ESPN, which posted some of its best World Cup soccer ratings ever this summer, has re-upped a TV rights deal with Major League Soccer through 2014. The sports channel is hoping the new commitment will keep viewer interest in soccer high until next summer's Women's World Cup--and the men's championship in 2010. Under the deal, ESPN2 will televise 26 regular season MLS matches, most in prime time. Right now, the majority of the games are shown on Saturday afternoons. ESPN2 will televise three MLS playoff games, while ABC will air three games: the season opener, the All-Star Game, and the …

Neither Toyota nor Chrysler will cave in to a right-wing pressure group and yank their ads from a show it doesn't like. The Parents Television Council has been pushing the auto giants to end their sponsorship of FX Networks' "Rescue Me." The PTC sent letters to both advertisers asking them to withdraw from the show. When they refused, it issued press releases condemning them. But a Chrysler spokeswoman says the company's vp of communications faxed a letter to the fringe group saying the show was part of a broad media buy to reach diverse audiences. Says the missive: "We do …

Time Warner will swing the ax at its AOL unit, eliminating some 5,000 jobs--26 percent of its worldwide workforce, Bloomberg reports. The move is being made to help revive profits and sales after four years of subscriber losses. AOL chief Jonathan Miller told employees in a Webcast that the cuts will take effect within six months. AOL has chopped about 7,000 jobs since late last year in an effort to save money. Earlier this week, Time Warner said it will offer AOL's e-mail and security software to high-speed Internet users for free early next month. Time Warner President Jeff Bewkes …

Indian media firms could see changes to broadcasting rules, limiting cross-holdings and consolidation in the world's third-largest cable TV market, reports Theedgedaily.com. A bill, likely to be delayed as broadcasters lobby for changes, would set limits on scale and expansion and bring the $3.6-billion business under one regulator. It would also cap a company's ownership in another broadcaster, distributor or cable operator at 20 percent; limit any one group's ownership to 15 percent of all TV channels; and cap the subscriber base in any city, state or country at 15 percent. Right now, broadcasters can own up to 20 percent …

"Are the Chandlers and Tribune Co. ready to reconcile?" asks Phil Rosenthal in the Chicago Tribune. While a Thursday news report said the two sides are at the bargaining table, Rosenthal says his sources tell him that hasn't happened yet. "But it's undeniable these two are stuck with each other and have to make the best of it, one way or another." The Chandlers--the company's second-largest shareholders--are pushing for a break-up, and the two sides have been bickering for several months. But there are indications, he writes, that the two sides are attempting to find middle ground--among them, an apparent …

A drop in business at CBS Radio and the shutdown of UPN dragged the company's revenue down 1 percent to $3.48 billion in the second quarter, reports Mediaweek--although other divisions at the media giant fared better. While total TV revenue was off a point to $2.26 billion, the TV station group was up 5 percent, and looks to get a bounce from political ad spending as the general election nears. Outdoor was the standout performer for CBS, rising 7 percent. "Suffering from a soft ad market and recovering from a Howard Stern hangover, CBS Radio is getting a lot of …

Most consumer-product marketers have shifted some of their ad dollars from traditional media to the Internet. Foster's beer has taken a more dramatic step. The Australian beer's U.S. owner, SABMiller, has decided to stop advertising on television and shift its entire American ad budget to the Net. Although the brand's TV spending is relatively small--last year Foster's spent $5 million on TV ads, according to TNS Media Intelligence--the move is significant. It is representative of a trend among certain target groups--in this case young men--away from TV viewing and toward the Web. If the initial Web ads aren't effective, Foster's …

Men will more likely zap through TV ads, according to a Roper survey. For its 2006 Media, Advertising and Brands study, Roper surveyed 1,000 people, and of the 24 percent of respondents who had DVRs, 65 percent of men said they skip commercials to cut down on the viewing time of recorded shows--but only 56 percent of women said they did. In a survey conducted last year, Roper said 11 percent of respondents were DVR owners, with 21 percent of men saying they used their DVRs to skip ads, compared to 10 percent of women. The difference, Ad Age notes, …

As The Baltimore Sun joins The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune in putting ads on section fronts, Joe Strupp at Editor & Publisher says bring 'em on. Some critics claim the practice violates some unspoken ethic of journalism--that it lessens a paper's credibility. But Strupp charges the opposite: "What took you so long? And why not do more?" The rest of the world is advertising-crazy, so newwpapers should join in. He doesn't care if some of the same types of ads make Web sites look like "cluttered commercial carnivals, or give …

Reporters at FS View & Florida Flambeau, a college newspaper, share something in common with reporters at USA Today, reports Inside Higher Ed. Both publications are now owned by Gannett. The Tallahassee Democrat, a Gannett paper, bought the twice-weekly newspaper that serves Florida State University for an undisclosed sum. It has a circulation of about 25,000 readers during the school year. This is apparently the first time a major newspaper chain has purchased an independent, privately owned college publication. The Flambeau has been independent since 1971, and merged with FSView in 1998. It is unlike most college newspapers, which are …