A fake advertisement created on a reality series is becoming a, well, reality. Marquis Jet, which subleases flight time on corporate aircraft, will run a television commercial created by a team of contestants on "The Apprentice," the NBC reality series featuring Donald J. Trump.

In the latest salvo against one of the most established rules of network television, NBC announced Wednesday that it intended to start its new season of programming before Labor Day, immediately after its coverage of the Summer Olympics in August.

The TV business has been obsessed for months with the mystery of missing young, male viewers. But if there's one show where the boys still are, it's the Super Bowl.

Images of children toiling on a grocery line and in a tire factory coupled with a simple line of text --"Guess who's going to pay off President Bush's $1 trillion deficit?" -- paid off for 38-year old Charlie Fisher of Denver, Colorado.

Staples, a limited TV advertiser with a $40 million ad budget, will spend about 5% of its budget to air just one ad, its first Super Bowl commercial. The appearance will put Staples alongside big-spending, megabrand veterans such as Anheuser-Busch, General Motors and Pepsi.

Southwest Airlines Inc. isn't even here yet, but it has already scored a hat trick, a three-pointer, a triple - you pick the sport - by becoming the "official" airline of the Flyers, the 76ers and the Phillies. The low-cost carrier, which will launch its first Philadelphia flights May 9, announced yesterday that it had reached exclusive sponsorship agreements with the three teams.

Microsoft Corp.'s vision of allowing people to access digital content anytime, anywhere is taking another step toward reality.

Blogs go mainstream, networks figure out how to program for TiVo, consolidation accelerates, and a once-dismissed company takes over.

TV recording-device maker TiVo says EchoStar stole its digital video-recording technology. TiVo sued the operator of the Dish satellite TV service in U.S. District Court in Texas on Monday, claiming patent infringement. The San Jose tech shop contends that EchoStar has improperly used part of its so-called Time Warp patent, which allows users to record one program while watching another.

At the midway point in the television season, the Fox network finds itself in a familiar position: In a deep hole, looking for a hero to ride up with a lifesaving lasso. The great Fox hope is "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé," a reality series that starts two weeks from tonight and aims to repeat the network's recent formula of turning comedy and cynicism into a prime-time hit.