Big media companies are striking out in efforts to bat away some of the uncertainty over how much they will be allowed to own - and the final answers may hinge on who is elected president.

Reality TV is a big money maker for the television networks--but how much money?

To mark the start tomorrow night of the 2004-5 season, the National Football League is kicking it off old school, as the youngsters might say, by bringing back the quintessence of gridiron tradition, Coach Vince Lombardi.

Kevin Trudeau, a marketer who has appeared in or produced hundreds of infomercials, agreed to transfer $2 million in cash and property to the Federal Trade Commission to settle a false-claims complaint.

On Tuesday, Aug. 31, when President George W. Bush introduced his wife at the Republican National Convention via satellite from Gettysburg, Penn., you could see, over his left shoulder, a softball game going on. But if you looked a little closer, you saw something odd: All the batters whacking pitches into the air had the number "43" stenciled on their jerseys in bright white print. "It wasn't a regularly scheduled game," said Russ Schriefer, the media consultant who produced the convention. "It was a way for us to go in and reward some supporters, a local Republican organization, with them …

The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote unanimously for a record-setting fine against CBS-owned stations for violating broadcast decency standards with the network's January breast-baring Super Bowl halftime show, though some commissioners are expected to say the fines are not severe enough, FCC sources said.

Hollinger International, which last week accused former executives led by Conrad Black, its ousted chairman, of taking more than $400m from the US-listed publishing group, is considering the sale or merger of assets at its new media arm.

The New York Times, September 6, 2004 Leslie Moonves loves to talk about the Steven Spielberg movie "Minority Report." Mr. Moonves, the co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom, which owns CBS, Paramount Television and Showtime, still sings the praises of the movie two years after he saw it. But it was not the cinematography or Tom Cruise's star turn that moved him. It was all the brand names - Lexus, Gap, Reebok, Guinness and American Express - that found their way into the film.

people might say that Rob Huebel, a New York comedian, has a certain je ne sais quoi about him. More simply, though, they might call him "that guy in the commercials."

The advertiser-backed Family Friendly Programming Forum has withdrawn its funding for NBC's raunchy animated series Father of the Pride.