Cable net CNBC is rolling a new game show, "Fast Money MBA Challenge," set for an Aug. 1 premiere and a run of four hourlong episodes once a week. Set to work as both summertime filler and an attempt to attract younger viewers, it comes on the heels of CNBC's "Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge."

That game was won by a waitress from Ohio, and while it attracted 377,000 participants, it was full of disqualifications for cheating. The new show pits 32 students in teams from eight colleges against each other and is modeled after the old "GE College Bowl" game. The winning team gets $200,000 to be split and used for college costs.

"It's a way to get a new audience interested in our core content," says Mark Hoffman, CNBC's chief executive. If it works, it might become a regular series for the net as it tries new things ahead of the autumn launch of the Fox Business Network. Read the whole story...

The Senate Commerce Committee has unanimously passed a bill to give back to the Federal Communications Commission authority to fine radio and TV stations for fleeting use of profanity. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D. W. Va.), is a response to a federal court ruling that held an FCC policy of punishing unscripted, one-time uses of expletives was a departure from precedent and "arbitrary and capricious" under a laws imposes due-process requirements on federal agencies.

"This bill is a narrowly tailored approach that would allow the FCC to maintain its policy adopted in 2003 and hold broadcasters responsible for airing expletives and indecent material, even if that material was only shown fleetingly," Rockefeller says. For FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, the Senate's move "stated once again what we on the [FCC] and every parent already knows: Even a single word or image can indeed be indecent."

The bill does not affect cable channels, but Rockefeller's staff is preparing separate legislation that would give the FCC the authority to further regulate what Americans watch on TV. Read the whole story...

According to TiVo, the least fast-forwarded television campaigns in April were direct-response ads that run in daytime. That is one finding from the company's first "Top Commercial Rankings" report that tracks viewing behavior on a second-by-second basis in both live and timeshifted viewing contexts.

The "Stop-Watch" ratings service, rolled out earlier this year, offers a sortable database of ratings for national programs and ads in prime time and daytime. Categories tracked include top total viewing commercials, compared with total viewing of top programs, along with time-shifted commercials against time-shifted programs -- and least fast-forwarded brand campaigns.

The report monitors 15 nets, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, TNT, TBS and USA, and found that in April, the least fast-forwarded campaigns were daytime campaigns for "Perfect Pushup Exercise Equipment," "Air Hogs Toys" and "Almost Golf Sporting Goods." Read the whole story...

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected a Republican plan to eliminate a $420 million federal subsidy given to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The outcome of the vote, which was 357-72, was widely expected, as the Democratic takeover of Congress has made moot Republican attempts to slash PBS' budget.

The latest move to kill public broadcasting's grant came from Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) who says that "taxpayers are being asked to pay more in taxes because Congress is not willing to make hard choices and balance our spending with our income." But Congress created PBS 40 years ago in an attempt to shield public broadcasting from partisan influence.

"It is providing a voice for America, a noncommercial, independent voice that is sadly lacking," says Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat. "It isn't available any place else in the million channels on our cable networks." Read the whole story...

Many of Tribune Co.'s largest dailies already are already selling -- or soon will sell -- ads on their front pages. The Chicago Tribune is already talking to top clients about the 1.5-inch strip of space along the bottom of Page One, while at the Los Angeles Times, selling similar space is in the planning stage.

In the face of competition from other media and lagging readership, newspapers have little choice but to look for new revenue streams. "The Chicago Tribune is constantly exploring ways to provide value to our customers but also grow revenue," says Trib spokesman Michael Dizon. "One way to accomplish both is to provide section front advertising." But selling the space raises concerns on the separation of advertising from news.

The key is the distinction between ads and news content; if that is clear, there should be no worries, notes Paul Levinson, professor and chairman of Fordham University's communication and media studies department. "There are absolutely no cons and absolutely all pros," he says. "It's not as if newspapers are non-commercial, as if they don't have ads throughout the paper." Read the whole story...