The Paley Center for Media’s International Council has is putting together its program for next month’s 3-day gathering. The summit will include News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch, CBS Corp.’s Les Moonves, Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes and NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker and

Delegates from media companies from around the world will attend the gathering Nov. 17-19 at the Paley Center in New York. Reps from Viacom, Fox Networks, NBC Entertainment, Yahoo!, Endemol, Hearst and Microsoft are set to attend.

This year’s theme: the Rebirth of Media Worldwide. There’ll be discussions on the increasing influence of social media and mobile platforms on traditional media and the always-present future of journalism chat — but we sort of already know what Moonves thinks about that.

We’ll let you know what comes of it.

The New York Posts‘s Michael Shain takes two recent stories: Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes‘ comments on Fox News, and CBS CEO Les Moonves‘ comments at the University of Texas, and puts them together to once again float the idea that “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric may make the jump to CNN when her contract expires.

Rumors of Couric leaving CBS to go to CNN go back years, with the possibility first mentioned on TVNewser back in 2008. The Post article does not appear to have any new information, and is based solely on the comments made by the two executives, along with some speculation about “Parker Spitzer.”

(h/t ICN)

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes appeared on “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on Fox News Channel this afternoon. Cavuto got Bewkes to open up about the departures of Rick Sanchez and Jon Klein, and the state of CNN and cable news more generally.

Cavuto: You mention CNN. Rick Sanchez, the fired anchor, moments ago issued a statement, an apology… would you hire him back?

Bewkes: He did a lot of good work on CNN and anything is possible. I wish him well. I think that he is a talented guy and he will have a lot of interest in different channels and, who knows, maybe some day the right place for him is at one of ours. I don’t think we should do that now and I am sure he would like to try something new as well.

Cavuto: Did you recommend firing him?

Bewkes: I was not involved in that decision.

Cavuto: At all?

Bewkes: I knew

Cavuto: Did you agree?

Bewkes: I did.

Cavuto: What happened with head of CNN/US? [Jon Klein] did you recommend he be fired?

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Vanity Fair has released its Vanity Fair 100 list, which purports to count down the 100 most influential people of the information age. Not surprisingly, plenty of boldface media names make the cut.

Among them:

#4: News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, who oversees Fox News Channel.

#7 Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City and the founder of Bloomberg LP, which owns the Bloomberg business network.

#13: Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, who oversees CNN.

#14: Disney CEO Bob Iger, who oversees ABC News

#21: Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, who is in the process of acquiring NBC Universal, which includes NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC.

#59: Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer, the former president of CBS News and executive producer of the “CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.”

#62: PBS host Charlie Rose.

More names, as well as a pair of notable non-inclusions, are after the jump:

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Time Warner CEO and chairman Jeff Bewkes and CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo have been announced among the Cable Center’s 2011 Cable Hall of Fame class. The ceremony will be held in Chicago next June. Last week, Bartiromo marked her 15-year anniversary of becoming the first journalist to report daily from the NYSE. Release after the jump. (h/t ICN)

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The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter writes about “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric and CNN’s apparent 9 p.m. host Piers Morgan.

At the heart of Stelter’s story is that Couric was long considered a favorite to take over for Larry King, but when the timetable for King’s departure was accelerated, Morgan was in the right place at the right time.

Still, when her current deal expires next year, Couric could very well find her way onto CNN. Stelter reports seeing Couric dining with Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes at the swanky New York restaurant Marea last week.

And of course there is always the possibility that the long-rumored deal between CBS News and CNN could finally happen:

It is possible that CNN and CBS – always rumored to be weighing a news-sharing pact – could share Ms. Couric; already the CNN stars Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta contribute to the CBS program “60 Minutes.” The two companies continue to talk about a broader merger or content-sharing arrangement.

Her hiring would reinforce CNN’s hard news brand. Some people at CNN think Ms. Couric would work well at 7 p.m., a spot now taken up by “John King, USA,” an underperforming show that is starting to come under scrutiny.

Stelter also reports that Morgan was talking to CNN executives a full nine weeks before King announced his retirement:

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Today Time Warner hosted an “investor day” where CEO Jeff Bewkes and the various division chiefs gave updates on the state of the business. The above slide is from the presentation delivered by Phil Kent, the chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting System, which oversees CNN.

Note that this slide includes CNN U.S., CNN International, HLN and CNN Digital, so it is the combined revenue of three television networks and their respective online properties.

Kent said that operating income for 2009 was approximately $500 million, slightly higher than the estimates made by SNL Kagan. CNN says this is the first time Time Warner has broken out financial numbers for its news division.

What does it mean? We take a look after the jump.

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From The Cable Show, the trade show for cable systems, CNBC’s Tyler Mathisen and Julia Boorstin talked with Time Warner chairman Jeff Bewkes this afternoon. And while there were no questions about Bewkes’ ailing cable channel CNN, the TWX boss did have a story idea for the CNBC folks…

In an earnings call this morning, Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes was asked about the reported negotiations taking place between CBS and CNN. From Bloomberg:

“It’s no secret that we’ve talked to other news organizations in the past,” Bewkes said on a conference call today. “It’s entirely possible that the parties, and there could be other parties, could come to an arrangement that makes sense before the next 12 months.”

B&C’s Marisa Guthrie reports that Bewkes said, “We don’t have anything definitive to tell you about right now,” but did explain, “The questions of motivation is not because of CNN. It’s more because of the imperatives of broadcast news.”

He also said, “We need to work on making the [programming on CNN/U.S.] more compelling.”

The NYTimes’ Bill Carter writes that any deal between the two organizations might have a few notable obstacles:

First, there would be problems involving union contracts: CBS’s news division is unionized; CNN’s is not. Contracts for on-the-air employees would also probably have to be renegotiated. And the issue that has derailed previous efforts for both CBS and ABC to unite with CNN would still have to be resolved: Which company would have editorial control over the news programming?

> Previously: CBS and CNN in Partnership Negotiations?

It looks like the annual TVNewser bracket challenge is going to have to expand.

This morning, the NCAA announced that CBS Sports, headed by News/Sports executive Sean McManus, and several Turner channels have entered into a 14-year agreement that also expands the tournament field size to 68 teams.

In an email to staff, obtained by TVNewser, Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes tells employees, “I’m pleased to announce that today, Turner acquired, with CBS, the television, Internet and wireless rights to the annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, including the Final Four and the National Championship Game.”

Beginning in 2016, coverage of the regional finals will be split by CBS and Turner with the Final Four and the National Championship game alternating every year between CBS and TBS. (Looks like Conan is going to slide on some nights, like Letterman has for years.)

The deal begins with next year’s tournament.