It was a bad bet. The Sporting News, which for three years--2000 to 2003--had accepted ads promoting illegal Web and phone-based gambling, lost a round with federal prosecutors, who hauled the weekly into court and last week announced that it had paid a whopping $4.2 million fine to the government. What's more, TSN had agreed to conduct a $3 million public-service campaign warning against illegal gambling services. In a statement, the Federal government said, "The Sporting News was aware that its conduct and the fees it accepted in exchange for its conduct were proceeds of illegal gambling." A statement …

CNN is a fat target these days and thus easy to slap around, which MarketWatch columnist Jon Friedman does today with apparent impunity. "CNN is everything--and nothing. It has a little for everyone, which means it has no real personality or style or tone that it can call its own," write Friedman. The reason for this Monday-morning blast? It's the decision by Headline News, the CNN channel, to give radio host Glenn Beck his own show. Beck is a popular conservative radio host, widely syndicated throughout the country. The problem with that, Friedman argues, is that he "goes against everything …

While reluctant to say they are essentially going head-to-head against satellite radio, commercial broadcasters are gearing up for a big, branded initiative--called HD2--that will pit the new hi-def stations against XM and Sirius, which they believe are thought by some consumers to be too costly. Hi-def radio allows broadcasters to split signals, which makes for more stations, but, more importantly, it translates into clearer signals. There are but a handful of digital radio sets in people's homes at this time, but the expectation is that will change rapidly, especially once digital, hi-def broadcasters launch currently-missing formats, like a country station …

Ever wonder what became of The New York Times' high-profile film critic Elvis Mitchell? Among his other projects, he's hosting "...In Black," a high-concept infomercial that will debut on BET Feb. 9. According to a story in Mediaweek, "...In Black" features five prominent African-Americans discussing elements of design. While a specific car brand is never mentioned, the program is sponsored by Infiniti, the upscale brand of Nissan. "It's not every day the public gets to see the level of quality both in content and in form that we are presenting here on behalf of Infiniti," said Christopher Davis, executive creative …

CBS News has got serious problems. Bob Schieffer has performed splendidly during the post-Rather era while his network searches for a full-time anchor for CBS Evening News, but he will not stay long, he says, and besides, he is not CBS's anchor of the future. It's not yet clear who is--Katie Couric apparently remains on CBS's short list-- but one thing has just been clarified by CBS News head Sean McManus: the network will probably abandon any effort to install a multi-anchor team. McManus wants a single face, and he's persuaded network CEO Les Moonves that strategy makes sense. At …

It lifted off to a terrific start, with great ratings and a fusillade of rave reviews, but ABC's "Commander In Chief" seems to be in trouble. Still in its first season, the series is fading, picking up a measly 2.4 ratings on Tuesday night. Some of that can be attributed to Fox's "American Idol" premiere, which smashed all comers. But Commander has been drifting downward ever since its second outing. ABC's widely publicized dissatisfaction with the show's creator and original executive producer, Rod Lurie, certainly did not help matters, but when the network recruited Steven Bocho to take over for …

While many media gatekeepers like commercial radio stations are losing out to more select, consumer-generated sources like iTunes playlists, "there is still a need for the community-building, consensus-shaping role that the best of the media gatekeepers can play," writes Justin Fox in a thoughtful essay in Fortune. "The question is, who's going to play it? And how are they going to make it work economically?" Fox contends that getting music or other media recommendations merely from other consumers has its drawbacks: "The main one is that it can hard to break out of whatever subculture--of music or any other kind …

A study presented at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association conference in Orlando found that consumers are not put off by buzz marketers who are upfront with consumers about the products they shill. Northeastern University assistant professor Walter Carl conducted the research, harvesting data from 800 word-of-mouth marketers and the prospective consumers hearing the spiels. "There's a sense if there's an organized word-of-mouth marketing program there must be something interesting about it," Carl said. "There's a sense that a company wouldn't do this unless there was something interesting or new about the product."

"Will the movie theater go the way of the drive-in?" So begins a trend piece in The New York Post about changing distribution methods for the movies. The article cites the now-familiar litany of factors contributing to the turnaround, from iPods, DVDs and the Internet to growing movie piracy. Bottom line: Moviemakers don't really seem to care anymore how people get their movie fix. "You want as many platforms as possible--as long as people are paying," says Michael Burns, vice-chairman of Lions Gate Entertainment, in the piece. As long as things are still in transition mode, though, movie companies have …

How does a magazine get its title and its focus? In the case of Time Inc.'s recent launch Cottage Living, executives in many of the company's lifestyle titles noticed a "blip in response whenever the word "cottage" appeared on their covers or within their pages," according to a case history of the magazine's debut in Folio. Once editors at Southern Progress' book division reported a similar "cottage" story, the company did some research, with the highest test result in recent Time Inc. history. (If you're wondering exactly what cottage is, it's a form of decorating and lifestyle related to …