Mediagazer: Chronicle, other Hearst papers form business group (Houston Chronicle)

3:40 AM ET, May 8, 2010

Top News:

Mexican tycoon Slim not doubling NY Times stake -aide — * Washington Post looking to sell Newsweek — Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is not doubling his stake in New York Times Co (NYT.N) or looking to acquire Newsweek magazine or silver miner Fresnillo, one of his close aides told Reuters on Friday.

Discussion: The Wire and Romenesko

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:
Likely Newsweek buyers not exactly thronging the market

Discussion: Hot Air and Big Think

New York Post:
Slim has his pickings — MEXICAN billionaire Carlos Slim …

Discussion: Billions, Romenesko, FishbowlNY, Fitz & Jen, Vanity Fair and The Wire

Runnin' Scared:

Media Mogul James Dolan Elects to Use ‘Nuclear Option’ on Village Voice, Yet Again Pulling More Advertising Than Ever! — Back in March, a blog post we published regarding a potential media acquisition by Cablevision, MSG Entertainment, and Rainbow Media owner James Dolan …

Discussion: Mediaite, FishbowlNY, New York Observer, The Awl and Soup

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:
Following James Dolan's Lead, MSG And Live Nation Pull All Of …

Discussion: Gawker

Ryan Lawler / NewTeeVee:

CBS Will Have Full Slate of Web Video on the iPad — CBS may have the most aggressive plans to enable viewers to watch web video on the iPad, but so far, that's all they are — plans. The broadcaster has made only a limited number of promotional clips available for viewing on the tablet device …

Discussion: Mashable!, MediaPost and Engadget

Bill Mickey / Folio:

Discover Magazine Up for Sale — First round of bids are due May 17. — Discover Magazine is on the block, FOLIO: has learned. The first round of bids are due Monday, May 17. — Discover Media LLC is backed by private equity firms WallerSutton and Sandler Capital Management.

Discussion: Romenesko, National Media, Crain's New York Business and FishbowlNY

Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:

Yahoo CMO Steele On Ad Campaign: Word Of Mouth Isn't Enough For Us — Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) announced the second phase of its $100 million international ad campaign this week—a series of ads that push Yahoo's services. The slogan: “Your favorite stuff all in one place. Make Yahoo your home page.”

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, MediaFile and Wall Street Journal

Todd Shields / Bloomberg:

U.S. Lets Hollywood Disable Home TV Outputs to Prevent Piracy — The film industry can block outputs on home television equipment so studios can offer first-run movies while preventing viewers from making illicit copies, U.S. regulators said. — Temporarily disabling the outputs will …

Discussion: Mediactive, Company Town, Boing Boing, Media Decoder, Variety and paidContent

Richard Huff / NY Daily News:

CNN's new angle can be dizzying — CNN changed its onscreen look this week. — After watching for a few days, I'm certain that someone there must own stock in Dramamine. — That's because it's hard to watch CNN for any length of time without getting seasick.

Houston Chronicle:

Chronicle, other Hearst papers form business group — The Houston Chronicle and five other Texas newspapers owned by the Hearst Corp. are forming the Hearst Texas Media Group, the company announced Thursday. The new structure is designed to better serve the six communities …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:

CNN's Ad Revenue Down On Weak Ratings - Time Warner CEO Wants To “Fix” Problem — CNN has consistently claimed all is well even as ratings have fallen off significantly. — But according to Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes on yesterday's first quarter conference call, CNN has declined financially …

Discussion: Variety and Chickaboomer

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Another E-Reader? Really? Meet Borders' “Kobo.” — I don't know why every bookseller seems compelled to come out with its own e-reader. An e-bookstore, sure, but not the device. — Nevertheless, you can now place orders for Borders' “Kobo.” It costs $149, and Borders (BGP) …

Discussion: paidContent, The Stranger …, Silicon Alley Insider and TechCrunch

Newsosaur / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

MSM earn middling marks on first iPad apps — The mainstream media have earned only middling grades from consumers for their initial iPad applications, leaving plenty of room for improvement. — A quick survey at the iTunes Store found that the average user rating of the 10 …

Discussion: Mobile Media and Y! Mobile Blog

John Plunkett / Guardian:

ITV chairman outlines five-year plan — Archie Norman says ITV will develop its presence on non-traditional platforms such as the internet, video-on-demand and mobile phones — ITV chairman Archie Norman warned today that the broadcaster could afford “no more false dawns” …

Discussion: Variety