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• automotive Lexus Goes To Movies; Toyota Push Touts Its Rep by Karl Greenberg

  Now that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has concurred with Toyota's own assessment that the company's recall problems were due to accelerator pedals and not the car's neurological systems, Toyota Motor Sales is hoping to retake the reputation hill with a new ad campaign timed with spring. ...Read the whole story

• Scatter Market Cools by Wayne Friedman

  Soaring TV scatter-market pricing has slowed down considerably in the first quarter, according to media agency executives -- but it is generally still higher than upfront pricing set in the summer a year ago. Hikes tend to be 10% to 15%. ...Read the whole story

• retail Shazam! Old Navy Campaign Links TV, Mobile by Aaron Baar

  For the campaign, which launches via television commercials Thursday, people can use the Shazam app on their phones to tag the original music from the ads, launching a virtual store where they can view the fashions from the ads, download the music and even purchase the clothing featured in the ads. ...Read the whole story

• Fox Soccer Kicks Up Schedule by David Goetzl

  The Fox Soccer outlet has extended its relationship with Major League Soccer to include this season, bringing around 31 games to the network, along with some playoff games under the one-year deal. Fox Soccer has carried MLS games since 2003. ...Read the whole story

• Telemundo Adds Social Media Group by Mark Walsh

  Telemundo announced the launch of its new strategic social media arm to better connect with the growing Hispanic presence on online social networks. Dubbed Social@Telemundo, the new unit will be led by Borja Perez, vice president for digital media and integrated solutions at the Spanish-language media company. ...Read the whole story

• E! Moves Into 'Red Carpet' Products by David Goetzl

  Comcast's E! network, now part of NBC Universal, is moving into consumer products, looking to capitalize on its "Red Carpet" brand by offering various products, such as self-tanner and home food delivery. ...Read the whole story

• CBS Registers 11% Rev Gains, Retrans To $250M By '13 by Wayne Friedman

  Higher TV show licensing revenues and continued growth in advertising helped lift CBS Corp. to big financial gains in its fourth-quarter reporting period. The company rose across the board -- from interactive to cable. ...Read the whole story

• 'Idol' Still Holds Sway, ABC, NBC Thursday Tanks by Wayne Friedman

  Fox's "American Idol" may be down from a year ago -- but it continues to upset the Thursday night apple cart, as well as gain separation from its competitors. Its broadcast rivals, ABC and NBC are enduring season lows. ...Read the whole story

• Telemundo Launches Social Media Unit by David Goetzl

  Telemundo is amping up its focus on social media through a dedicated group in the emerging space. Tabbed Social@Telemundo, Borja Perez, a digital media executive, will head the venture and work with production and ad sales. Initiatives are planned in Spanish and English. ...Read the whole story

• Obit: Hallmark's Carr, Longtime PR Vet, Dies At 50 by Wayne Friedman

  Nancy Carr, longtime senior communications executive at the Hallmark Channel, passed away on Friday. Carr, 50, battling a long illness from a brain tumor, died in a Los Angeles-area hospital on February 18th. ...Read the whole story

Jefferson On Media: Tweets Of The (Founding) Father by Don Seaman

Thomas Jefferson's a busy guy for someone who's been dead for almost 200 years. His blog, Virginian Red, is one of the most-read on the eternal plain (www.virginiared.al - don't bother checking the url. Heaven has its own AL domain, which is only available in the afterlife). So to help honor Presidents' Day on Monday, with a bit of luck (and a few well-connected Facebook friends' help), I had the opportunity to sit down with our country's third President to talk about television, Snooki, and why America's not so bad as we roll on towards our third century. ...More

• Set-Top Lexicon: What Is A Back Channel? by Jane Clarke

  Continuing on last week's discussion of Return Path Data, which is a more accurate term for what we tend to call Set-Top Box data, we now take a look at the term "Back Channel" also known as Back Path or Back Haul. It is the existence of the Back Channel that enables us to receive the data from its various source points. But the mere existence of a Back Channel is not a guarantee of receiving a full range of data gathered on the box. Some Back Channels, lacking bandwidth, do not have enough capacity to return a full range ...More

• Digital Media Comes At One Speed -- Fast -- But Consumers Want Some News To Slow Down by Wayne Friedman

  There are other media events where consumers actually want the news cycle to slow down -- if not stop entirely for a period. The recent Grammy Awards were another in a string of events where fans looked for a more languid approach. ...More

• Analysts: Internet TV Riding a "Megatrend" But Infrastructure is the Sure Winner by Steve Smith

  Investors have some reason to be skeptical of the digerati's persistent claim that Internet-based and distributed video content really has arrived. After all, there were many false starts -- from Web TV to Pseudo TV, TheDen to Entertaindom TV. And dare we say "Joost?" And even now, TV content at Hulu and the network sites tends to suck attention away from the video hubs and "digital studios" that continue to compete with YouTube and others for ad dollars. For the big money on Wall Street it is hard to know where to place bets. But one investment group that controls ...More