NABET-CWA, a union representing about 2,500 technicians, camera operators, news writers and others at ABC, has suspended talks with the broadcaster, due to concerns over job security and pension. The union and ABC had been meeting for weeks to work out a new contract to replace the one that expires March 31. "The union bargaining committee's review of ABC's proposals found nothing but company attacks on the seniority system, attacks on the pension plan, despite the plan being financially healthy, attacks on jurisdiction of work and attacks on a multitude of other work rules and conditions," says NABET-CWA …

Canadian regulators will consider allowing USA Network to enter the market there. That's after the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission received an application from cable behemoth Shaw Communications to sponsor the U.S. cable TV network's possible migration to digital cable. In the tightly regulated Canadian TV market, entry to foreign TV services is granted only when they do not compete directly with existing channels. Shaw says that USA Network does not go head-to-head with any Canadian pay or specialty operation, and the CRTC requests that Canadian broadcasters or other parties wishing to take issue with that should file …

About 400 publishers, editors, journalists and experts from 74 countries are meeting in Washington, D.C., to tackle the global problem of getting younger people to read newspapers. The World Young Reader Conference, the seventh put on by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), includes large U.S. concerns. "What they're going to be looking at is sharing information about what works in different places," says Jim Abbott, vice president of the NAA Foundation. The conference is apt to underline how far ahead newspapers in Europe and Latin America are of their U.S. counterparts when it comes to attracting young …

Cathy Tankosic has signed on with Magna Global Entertainment as an executive vice president and will work to find new ways to create branded entertainment content across various media. Hers is the first top level appointment by Bill Hilary since being named Magna's president last year. The move highlights the emphasis agencies and clients place on having in-house content creation capacity. Tankosic, who has worked at Comedy Central and MTV Networks, will also solicit new business and expand the company's existing portfolio. "Cathy has a unique skill set, in that she has extensive marketing, advertising, creative management …

Not long after NBC did it, ABC News will air four editions of "World News" with a single sponsor next month. The move will add five more minutes of news on each broadcast. Reporter Bill Weir will be traveling for a special series on the single-sponsor days and will visit Kiribati to cover the effects of global warming, as well as to Zambia to examine efforts to reduce infant and maternal mortality. On Dec, 4, NBC's "Nightly News" was solely sponsored by Philips Electronics, adding six minutes of news. The ABC versions will air on Friday nights in …

Sci-Fi has picked up nine more episodes in season four of "Battlestar Galactica," which will bring the new season count from 13 to 22. That will also include a two-hour event slated for the fourth quarter of this year, just prior to a release on DVD. The show has won a Peabody Award and, in addition, has been honored by the American Film Institute as one of their top 10 television programs for two years in a row. But the pick-up of the cult favorite could worry some viewers, as there is speculation that if Sci Fi were …

CBS is pulling a younger audience for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament ratings through the first seven telecasts were up 14% among men 18-24 and men 18-34, according to Nielsen Media Research. That runs against a generally down trend as total household ratings for "March Madness" have slipped 6% to a 6.2 with total viewers off 300,000 or 3% percent per telecast. Most of that decline is coming in the 25-54 age demo. Heading into Thursday's "Sweet 16," ratings among men 18-24 averaged a 4.2, compared to a 3.7 last year, while among men 18-34, they are a 4.9, …

The head of a fringe group claims that as many as 80% of the V-chip ratings nets give to their programming are wrong. At least that what Tim Winter, president of the Parent's Television Council, said as part of a speech at the Association of National Advertisers' Forum in New York. He says the inaccurate ratings are documented by a study his organization had conducted. In addition, they represent a "fraud by many of the broadcasters and the networks ... they rate (the programs) inaccurately and that way, the V-chip doesn't block the programming." Further: "You're …

Traditional advertising has a big role in getting consumers to search for merchandise on the Internet, according to research from the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association and BIGresearch. About half say they take their cues from TV, magazine and newspaper ads to decide when and where to shop online. By order of preference, 47% said they turned to magazine ads, followed by TV commercials and newspaper ads at 43% each. In-store promotions moved 27%, and when it cones to coupons, far more women than men used them for online guidance, at 42% of women and only 29% of …

Mary Berner, the new CEO of Reader's Digest Association, has gotten rid of three top execs. Gone are publisher Ben Madden, on the job for more than three years, and associate publisher Sean Flanagan, who signed up just six months ago. Their departures follow the resignation of group publisher Denise Favorule last week. The moves are sowing fear and resentment. "She's introducing the Condé Nastie way to Reader's Digest," says an insider, noting she recently went to her old company for her first key hires at RDA. Another sources says Madden and Flanagan had pushed for …