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Three Moguls Eyeing Newsday (NYT)
Three of New York's biggest moguls are in discussions to buy Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, from the Tribune Company, people involved in the sale process said Thursday. The three interested bidders are News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch; Mort Zuckerman, the real estate developer and publisher who owns the New York Daily News, and James Dolan, whose family controls Cablevision. AP: Tribune posts $78 million Q4 loss. NYP: Newsday has seen its circulation and advertising erode in recent years. But the paper has remained one of Long Island's key media assets and it has continued to turn a profit. LAT: Murdoch has long coveted Newsday as a means of bolstering his growing but money-losing New York Post. Portfolio: Breslin on Murdoch buying Newsday: Who cares? Muckety: Interactive map shows connections between Newsday and the possible bidders.

PageSix.com Shuts Down (Jossip)
The New York Post's attempt to take on TMZ.com is officially offline. Page Six has abandoned their online effort, effective immediately. The announcement was just made internally. Visitors to PageSix.com are redirected to Page Six proper. So, what, no more infighting? The staff of 18 will be let go, though some will be transferred internally within the Post. FishbowlNY: Jennifer Jehn, senior vice president of pagesix.com, said: "Given the difficulty in the economy, it was not the right time for this launch."

'Chocolate Rain' Voted Among YouTube's Best (WaPo)
Tay Zonday, who morphed from an unknown musician to an Internet superstar who got booked on national TV shows, is among the 12 winners of the second annual YouTube Video Awards. YouTube users voted on six nominees for each category: music, sports, comedy, instructional, short film, inspirational, commentary, creative, politics, series, eyewitness, and "adorable."

Schieffer Sticking Around a Bit Longer (USN&WR/Washington Whispers)
Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer is having serious second thoughts about leaving the Sunday morning TV circuit. After announcing in January that he'd retire with the swearing-in of the next president, the 71-year-old anchor now says he probably spoke too soon. "My bosses have asked me to stay around for a while," Schieffer said. "I'm just going to reduce my schedule a little bit."

Templer Joins Interview as Creative Director (FWD)
Karl Templer has been confirmed as Interview's new creative director. According to co-editorial directors Fabien Baron and Glenn O'Brien, he begins full-time in June. Templer, who replaces Sam Shahid, will continue to work on commercial styling projects; his editorial work, however, will appear exclusively in Interview in the United States. Templer will continue to contribute to select international publications.

Ellies '08: NYT Play's Editor: 'We're Just Enjoying the Moment' (FishbowlNY)
In the first year that the ASME considered newspaper supplements for Ellie awards, Play, The New York Times' sports magazine, scored a nod for General Excellence — circulation 1,000,000 to 2,000,000. Here Mark Bryant, Play's editor, talks about his expectations and the future.

Forbes Loses 'Celebrity 100' Editor to Hearst (NYP)
Forbes, which has lost two top editors to cable TV in recent months, has now lost the editor who compiles its popular "Celebrity 100" list. Lea Goldman, a senior editor, is joining Joanna Coles at Marie Claire to be the features editor — a new job at the Hearst-owned magazine. Goldman starts the new gig on April 1, a Hearst spokeswoman confirmed.

Social Networking Is Important Online, But Maybe Not as a Business (Economist)
Web-mail has certainly not become a business. Admittedly, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL, and other providers of Web-mail accounts do place advertisements on their Web-mail offerings, but this is small beer. Social networking appears to be similar in this regard. The big Internet and media companies have bid up the implicit valuations of MySpace, Facebook, and others. But that does not mean there is a working revenue model.

The Wall Street Journal's Web Site Is Already — Secretly — Free (Salon/Machinist)
Farhad Manjoo: Late in January, Rupert Murdoch put an end to speculation that he would set free The Wall Street Journal's subscription-only Web site. But Murdoch, quel surprise, wasn't telling the whole truth: The Wall Street Journal's Web site already is free. Every article that the paper publishes is available to anyone, for no money at all.

Positioning Penthouse to Go Public (Forbes)
Penthouse Media Group chief executive Marc Bell, 40, has given Penthouse, for decades one of the most explicit men's magazines, a "softer focus," as he puts it. The cover shot is more conservative than most images in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue. The gussying up is mainly for Wall Street. Bell hopes Penthouse Media Group will raise $250 million in stock in an initial offering.

March Madness Beyond the Idiot Box (BusinessWeek)
For CBS, which has the rights to NCAA's championship, it's a fast break to the Net. The TV network will stream all 63 games this year — up from 56 last year — to 200 Web sites, making March Madness the biggest expansion beyond the boob tube for any major sports event. Online ads could bring CBS $23 million, says chief executive Leslie Moonves. That's up from $10 million last year.

Odenkirk, Cross returning to HBO (Hollywood Reporter)
The Mr. Show duo of Bob Odenkirk and David Cross are returning to HBO with David's Situation, a new comedy pilot starring Cross. Odenkirk and Cross co-wrote the project, which will star Cross as himself. He leaves Hollywood to move into a suburban, gated community where he has two roommates, a right-wing conservative and a liberal hippie.

Robert U. Brown, Longtime E&P Owner, Dies at 95 (E&P)
Robert U. Brown, who for decades owned, edited, and imbued Editor & Publisher with its independent spirit, died Thursday morning. Brown became president of Editor & Publisher Co. in 1953, and its publisher and editor in 1958. After stepping down from day-to-day control of the company in 1996, he sold the magazine and its allied businesses in September 1999 to its present owner, The Nielsen Co.

Have the National Magazine Awards Become Too New York-Centric? (Folio:)
Dylan Stableford: The list was dominated by a disproportionate number of magazines about or originating in New York. Of the 128 finalists for this year's Ellies, at least 78 are based (or have significant staff) in New York City. That's over 60 percent, for those of you scoring at home. (The New Yorker and New York combined for 21 nominations alone.) Marketwatch: Jon Friedman thinks the National Magazine Awards are "a crock."

How a Lucky Break Helped Esquire Save Face (Portfolio)
Jeff Bercovici: Remember that rumor I passed on, which turned out to be untrue, that Esquire had been shut out at the National Magazine Award judging? Well, it turns out to be not so untrue after all. Cindi Leive, ASME's president and editor-in-chief of Glamour, confirmed that Esquire's nomination was a last-second affair — though not as part of any conspiracy.