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Ex-NBC CEO Wright On NBCU Spinoff: It Wouldn't Surprise Me (Fortune)
Bob Wright claims he wouldn't be surprised if GE eventually spins NBC Universal off. He also raised another interesting scenario: Early next year Time Warner can separate its cable business from its content businesses without incurring a large tax liability — an event, he says, that could spur efforts to combine NBC Universal and Time Warner. "It would be a great combination," he says.

Moguls Come Out For Obama In L.A. (Pop Matters)
Barack Obama made his debut as a presidential candidate among an A-list of Hollywood power and fame, tapping into one of the most formidable honey pots of Democratic money and connections. The crowd included Jennifer Aniston, Eddie Murphy, Natalie Maines and Ron Howard. And the hosts were among the entertainment world's most powerful figures: Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the DreamWorks SKG partners. Studio bosses from Universal, Paramount, Disney and Fox each paid $2,300 for tickets to the event.

Closing Arguments in Libby Case (Bloomberg)
Ex-vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby should be convicted of perjury because he deliberately lied to a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA official's identity, a prosecutor said during closing arguments. "He made a gamble. He lied," prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said during a full day of arguments by both sides in Washington. "Don't you think the FBI and the grand jury and the American people are entitled to straight answers?" The jury begins deliberating today.

Magazines Party With Oscars (MIN)
Graydon Carter's Academy Awards dinner party at West Los Angeles' Morton's is now a fixture. This Sunday, there may be as much press as guests (estimated 800-strong). Architectural Digest opens its fifth Oscar "Greenroom" at the Kodak Theatre, this time with "ecologically-themed" décor; Entertainment Weekly's New York party will attract 180 to Elaine's; People will have pre-Oscar dailies; and Lucky's Allyson Waterman joins Vogue's André Leon Talley as co-hosts of ABC-TV's "Red Carpet" pre-show.

Satellite Radio Deal Strikes Discord in Canada (Globe and Mail)
The marriage of satellite radio giants XM and Sirius is being touted as a friendly merger of equals in the U.S., but the situation looks much different in Canada, where the two companies disagree over whose operation is worth more. XM Canada and Sirius Canada Inc. have invested hundreds of millions of dollars pursuing independent strategies at home, including more than 70 exclusive deals, which could lead to disputes over how ownership of the combined Canadian company should be divided up. Marketwatch: XM stock up 10%, Sirius 6% following merger news. San Diego Union-Tribune: Consumer confusion. NYT: Shift on antitrust issues may aid merger.

Norville Stays Inside (TV Week)
Deborah Norville has signed a multiyear deal with CBS Television Distribution to remain anchor of the studio's hit newsmagazine Inside Edition. The deal comes on the heels of CBS' recent renewal of Inside Edition through the 2011-2012 season on stations around the country.

Cussler vs. Anschutz (LAT)
Billionaire Philip Anschutz broke a fundamental rule in the film business — keep the author out of the screenwriting process — when he gave Sahara writer Clive Cussler wide latitude in the movie version of his best-selling book. Now the two are locked in a contentious court fight over the box-office bomb.

Black Sues For Libel (NYP)
Dethroned newspaper baron Conrad Black is suing British writer Tom Bower for libel. Black said in the suit, which was filed in Canada, that Bower's book Conrad & Lady Black Dancing on the Edge was "sadistic, pathologically mendacious and malicious" and portrayed his wife, Barbara Amiel, as "shrill and a harridan." Black — who goes to trial next month in Chicago for allegedly plundering millions from investors in his newspaper company — said the unauthorized biography is full of falsehoods.

Civil War Inside Daily News? (NYP)
A civil war has erupted inside the New York Daily News over the paper's reaction to revelations that their reporting on a New York City police officer who died of lung cancer was flawed. According to insiders, key personnel on the news side think that a Feb. 15 editorial in the newspaper was an outright sellout of the news side by the editorial board. NYO: Post editor Col Allan reluctant to speak ill of competitor.

For Youths, a Grim Tour on Magazine Crews (NYT)
More than two decades after a Senate investigation revealed widespread problems with these itinerant magazine sellers, and despite several highly publicized fatal accidents and violent crimes in recent years, the industry remains almost entirely unregulated. With striking uniformity, they told of violence, drug use, indebtedness and cheating of customers during their cross-country travels, often in unsafe vehicles and with drivers who lacked proper licenses.

'Internet Addict' Sues IBM Over Adult Chat Room Firing (AP)
A man who was fired by IBM for visiting an adult chat room at work is suing the company for $5 million, claiming he is an Internet addict who deserves treatment and sympathy rather than dismissal. James Pacenza, 58, says he visits chat rooms to treat traumatic stress incurred in 1969 when he saw his best friend killed during an Army patrol in Vietnam.

Polk Award To Tiny Chicago Weekly Upstages Spike Lee (E&P)
Among the elite newspapers, broadcast news organizations and documentary-makers honored with the highly coveted journalism honor is the Lakefront Outlook, an eight-year-old weekly given out free in the historic Chicago African American neighborhood of Bronzeville. While other Polk awardees count their newsroom by the dozens and hundreds, the Outlook staff consists of editor Brian Wellner, four reporters and a sightless intern.

OK! Mag Owner Readying IPO For Adult TV Nets In U.K. (Guardian)
Express newspapers owner Richard Desmond is planning to float his adult television channels business and has lined up merchant banker Sir Angus Grossart as chairman. Mr. Desmond is in the early stages of putting together an initial public offering of Portland TV, home to the Red Hot channel and Television X — the Fantasy channel. Analysts believe the 25 channels, which ainclude the U.K.'s first gay channel GAYtv, could be worth more than £200m.

Warner Bid Could Spark EMI Auction (Scotsman)
Warner Music has tabled a fresh takeover approach for troubled EMI in a move which could spark a £2 billion bidding war for the British music giant. Warner said it had the support of the trade group for independent music labels which brought previous legal challenges to consolidation in the industry and that it saw a compelling, strategic, commercial and financial logic to a deal.

Tormented First by Hiccups, Now by Media (St. Pete Times)
Media outlets are hounding a 15-year-old Florida girl who started hiccuping four weeks ago today and has yet to stop. The competition for her story became so frenzied over the weekend that NBC's Today show changed Jennifer and her mother's New York hotel after another network's exhaustive attempts to get an interview. Representatives from ABC's Good Morning America called Jennifer's home 57 times on Sunday and slipped notes under her hotel room door, her family said.