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NBC Plans 24-Hour News for the New York Region (NYT)
NBC Universal announced on Wednesday plans to start a 24-hour local cable news channel similar to New York 1. It will de-emphasize the identity of NBC's flagship station, WNBC, Channel 4, rechristening it a "content center" and making it one part of a larger media presence. The new channel will provide the first 24-hour local news coverage of the New York region, including New Jersey and Connecticut. NYP: "We think New York represents such a great news market for us, we want to make a statement about how serious we are about local news," said John Wallace, president of NBC's local media division.

Times Ax Falls on 15 (NYP)
The New York Times is laying off 15 journalists after the company acknowledged it fell short of its goal of getting 100 people to take voluntary buyout packages. The company would not confirm the precise number of layoffs, but in a memo executive editor Bill Keller said the ax would fall on "relatively small numbers" of staffers.

Kaplan to Return to Evening News Next Week (TVNewser)
Insiders say Rick Kaplan's days of double duty are coming to a close. Kaplan has been acting EP of The Early Show since early March. He's also kept his day job as EP of the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric, though the EN staff has done most of the heavy lifting. Kaplan's last day at Early will be this Friday. CBS execs are looking at internal candidates to fill The Early Show EP vacancy.

Rainbow Media Buys Sundance Channel (Variety)
Cablevision's Rainbow Media, which already owns AMC and IFC, has bolstered its film portfolio by ponying up $496 million for the Sundance Channel. The deal brings Sundance its fifth owner in the past 12 years, but the channel and Rainbow execs see more upside with a single owner.

TV's Pundits Pronounce Judgment on Clinton Campaign: It's Over (NYT)
Starting early Wednesday morning and continuing through the evening news, the conventional wisdom of television's political pundit class shifted hard against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's continued viability as a presidential candidate. "We now know who the Democratic nominee's going to be, and no one's going to dispute it," Tim Russert said on MSNBC. NYT: Politics a hot topic at celeb weeklies.

Tribune Names Michaels Chief Operating Officer (LAT)
Tribune Co. on Wednesday elevated Randy Michaels to chief operating officer, putting the former radio executive in direct charge of all of the company's newspapers. The move could presage an expansion of Michaels' efforts to shake up the newspapers' advertising operations, as he has done at the smaller Tribune papers he has been overseeing.

As News Corp. Posts Wide Gains, Murdoch Keeps His Sights on Newsday (NYT)
In News Corp.'s earnings conference call on Wednesday, Rupert Murdoch voiced skepticism that Cablevision can succeed in its bid for Newsday, which is now at the center of a tussle among three New York moguls, even as he vowed not to get into a bidding war for the newspaper. LAT: News Corp. executives worked Wednesday to bolster investor confidence for MySpace, the online social network it won praise for buying in 2005 but lately has attracted concern from Wall Street.

AP Angling to Get a Coveted Spot on the iPhone (Forbes)
Brian Caulfield,: If it wasn't bad enough that newspapers are dying as cheap Web-based rivals thrive, now media companies will have to get by notoriously fickle Apple chief executive Steve Jobs if they hope to secure a prime spot on the screen of the gizmo that could give them the best shot at digital relevance. The Associated Press, however, is giving it a shot.

TV Guide, Having Just Been Bought, Is Bracing to Be Sold (NYT)
Days after getting new owners and new editors, the long-troubled TV Guide is back on the block. Another sale would be the fourth change in control during the last decade for TV Guide, which has long been trying to forge a new identity as an entertainment magazine, while moving away from what was once its primary mission, television listings.

Meredith Hires Former Early Show Anchor (TVNewser)
Former co-anchor of CBS' The Early Show, Rene Syler, will join Parents TV, a service of Meredith Corporation, the publisher of such magazines as Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies' Home Journal. Syler, author of Good-Enough Mother will host the channel's first long-form show starting next month.

NBCU Gives Bravo's Zalaznick Control Of iVillage (Silicon Alley Insider)
Now that Beth Comstock is out of the way (and back at GE corporate in Connecticut), NBC U is handing the reins (and the problems) of iVillage to Lauren Zalaznick. NBC U named Zalaznick president of NBC U Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks, a job that includes overseeing newly-acquired Oxygen Media, iVillage, and Bravo.

Why the Times Should Abandon the News-Opinion Divide (Gawker)
Nick Denton: The Times is the closet-case of newspapers. Everybody knows that the political bent is liberal; that the newspaper's reporters have opinions; and that they're hungry for a juicy story, even if the rush to publish can introduce mistakes. None of these are crimes; they only become embarrassments because of the paper's official position.

NY Post Reporter's Racial Profiling Suit Counters Post Editorial (E&P)
On the same day that a New York Post editorial claimed racial profiling was not a growing problem, one of the Post's own reporters filed suit against the city claiming to be a victim of such profiling. Leonardo Blair, 28, a Post staffer since May 2007, filed the lawsuit in U.S District Court in Manhattan.

Gates Says Big Changes in Store for Internet in Next Decade (AP)
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said there will be a vast shift in Internet technology over the next decade as he met Tuesday with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. "We're approaching the second decade of (the) digital age," the software mogul and philanthropist said. "The Internet has been operating now for 10 years. ... The second 10 years will be very different." NYP: While Microsoft chairman Bill Gates contends the company is fine without Yahoo, investors are waiting for the tech giant to come up with a Plan B for competing in the online-ad world.

Star Jones Slams Barbara Walters Over Memoir (Us)
"It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair, and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book," Star Jones said. "It speaks to her true character."