For Havas CEO Alain de Pouzilhac, last week's public battle for control of Havas may have been over before it started.

As the cable upfront marketplace slogs into its third week, media buyers and network sales executives agreed that business will continue to plod forward at the same torpid pace?an earlier sense of urgency giving way to a methodical grind.

Tired of celebrity coverage? Millions of readers can't get enough - and neither can advertisers. Publishers of celebrity magazines that once looked to newsstand and checkout-aisle sales for almost all of their revenue are now experiencing surges in subscriptions and ad sales, bringing in the kind of money that could make a movie star jealous.

So, how do you like the sound of Cisco Systems International Airport? No? How about HP Terminal? Mineta San Jose airport officials are seeking an advertising firm to sell naming rights to various parts of San Jose's airport as a way to increase revenues.

The first night of the NBA Finals put ABC in the game Thursday with a win in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic, while CBS was tops in viewers despite a soft opening for its new reality series "The Cut." Game 1 of the San Antonio Spurs vs. Detroit Pistons matchup scored 10.6 million total viewers between 9 p.m.-12:03 a.m. and racked up a 4.4 rating/14 share in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The boldest ads on television are the ones that dispose of reality altogether, instead creating a fictional world in which their product is the retail equivalent of the Holy Grail.

Sirius Satellite Radio nabbed popular disc jockey "Cousin Brucie" just a few days after Infinity Broadcasting's WCBS-FM abruptly dumped him and its oldies music format.

The investor Vincent Bolloré won a showdown with the management of Havas, the French advertising company, as shareholders defied managers Thursday during a raucous annual meeting infused with the spirit of revolt that is running through French society.

Merger activity among U.S. media companies is likely to remain on "pause" while federal regulators and courts try to resolve a long-running debate on the industry's ownership rules. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide soon whether to hear challenges by Tribune Co. and other media companies.

Federal regulators moved yesterday to speed the adoption of digital television by ordering manufacturers to install the technology in all mid-size TV sets by next spring. The Federal Communications Commission voted 4 to 0 to shorten a previous deadline by four months, requiring sets ranging in size from 25 inches to 36 inches to be capable of receiving digital broadcasts by March 1. Analog TV broadcasts are to stop by the end of 2006, as long as 85 percent of households have the capacity to receive digital transmissions.