As advertisers struggle to reach increasingly distracted and jaded American consumers, they have sought nontraditional vehicles for their ads, from elevators to cellphone screens.

About 125 million consumers will be watching television on their mobile phone in five years from now, a new survey found on Thursday.

Newspaper circulation continues to tumble. The industry reported yesterday a 1.9 percent drop in daily circulation, and a 2.5 percent decline on Sundays, over the last six months, compared with the period a year ago. The weak numbers for 814 daily newspapers, reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, represent the largest circulation losses for the industry in more than a decade, and indicate an acceleration of the decline. The rate of decline has been 0.5 percent to 1 percent since newspaper circulation peaked in the mid-1980's, analysts said.

The next generation of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox gaming console, due to be unveiled later this month, will give the world's largest software maker a chance to overtake the leader in the gaming business, Sony Corp., Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said on Monday.

Without "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica," is the honeymoon over at MTV? The recent wave of new series at the Viacom-owned cable powerhouse is not matching the ratings or buzz of the three high-profile programs that departed last month. "Newlyweds," which starred married tabloid fixtures Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, signed off the same week as its successful spinoff, "The Ashlee Simpson Show," and the former granddaddy of celebrity-verite TV, "The Osbournes."

Home improvement chain Lowe Cos. Incorporated is contacting agencies about its $300 million creative and media planning and buying account, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina-based company said.

Advertising and marketing services in 2004 regained a vigor not seen since the dot-coms bellied up in 2000, and a rebound in interactive helped prove what goes around comes around.

The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is aggressively pressing public television to correct what he and other conservatives consider liberal bias, prompting some public broadcasting leaders - including the chief executive of PBS - to object that his actions pose a threat to editorial independence.

'Family Guy' rises from the grave. Meanwhile, despite praise from its network, 'Arrested Development' is pulled.