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Justice Dept. Approves XM Merger With Sirius (NYT)
The Justice Department gave approval on Monday to the merger of two rival radio networks, XM and Sirius, a marriage that would create a de facto monopoly in satellite services now used by more than 17 million subscribers. The proposed $5 billion merger, which was announced more than a year ago, must still be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. NYP: Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin is still batting 1,000 when it comes to getting deals past regulators. B&C: The chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee told the Federal Communications Commission yesterday it should not allow XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio to merge, saying that it would create a satellite-radio monopoly. BusinessWeek: If the merger goes through, Sirius and XM will have a lot to celebrate. Both companies have hemorrhaged money in their bid to compete for the marquee talent needed to encourage customers to invest $70 to $200 in a satellite radio player and an additional $8 to $13 a month in subscription fees.

Downie to Take WaPo Buyout? (Washingtonian)
Harry Jaffe: The Washington Post newsroom is buzzing with rumors that executive editor Leonard Downie will take the buyout being offered to Post staffers. Downie did not respond to an email request for comment, nor would anyone on the newspaper's publishing side comment on or off the record. Still, the rumor has persisted and spread for more than a week.

Hammer Time: USA and SciFi Chief to Lead NBC Cable Entertainment (NYT)
NBC Universal signed one of its top cable network executives, Bonnie Hammer, to a new contract Monday while also expanding her duties to include control over the development of all entertainment programming for cable channels. The move sets up an unusual division at the television studio owned by NBC Universal, with Hammer overseeing all the shows intended to be played on cable. LAT: The move significantly reduces the scope of Universal Media Studios, one of Hollywood's biggest suppliers of network and cable programming.

Security Lapse Exposes Facebook Photos (AP)
A security lapse made it possible for unwelcome strangers to peruse personal photos posted on Facebook Inc.'s popular online hangout, circumventing a recent upgrade to the Web site's privacy controls. The Associated Press verified the loophole Monday after receiving a tip from Byron Ng, a Vancouver, Canada computer technician.

Did Only Two Papers Feature 4,000 Iraq Deaths Across Their Front Pages? (HuffPo)
Katharine Zaleski: The tragic milestone of 4,000 soldiers' deaths was reported and it appears that just two papers placed it across their front pages. After a search through yesterday's front pages, I found that the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and the Daily News in New York were the only papers to give their entire front pages to honoring the men and women killed in Iraq. On the Media: Five years of covering Iraq.

Pressure on the Board at Time Warner (WWD)
As shareholders prepare to gather for Time Warner Inc.'s annual meeting on May 16, 12 stockholding organizations have a proposal up for a vote that the post of chairman and chief executive officer be split. The proposal states that it is often in shareholders' best interests to separate the positions, as conflicts of interest arise when one person holds both posts.

Google Revives Push to Get Free Airwaves (LAT)
Google Inc.'s wireless strategy could be summed up this way: Why pay for something you can get for nothing? The Internet giant is making a renewed pitch to regulators for free access to what may be the last great swath of airwaves — the unused spectrum between broadcast TV channels. Google says its use of those airwaves could give consumers faster and cheaper wireless Internet access.

Sullivan Leaves Bloomberg For FBN (TVNewser)
Brian Sullivan, anchor of Final Word at 4 p.m. on Bloomberg, has left the financial channel for a position at Fox Business Network. A source with knowledge of the situation says that the split was amicable, and that Sullivan is leaving to pursue "a new challenge." NYT/TV Decoder: The move is significant because it would represent only the second time that the new Fox network, which came on the air in October, has hired away an anchor from another business channel. TVNewser: Harold Ford Jr. Jumps From FNC to MSNBC.

Fox Refuses to Pay Indecency Fine (Variety)
Fox Television is refusing to pay a $91,000 broadcast indecency fine that the Federal Communications Commission slapped on the network for a 2003 episode of its Married by America reality show. In a statement released Monday — the deadline by which Fox had to respond to the FCC's official notice of forfeiture — the net said it will instead file a request for the FCC to reconsider the fine.

CNN Headline News Takes a Comedic Twist (AP via USAT)
CNN Headline News isn't the first place you'd look for comedy, but the network says it will try to have fun with some of the clips in its news archives. Not Just Another Cable News Show will premiere April 5, the network said Monday. "It's an entertaining way to recall some of the more memorable moments captured on video," said Ken Jautz, executive vice president at CNN Worldwide.

Mags Watching Ashton With Disbelief (NYDN)
Ashton Kutcher has promised that his new show, Pop Fiction, will "turn the tables" on star-chasing mags by having celebs peddle them fake news. But so far, weekly mag editors say they aren't scared. One editor sneers, "Ashton's not a journalist. One of the stories was about Avril Lavigne being pregnant. But everyone watched her in Miami, and reporters caught her drinking."

Would Newsday Sale Get Regulators' OK? (Portfolio/Mixed Media)
Jeff Bercovici: The regulatory hurdles to a deal appear only mildly enormous for Rupert Murdoch, owner of the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, and less enormous still for Mort Zuckerman, owner of the New York Daily News. (Cablevision chief James Dolan doesn't own a New York newspaper, and would thus face a much smoother path.)

The Internet Effect on News (Time)
Michael Scherer: Here is a basic shift that has occurred in the news business: Because of the Internet, you, the reader, no longer have to buy information in pre-fabricated packages like "newspapers." You can just go online and individually select the articles you want to read. There is a corollary effect here: As the value of the package declines, the value of the individual article increases.

Hachette to Publish Ty Pennington at Home (Folio:)
Taking a page out of the television personality-to-magazine brand playbook perfected by Rachael Ray, Hachette today announced that Ty Pennington at Home — launched as a one-off by the company last year — will be published by Hachette with a circulation of 500,000.

Bloggers To Flacks: Pay Us (Gawker)
Hamilton Nolan: APCO Worldwide — a scarily connected lobbying and PR superfirm with all types of ex-politicos on its payroll — just released a survey on "The State of Blog Relations," that asked both bloggers and PR people about their ideas on how they can make nice with each other. So the flacks all came off like devious bastards, right? Well, some, but the bloggers also came off like money-grubbing sellouts.