U.S. News & World Report, which frequently tends to be a little late to pop-culture and trend stories, this week carries a piece about the rush to video-on-demand. "Touted as the next big thing for so long that its arrival has become an industry joke, video-on-demand, which covers everything from movies that can be ordered on cable TV to downloads of 'Desperate Housewives' on a video iPod, may finally be closing in on its economic promise," says the magazine's Betsy Streisand. Industry analyst Harold Vogel, cited in the story, says, "Things are finally falling into place" for an on-demand world. …

Les Moonves talks to Newsweek this week about how a liberated CBS, operating free of the "old" Viacom's institutional constraints, will be a profit-making machine. Excerpts: "As we look into the bold new world of new media, we're trying to jump in in a big way. We are a first-rate content company, and we're looking at how to utilize that content in a hundred different ways... More and more people want their content when they want it.... We're talking to [iTunes]. And I'm sure before too long we will be involved with them.... Google is a very forward-minded company, and …

The picture in the United Kingdom is much as it is here: Newspapers are watching with much anxiety as advertisers are increasingly placing their dollars into the till of dot-com companies. Especially when it comes to classifieds, the migration seems to be away from print properties and onto the Net. The Times of London cites a batch of Web sites that have captured eyeballs and ad dollars in Britain, among them a real-estate site (Rightmove.com) and a big auto-sales site. "None [of these sites] comes from a traditional media group," notes The Times. "It is perhaps not surprising: the traditional …

Another sign that the world of online media is showing strength and print media is, well, not: London-based Smash Hits magazine, a music title from Emap, is folding just as a brand-new "digital video magazine" about music is launching. Called Mooky, and available today for the first time at iTunes, the "magazine" will offer news, gossip, and music videos. Downloads are free, and new issues of Mooky will be available bimonthly, according to a report at Digital Bulletin. The site says that Mooky is being developed by Just Before Media "partly as a demonstration of its content creation tool that …

Oprah Winfrey's $55 million, three-year deal with XM Satellite Radio, announced yesterday, assures that the talk diva will remain among the wealthiest, best-known personalities in America--and all for 30 minutes of work a week, 39 weeks a year.  Clearly, it's a great deal for Winfrey. Is it equally so for XM?  Too soon to know, of course.  The move, called "the latest escalation in the satellite radio arms race" by The New York Times, pits XM's Oprah against Sirius' Howard.  The new XM program, "Oprah & Friends," will appeal chiefly to women. It is hoped that her arrival on satellite …

When Disney announced late last year that some of its hit television shows would be available at $1.99 a pop at Apple's iTunes store, the deal was hailed as a smart move by the entertainment company and a decent deal for consumers, but it left advertisers out in the cold.  Now a new plan has been hatched, and advertisers will likely appreciate this one more.  Disney-owned ABC is planning to offer some of its shows for download at its own Web site.  "We are looking at the technology and how many shows we could do," says Mike Shaw, president …

In a world of iPods and PSPs and MySpace.coms, how does MTV Networks stay not only in the game but, for the sake of its storied franchises, on top of its game? Business Week takes on this subject in a cover story that hits newsstands next week. Concentrating on the personal skills and corporate strategy of MTV Networks' CEO, Judy McGrath, BWsets out the manifold challenges facing the company, which is no longer the "bold experiment" it was when it launched with a single channel back in 1981. It's now the home of a collection of prized brands, not …

Releasing the results of a study that differ markedly from one it announced in 2004, the Federal Communications Commission yesterday said that cable-television bills would be reduced by as much as 13 percent if a la carte pricing were introduced as standard industry practice. The FCC said the earlier study, conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton, was flawed, which led to a different conclusion. In that study, it was said that allowing consumers to pay for just the TV channels they wanted would result in an average monthly billing increase of at least 14 percent. "A careful analysis reveals that a …

A survey of Czech citizens shows that more than 80 percent are fed up over the amount of advertising they see on television, especially on their privately owned (as opposed to state-run) stations. On the other hand, respondents to the survey, conducted last December, indicated that Czechs would be happy to see more ads placed in retail stores and in public transportation. Additionally, ads on radio, in print, and on billboards are not viewed as being offensive in their number.  Also, according to The Prague Monitor, "Nearly 40 percent of the respondents said that advertisements for tobacco products should …

In a wide-ranging discussion about advertising, the Web, future acquisitions, and the virtue of remaining within the comfort of the Time Warner corporate family, Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore this week acknowledged to The Wall Street Journal that, when it comes to advertising deals, "We have been a difficult, complicated company to deal with." Addressing specifically the need to work more effectively within the current ad-industry model, wherein creatives and media planners operate independently, Moore said, "We need to become more marketing-oriented. We need to be much more user-friendly to our clients.  And if you want a multimedia platform …