Media giant Clear Channel plans today to take down a billboard ad featuring two bare-chested men, wrapped in each other's arms and the American flag, after receiving complaints from local activists opposed to gay rights.

Richard Branson's ever-expanding Virgin Group is considering a foray into the newspaper business with a free daily publication in New York City, according to an individual familiar with the company's plans. Free newspapers have flourished, though not always profited, in major metropolitan areas over the past decade. New York is already home to two such papers, am New York and Metro, though both feature general interest news.

Comcast Corp. was considering remaking its small niche Outdoor Life cable channel into a competitor with Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

NBC Universal is in discussions to acquire DreamWorks SKG, the private live-action film business left behind after the company took public its animation division last year, The Post has learned. The deal, if completed, would be another sign that the ambitions of the powerful Hollywood trio that formed the company 11 years ago have never been fully reached.

Hollywood's major film studios are expected to announce on Wednesday that they have agreed to new technical standards that will make it easier for movie theaters to show digitally produced movies, according to two studio executives apprised of the announcement. For years Hollywood has discussed how to create and distribute digital films with little success, in part because the parties could not agree on a standard technology for projectors or on who would pay to replace the equipment. Movie theater owners did not want to foot the bill, fearing the $100,000 projectors would become obsolete without a consensus about the …

The ANA strongly supports the self-regulatory television ratings process as administered by the Media Rating Council (MRC). We believe the current system works effectively and therefore, we do not support the proposed FAIR Ratings Act, a bill that will mandate the federal government to regulate television ratings by requiring all television ratings companies to be accredited through the MRC. The ANA does not support this legislation for two main reasons:

XM Satellite Radio and online vendor Napster Inc. on Wednesday said they would launch a service that lets XM subscribers buy music they hear on XM's fee-based system, sending Napster shares up more than 5 percent.

Few Hollywood executives enjoy the kind of good luck Steve McPherson has seen over the past year, but ABC's entertainment czar doesn't sound ready to take a victory lap just yet. When he was hired in April 2004 to oversee ABC's prime-time lineup, the network was mired in fourth place. But last season the dramas "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" ? both developed by McPherson's predecessors ? turned into major hits. And "Dancing With the Stars," a summer dance competition, proved so popular that ABC is bringing it back midseason. Even so, caution was the watchword for McPherson when he met …

The creator of Emmy-winning legal drama "Boston Legal" said Tuesday he's concerned about the amount of commercial time on primetime TV shows and raised the possibility of working in cable in the future. "If the commercial encroachment becomes worse, it's probably something that we'll all consider," David E. Kelley told reporters during ABC's portion of the Television Critics Assn.'s summer press tour at the Beverly Hilton. He said he has no plans in cable right now.

TV Guide is slashing the circulation it guarantees advertisers by about two-thirds and relaunching itself as a large format magazine with far fewer TV listings and more emphasis on lifestyle and entertainment, the magazine announced Tuesday.