The magazine industry has experienced barely a whiff of positive news the last few years, but a report by AdMedia Partners, a media-investment house, says the M&A market will be strong in 2006. The flip side of the report is that the market could cool significantly next year because of the scarcity of quality properties. According to AdMedia's survey, a vast majority of survey respondents said M&As driven by both strategic and financial buyers will increase in 2005. Only 5 percent saw a slowdown. Folio: magazine reports that "if consolidation continues, AdMedia managing director Mark Edmiston warns there could be …

Need to get a TV commercial on-air--fast--but find yourself lacking both time and money? A Los Angeles-based start-up, Spot Runner, says it can help. For as little as $500, the company will permit clients to select from a generic TV spot from its online library. The spot is then customized and massaged for particular demos and markets. Spot Runner will even help you get it on the air, in either local or regional markets. The company is the brainchild of Nick Grouf and David Waxman, who, according to C|Net, previously founded PeoplePC and Firefly Network.

The Food Network, which has experienced a surge in buzz, if not necessarily in viewers, will continue in 2006 its foray into high-concept programming--meaning shows not devoted exclusively to the art of cooking. The aim, clearly, is to be more entertaining. One of the new shows Food Network premiered this week is "Ham on the Street," which features comic/chef George Duran quizzing people in public spaces about food topics. Another show on the way (it'll debut in the spring) is "Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger," which will focus on quick, healthy recipes. Returning for its second installment March 19 is …

Paul La Monica, a senior writer for CNNMoney.com, has looked around the mediascape and arrived at the following conclusion: "I think 2006 is going to be the year when major media firms try to tap into a growing trend: increased interest in religious-themed content." There's ample evidence that he's right. For starters, you've got "The Book of Daniel," "The Chronicles of Narnia," and "The Da Vinci Code"--content that you'd be hard-pressed to have produced for general audiences just a few years ago. Some of this may be a reaction to the enormous box-office success of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of …

The first 11 issues of the redesigned TV Guide showed a rise of 38 percent in newsstand sales, according to figures released by its parent, Gemstar-TV Guide.  Furthermore, the magazine experienced fewer subscription cancellations than it had expected in the wake of the recent changes.  The latest incarnation of TV Guide is a total departure: it no longer features highly customized local listings, which was long the magazine's calling card--and, for the first time in its history, it is full-size.  The objective was to gain attention on the newsstand and appeal to a young demo. Gemstar-TV Guide says the …

Fortune senior writer Devin Leonard here explains how, after years of dissatisfaction with financial results at Dow Jones, the company's controlling family, the Bancrofts, were persuaded that this was the time to make changes in top leadership.  Unfortunately, says Leonard, Dow's Wall Street Journal failed to tell the tale.  "When the whistle blew and the shit hit the fan, we got all the branches of the family together and said, 'Something has to be done,’” James Lowell, the Bancrofts' onetime investment advisor, told Leonard.  Richard Zannino, Dow's newly installed CEO, is said to recognize the challenges faced by the …

Form & Style, a magazine aimed at curvaceous women, is set to launch in the U.S. at month's end, according to its publisher, Water Lilly Publishing. Editor Jeannette Porrazzo says, "It's time for a change in the way women preserve [sic] themselves and how the world preserves [sic] them. We at Form & Style would like to remind all the women out there that they are not fat, chubby, or obese... they are curvaceous!" The book, described by industry Web site Magazine World as a high-fashion title, will cater to women who wear sizes 10-24.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says his company, which has been slow to enter the telephony market, is now ready to move aggressively into the field, offering customers a bundle that includes video, Net access, and calling services. In doing so, Comcast will be joining its big cable competitors, including Time Warner, in a trend consumers seem to find appealing. Packaging TV, Internet, and phone into a $90-$100-a-month bill is clearly the wave of the future. Comcast's bundle in Boston costs customers $90 a month, and it has been quite successful, Roberts told a group of industry analysts in Phoenix. Roberts …

Business Week Online's Diane Murphy explains the durable popularity of TiVo--how consumers have warm feelings about the brand, how they say they cannot live without its beloved services, how it has changed the way people watch TV. Then she asks why, in the company's entire history, it has never earned a profit. Good question. To which no answer is given, except the proposition that TiVo, like so many companies before it, established a toehold in a new market and cleared a path for an army of well-heeled competitors. Today, a number of other outfits, including the big cable companies, offer …

Boasting that News Corp. owns "the greatest content collection in the world," its leader, Rupert Murdoch, yesterday told a gathering of analysts that his company was looking to expand and deepen its commitment to Web-based businesses. Murdoch predicted News Corp. would produce $350-$400 in Web revenues next year. "We love hearing about all these new [technology] gizmos. We'll be in all of them," Murdoch said. "They are useless without anything on them." He said News Corp.'s filmed entertainment division--Twentieth Century Fox--might well proceed aggressively into Web distribution, particularly for low-budget movies. Offering such films to audiences for $3 or $4 …