Penthouse is cleaning up its pages in a move toward more upmarket erotica. The beleaguered adult brand is stripping out the raunchy back-of-the-book ads for phone sex, escort services and hardcore videos, among other things.

In a shuffle at the very top of MTV Networks, Christina Norman has been appointed president of MTV: Music Television and Tom Calderone has been named general manager of VH1. Both execs will manage their respective networks under Van Toffler, President, MTV Networks Music/Films/Logo Group who announced their promotions this morning.

Desperate housewives and a potbellied superhero helped Walt Disney Co. continue its financial rebound as the company Wednesday posted a 30% earnings jump in its fiscal second quarter. Disney's profit of $698 million, or 33 cents a share, was a shade above Wall Street estimates and contrasts with the $537 million, or 26 cents, it earned a year earlier. Revenue in the period ended April 2 climbed 9% to $7.8 billion.

As more consumers turn a deaf ear to traditional radio, stations increasingly are switching formats. The Internet, iPods, computer games, podcasting, commercial-free satellite radio and staid programming have combined to slice average weekly listening time 9% since 1998, prompting many "terrestrial" commercial stations to jettison even relatively strong formats, such as rock, in several big markets.

When MasterCard rolled out its new Willy Wonka-themed television ads last night, it was aiming for the credit card industry's sweetest spot: the highly profitable "new affluent" consumer who spends several times what the average cardholder does and expects a cornucopia of rewards.

It all depends on what the meaning of "vilify" is. In a Delaware court on Tuesday, the Lorillard Tobacco Company said that an antismoking group violated the terms of a 1998 settlement by running ads that "vilified" or personally attacked the tobacco industry or its employees. Only tobacco products themselves were fair game, according to Lorillard, which is seeking to have the group replaced in the campaign.

Robert Redford's Sundance Channel has partnered with Grey Goose Vodka to produce a six-part series called "Iconoclasts," which will start airing on the cable outlet beginning in November.

BMG Direct, one of the largest direct marketers of music, agreed to acquire The Columbia House Company -- a giant direct marketer of media in its own right -- BMG reported yesterday.

General Motors has selected Publicis Groupe's Starcom MediaVest for its $3.2 billion domestic media business following a review, according to sources.

The Peacock's about to get plucked. NBC is used to being No. 1 in ad bucks, but for the first time in years, the Peacock Network will lose those bragging rights and much more as it heads into the upfront selling season.