Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has rolled out a proposal designed to coax cable and other video service providers to offer their programming a la carte in exchange for "substantial deregulation," TV Week reports. Under the legislation, introduced Wednesday, operators that agree would go into a national franchising system that would allow them to avoid their obligations under existing agreements with local governments. But McCain's bill would also punish companies that don't permit their cable TV programming to be offered a la carte, by removing protections on the exclusivity of their network-affiliated programming in their communities.

The broadcast upfront is apparently stalled, reports MediaWeek, with most large media buyers reporting they have yet to do any major business with the networks. "There continues to be a lot of give and take, and back and forth, but neither side seems to be in a rush to do deals," said one buyer who close to remain anonymous. "The past two days have gone by very leisurely. But having said that, things can change on a dime. Only about 5 percent of the typical amount of upfront dollars had been spent as of Wednesday, the magazine's informal poll revealed, …

The three Tribune Co. directors opposed to the company's huge stock buyback plan voted against the proposal because it does nothing to address basic problems the company faces, reports The New York Times, citing an anonymous source. The dissenting trio represents the Chandler Trusts, which own 12.2 percent of the company's shares. Their opposition was revealed earlier this week in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The stock repurchases, designed to prop up the company's sagging valuation, could add as much as $2 billion to its debt. "My speculation is they wanted something bigger to happen," says …

The House of Representatives is debating a bill that would increase fines for "indecent" broadcasts to $325,000 for each incident--a thousand percent jump from the current level, the Associated Press reports. The election year legislation, which is expected to get White House approval, is one end result of the infamous Janet Jackson breast incident at the 2004 Super Bowl. "It is something that should have passed two years ago," said L. Brent Bozell, head of a right-wing "media watchdog" group. "The $32,500 fine did not make them think twice about doing anything," counters Jim Dyke, executive director of TV Watch, …

It looks like the major telephone companies will be able to more easily compete against cable TV operators in California after a unanimous vote by that state's Assembly, reports the Sacramento Bee. The lower house voted 77-0 in favor of AB 2987, and the Senate will take it up this summer. The bill provides for a blanket agreement allowing telephone companies to offer cable TV service in the Golden State, eliminating the need for them to cut separate deals with every municipality. The telcos claim that more competition means lower prices and better service. "We have to have a better …

Major league baseball is balking at a new technology like Sling Media that allows TV viewers to access their set-top or TiVo boxes from anywhere in the world, reports ZDNet. The League feels that people who want to watch on multiple devices should have to pay multiple times. The fuss is part of the running dispute between broadcasters and companies that relay video streams to portable devices. The conflict was outlined Tuesday during a panel discussion at the Digital Media Summit, when George Kliavkoff--executive vice president of business for MLB Advanced Media--took on Rich Buchanan, Sling Media's vice president of …

Procter & Gamble has cut the amount of money it intends to spend in the upfront market, Ad Age reports, as the packaged goods behemoth makes good on a promise to trim expenses wherever it can. This is the second year in a row that the company has sliced back its upfront commitments--a move attributed in part to its $57 billion acquisition of Gillette that closed in October, Ad Age says. P&G's upfront budget is down around 10 percent, and it is only one of a number of marketers reportedly spending less this year. There are also reports of softness …

While their inky main editions have been suffering, online newspaper ad spending soared in the first quarter, reports ClickZNews, with a jump of almost 35 percent to more than $613 million. Although other print ad categories dropped, print classified advertising rose 4.7 percent--led by a big boost in real estate classified spending, according to the Newspaper Association of America. In total, print paper ads were up 0.3 percent to $10.5 billion. For years, publishers pretty much gave away Web space as an added value bonus to their advertisers, but that is changing fast. "Newspapers are beginning to establish separate value …

Things are rather brighter in the global newspaper business, as Reuters reports that worldwide ad revenue was up 5.7 percent in 2005--the largest jump in four years. According to data released by the World Association of Newspapers, the biggest growth occurred in China, India, and Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, paid newspaper circulation gained just 0.56 percent, or 1.21 percent when free dailies are added to the mix. "Overall, the audience for newspapers keeps on growing, both in print and online," says Timothy Balding, head of the Paris-based trade association. "Newspapers are proving to be incredibly resilient against the onslaught of a …

Moves by the Times, the BBC, and the Economist to expand their footprints in the U.S. market have left some industry people scratching their heads as to why the Brits would be coming just at the time when U.S. newspapers are struggling with circulation and ad revenues, the Baltimore Sun reports. "It's really puzzling," says Bonnie Brownlee, associate dean of the Indiana University School of Journalism. "This is some novelty pipe dream by British news organizations that are hoping to sell in the United States. It's hard to see how they're going to make any money." But, counters Economist Publisher …