NBC is being sued by a garbage-disposal maker that claims the network's "Heroes" show casts its product in a negative light. In the first episode of the hit program, a cheerleader blessed with the power of indestructibility sticks her hand into a garbage disposal and gets it mangled. Then, her hand heals. The brand name of the machine is visible in the scene: InSinkErator. Emerson Electric, which makes it, isn't happy--so it filed a suit in a U.S. district court in St. Louis against NBC Universal. In it, Emerson claims that NBC used its trademark without consent, and that …

Another bloodbath looks to be in store for many newspapers when the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases its fall circulation FAS-FAX report on Oct. 30. Sources who have seen the numbers say that for the six months ending September 2006, top-line daily circulation will fall roughly 2.5 percent, while Sunday will be off about 3 percent. The declines just keep coming, even against easier comparisons that were supposed to ease the industry's slide. Major metros are expected to be among the worst hit, with declines in single-copy sales and the ongoing impact of many papers reducing other-paid and third-party …

In 2004, ad pages for Hispanic magazines were up 11.5 percent--a jump that spurred a dozen new launches, including Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated Latino, ESPN's ESPN Deportes and Meredith's Siempre Mujer. But it proved too much to swallow, and last year, three major titles were shuttered in the second half, with pages ending the year down 2.9 percent. There have been just four new launches in 2006, as publishers got spooked by the numbers, although 2006 looks to be a better year than last. Ad pages through September are basically flat, while revenue was up 15.5 percent. "The pace …

Viacom and CBS chairman Sumner Redstone believes that a crackdown on supposedly "indecent" programming by the Federal Communications Commission has introduced a climate of fear, in which a relatively few people are dictating popular tastes. He laments that thousands complain about shows they have never seen--yet their complaints can "result in an indecency fine 10 times higher than it was a year ago," he says in a speech to the Media Institute's annual salute to defenders of free speech. He notes that TV stations altered their schedules to avoid scrutiny by the FCC, and that more than 11 percent …

The Children's Advertising Review Unit is having trouble drafting new guidelines for marketers that target kids, according to sources. The major sticking point: grocery brands and fast-food companies that have adopted positions that are irreconcilable. And a failure by CARU to get its members to agree on new voluntary rules could get the Feds involved--or companies could abandon the group altogether. Although the guideline review includes any company that targets kids, the main problem is with food marketers. Grocery brands are prepared to accept much more stringent restrictions than burger chains. Joan Bernstein, a former director of the Bureau …

An expensive political battle over taxing oil production in California is going on, and most of the action is taking place on TV screens across the state. At issue is Proposition 87, a statewide ballot issue to be decided Nov. 7. So far, the two sides have spent $85 million just on TV advertising, helping to make this the most expensive such battle in Golden State history. "This is one the voters will be aware of," says Shaun Bowler, a political science professor and initiative expert at UC Riverside. "When somebody with deep pockets has his ox being gored, …

Les Moonves' strategy of underpromising and overdelivering is a sound one, but it is also one that CBS failed to follow with its "carnivalesque" launch of the "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric." Following a splashy, multimillion-dollar media campaign, 13.6 million curious viewers sampled her maiden newscast Sept. 5. But it has been headed downhill ever since--falling back into third place in the key 25-54 age group, where NBC and ABC are locked in a near-tie for the top spot. CBS News is spinning hard, pointing up the newscast's increased viewership over last year, "but Couric's inability to get …

Citgo Petroleum is on the attack with a new ad campaign about the "misleading and inaccurate" criticisms of the U.S.-based arm of the Venezuelan oil company. The effort reaffirms its commitment to the U.S. market and tries to counter any backlash from a speech by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in which he called George W. Bush "the devil." In the first print ad, which appeared Monday, Citgo President Felix Rodriguez said critics are doing more damage to Citgo's thousands of U.S. employees and small-business owners who sell Citgo gasoline than to the company itself. "We understand that, as a …

The British government is launching a campaign to fight heavy drinking by young people with ads showing the price they may have to pay. Lasting through November, the ads will begin appearing this week in movie theaters, television, radio, magazines and online. Titled "Know Your Limits," the effort aims to encourage 18- to-24-year-olds to drink responsibly and be aware of the risks when drinking excessively. One TV spot shows a young man who turns into the character Batman and scales a building to retrieve balloons lost by a group of pretty women. It ends with him crashing to the ground. …

Some Middle Eastern TV networks have begun airing a TV ad aimed at discouraging terrorism by showing the anatomy of a suicide bombing. The $1 million ad is loaded with special effects, including the time-suspension technique of the "Matrix" movies to show bodies, cars and broken glass flying in slow motion through the air. The quality, and the secrecy surrounding its creators and backers, have some thinking the U.S. government is behind it--but the Feds refuse to say whether they were involved in the spot, which began airing this summer on Al-Arabiya, Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. and several Iraqi channels as …