http://www.mediainfocenter.orgThe www.MediaInfoCenter.org site was developed and is managed by the Media Management Center at Northwestern University. The Media Management Center is allied with the Kellogg School of Management and the Medill School of Journalism, and has three principal areas of activity. 1) It educates senior level executives from all of the media industries. While they come principally from the United States, there is regular participation from media leaders in Latin America, Europe and Asia. The Media Management Center is also the faculty for a major in media management for MBA's at the Kellogg School. This is the only major of its kind offered by a top five U.S. graduate school of management. 2) The Center participates with media companies in projects that engage some of the most challenging issues to confront the media particularly in strategy, marketing, content, and sales force productivity 3) All of the Center's work is supported by research into many of the media's most complex problems. There is a long list of publications and reports published by the Center. A prime example of its present research can be found at www.readership.org. This is a site based on nearly six million dollars worth of research on what causes consumers to read newspapers and what would cause them to spend more time reading, etc. That work was based on a sample of 37,000 consumers, the largest sample every drawn for inquiry of this sort and covers all facets of print media operation from content to organizational culture and from brand to service.en-us(C) Copyright 2004, MediaInfoCenter.org, Inc. All Rights Reserved.7/4/2008 1:00:12 AM7/4/2008 1:00:12 AMTop Mediahttp://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118818860SAN FRANCISCO - Unable to strike a deal on its own, Microsoft Corp. reportedly is hoping to snap up Yahoo's online search operations with the help of News Corp. and Time Warner Inc. The latest twist in Microsoft's convoluted courtship caused Yahoo's shares to rise more than 3 percent in Wednesday's sinking stock market, even though the chances of a deal getting done still seemed remote.July 03, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118818966Talk-radio pundit Rush Limbaugh agreed yesterday to stay on the air for at least eight more years, signing a deal with his syndication company that Limbaugh said is worth more than $400 million, including a $100 million signing bonus. The lucrative agreement between Limbaugh and Clear Channel-owned Premiere Radio Networks of Los Angeles is the second-largest ever for a radio personality, ranking behind only Howard Stern's five-year contract with Sirius Satellite Radio in 2004 that was valued at more than $500 million in stock and cash.July 03, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118825657Tribune Co.'s largest newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, plans to cut about 250 jobs, including about 17% of its news staff, as part of the newly private media company's mandate to slash costs. As part of the cuts, the Los Angeles Times, the fourth-largest daily paper by weekday circulation in the U.S., will reduce the number of pages it publishes each week by 15%, the paper's editor, Russ Stanton, said in a memo released Wednesday.July 03, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118818212LOS ANGELES - On-location movie shoots are on the rise in Los Angeles, despite repeated warnings from Hollywood studios that the possibility of an actors strike had stalled moviemaking, a permitting group said Wednesday. The brisk activity seemed to belie assertions by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that the industry had lapsed into a "de facto strike" because of uncertainty about the potential for a strike by the Screen Actors Guild.July 03, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118812532PHILADELPHIA - A team of managers at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News has been appointed to oversee consolidation of some functions at the two papers in a bid to cut costs, a union official said Wednesday. Leading the team is the Inquirer's co-managing editor, Sandra Long, who met with the union on Tuesday to talk about the changes, said Henry Holcomb, president of The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia that represents newsroom and other staff at both papers.July 02, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118802152TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Tribune plans to lay off 11 newsroom employees this week and another 10 by early fall as part of a one-fifth cut in the news staff. Along with the 29 people who took voluntary buyouts and tendered resignations, the job losses announced Tuesday will leave the Tribune with a news staff of about 200, the paper said Wednesday.July 02, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118834870Jul. 3--DURHAM -- Championed by a Durham lawyer, a new federal court order allows the City of Burlington -- at least for now -- to ban street newspaper sales in the interests of public safety. Judge Thomas D. Schroeder concluded in this week's ruling, said to be the first federal decision of its kind in North Carolina, that such a ban does not stifle anyone's First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of the press.July 03, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118778081Microsoft Corp., positioning itself for a new run for Yahoo Inc.'s search business, has approached other media companies in recent days about joining it in a deal that would effectively lead to Yahoo's breakup, say people familiar with the discussions. In the past, Microsoft has floated an arrangement under which it would acquire Yahoo's search business and another partner, such as News Corp.'s MySpace or Time Warner's AOL, would combine forces with what remained of Yahoo.July 02, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118776301The Justice Department has opened a formal antitrust investigation into a deal struck last month that would allow Internet titan Google to provide some search advertising for Yahoo, according to sources familiar with the inquiry. Investigators are planning to demand documents not only from Google and Yahoo, but also from other large companies in the Internet and media industries, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.July 02, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118770636NEW YORK - News Corp. has decided not to sell the community newspapers it acquired as part of its purchase last year of Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. Several newspapers in the Ottaway group, including the Medford Mail Tribune in Southern Oregon, posted stories on their Web sites Tuesday saying Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. had informed the papers the sale was off.July 01, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118779659Clay Felker, the innovative founding editor of New York magazine who was widely considered one of the great post-World War II magazine editors in the U.S. and a key figure in the emergence of New Journalism in the 1960s, died Tuesday. Felker, who had been married to bestselling author Gail Sheehy since 1984, died at his home in Manhattan after a long battle with throat cancer, said a spokeswoman for New York magazine.July 02, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118760809Jul. 1--Times-News Publisher Steve Buckley fell into the newspaper business in the late 1960s and was hooked. While Buckley bid farewell to the job Monday -- retiring with 40 years' experience -- he's never regretted his career choice or wavered in his fondness for news and information.July 01, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118759411Jun. 29--E.W. Scripps will officially split into two publicly traded companies on Tuesday but executives say it will be "business as usual" for two leading Scripps divisions in Knoxville that will break off under the new organizations. Scripps Networks Interactive, led by President and CEO Ken Lowe, will feature fast-growing and highly profitable lifestyle cable television networks HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, the Fine Living Television Network and Great American Country.June 29, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118725037NEW YORK - Yahoo Inc. began pressing a case to major shareholders Monday that its board and management deserve a chance to prove they made the right move when they rejected a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. The missed opportunity to sell to Microsoft infuriated many Yahoo shareholders, prompting activist investor Carl Icahn to agitate for replacing Yahoo's nine directors and reviving negotiations with Microsoft.June 30, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118737845Hollywood studios made a "final offer" late Monday to the Screen Actors Guild hours before their labor contract with the largest actors union was set to expire. The offer included benefits similar to those granted to writers, directors and the industry's smaller actors union, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers told Bloomberg News.July 01, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118737830CBS Corp., the U.S. broadcaster controlled by Sumner Redstone, completed its $1.8-billion acquisition of CNet Networks Inc., becoming one of the 10 largest website companies. CNet, along with existing Internet businesses, will form a new digital division led by Quincy Smith, New York-based CBS said.July 01, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118734940Guitar-heavy grooves have helped Aerosmith pack concert halls and sell more than 150 million albums during its nearly four-decade career. Last weekend, a new game called Guitar Hero: Aerosmith went on sale, the latest installment in the hot-selling Activision Inc. franchise and the first to let players jam along with music centered on a single act.July 01, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118734926The 1985 movie "Clue" was a box-office flop. Nevertheless, Hasbro Inc., which has since acquired Parker Brothers, is ready to take its turn at board game-based movies, in a deal that departs from typical collaborations between toy companies and Hollywood.July 01, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118734907Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. provided its first look at the financial future of the company after a proposed merger with XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. Sirius said that savings from combining with XM would total $400 million next year, net of costs, assuming the merger goes through.July 01, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118737892MOSCOW -- When Vladimir Putin visited the set of the latest movie by Oscar-winning filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov, he sat in the director's chair while actors playing Soviet soldiers marched toward the front. But the prime minister's presence at the $55-million "Burnt by the Sun 2," the most expensive film in Russia's post-Soviet history, was a potent symbol of his government's expanding role in the country's film industry.July 01, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118703559Rhapsody America, the Web's top subscription-based music service, plans to open a digital download store today, becoming the latest company to challenge the dominance of Apple Inc.'s iTunes. Like other recent challengers -- and unlike iTunes -- the Rhapsody MP3 store will feature songs that aren't constrained by anti-copying measures.June 30, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118702503"Wall-E," the robot love story from Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar unit that includes only sparse dialogue during its 97 minutes, handily bested the competition at the box office, taking in an estimated $62.5 million in its opening weekend. Still, the film exceeded Disney executives' expectations, and the strong opening demonstrated that Disney's expansive marketing campaign featuring the tank-like robot with binocular eyes effectively pulled moviegoers into theaters.June 30, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118694146NEW YORK - Even for an industry awash in bad news, the newspaper business went through one of its most severe retrenchments in recent memory last week. Half a dozen newspapers said they would slash payrolls, one said it would outsource all its printing, and Tribune Co., one of the biggest publishers in the country, said it might sell its iconic headquarters tower in Chicago and the building that houses the Los Angeles Times.June 29, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118687738The ability to skip TV commercials is right up there with microwave popcorn as one of those life-altering advances that make the world a better place. Not surprisingly, though, broadcasters and advertisers have responded to TiVo and other digital video recorders by boosting the number of paid product placements in shows -- a practice known in industry circles as "embedding" ads.June 29, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118694872Jun. 29--In a corporate world where changes at the top can spiral into tumultuous power struggles, Bill Gates' gradual exit has been a case study in deliberate succession planning. Though the 52-year-old Microsoft chairman was publicly contemplating the end of his Microsoft career in 1997, the change started in earnest in 2000 when he handed off the chief-executive title to longtime friend and colleague Steve Ballmer.June 29, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118660816CHICAGO - The Chicago Tribune is reporting that it has named an executive as interim publisher to replace the retiring Scott C. Smith. The paper reported Friday on its Web site that publishing group executive vice president Bob Gremillion will oversee the newspaper beginning Monday.June 28, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118669647Jun. 28--COLONIE -- The Times Union has accepted buyout applications from 25 of its employees, Publisher Mark Aldam said Friday. The newspaper received 30 applications, but Aldam said five were rejected because those positions "would require replacement" and therefore not achieve cost savings.June 28, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118675102NEW YORK - NBC is making more than 2,200 hours of live competition from Beijing available online, giving Olympic junkies more action than they could ever devour in a day. That's in addition to the 1,400 hours of coverage planned on six television networks, more than the combined total of every previous Summer Olympics.June 28, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118650920When Groove Armada's deal with a record company ended last year, the British DJ duo made an unusual move: It signed with spirit company Bacardi. Under the one-year deal, announced earlier this year, the two DJs will be the main act at Bacardi-sponsored concerts in six venues from Miami to Athens.June 27, 2008http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=118648077The battle over Microsoft and Yahoo is heating up again as pressure increases to remove its CEO. Among those proposals are the hiring of a new CEO to replace Jerry Yang; offering to sell Yahoo to Microsoft in a friendly transaction; and eliminating the controversial employee severance plan.June 27, 2008