Without explanation, Comedy Central yesterday said it had suspended production of the third season of the comedian Dave Chappelle's show until further notice. After a yearlong hiatus, "Chappelle's Show" was scheduled to begin airing at the end of this month.

Three senior executives have left the London office of Omnicom Group's TBWA to start their own agency. Trevor Beattie, chairman and cd of the shop, along with CEO Andrew McGuiness and deputy cd Bill Bungay joined to form Beattie McGuiness Bungay.

As the Kentucky Derby approaches on Saturday, the horse racing industry -- bolstered by near-Triple Crown winners the last two years -- is suddenly in a quandary. Visa International, which has sponsored the Triple Crown for the past 10 years and offered a $5 million bonus to any horse that won all three races (Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes), is ending that sponsorship after this year. Instead, in a new deal that begins in 2006, Visa will now only sponsor the Kentucky Derby. Ironically, in its 10-year run, Visa never had to pay the bonus.

The networks are mad as hell, and they aren't going to take the indecency fight lying down anymore. A coalition backed by three of the Big Four broadcast networks launched a PR counterattack Wednesday in the battle over television content and the push on Capitol Hill to strengthen indecency laws.

If you're a moviegoer who hates sitting through the Fandango sack puppets, coming attractions and Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man, here's some really good news: Loews Cineplex Entertainment will begin advertising movie showtimes with a note saying most movies actually start 10 to 15 minutes later because of all those commercials, public service announcements and previews.

As the poo-bahs and panjandrums of advertising gather for a major annual conference, to begin today in Bermuda, they are looking back to the last time it was held there, in May 2000. Some things have changed considerably. Many of the technologies now challenging Madison Avenue's ability to deliver commercials to consumers were either nonexistent then (iPod) or barely under way ( TiVo, satellite radio, video on demand). And on the first day of the 2000 meeting, the Nasdaq composite index closed at 3,499.58, compared with its close yesterday at 1,933.07.

In an effort to elevate its West Coast presence into what it calls "a major global creative center," Interpublic Group of Cos.' McCann Erickson Worldwide has shifted control of Microsoft's estimated $100 million Xbox advertising account from New York to its San Francisco office, the agency said.

Seeking to deflect the effect of an upcoming expose about its hit show "American Idol," News Corp.'s Fox network on Tuesday questioned the motives of a former contestant whose allegations about one of the show's judges have created a furor. As ABC released new details about a one-hour "Primetime Live" special that airs tonight, Fox went on the offensive, charging that the contestant, Corey Clark, had not raised his concerns with the show's producers before going public with claims that he and judge Paula Abdul had an affair during the 2003 season on which he was competing.

Go to a newsstand sometime and check out the rows of men's magazines. From the old guard of Playboy and Penthouse to the new wave of so-called lad magazines, it looks like a sea of soft-core porn. Indeed, regardless of whether you see Tara, Carmen, Shannon or Lindsay on the covers, the magazines are largely indistinguishable from one another. The women are shown reclining or twisting or pouting or grinning suggestively and (the magazines' editors hope) erotically. After all, sex sells, right? At Men's Journal, a monthly publication of Wenner Media which has a circulation of about 650,000, sex doesn't …

Talk to a cable advertising executive and odds are you will hear the "one television world" mantra: People don't watch cable or broadcast, they watch television. But talk to ad agencies and they still buy either cable or broadcast, not simply "television." No matter how blurred the lines, advertising is about segments: prime-time broadcast or cable, not prime-time television; national sports, regional sports, specific sports ? not sports.