The Wall Street Journal will soon be selling ads into one of the most hallowed spaces in journalism --its front page, reports The New York Times. And the move, likely to start in September, could bring parent Dow Jones tens of millions in ad revenue a year. "The Wall Street Journal will provide the most valuable opportunity anywhere in any medium for advertisers who want to reach a large, affluent and influential audience," says Journal Publisher L. Gordon Crovitz. The ad, which he calls a "jewel box," will be square--although its dimensions are unknown. Sagging circulation and ad revenue …

Meredith Corp. and a local partner have rolled out a Chinese edition of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, reports DM News. "Sweeping economic changes have led to the emergence of a middle class in China," says John Zieser, vice president of corporate development for Meredith. "As household income levels have increased, the rising middle-class consumers are yearning for information about home and family, and no magazine was speaking to this growing audience." Like its U.S. version, Better Homes in China targets women--and sees the typical reader as a wife and mother with a college education and career. Meredith is teaming …

CBS is trying to ensure that Katie Couric starts off with strong ratings when she moves into the evening news anchor's chair in September, Ad Age reports. The network will roll out a slew of ads on cable news outlets, getting around restrictions that prevent rival outlets from buying time on each other by going through local cable systems. Closer to the start date, the Tiffany Network will flex the full promotional muscle of its corporate parent, using CBS outdoor and CBS Radio. It's even slapping Couric's face on New York City buses. Couric has already started appearing in ads …

The Carlyle Group has signed a former Time Inc. editor in chief to advise it on media acquisitions, reports the Washington Business Journal. Norman Pearlstine will be based in New York, and starts his new job in September, Carlyle says. He was editor in chief at Time Inc. for 11 years, overseeing the editorial content for 154 magazines. Since January, he has been a senior adviser for parent company Time Warner. "Joining Carlyle opens a new chapter in my life, enabling me to draw upon my many years in the media business to create value in a private equity environment," …

With only two new shows to promote for the fall, CW seems to be reliant on the color of its marketing to create some buzz, reports Mediaweek. "I think the green has done a lot for us," says CW Entertainment President Dawn Ostroff. "It represents fun ...it really stands for a lot of what the network is about." The drama "Runaway" and comedy "The Game" are the new series on CW, and reporters have questioned Ostroff on the dearth of fresh programs. "The strategy all along was to depend on established franchises to help bring in viewers," Ostroff says. "We …

The New York Times will shrink the size of its pages in 2008, narrowing them by an inch and a half, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Times made the announcement Tuesday, as it also reported a bare 1 percent rise in second-quarter profit on a revenue increase of just 1.6 percent. However, revenue at its recently acquired About.com soared 63 percent from a year earlier. The Times expects the changes to save it $42 million annually, as it will consolidate all of its printing facilities in the New York area into its newest production facility. About 250 jobs, or …

The battle over the rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters is about to start up again, reports the Independent, as a number of legal actions head back to court. At stake is a lucrative market in film, TV, toys, and other goods. Pooh is currently controlled by Walt Disney, and is the company's most profitable character. It's estimated that the franchises bring in as much as $6 billion a year. The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to offer an opinion on an attempt by creator A.A. Milne's granddaughter, Clare, which was backed by Disney, to take back the rights …

In the five years since it relaunched, the Hallmark Channel "has racked up one success after another," reports Multichannel News. Its distribution has hit 73.5 million households--up from under 20 million--and now ranks as a Top 10-rated cable network. It has also won a reputation for quality programming, and expects to generate more than $170 million in ad revenue this year. But an effort to reach profitability and drive growth by selling itself to a larger entity failed. "As a result, in the next 18 months, it faces a host of difficult challenges--all crucial to its future--as a stand-alone network," …

Incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric is working toward a Sept. 5 debut that will put a new spin on the program while also appealing to long-time viewers, reports TV Week. "We are going to provide something they can't get other places," she says. "We're talking a lot about how can the evening newscast can look and feel different without alienating core viewers." Couric has been holding a series of "town hall meetings" around the country over the last week, and says she is learning what viewers want. Asked by a TV critic why the meetings have been closed …

Fears that voters will put a Democrat in the White House in 2008 could spur some media-industry mergers and acquisitions, reports Reuters. "The regulatory environment is probably as favorable for deals as it is ever going to get, so companies considering deals have to be factoring that in right now," says Paul Gallant, media analyst at Stanford Washington Research Group. He expects that any major media deals will be proposed in the next six to eight months in case the Democrats win back the presidency. The Democrats are sometimes seen as more unfriendly to consolidation, although some of the biggest …