Another big media company, newspaper giant Knight Ridder, is facing pressure from its largest shareholder to restructure the company. Money market management firm Private Capital Management is pushing Knight Ridder, publisher of 32 major dailies including The Miami Herald and The Philadelphia Inquirer, to put itself up for sale, reports another newspaper, The New York Times.

The New York Times' chief Hollywood reporter, Sharon Waxman, reports today that the producer of a Sony DVD film specifically targeted at a Christian audience is disputing the studio's commitment to marketing the movie. "Left Behind: World at War" was brought to Sony by producer Peter Lalonde, a believer, who says that the company's $1.2 million marketing budget is pitiful. In reply, the president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment says his investment is in line with the expected financial return and is not meant to shortchange the DVD's marketplace potential. Sony shipped 600,000 copies of the direct-to-video DVD to Wal-Mart …

Time Warner, the world's biggest media company, reported Wednesday healthy third quarter gains that beat Wall Street estimates. The results were driven largely by growth in broadband and digital phone service subscriber gains, as well as a boost in online ad sales. Ad sales for America Online grew 28 percent vs. the third quarter of 2004, though subscribers actually declined 5 percent. Despite its healthy growth, Time Warner yielded to pressure from activist investor, billionaire Carl Icahn, agreeing to "meet him halfway" in his demands for a stock buyback plan, reports TheStreet.com.

Sirius Satellite Radio, which is paying Howard Stern $500 million to join its orbit, reported a wider third quarter loss on, not surprisingly, higher expenses, despite tripling its revenue on strong subscriber growth during the quarter. However, the addition of Stern to its satellite radio lineup appears to be giving the No. 2 satellite radio broadcaster some momentum over bigger rival XM Satellite Radio. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sirius has taken retail market share away from XM for three months thanks largely to the addition of Stern. Not surprisingly, Sirius has raised its full-year guidance for subscriber growth, reports …

Marking the endnote to one of the most tumultuous chapters in the history of the world's largest media company, Time Warner announced that Steve Case has resigned from its board. Case, who engineered America Online's merger with Time Warner, stepped down as Time Warner's chairman two years ago. In April, he launched Revolution LLC, which now owns several businesses including Wisdom Media Group, a company that makes TV programs on yoga, acupuncture and shiatsu massage, according to Time Warner's Fortune magazine.

Procter & Gamble, the world's largest advertiser, today reported strong third quarter earnings results, including a 4 percent jump in quarterly profits, beating most Wall Street estimates. That's good news for Madison Avenue, because the earnings of leading national advertisers are deemed to be a bellwether of future ad spending plans. "Today's release should provide another measure of comfort that P&G is in great shape to integrate (the) transforming Gillette acquisition," Deutsche Bank analyst William Schmitz told Reuters.

CNN reportedly is considering splitting up its flagship 10 p.m. "NewsNight" anchor team, Aaron Brown and Anderson Cooper, and giving the slot permanently to Cooper. According to today's The Hollywood Reporter, Brown would become anchor of the 7 p.m. timeslot, which is now the home of "Anderson Cooper 360."

Viacom's last quarterly earnings report before being split into two separate companies reveals a story worthy of a Hollywood screen adaptation: Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities." Revenues for MTV Networks, the unit that will serve the core of the new Viacom, rose 15 percent during the third quarter of 2005, while sales at CBC, the unit that will be the core of the other spin-off, fell 2 percent. "The results illustrate the divide between the company's broadcast and cable businesses and underscore Chairman Sumner Redstone's argument for splitting Viacom by the end of the year," writes financial news service …

As the media industry's top management consultant for more than a decade, Michael Wolf has pulled the strings behind some of the biggest media companies in the world. Now he's going to begin pulling some strings in front of one: Viacom's MTV Networks. Wolf, managing partner, and head of the entertainment and media practice at McKinsey & Co., has been named president-COO of MTV Networks, reports today's New York Times. During his time at McKinsey and at Booz Allen Hamilton before that, Wolf has influenced the direction of companies such as Time Warner, News Corp. and Viacom. The move to …