The Dolan family, which controls Cablevision Systems Corp., on Tuesday said it withdrew its proposal to take the cable operations private and will instead recommend a $3 billion special dividend, sending shares down 14 percent.

Shares in Dutch market research company VNU rose more than 3 percent on a report private equity firms are considering a bid for the company, which faces shareholder opposition over a planned acquisition. A consortium of four private equity firms are weighing a possible bid for VNU, the Wall Street Journal Europe said on Tuesday, citing people close to the group that it said includes Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and Blackstone. The consortium is interested in buying the whole company for about 6.6 billion euros ($7.9 billion) and had already approached VNU in March, but with no success, the …

The latest "Got Milk?" commercial hit a little too close to home for Major League Baseball. Poking fun at the league's steroid scandal, the television ad for the California Milk Processor Board talks about a player getting pulled from a game "after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance." "There is nothing humorous about steroid abuse," said Tim Brosnan, executive vice president for business for the league.

As Howard Stern has geared up for his January arrival at Sirius Satellite Radio, so have efforts to woo advertisers to his show. Stern's impending arrival at Sirius is putting a spotlight not only on the competition with rival XM Satellite Radio for subscribers but also on the still-nascent initiatives by both players to attract advertisers.

You could say the sky's the limit as American Express returns to the realm of reality television, because its partner this time is an airline rather than a restaurant or a hair salon. JetBlue Airways is joining with American Express for a contest, "Share the Love," intended to promote the JetBlue Card, a credit card that Amex introduced in July with a campaign featuring the theme "Carry the Love." The joint promotion, with a multimillion-dollar budget, is indicative of efforts by marketers to forge emotional bonds between brands and consumers, particularly through experiences sponsored by the brands rather than through …

The hubbub over a new Apple ad that looks a lot like an earlier spot for Lugz boots just got louder. Avrett Free Ginsberg - the agency that created the Lugz spot along with animation house Psyop - called on Apple chief Steve Jobs to investigate after arguing that the resemblance is too close to be a coincidence. In a letter sent yesterday to Jobs and Apple's long-time ad agency, TBWA, Avrett Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Ginsberg said he was "shocked" and "startled" at the number of similarities between the ads.

Aegis Group named a top WPP Group executive as CEO of its global media operations, even as potential suitors -- including WPP -- continue to eye the company. Mainardo de Nardis, most recently CEO Worldwide of WPP's Mediaedge:cia, will become chief executive of Aegis Media and also a director of Aegis Group.

When Howard Stern crosses over in January to satellite radio and his own pay-per-view cable channel, he will do so from a new Midtown Manhattan studio loaded with the kinds of accessories that one would expect to find if the Playboy Mansion were given an extreme makeover. While Mr. Stern will also be taking plenty of gadgets with him from his syndicated terrestrial radio talk show, he will be leaving one noticeable piece of baggage behind: the increasingly tough restrictions imposed on him in recent years by his bosses (at Infinity Broadcasting) and the F.C.C.

Neil French told Adweek that his offer to resign as a creative consultant to WPP Group is "an attempt to take the heat off [CEO] Martin [Sorrell] and WPP. They don't deserve the hassle." French tendered his resignation two weeks after he made controversial remarks about women at an industry event in Toronto.

With a Food and Drug Administration public hearing scheduled in less than two weeks to debate the merits of pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising, attendees of the "DTC at the Turning Point" conference were anxious to hear about the fate of the $4 billion industry. And the consensus was the only thing certain was change.