The quality - or lack thereof -- of products made in China is the focus of a new ad campaign from a group that spends it time making Wal-Mart's life as miserable as possible. As the holidays approach, the spots ask if the toys on sale at the retail behemoth are safe for our kids to play with. "When huge retailers like Wal-Mart pressure Chinese suppliers to cut costs, they cut corners," it says. "Now we're paying the price," the commercial says, in part. The ad is running in 32 markets in the South and Midwest, including Little …

TBS is pushing a package of on-air and online coverage of Major League Baseball's divisional playoff series to its advertisers, with coverage of four divisional playoff series backed by pre- and post-game shows and a lineup of announcers, including Atlanta Braves play-by-play man Chip Caray and baseball Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn. As part of a new seven-year deal for which TBS is forking over annual fees of $70 million, the cable net will also carry the National League Championship Series and, starting next season, a slew of regular-season games on Sunday afternoons. Web-wise, TBS will have live dugout look-ins, …

Pappas Telecasting Companies has rolled out TuVision, a new Spanish-language TV network on five of its stations. Following a "soft launch" on July 1, TuVision (which means "Your Vision" in English) has replaced under-performing Azteca America programming on stations in Houston; San Francisco; Reno, Nev.; Omaha, Neb.; and Sioux City, Iowa. By the end of the year, Pappas expects to clear it on 15 more stations. Factoring in the planned addition of network affiliates, the new channel will eventually reach at least 40% of the U.S. Hispanic population. Among the programs are "Golden Era Mexican Cinema," "Alma Gemela" …

The premiere of "Survivor: China," helped CBS dominate the prime-time slate on Thursday, even as the show fell to its lowest-opening rating in the series' history. For while "Survivor: China," at 8p.m., was the top program that night with 15.1 million viewers and a 4.9 rating/15 share, according to Nielsen, it plunged 25% in adults 18-49, compared with last year's "Survivor: Cook Islands" and spring's "Survivor: Fiji." Fox came in second for the time slot in key demos with "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" pulled 8.2 million viewers with a 2.3 rating and 7 share at …

AMC is about to pick up another season of drama series "Mad Men," apparently nearing a pact that will bring 13 more episodes to the cable net starting next summer. The show, produced by Lionsgate, is the channel's first foray into original scripted drama series arena and is set on Madison Avenue in the 1960s. It follows a group of advertising executives and support staff, with a cast that includes Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Vincent Kartheiser. It rolled out July 19, garnering 1.6 million viewers, but has since dropped off, now averaging 841,000 viewers coming into an …

While ad-trackers, including TNS and Nielsen, have shown downturns in spending this year, at least one industry watcher sees a more bullish trend. Eighteen media categories that span both traditional and nontraditional outlets should increase 3.1% in 2007, according to Jack Myers Media Business Report. While down from his original forecast of 3.7% last December, Myers still sees overall spend up 6.9% in 2008 and 3.1% in 2009. "Reports from other forecasters suggesting the U.S. ad industry may be entering a recessionary period are grossly misleading because they focus exclusively on traditional media, such as television, newspapers and …

The day after Sen. Hillary Clinton unveiled her health-care plan, a new campaign ad with her surrounded by children and holding a baby hit the airwaves in the early-primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire. The spot, which claims she "changed our way of thinking when she introduced universal health care to America," is the latest volley in an ad war launched months before the first voters go to the polls. Only three of the presidential contenders have spent much on ads so far. Two top Republican candidates -- former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and actor …

Jeffrey Katzenberg, head of DreamWorks Animation, says that Viacom shouldn't be so nonchalant about the potential of losing Steven Spielberg to a rival company. His warning came in responses to comments from Viacom chief Philippe Dauman, who says the company is planning for Spielberg's possible departure next year. "I have to say, not because he was and is my partner, but Steven Spielberg as a filmmaker, as a storyteller, as an artist, as a conscience, is honestly nothing short of a national treasure for all of us," Katzenberg says. "He's at the top of his game." Spielberg, …

The CW network's experiment with a new kind of commercial break that looks like a "minishow" has worked so well the network will take the "content wrap" concept even further, rolling out a half-hour weekly series to tout its sponsors' products. "CW Now" debuts Sunday and is a newsmagazine program targeted at young adults, featuring stories on trends in fashion, music, technology and the like. There will be no ad breaks, but there will be plenty of marketers on parade. The first episode is sponsored by Wal-Mart and has three segments touting Microsoft's Halo 3 videogame series …

"Teenick Back-to-School Bash" programming stunt on Nickelodeon was a ratings hit for the network as the three-hour block with new episodes of several shows pulled double-digit increases over the same slot last year. The 6:00 p.m. to 9 p.m. block on Sept. 16 averaged 2.9 million viewers, up from just 1.7 million in the same period in 2006. Shows that performed particularly well included new episodes of "Zoey 101" at 3.7 million viewers; "Ned's Declassified" with 2.7 million; and "Just Jordan" at 2.4 million. Further, Nick's new user-generated themed show, "iCarly" drew about 3.4 million viewers and generated more …