breaks her back in stunt
WWF in new reality show on MTV

Web Shorts
Amazon launches movie info service
Real Networks will stream into Playstation 2
Earthlink founder probed for Ponzi scheme
Hachette enlists Alloy for new ElleGirl site
Highbrow e-tailer Luxlook.com will close
Anti-porn congressman receives porn virus

People

Monday, May 21, 2001

• Newsstand sales dive into an empty pool
  Ouch! 2000 was the worst year in decades for single copies
• Forever young WB goes even younger. 
  Television: Ritual Xing of old shows to recruit budding teens
• Web's future has 'paid' written across it
  Interview: Salon's Patrick Hurley on charging for content
• Holocaust is bigger than sweeps, alas
  Wallenstein: Specials do good #s but risk exhausting viewers
• Reaching the office crowd by the ream
  Out of home: Yup, you can now buy the wrappers of copy paper
• Euro TV giant RTL sets eyes on Spain
  Europe: Complex deal could tap Endemol for production

People

Please, Vince, don't blame the media
Buyers need to master ABC mag audits

• CBS alone expected to boost upfront bucks
  Analyst: Thursday revs to $700M, up 1650%. No kidding.
• TV movies bleed but aren't D.O.A.
  Television: Genre lives, if on oxygen, despite ratings tumble  
• Zoetrope, where short stories are told
  Magazines: Artfully, too. Their patron: Francis Ford Coppola.
• Online e-$s rise smartly in spring
  New media: Total spending up 23% in April as more shop web
• Phony war of words: Baseball vs. Olympics
  TV sports: Dueling ads over which sport pulls viewers better
• 'Tis a fact, TV rasslin' corrupts our youth
  Social studies: Leads to tobacco-chewing and other stuff. Maybe.

Web Shorts
ETrade is buying smaller rival Web Street
Harvard Biz Review will sell digitized version online
Web hackings swamp site that tracks them
DoubleClick and iBEAM will stream ads
Software piracy jumped in 2000
Supreme Court agrees to revisit porn law

People

Wednesday, May 23, 2001

• As season ends, it's NBC and CBS
  Television: Close second for Fox in key 18-49 demo race
• Might 'Law & Order' be risking overkill?
  Television: NBC bets not as it adds third night to its schedule
• Mother Jones returns to its muckraking roots
  Magazines: Solid investigative reporting sans leftist rhetoric
• Praxis Post, for the literature of medicine
  New media: Where doctors click for good writing on their craft
• How to make the web a better ad medium
  New media: Phase2Media's Richy Glassberg on needed fixes
• World catches up with U.S. in web use
  New media: Sweden now leads as most-wired country

Bruce Haynes joins Doner as VP and media manager of national broadcast
Jami Opinsky named advertising director for Vanity Fair
David Corvo upped to executive producer of 'Dateline NBC'; Marc Rosenwasser to executive editor
Producers Lawrence Bender and Kevin Brown close deal to develop 'Earthsea' miniseries for the Sci Fi Channel
Cybill Shepherd, Robert Forster, Kate Capshaw and Clara Bryant to star in Showtime original drama 'Due East'
Al Roker to pen advice column for Parents magazine
Ellen DeGeneres to serve as host of Primetime Emmy Awards on September 16
Steve Stark named executive VP of development at Columbia TriStar Television

Thursday, May 24, 2001

• Fox's new game plan: Whup NBC
  Betting on a strong fall schedule to win in 18-49s
• Group: Mag biz is an environmental hazard
  Calls for eco-safer paper and fewer newsstand throw-aways
• Vamp hunter slays one for cable
  Ratings recap: 'Blade' movie and NBA games put TNT on top  
• Yes, Dobbs is back. Was he gone too long?
  Television: Winning back viewers could prove a real struggle
• Video on demand's early hope may be porn
  Dollars are there, for sure, and the technology is inviting

News Shorts
'Ed' and 'L&O' finales win NBC Wednesday night
It's official: Fuller's out and Leive is in at Glamour
And now a reality show about supermodels
Might the end be near for MTV's 'Jackass'?
'Sopranos' is a hit, so to speak, in Italy, too
April was no rosy month for newspaper advertising

Web Shorts
Feds cuff 88 in web fraud crackdown
Kmart reabsorbing its Bluelight.com spinoff
Avenue A lays off 20 percent of staff
Hackers disrupt anti-vandalism web site
Voice-activated email gets a boost

People

Tuesday, May 29, 2001

• Ad economy is better than it looks
  Some advertisers are actually spending big bucks
• Web's dying, to be reborn as 'X Internet'
  New media sage: Yo, look for yet higher levels of interactivity
• NBC: We're covering Olympics like snow
  Sports TV: Some 373 hours, most live with lots of ad inventory
• Behind the bummer of the 'Sopranos' finale
  Wallenstein: Creator Chase hates TV formulas, thus the strings
• Life's a beach, so put your client there
  Out of home: Lots of ways to get a message in front of bathers

Web Shorts
Microsoft likely to renew AOL browser contract 
The net's biggest e-tailer? Uncle Sam
Now, online toys for the cat in your life
Web site seeks Korean War vets’ DNA
Playboy gets rights to Hughhefner.com
Baby’s first email address, assigned at birth

People

Wednesday, May 30, 2001

• Upfront? We're too busy floating rumors.
  Real start may be weeks off, but bull-slinging is rampant 
• With the heat, a new wave of reality
  Television: Summer TV and the search for the new hot thing 
• Adweak, spoofing the ad biz with a pick
  Things we like: Fake headlines reveal truths many only mumble
• Golf Digest and BW, playing through
  Magazines: A savvy pairing, for sure, but fear played a role
• Folks clipping coupons online are a cut above
  New media: Have more money and are aggressive shoppers
• Alas, the fading hope of digital TV
  Technology: Another grand gizmo whose promise eludes us

Mike Smith announces retirement from DirecTV parent Hughes Electronics
Charles Whittingham named SVP of advertising sales at Primedia's integrated sales & marketing group; Patrick Hagerty to SVP for advertising sales
Charles Stanford promoted to EVP of legal and business affairs and general counsel of Crown Media Holdings
Paul Van Slambrouck upped to editor of The Christian Science Monitor
Kathleen Abernathy, Michael Copps and Kevin Martin cleared to become commissioners at the FCC; Michael Powell’s term as chairman extended
Farley Day named advertising director of Boating at Hachette Filipacchi Magazines
Michael Pirrone appointed executive director of media at Net Insight Inc.

Thursday, May 31, 2001

• Surprising strength of NBC's Thursday 
  Ratings recap: 'Friends' and 'ER' actually moved up in rankings
• Meet the keeper of broken web dreams
  New media: Indexer and mummifier of dearly departed sites
• Summer here, cable warms to the season
  Slew of original programs and niche reality shows
• Tougher times for BET's competitors
  Television: MBC and NUE vying beneath a widening shadow
• Imagining eBay as the media broker
  Wang: Positioned to emerge as a mega B2B player

News Shorts
'Backstreet Boys' hit a sour note
Real Media founder exits for new web venture
CNN picks ABC's Brown as new top talking head
Star offers Blake $100K for polygraph test
EU regulators try for another tobacco ban
'20/20' Wednesday move now set for July

Web Shorts
Bertelsmann buying another music site 
Marketwatch.com slashes 15 percent
Helpful hacker comes to Excite@Home’s aid
FTC raps Amazon’s Alexa unit over privacy
Monster.com acquires rival job site FlipDog
Hormel: Spam’s other meaning is OK with us

Carolyn Wall out as marketing director at Newsweek
Brian J. Flaherty joins Grey Ink as SVP and managing director
Alice Dale appointed director of program research for A&E Television Networks; Thomas Moody named director of program research for The History Channel
Tom Russo promoted to SVP of current programs at Paramount Network Television
Risa Aronson promoted to advertising manager of W magazine
Paul Mastronardi named CFO of Vibe/Spin Ventures

Friday, June 1, 2001

• Betts gets the boot from Harper's Bazaar
  Magazines: Brit Glenda Bailey moves over from Marie Claire
• End for Revolution, digital marketing title
  Magazines: Clobbered by downturn in high-tech advertising
• Clearly, A.J. Benza don't belong to Mensa
  Wallenstein: E! gossip, okay, but no class as a talk show host
• For cable, May was all about jocks
  Cable wrapup: NBA, NASCAR and WWF had 16 of top 20 shows
• Google becomes the hot web thing
  New media: Rising traffic puts search engine nearer to the top

News Shorts
'Backstreet Boys' hit a sour note
'GMA' yanks nude fashion segment
Schroder: I'm bugging out of 'NYPD Blue'
Get-out-of-jail deal in works for Robert Downey Jr.
WB adding two midseason shows

Web Shorts
Might it be? Yahoo TV?
Study: The world is not ready for e-books
Hackers invade SETI@Home and spam away
Battered Priceline.com offers a new service 
Sex.com launches manhunt for cybersquatter
'June 1' virus hoax targets the gullible

People

Monday, June 4, 2001

• Mort tags new editor to revive U.S. News
  Vows harder edge with more investigative stories
• Networks: Summer now belongs to us
  Cable: Don't bet the ranch on a wager you'll lose
• InStyle, by George
  Magazines: Ex-prof and Fairchilder on managing its growth
• Bravo! Bravo! Salute to ESPN's spelling bee.
  Wallenstein: Young word-conquerors in the age of spell check
• Put your client in America's elevators
  Out of home: Get them both coming and going from the office
• Leap in sign-ups for high-speed web access
  New media: Approaching 20%, nearly doubling over six months

'50s TV star Arlene Francis dies at age 92
Marcia Shulman appointed EVP of casting at Fox Broadcasting 

• Long cool summer for cable and syndication
  Television: Buyers in control, upfronts could go into August
• TV actors talks lag, but few seem worried
  Television: Waning hopes of a settlement before deadline
• Family Circle puts on a glossier face
  Magazines: Redesign to appeal to readers' rising expectations
• TV liquor ads rousing little protest
  So far, at least. But temperance groups are wary.
• P&G-Viacom a boost for cross-media buys
  Feature: $300M pact could set off spurt of similar deals
• Enough protesting already over 'Sopranos'
  Television: Nuts to the charge the show demeans Italians

People

Wednesday, June 6, 2001

• As summer arrives, TV sets go dimmer
  Television: Broadcast networks see dramatic ratings drop
• And with summer, some new realities
  Television: Genre getting redefined beyond 'Survivor'
• At last, pubs fresh off the web press
  New services to download exact copies of magazines and papers
• Hey, don't write off the NBA finals
  Sports TV: Lakers-76ers match-up has a lot going for it
• Rise in ad zapper sales to combat pop-ups
  New media: Hot new web ad format raising wrath of surfers
• For Corante, small is a beautiful thing
  Web site profile: Building on lessons from the big shakeout

People

Thursday, June 7, 2001

• Detroit pulling $s out of network upfront
  Slashing ad budgets and shifting to other media
• Meet America's first internet generation
  Social studies: Web is primary news source for college seniors
• Web dominated by fewer and fewer
  New media: Just 14 companies account for 60% of time online
• Flix flourish in cable's big summer week
  Ratings recap: Draw viewers from debuting original series
• New twist on VOD: Accessing premium fare
  Technology: Missed 'Sex and the City?' Reach for your remote.

News Shorts
Philly NBA upset a winner for NBC
Ex-Women's Sports editor to head up Self
NBA: Sixers upset Lakers in overtime thriller
Lalli out at Daily News, amid talk of friction
State AG peering into Sony's fake movie critic
Study: Gov't getting a better rap on network TV 

Web Shorts
EBay and Terra Lycos in auction partnership
And now, Napster: The movie
Excite@Home shutters European branches
Priceline founder sells off major stake
Yahoo users: Give us our porn!
Study: No letup in death of dot.coms 

Nadine Padawer brought on as EVP and director of executive management development at Initiative Media North America
Steven Sachs promoted to associate publisher of consumer marketing and development at Real Simple magazine; Trish Considine-Kirsch to Eastern advertising director
Don Mischer returns as executive producer of the Primetime Emmy Awards
Mandy Cohen promoted to coordinating producer at Fox Sports Net
Beau Bridges, Nia Long and Miguel Ferrer to star in Showtime original 'Sightings: Heartland Ghost'
Thomas P. Vitale promoted to SVP of acquisitions, scheduling and program planning for the Sci Fi channel
Bob Bain to produce telecast of the Miss America Pageant
David A. Palmer upped to SVP of marketing and promotions at Sony Pictures Family Entertainment

Friday, June 8, 2001

• New season's best bet: CBS's 'Max Bickford'
  'Emeril' D.O.A on media buyers' lists of fall shows
• New top pencil for Smithsonian
  Magazines: Carey Winfrey jumps from People, replacing Moser
• With 'Fear Factor,' NBC sticks out its tongue
  Television: Whoa! Gross out! Will viewers tune in? Likely.
• No, 'Sopranos' does not represent Italians
  Wallenstein: It's a TV show, it's fiction, and viewers know that
• Lots of web sites do make money
  New media study: Over half of online businesses claim profits
• Vivendi munches into web prominence
  New media: World's No. 3 media outfit builds through fire sales

News Shorts
Hockey takes another licking for ABC
It's official: Time Inc.'s Fortune Group nets Biz 2.0
U.S. News closes foreign bureaus and cuts 45
Shamed Sony suspends inventors of fake critic
Access, Sunday supplement of the web, closes
Congress calls for a new study on TV violence
Reuters cuts 500 in major reorganization

Letters
'Sopranos': Readers' reactions

Robert Cilia named EVP of sales & marketing at JCDecaux SkySites; Michael Snyder to VP of New York airports
Jayne Spittler to retire from Starcom MediaVest Group in August
Tim Russert and Stephen Collins recipients of the 2001 Fatherhood Awards
Joella West hired at Comedy Central as SVP of legal and business affairs
Bruce Rasmussen and Clay Graham return to 'The Drew Carey Show' as executive producers and showrunners
Bill Brand named SVP of reality programming at Lifetime Television
Bob Barker signs new multi-year contract as host of 'The Price is Right'
Richard Sheingold named president of CBS spot sales and EVP of sales at Viacom Television Stations
Longtime Chicago Tribune reporter Art Petacque dies at age 76
Glenn Dryfoos appointed SVP and general counsel for Telemundo

Monday, June 11, 2001

• A little sunshine for the ad economy
  Spending declines eased up through first quarter
• What iced Inside.com? A few notable blunders.
  Critics: For one, it did a poor job building subscriptions
• Peacock inheriting a fast NASCAR track
  Sports TV: Fox wows fans. Can less edgy NBC keep pace?
• NBC has a hit in 'Fear Factor'
  Wallenstein: Rare dose of praise from our ever-dour TV critic
• Putting your client on beach blimps
  Out of home: The latest: Speed boats towing them at eye level
• Last gasp for Suck, last meal for Feed
  New media: Parent Automatic Media, out of moola, folds

Web Shorts
AskJeeves home page will plug Hanks' DVD
Judge nixes ban on online tobacco sales
Did hackers worsen California power woes?
Saks reabsorbs its internet unit
ESPN plans broadband programming
For sale on eBay: Elvis’ Caddy, Lennon’s limo

People

Tuesday, June 12, 2001

• Weekly magazines feel a special hurt
  Ad slowdown spells double-digit declines for many
• Buyers blahful over fall syndication picks
  Television: Ho-hum all but a few shows that are set to debut
• At Cartoon Network, adult isn't a dirty word
  Cable: Fall block in 'Simpsons' mold, aimed at 18-34s
• Coming boom in global media and entertainment
  Study predicts growth will outpace world economy, hitting $1.2T 
• Portals, defying pundits, are stronger than ever
  New media: So much for dire predictions. Traffic is actually up.
• Further thoughts on the 'Sopranos' protests
  Commentary: Writer responds to letters attacking his column

Web Shorts
Coming, an original Doctor Who radio pilot
Latest merger: DotComScoop and Netslaves
Earthlink hit with email outage
Sony's online bank opens, with hitches
Boeing: We're equipping planes with web access
Virus hoax prompts people to delete AOL

People

Wednesday, June 13, 2001

• Big chill lingers over upfront
  Television: Some deals but breach over pricing remains
• NBA jumpers lead NBC to a weekly win
  Ratings: Finals put ratings above regular-season average
• Web ad spending perks up in May
  New media: Could well signal end of slide spanning months
• Fresh look for leaner Industry Standard
  Magazines: Easier navigation and new, post-dot.com tagline
• Buying ethnic papers becomes a lot easier
  Feature: Networks are popping up to offer one-stop service
• Send-to-a-friend gets the message out
  New media study: May be a site's best form of advertising

Web Shorts
MP3 debuts a subscription service
China cracking down on anonymous surfing
Cox cable will test AOL and EarthLink  
Sub fee for Wall Street Journal site may go up
Arbitron launches webcast audience profiler
Akron Beacon Journal on CD-Rom

Sarah Timberman named president of programming at Studios USA
UPN president Tom Nunan is leaving the network
Jim Noonan named SVP and GM of Warner Bros. Online
Paul Reiser to star in Showtime original movie 'Strange Relations' with George Wendt, Julie Walters and Olympia Dukakis
CNN correspondent Charles Bierbauer to retire
Greta Gaines to host 'Freeride With Greta Gaines' on the Oxygen network; Isaac Mizrahi to host 'The Isaac Mizrahi Show'
Robin Green named president of television at 40 Acres & A Mule
Steven Weber to join the cast of 'Once and Again' as a series regular

Thursday, June 14, 2001

• Chop, slice. Big knife to fall shows.
  Television: Major surgery for some--and not a good sign
• A woman's place today is on the net
  New media: Kicker is that over-55 segment is growing the fastest
• Nerve, from literate to boob-tube erotica
  Television: Can the arty sex site pull off a TV series on HBO?
• Seriously, folks, MTV movie awards rock
  Cable recap: Killer numbers body-slam WWF to win the week  
• Coming, TV to your pocket PC
  Technology: Cool idea, huh? Depends on who's talking.

News Shorts
Sixers tumble but not NBC
Daily News makes nice-nice with grocers
Britney: I may sue over DJs' death hoax
'Survivor's' Amber trash-talks her show mates
ESPN enters reality with two fall shows
More 'Survivor' doings: Skupin gets the pepper
Ex agent Mulder: My end wasn't pretty

Web Shorts
ExpertSource spills the beans on reporters
Howard Stern, web’s hottest radio personality
Back to tennis, Boris: Sportgate.com craters
Fraud charges sting Stan Lee Media
EBay: No McVeigh memorabilia

David Morrow to become editor in chief of TheStreet.com
Kelly Kahl promoted to EVP of program planning and scheduling at CBS
Kris Osborn brought on as a general assignment anchor for CNN Headline News; Alisha Davis to cultural and entertainment anchor
Liz Allison joins the TNT Nascar team

Friday, June 15, 2001

• Look to fourth quarter for signs of ad recovery
  Coen: Dot.com bust did a real number on 2001
• Big dunk for NBC even as 76ers fade
  Sports TV: NBA finals up 11% going into tonight's game five
• Ethics stink over Slate monkey business
  Did reporter cook facts? Barbs fly back and forth.
• 'Beast' is boring with a capital B
  Wallenstein: ABC summer burn-off with an inscrutable premise
• Ameritrade reemerges as a top web advertiser
  New media: New airline site Orbitz takes off with a jet blast

News Shorts
ABC's 'Millionaire' and 'Primetime' take households
Celeb 'Millionaire' will face 'Link' on Mondays
CBS to turn McVeigh book into miniseries
Fox lines up two midseason comedies
Japanese torture show star a real survivor

Web Shorts
Clear Channel testing online-only ads
Cops: Ex-senator's wife in email dirty tricks
German webzine offer: Madonna ticket for sex 
Study: E-commerce sites are a mess
Online hookers' lineup draws a curious public

Bob Wehling retires from Procter & Gamble
Sarah Gray Miller named editor of Organic Style
Simon Spalding promoted to head of worldwide licensing at international and enterprises division at Pearson Television
Glenn Close to star in and executive produce the TNT original movie 'Rachel Carson's Silent Spring'
Michael Willner elected chairman of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association board
Marcy McGinnis, John Frazee and Betsy West promoted to SVPs of CBS News

Monday, June 18, 2001

• ABC again tests power of 'Millionaire'
  Television: New ambitions, such as syndication, for aging show
• Get outta here! Yikes! $895 for WWD site!
  New media: But what a site! View a store window in Milan!
• Cheaper way to test new products
  Newspapers: Network discounts buys across 1,200 papers
• TV pilots, through the historian's eye
  Wallenstein: Exhibit looks at three as they evolved and expired
• All aboard. Put your client on the train.
  Out of home: Amtrak folders are ideal for reaching vacationers
• Big things in store for streaming ads
  New media study: From zip to all over the place by year 2005

Web Shorts
AOL-Microsoft talks break down over online music
Women.com sued for copyright breach
Britannica will resume publication of print edition
Unisys: Sorry, so sorry for inventing the computer
Volkswagen rolls out wired wheels
Chinese tops Spanish as No. 2 webcast language

People

Tuesday, June 19, 2001

• At last, the upfront begins to move
  Television: Not with a bang, for sure, but phones are ringing
• End may be near for CueCat ad scanner
  Technology: Staff cutbacks as maker looks for new financing
• Univision steals away Telemundo's top shows
  Television: Program deals to acquire audience-winning novelas
• An editor's new vision for U.S. News
  Magazines: More investigative stories, fewer rehashes
• Channel One foes' new target: Advertisers
  Social issues: Call for boycott of ad-based school TV network

Web Shorts
Dow Jones and Engage in e-tear sheet deal
FTC charges four dot.coms in pyramid scheme
TRUSTe developing online privacy symbols
Coming soon: Foreign-language URLs and email
Chinese man jailed for online ‘insults’
Video games take to the streets in South Korea

Felicia Milewicz joins Glamour magazine as beauty director
Julie Kantrowitz to oversee the sale of cross-media packages to national advertisers at AOL Time Warner
Lorri Robbins to national ad director at Recommend magazine; Hadley Roth to West coast sales manager
Phillip Dixon named managing editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Wednesday, June 20, 2001

• We're at bottom, a muddy bottom
  Myers: Ad economy ends slide but recovery will be slow
• Network numbers fall below last summer's
  Television: Reality shows fail to pull in hordes of viewers
• Now, the truth: Folks do zap ads
  Technology: TiVo users skip more TV spots than they watch
• Better now than later for Fine Living
  Cable: New lifestyle network wading in, despite economy
• Many with web access take a pass
  Global study: Fourth of those polled have no interest

Web Shorts
Newspapers digitize century's worth of archives
Study: One in five teens gets propositioned online
Microsoft promoting McCartney tunes
MIT sues Time Inc. over Technology Review title
Winner in Madonna-ticket-for-sex contest

People

Thursday, June 21, 2001

• Cable is fast overtaking broadcast networks
  Study: Will draw more primetime viewers next season
• Vince? Adam Sandler is cable's muscleman.
  Ratings recap: Goofball comic movies pull young males to USA
• New York Metropolis, for post-Village hipsters
  Newspapers: Rising to cover the hot new nabes of the boroughs
• Online spending rises through spring
  New media: Total May dollars were up 30% from January
• For Absolut, less is more fun
  Things we like: Filmmaking site entertains without the hard-sell
• Brighter prospects for digital television
  Technology: Forget naysayers. Study finds growing acceptance.

News Shorts
Modest start for 'You Don't Know Jack'
Upfront gets rolling as NBC chops rates
CBS boss serious about celebrity 'Survivor'
AOL TW's Levin: The worst is behind us.
Lieberman pushes Bush to come down on H'wood
'Survivor' host Probst wins film festival honors

Web Shorts
New software to track web copyright piracy
Coming very soon: Dot.biz domain names
Va. gubernatorial candidate returns porn-site gifts
New Jersey sues online casinos
Panel: MichaelBloombergSucks.com is legit

People

Peter Schneider resigns from position of chairman of Walt Disney Studios
Julian Lowin named publisher of Red Herring magazine
Tina Potter appointed vice president of brand central creative group at TNN
President and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services Carole Black presented with 2001 Broadcasting & Cable Innovator Award
Ted Demme and Richard LaGravenese to write, direct and produce documentary for Independent Film Channel
John Schueler named publisher of the Daily News of Los Angeles
John H. Walker to publisher at the Thomasville Times of North Carolina

• Upfront is moving but at a measured pace
  Buyers say holding back for lower prices is working
• Makeovers for iVillage and Women.com
  New media: Leading women's sites will target different demos
• Stink over AOL-TW refusal to carry rival ads
  New media: ISPs say cable giant violating merger agreement  
• For Martin Short, best revenge is parody
  Wallenstein: A bomb on a real talk show, he soars in 'Glick'
• Orbitz blitzes web with flight promotions
  New media: Airline travel site pushing ticket sweepstakes

News Shorts
Strong debut for NBC's 'spy tv'
NBC orders first aid for 'Emeril' pilot
Disney launches Playhouse for young 'uns
'Millionaire' loser says wrong answer was right
'Survivor's' Jerri will take it off for Playboy
Media tycoons make Forbes richest list

Web Shorts
Russian competition for prez web site sputters
NetZero and Juno drop suits against one another
Microsoft and Telmex snap up Yupi
CIA: We can’t predict hacker activity
Kournikova virus writer faces prosecution
NBCi continues disassembly of its portal

People

Monday, June 25, 2001

• Upfront turns nasty as prices tumble
  ABC follows NBC in offering sharp discounts. CBS holds out.
• Zip, zoom. BMW's nifty web movies.
  Shorts pull in web crowd, in cross-platform coup
• Space.com seeks life after Big Lou
  Editor: We're like a general interest science magazine
• In 'State of Grace,' an artful rule-breaker
  Wallenstein: Fox Family winner from veteran script writers
• Moo to you. Your client in a Cow Parade.
  Out of home: Cool art and great press from divine bovines
• Broadband is mostly an office thing
  New media: Home use lags behind and is unlikely to catch up

Web Shorts
Excite@Home crackdown on copyright breaches
DrKoop.com resurrects DrDrew.com
Agency.com sponsors dial-a-beer pub trivia
Datek Online starts charging for accounts
French group wants racist site blocked
Napster loosens up its song filter

Former CNN Headline News anchor Lynne Russell to star in cable telefilm 'The Ride'
Bob Igiel to retire from position as president of broadcast for WPP Group's Media Edge
Longtime CBS radio executive Maurie Webster dead at age 85
Marc Buckland signs two-year development deal with NBC
Mike Barnicle to end tenure as host of 'Barnicle' on MSNBC this Thursday

Tuesday, June 26, 2001

• Mel's move to hold prices is working
  Upfront report: Holdout CBS selling ad time at modest increases
• Surprise! Top titles outreach top shows
  Study: TV gets the buzz but big magazines get the eyeballs
• Full skinny on how teens use the web
  New media study: 76% say internet is central to their lives
• Even tougher game ahead for Yankees
  Sports TV: Facing carriage struggle for new sports network 
• Just what's obscene on radio? Don't ask.
  Social issues: New FCC rules effectively leave it up to listeners

Web Shorts
Study: Online ads as memorable as TV ads
Iran getting tougher on net use
Yahoo adds video to instant messaging
Amazon's free shipping isn't really free
AOL: There are more than 30 million of us
Streaming-media ad verification debuts in 3Q

Matt Diebel named editor of People.com
Lynn Costa appointed VP of human resources at Lifetime Television
Lawrence O'Donnell leaves 'The West Wing' from role as head writer and co-producer
John Wells to not seek second term as president of the Writers Guild of America
'Mummy Returns' star Oded Fehr takes part in NBC's upcoming 'UC: Undercover'
David Reese promoted to CEO of ACTV Inc.
Alice McNeil and Robert Voltaggio upped to VPs of national sales planning at Fox Family Worldwide

Wednesday, June 27, 2001

• Cable upfront opens as broadcast winds up
  Upfront report: Bigger networks kick-start deals with discounts
• NBC's big sweep with reality series
  Ratings recap: 'Spy,' 'Fear' and 'Link' kicking butt in 18-49 demo
• If you're a stud, Cosmo wants you
  Feature: Contest to pick the media male with the most 
• Web advertisers use wrong measuring tools
  New media study: Higher returns when looking beyond clicks
• AltaVista's losing struggle as a portal
  New media: Shakeout of me-toos in an era of mega brands

Web Shorts
EarthLink raises rates for the first time
Singapore dabbles in wired taxis
Beta version of merged CNBC on MSN Money
Yahoo will charge for fantasy baseball leagues
Dylan's childhood duplex fetches $95K on eBay
Online Publishers Association formed

Alex Ferrari promoted to EVP and CFO for MTV Networks
Goran Visnjic puts his name to four more years on NBC’s 'ER'
John F. Cooke named CEO of the Screen Actors Guild
Gregg Siegel upped to VP of national sales for the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Senior White House correspondent John King signs three-year contract with CNN
Greer Shephard and Michael Robin sign two-year development deal with Warner Bros. Television

Thursday, June 28, 2001

• The real reality of reality TV: $$$s
  Shows are cheaper to make and more profitable
• So long, Ed. Uh-oh, internet.
  Web's not such a great magazine circ builder, it turns out 
• Arbitron's radio act is off to Mexico City
  Research: We'll provide buyers with data they can trust 
• BET awards lead week of cable stunts
  Also hot: 'Crocs and nasty soap divorce, sniff, sniff  
• Web info drives offline sales, too
  New media study: Even more so, in fact, than online buys
• Beyond set-tops, the wireless home
  Technology: One cable box for all of your electronic gizmos.

News Shorts
Toothless 'Beast' for ABC
Redbook editor tapped for Marie Claire job
Former ABC boss heads to AOL-TW
Security is drum tight on 'Survivor 3' set in Kenya
Writer pitches tent at Gear for payment
Endemol chief on male fantasies and life at sea

Web Shorts
MSNBC.com hosting official Olympics site
BarnesandNoble.com pulls ebooks
Inside.com yanks its content off Yahoo
IWon.com adopts new rich-media ad format
Salon introduces syndication with SalonWire
European Union gets its own domain

People

Friday, June 29, 2001

• Cable looks to days for new ad dollars
  Moving from crafts to real stories of everyday lives
• Coming, a new way to size up magazines
  Research: ABC service to evaluate readership profiles
• Cable: We're tied. Broadcast: Phooey. 
  Research: Numbers fly like bullets over market-share tiff
• You really don't need to know 'Jack'
  Wallenstein: Simply goofy isn't good enough
• NeoPets, fantasy site run by suits
  New media: But what a place. Kids hang out virtually for hours

News Shorts
Supremes strike state tobacco ad ban
Top shoe Johnson out in latest CNN shakeup
Toothless 'Beast' for ABC
Kiddie remote offers TV minus the bad stuff
Two former NFL greats join Fox broadcast team
FCC's Tristani steamed over AM nudity complaint

Web Shorts
Yahoo will target ads locally
Jupiter: Health retail sites are tops for week
Bank One scraps WingspanBank.com
Napster’s strict filter turns away users
Study: 6 of 10 emailers missend messages

People

Monday, July 2, 2001

• Network upfront near-final tally: $6.93B
  13% decline from last year's $8B sellers' rout
• U.S. ad slide assumes global proportions
  Research: Zenith reports hurt felt in Europe and Asia through '01
• New title for weary business travelers
  Magazines: Marriott hotel-room magazine of recycled stories 
• 'Tough Enough' is plenty good
  Wallenstein: MTV reality series on becoming a WWF grappler
• Put your client up on the silver screen
  Out of home: Reaching captive eyeballs before the feature film

Web Shorts
Yahoo snatches up Launch.com
Britney Spears’ web site gets hacked
Online bookstore in India offers sex tips
HotJobs and Monster.com merge
Inside.com: It will cost $3.95 a month to read us
Meditation music company sues Napster

Martin von Ruden promoted to EVP and GM of Women's Entertainment network
Tami Prins appointed New England & spirits manager at FHM magazine
Bryan Singer to direct pilot and executive produce new 'Battlestar Galactica' for Studios USA
Peter Johansen named producer of CBS’s 'The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn'
Benjamin Bratt to star as a Latino private detective in TNT's original movie 'Chico Cervantes'

Tuesday, July 3, 2001

• NBC's secret formula: 50s TV
  Television: New reality hits hark back to early live shows
• NASCAR revs up for strong 2nd half
  Sports TV: Brisk ad sales for NBC and Turner, thanks to Fox
• For Health, all roads lead to Birmingham
  New digs, new editor, hey, new magazine capital

Web Shorts
Brit John Wayne bio writer asked to give up site
ValueClick acquires Mediaplex
Wal-Mart enters the digital-photo biz
Tampa to bad guys: We got an eye out for you
Fifty-three dot.coms croakers in June
Napster suspends music-swapping

People

Thursday, July 5, 2001

• 'CSI' whups NBC Thursday lineup
  Ratings recap: Peacock repeats see worse-than-usual #s plunge
• It's a deal! Actors settle with studios.
  Let the fall TV season speed mightily ahead

News Shorts
July 4 specials win for NBC and ABC
Teen Sopranos' star arrested on mugging rap
Big staff chop at new Gotham magazine
Egyptian Muslim cleric: 'Millionaire' is sinful
Radio stations fight fine for Eminem song
Suit: Puffy film critic quotes are false advertising

Web Shorts
Opel will wire cars with AOL
USA.net: No more free email
Hackers hit human rights group in Argentina
MySimon saga: What not to put in an email
Dot.com cross-dress hoax snookers London's Sun

People

David Forgione to publisher of Automobile magazine
Tom Fiedler named editor of the Miami Herald
Gary Scott Thompson signs on for drama series with Fox Broadcasting

Friday, July 6, 2001 

• Lifetime is tops, thanks to TBS
  Cable recap: 'Rush Hour' flick robs USA of 2Q household win

News Shorts
'Big Bro' stomped by 'Friends' rerun
New top editor for Financial Times
Teen 'Sopranos' star: I'm innocent in rob rap
Freelancers up their battle against the NY Times
ESPN cuts NCAA deal for women dunkers
Polish protest over reality TV shows

Web Shorts
Panel: Crappy and Canadian are not the same
Oops! Prozac poppers IDed in email snafu
'Big Bro' web peepers will have to pay
Report: UK web traffic numbers mostly wacko
Citysearch will fire up to 100 staffers
Online sneak preview of XM satellite radio

People

Monday, July 9, 2001

• Reality, smeality: Viewers still aging
  Research: Youth appeal of shows blunted by wave of gray
• Double-whammy of cable summer repeats
  Research: Some offer greater reach than top network reruns
• On web, wacky no longer cuts it
  Now technology consumers ask, Is it the right brand for me?
• 'Big Bro 2' is hotter but still bothered
  Wallenstein: This time lots of sexual tension, little of it pretty
• Ah, July, time to visit a theme park
  Out of home: What a great place to put your client's message
• Online spending set for a kick-up
  Americans will shell out $10B over next three months
• Nix the nattering. Mag biz is healthy.
  Commentary: Sure, ads are off, but we are still a vital industry

Web Shorts
MediaBistro.com's elite membership: $49
Saintly hacker sentenced to rehab and psych care
MSN Messenger blacks out for days
NFL in web pass to AOL Time Warner
‘Big Bro 2’ webcast; nudes galore

Dennis Hopper to star in action drama 'Flatland'
Kristin Malia named host and tour guide for E! Entertainment Television’s 'Celebrity Homes' series
John F. Cooke steps down from position as Screen Actors Guild’s CEO and national executive director

• TV buyers look to scatter for $ breaks
  Few see near-term economic rise that would lift ad prices
• Phase2Media seems like a goner
  New media: Web rep firm cans staff; Glassberg mum on fate
• The new fashion, mass over class
  Magazines: David Pecker's Style 24-7 aims for Kmart crowd
• When web clever may be too clever
  New media: Mixed reviews on AskJeeves 'Cast Away' promo
• Rising privacy fears over set-top boxes
  Social issues: Collection of viewer data seen as emerging threat

Web Shorts
Online grocer Webvan bags it
Study: Third of workplace surfers monitored
France will offer high-speed net access for all
Cheap access to med research for poor nations
MarketWatch: We won’t provide click numbers
Talk-radio site eYada shuts down

James N. Dimonekas promoted to VP and publisher of Playboy magazine
Frank DeRose upped to VP of program scheduling at the USA Network
Nick Denton to chairman of Moreover.com; Susan Atherton to chief executive
Sarah Murphy named publisher of Beauty Biz magazine
Erik Storey appointed VP of programming for the Sci Fi channel
Carolyn Bernstein promoted to SVP of drama development at the WB; Tracey Pakosta and Mike Clements to co-SVPs of comedy development
Diane Ladd and Laura Dern to star in Showtime original film 'Damaged Care'
Lynne Koplitz named the new host of the syndicated 'Change of Heart'

Wednesday, July 11, 2001

• Steep HUTs drop for Boston people meters
  Research: Down almost 10 percent from existing sample
• Specialty magazines now feeling the hurt
  First-half pages off 11% for all titles, ad $s down 2.9%
• NASCAR roars, and NBC can thank Fox
  Ratings recap: Record viewers bring network another 18-49 win
• TLC 'Legal Action,' reality at its best
  Wallenstein: Forget 'L.A. Law.' Here's how courts really work.
• Soaps suds up for Hispanic viewers
  Television: Rich lode of younger women. But will they watch?

Web Shorts
Online movie piracy is rising
Survey: Give us boundaries online
EDiets and DietSmart merge
Arkansas will auction surplus goods online
MSN Messenger revives, worse for the wear

People

Thursday, July 12, 2001

• Little sunshine in media job market
  Recruiters see no pickup in hiring until 2002
• Top scores for some rookie cable networks 
  Research: Viewers rank Nat. Geo. ahead of larger brands
• Meet the man behind FuckedCompany
  Interview: Phil Kaplan musing on the dot.com death watch
• Chan chopper flix put TBS on top
  Cable: 'Rush Hour' leads in a week dominated by movies
• Geez, good news about video on demand
  Technology: Test subscription service is swamped by orders

News Shorts
Fewer and and fewer know 'Jack'
'Big Bro' guy gets the boot for knife threat
Industry Standard's owners mull a sale
Dow Jones lays off 150 amid cost-cutting
Writer: HBO stole my 'Six Feet Under' script
USA slates new reality and game shows for fall

Web Shorts
Albuquerque paper charging for web site
AOL Time Warner axes online workers
Judge orders Napster to stay off-line
Yahoo: We're losing buckets in down ad market
Timex and Yahoo team up on web wristwatch
SF Giants stuck with 42,000 Webvan cupholders

People

Friday, July 13, 2001

• Cable upfront, where art thou?
  This was to be a hot week for deals. It wasn't.
• How bad is 2001? Among the worst.
  Report sees .3% ad $ fall, behind only '91 and '61
• Walking magazine takes a hike
  Circ woes rose with decline of stampsheet houses
• It's 'Family Guy' again, so let the hissing begin
  Wallenstein: Fox 'toon seems to offend everyone but our critic
• Baseball picks up, a better story to tell
  Sports TV: Also, fans might finally be getting over '94 strike
• MSN web ad splurge to wrest away AOLers
  Message: Unhappy over rate hike? Come to us

News Shorts
'Big Bro' gets boost from bad buzz
CNN Headline News pretties up
Mega buying unit for Interpublic agencies
Wash. pols ease push for cheapo TV time
Cheapskate 'West Wing' skimps on actor salaries 
'Sopranos' leads Emmy noms with 22

Web Shorts
Salon faces hostile takeover from 24-year-old
Study: Pediatric health sites really are confusing
U.K. Safeway emails dirty nursery rhymes
Publishers lose battle over e-books
Napster resolves suits from Dr. Dre and Metallica
Internet grocer HomeRuns.com strikes out

People

Monday, July 16, 2001

• Spinoffs, the new hot syndie trend
  Television: Did we say hot? Not. It's that nothing else works.
• The new ESPN, beyond just games
  Sports TV: Made-for flix, reality shows, even hunk pageants
• Kids upfront ends at a snore's pace
  Television: Likely sales dip with ad glut and fewer buyers
• 'Chronicle,' engaging news of the weird
  Wallenstein: Sci Fi series' premise: Alien reports are all true 
• Java jive II: Slap yo' thing on a cuppa
  Hot out of home idea: Product samples on takeout coffee cups
• Sure, the X10 ad annoys. Does it work?
  New media: We don't really know. But if it does, look out.

People

Tuesday, July 17, 2001

• Want a good deal? Turn on your radio.
  As recovery eludes, ad breaks are all over the dial
• 'Survivor' rescues CBS early and late shows
  Fringe report: Viewerships rise from interviews with show boot-offs
• A hipper look for CNN Headline News
  Cable: New set, chit-chatting anchors and breaking stories
• Pop-ups now a major driver of web traffic
  X10 effect: Ads push some sites up the top 50 list
• New force rises to fight Smokin' Joe
  Social issues: Group challenges Lieberman's anti-violence bill