Families who watch TV together remember commercials better, according to research presented at the Family Friendly Programming Forum in Los Angeles last week. People tend to watch TV with family members, and those who view the tube in groups remember almost twice as many ads as those who tune in alone, according to a report compiled by Stacey Lynn Koerner, Initiative's executive vp/director of global research.

Life magazine, one of the publishing's most venerable titles, may be on life support once again. The magazine was reintroduced Oct. 1, but by its second issue it was skimping by on only three ad pages.

The New York Times Company said yesterday that its profit for the year would fall short of what it had initially forecast, a casualty of higher costs and of advertising revenue that has risen only modestly in the fourth quarter over that recorded during the same period last year.

Buffeted by controversies over its programming and weary of justifying its existence year after year to a skeptical Congress, PBS is seeking more- reliable and -permanent access to public funding than in the past, the network announced Thursday.

TiVo, which makes digital video recording devices (DVRs) sold in retail stores and offered to DirecTV subscribers, has become the target of a lot of investor attention again after two very noneventful months.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., stung by a lackluster start to the holiday shopping season, said Thursday it is launching a new advertising campaign to remind its customers of its low prices.

SRDS, a media and marketing research company, will introduce a number of enhancements to its Consumer Magazine Advertising Source in January. The changes come after SRDS, owned Mediaweek parent VNU, met with publishers and agency executives, who use the data for media buying and planning.

Cable channels USA and Bravo are splitting the syndicated rights to NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" for what sources say is a record sum of $2 million per episode.

The United Church of Christ, one of the nation's most liberal Christian denominations, accused CBS and NBC yesterday of rejecting a commercial it had produced about religious tolerance, which included an implication that other denominations did not welcome gays, because the networks feared hostile reactions from conservative political and religious groups.

It's the End of an Era. A momentous change. Tonight on NBC, one tall and handsome white male anchor with bespoke clothes will replace another tall and handsome white male anchor with bespoke clothes. Even Tom Brokaw is a little surprised that he has been succeeded by someone who looks like the love child he and Peter Jennings never had.