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NYT Co. Will Sell Broadcast Division for $575M (NYT)
The New York Times Company has agreed to sell its nine local television stations to Oak Hill Capital Partners, a private equity firm. "Our focus now should be on the development of our newspapers and our rapidly growing digital businesses and the increasing synergies between them," Janet L. Robinson, president and chief executive of the Times Company, said in a statement.

Disputed Iraqi AP Source Exists, Faces Arrest for Talking to Media (AP via Yahoo)
Iraq Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, who had previously denied there was any such police employee as Capt. Jamil Hussein, said in an interview that Hussein is an officer assigned to the Khadra police station, as had been reported by The Associated Press. The captain was one of the sources for an AP story about the burning and shooting of six people during a sectarian attack. American Prospect: "Wingnuts" assault on AP hits a major snag: the facts. E&P: Conservative bloggers react.

Tribune Shareholder Reviews Stake (WSJ)
The disclosure by Tribune Co.'s second-largest shareholder, the McCormick Tribune Foundation, a charitable foundation controlled by Tribune management, that it had hired a financial adviser raises the possibility that the foundation could be positioning itself to support a management buyout of the newspaper and television concern currently on the auction block. LAT: Bids for the company due Jan. 17. WWD: Could Rupert Murdoch be among the moguls interested in buying Tribune Co.?

And the Cuts Keep Coming: Time Inc. Looking to Trim 150 Jobs (NYP)
The latest casualty figure is 150 people — with the ax being honed and a decision possibly due from bosses like CEO Ann Moore in the next two weeks. "These things tend to change almost day to day, I don't think anything has been finalized yet," said one source. It is clear that the editorial ranks will absorb more cutbacks than in the past.

Judge Freezes Money From O.J.'s If I Did It (E! Online)
A federal judge has frozen the money that ex-football star O.J. Simpson was paid for his recent ill-fated book deal until a ruling is issued on whether the funds should be handed over to the family of murder victim Ron Goldman, whose name would have been front and center had the taste-challenged If I Did It been published.

Fox Cancels Geraldo at Large (B&C)
Fox will cease production on Geraldo at Large in mid-January, with a weekend version of the show returning to Fox News Channel. The move strengthens the chances that Warner Bros. will gain a clearance this fall for its new celebrity magazine series based on Time Warner's TMZ.com, since it is geared toward the same early and late fringe slots that Geraldo had appeared in on the Fox stations.

Sherri Shepherd to Replace Star Jones on View? (Jossip)
First rumored on Canada.com, ABC is said to be finishing up a deal with Shepherd, whose resume includes Beauty Shop and BET's Comic View. The past few days have been her test run to replace Star Jones' empty seat.

Trump Daughter Ivanka: Rosie Started It (AP via MSNBC)
25-year-old Ivanka Trump said Rosie O'Donnell had "instigated" the exchange of verbal hostilities between the View co-host and her father, and had been "bullying people for a long time." She said of Rosie's remarks: "It was uncalled for and, quite frankly, there was no reason for it. ... There's nothing surprising about the fact that my dad's gonna come back with a vengeance anytime anyone says anything negative against him."

MTV Ready to Debut I'm With Rolling Stone (USAT)
Peter Johnson: In Sunday's premiere of MTV's 10-part series, several of the six contestants picked to compete for a coveted full-time position seem just as cocky as Jann Wenner was when he dropped out of Berkeley to found the rock magazine in 1967. Jossip: Contestants letting D-list fame get to their heads?

Oprah's African School to Make Girls 'Feel Pretty' (WaPo)
It's easy to dismiss the inclusion of a beauty salon in a girls' school in South Africa as little more than a wasteful perk in a country with a dysfunctional education system. Oprah Winfrey has been asked repeatedly: Why so much? In a Newsweek interview, Winfrey said, "These girls deserve to be surrounded by beauty, and beauty does inspire. ... I wanted this to be a place of honor for them." CSM: Winfrey's school is one of the most recent and high-profile projects in a growing worldwide campaign to improve girls' education.

NBC Ratings Up for Holidays (CityNews via LAT)
In a week with little original programming, viewers flocked to first-run episodes of the NBC game shows Deal or No Deal and 1 vs. 100, along with reruns of CBS crime dramas, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research. A two-hour Christmas edition of Deal or No Deal was the most-watched prime-time program from Dec. 25 through Sunday, drawing 16.43 million viewers. B&C: Fox sees 6 percent bump for national NFL games.

The Future of the BBC (Economist)
The BBC cannot now have anything like the educative effect it used to have. Though it remains Britain's dominant source of in-depth news and most reliable provider of high-quality programming, changes in technology and media habits are splintering its audience.

Why the Super Bowl Is Still the Biggest Game in Town for Advertisers (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: If, like me, you hope one day the Super Bowl and its attendant mania will start shrinking like so many other mass-media spectacles — well, forget it. The broadcast nets scramble to right their listing ships, but the Super Bowl blithely sails on.

Amazon's Little-Publicized Price Guarantee (Slate)
Timothy Noah: Like Amazon's customer-service number itself, the 30-day price guarantee is not something Amazon publicizes. The guarantee requires only that you pay attention to whether Amazon lowers its price within 30 days after you purchase your item. If it does, Amazon will refund you the difference.

Local Reporting Due for a Comeback? (Seattle Times)
Danny Westneat: Small-town newspapering is considered boring today. Unhip. Supposedly we're all too globalized or tuned into Web video clips to want such provincial news. My own view is the opposite. I think intensely local, professionally gathered news is due for a comeback. It's the one thing you can't get anywhere else.