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Time Inc. Layoffs Begin at Sports Illustrated (NYT/Media Decoder)
Layoffs have begun at Time Inc. Approximately 15 to 20 sales and marketing employees were dismissed last night, largely from Sports Illustrated, according to a Time Inc. executive. The executive estimated the total number of layoffs as being between 400 and 500 people. DailyFinance: Sources at Time Inc. say executives have asked for an emergency meeting with representatives of the Newspaper Guild to discuss job eliminations. Gawker: Time Inc. will offer those who accept buyouts an additional 13 weeks of pay -- three months! -- in addition to two weeks of pay for every year of service.
Wall Street Journal to Add a New York Report (NYT)
The Wall Street Journal plans to assemble a local news staff in New York, continuing to expand beyond its historic focus on business news by adding traditional city desk beats like courthouses, City Hall and the state capital. NYO: The Journal has reportedly hired John Seeley, the former deputy managing editor of The New York Sun, to lead the project.
Bloomberg to Build Out BusinessWeek, Set Web Strategy (Mediaweek)
Signaling strong confidence in the print medium, Bloomberg LP executives said they planned to make BusinessWeek bigger, glossier and more international, while exploring a strategy to charge for content on their own Web site.
Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin to host Oscars (Variety)
After the Academy increased its best picture category to 10 films and tapped a pair of producers, it announced that there will be two hosts for the 82nd annual Academy Awards -- Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin -- the first time the show has had multiple hosts since the 1987 ceremonies.
Springsteen Autobiography Deal Could Fetch $10M Advance (NYP)
Bruce Springsteen is said to be quietly working on his autobiography. Publishing insiders are already panting for the book -- even though there is no manuscript yet. "It could be the biggest rock music autobiography of all time," said one insider at a major publisher.
Ad Revenue Eludes Papers (WSJ)
Newspaper publishers are running out of costs to cut, and they need to show some real ad-revenue gains soon. Executives from major publishing chains have clung to a slight moderation in their ad revenue's year-over-year rate of decline from quarter to quarter this year as a sign of improvement.
Hearst, Time Inc., Wenner Discussing Marketing Campaign (Mediaweek)
Amid all the negativity surrounding print, the heads of some rival publishing companies have been privately talking about creating a marketing campaign to promote the medium's positive aspects. The reported talks are the latest sign of a willingness of rival publishing companies to join forces.
Fox Scores With Big World Series Ratings (USAT)
The Yankees-Phillies matchup is on track to be the highest-rated Fall Classic since 2004's Red Sox-Cardinals duel. Sunday's Game 4 topped the week with 22.8 million viewers; Saturday's rain-delayed Game 3 had the lowest turnout with 15.4 million.
Tribune to End Employee Stock Ownership Plan (LAT)
Tribune Co.'s ill-fated employee stock ownership plan is toast. In a memo to employees announcing a new retirement plan Tuesday, chief administrative officer Gerry Spector said the ESOP was likely to be terminated when the media conglomerate emerged from bankruptcy protection.
Time Warner Profits Beat Expectations (CNN/Money)
Time Warner Inc. reported a quarterly profit and sales Wednesday that fell from year-ago results but beat Wall Street's forecasts. The media conglomerate said its net income fell to $662 million, or 56 cents per share, down 38 percent from a year earlier.
Selling Magazines, Piece by Piece (NYO)
Three former Wall Street investment analysts plan to save the magazine business with a Web site called Maggwire.com. "We're going to do for magazines what iTunes did for music," Ryan Klenovich, the start-up's chief executive, said.
First-Class Price For Travel Channel (Forbes)
The sale of the Travel Channel might warrant its own show: Extreme Bidding. Cox Communications put it on the block in June for $600 million, but after a bidding war ensued between Scripps, News Corp. and a handful of private-equity shops, Scripps appears to be closing in on a deal, reportedly for $1.1 billion.
Could Weinsteins Buy Back Miramax Name? (The Wrap)
Sharon Waxman: Now that Disney has completely gutted Miramax, the once-dominant name in the independent film business -- does the studio really still need the name? Individuals close to the Weinsteins confirm that Harvey and his brother would like to ask Iger if he'd consider giving up the name.
Don't Count Leno Out (The Daily Beast)
Ad buyer Chris Geraci, managing director of national broadcasting for OMD, says obituaries for the Jay Leno Show are way premature. "It's performing pretty much right where we expected it would, and it's not an incredibly bad thing for NBC," he says. "The downside is more in the press than in the numbers."
The E-Reader Revolution Isn't Revolutionizing Magazines (Folio:)
Harry McCracken: A bevy of e-reader devices are about to take on Amazon.com's Kindle. But the Kindle isn't a very satisfactory magazine-reading device, and there's no evidence that any of its imminent competitors will be great leaps forward for our industry.
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