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TV, Ad Industries Weigh In On 'NBCU 2.0' (WSJ)
NBC's signal that it will abandon high-cost dramas and comedies in the first hour of prime time — once unthinkable — is both a risky decision and a sign that yet another of network TV's seemingly immutable laws may be crumbling. NYT: Starting in the fall of 2007 NBC will fill the 8 p.m. hour each weeknight with lower-cost, unscripted programs and saving its more expensive comedies and dramas for the 9-to-11 p.m. block. WaPo: "We've been a TV business that dabbles in digital. Now, we're positioning as a news content-production center going forward that happens to do television." LAT: Viewers this season have not been impressed with new scripted — and costly — shows. LAT: NBC Universal's plan to reorganize its news operations serves as a vivid indication that the technological forces squeezing newspapers have spread to TV. NYP: The draconian restructuring of NBC Universal was engineered by chairman Bob Wright in a bid to place responsibility for any future failures on CEO Jeff Zucker. USAT: "NBC Universal was outfoxed by News Corp. when it bought MySpace ... That was the clear sign that they should have gone after YouTube."

Google Profits Surge 92% (LAT)
Google Inc. said that its third-quarter profit nearly doubled as the Internet powerhouse continued to rack up gains in the online search market at home and overseas. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company reported net income of $733.4 million, or $2.36 a share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, up 92 percent from $381.2 million, or $1.32, in the third quarter of 2005. NYP: "Business is very, very good at Google," says chief executive Eric Schmidt.

Explaining Disappointing Revenues, Two Newspaper Companies Point to the Same Culprit (NYT)
Newspaper companies continued to show weakness yesterday, with The New York Times Co. and Tribune both reporting lackluster earnings, citing soft advertising sales as a major culprit. At Times Co., the slowdown "is expected to continue through the end of the year," said president Janet L. Robinson. NYP: Shares have lost 15 percent of their value this year as pressure mounted on chief Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger to plug a drain of newspaper ad dollars being steadily siphoned away by the Internet.

Keeping Company, Bloomberg Weighs Leveraged Recapitalization (NYDN)
Michael Bloomberg has apparently elected not to sell his company, which could be worth nearly $25 billion. But the mayor and Peter Grauer, chairman of Bloomberg LP, are considering a leveraged recap of the company. A leveraged recap is a transaction in which a business takes on debt or uses equity to generate cash for shareholders.

Wasserstein Vying for Penton (NYP)
Lazard boss Bruce Wasserstein, owner of New York magazine, may soon emerge as the king of business magazines if he is successful in his quest to buy Penton Media. His publishing company is said to be battling former Primedia executive Charles McCurdy, who now runs Apprise Media and has backing from Spectrum Equity.

CBS Radio Tightens Policies in Settlement Over Payola (NYT)
CBS, which runs approximately 180 radio stations, agreed yesterday to adopt more stringent policies on its stations' dealings with record labels and to make a $2 million payment to New York charities. That compares with the $30 million paid collectively by the four major music companies that reached settlements as part of Mr. Spitzer's inquiry.

America's Next Top Pundit (WSJ)
Whenever news breaks — on the fall campaign trail, in North Korea, in the most trivial corners of Hollywood — thousands of pundits have something to say. What most of them don't have is somewhere to say it. Every morning, Tammy Haddad, executive producer of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, hears from more than 100 aspiring commentators.

Judith Miller to Testify in Chicago Hamas Trial (AP via NY Sun)
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton said in the government's opening statement that the admissions made by Muhammad Salah in 1993 would show he had delivered cash to Hamas military units. She also said former New York Times reporter Judith Miller would testify that she witnessed part of the interrogation of Salah and saw no torture or mistreatment.

ESPN's Cell Phone Fumble (BusinessWeek)
ESPN takes pride in knowing what sports fans like and how they want their games, highlights, and analyses served up. Yet despite investing nearly $150 million in Mobile ESPN, say industry sources, the company signed up just 30,000 subscribers, way below a possible breakeven mark of 500,000. Folio: The plan failed because ESPN couldn't afford to give away free phones.

NBC Won't Show Madonna on the Cross (Reuters)
NBC has decided not to show pop star Madonna suspended from a giant cross and wearing a crown of thorns when the network airs a special of her "Confessions" tour, a source close to the organization of the event said yesterday. The source spoke after NBC announced it had revised the two-hour concert special, which airs November 22.

News Corp. Buys Stake in Australian Rival (Guardian)
Rupert Murdoch's company has bought a stake in rival Australian newspaper group Fairfax, following changes to the country's media laws. News Corp. said the acquisition of a 7.5 percent stake represented "purely an investment."

The Online Book: Team Authors, and It's Never Finished (CSM)
In the future, books — particularly nonfiction — will become destinations for discussion rather than possessions, and authors take on a more gregarious role akin to Oprah Winfrey or Terry Gross. "The book is now a place, as much as a thing that somebody reads," says Paula Berinstein, author of an upcoming article on the trend.

Woodward/Bernstein Get a Little Probing of Their Own in New Book (Rush and Molloy)
In Woodward and Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate, Alicia C. Shepard writes that Carl Bernstein's marital troubles prompted Bob Woodward to reach "out to his old buddy. ... Everyone was piling on Bernstein, calling him a heel for how he'd humiliated Ephron. Woodward, though, had never understood what everyone saw in Ephron." FishbowlNY: Shepard says timing of book's release — on the heels of Woodward's State Of Denial — was unintentional, right.

Marie Claire Photography Director Alix Campbell Defects to In Style (WWD)
In Campbell, In Style has found a successor to outgoing director of photography Bradley Young, who left the magazine last month. She leaves MC just three issues into Joanna Coles' tenure as editor-in-chief of that title.

Editor's Note Apologizes to Readers of Seattle's Stranger (The Stranger)
Jen Graves: The Stranger is unclean, but I don't believe its writers are intentionally deceitful or cliquish, or even particularly quick to let themselves off the hook for missteps. And in cultural journalism, the spotless can be the clueless. It's a matter of having knowledge and access, and grinding professional instead of personal axes.