NBC's top programmer on Sunday acknowledged the challenges that the network faces in trying to rebound from a ratings slide and said that recovery may not happen in the coming season. "OK, we're in fourth place ... what are we going to do about it?" NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said in an appearance before the Television Critics Association.

Martha Stewart's home confinement does not end until early August, but this has hardly fenced her in. In July, Stewart announced a deal, worth $2 million, for a book called Martha's Rules, due in October. She appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair for a feature detailing her post-prison life via lavish photo spreads and thousands of words. On tap is the Martha-branded channel on Sirius Satellite Radio; ditto a new furniture line with Kmart Corp. and a line of DVDs. In September her two new TV shows, both produced by reality-TV titan Mark Burnett, will debut. "There is buzz …

Radio may finally be ready to scrap the diary. Last week's long-awaited study on the economic impact of a new ratings service based on Arbitron's portable people meter confirmed what advertisers and agencies have been advocating for years: It's time to bring radio measurement into the 21st century.

A drug industry lobbying group responded to a growing backlash against consumer-directed advertisements on Thursday by setting voluntary guidelines they said would make the ads more educational and balanced. The "guiding principles" state that ads aimed at consumers "should be accurate and not misleading, make claims only when supported by substantial evidence, reflect balance between risks and benefits and be consistent with (Food and Drug Administration)-approved labeling."

The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs said on Thursday it sued three of the top U.S. mobile providers, Sprint Corp, T-Mobile USA and Nextel Communications Inc., accusing them of misleading consumers through their advertising. The agency said it asked the New York Supreme Court to fine the companies and make them comply with New York consumer protection laws because their ad headlines did not include extra charges that were placed in smaller print footnotes.

The NBC Universal Television Network has launched a review for its estimated $140 million media buying and planning account, according to sources. Requests for proposals, due back to the client on Friday, were sent to more than a dozen media and general-service agencies, sources said. The account is said to cover all NBC-owned properties, which include channels CNBC, MSNBC, USA, SciFi, Bravo and Telemundo.

John C. Malone, the media industry financier, moved a step closer to carving up what remains of his United States holdings yesterday. He completed the spinoff of Liberty Media's 50 percent interest in the cable channel group Discovery Communications to shareholders. On their first trading day, the shares closed at $15.09, up 24 cents.

In a new offensive against rival ABC's wildly successful Sunday night show Desperate Housewives, CBS will launch a crop of action/adventure movies when the TV season resumes in September. The new strategy was announced by Nina Tassler, CBS's president for entertainment, at the Television Critics' Association's biannual gathering at the Beverly Hills Hilton.

To get a reading on which brands are succeeding -- and which aren't -- take a look at the fifth annual BusinessWeek/Interbrand ranking of the 100 most valuable global brands. The brands that rose to the top of our ranking all had widely varied marketing arsenals and were able to unleash different campaigns for different consumers in varied media almost simultaneously. They wove messages over multiple media channels and blurred the lines between ads and entertainment. As a result, these brands can be found in a host of new venues: the Web, live events, cell phones, and handheld computers. An …

Households using digital video recorders and video-on-demand in the U.S. doubled in June, compared with the same month a year ago, according to a recently released study. The Leichtman Research Group study also determined that 88% of DVR users "usually skip commercials when they watch programs recorded on their DVRs."