A federal court has ruled that legal brothels in Nevada can now advertise in those counties where prostitution remains illegal -- and owners are wasting no time using their newfound freedom to drum up business. On Monday, Bobbi Davis, the owner of the "Shady Lady," began to advertise in "The Daily Visitor Guide," an extra wrapped around copies of the Las Vegas Review-Journal that are distributed mostly to tourists. The week before, she was in CityLife, an alternative weekly paper. Earlier this summer, U.S. District Judge James Mahan ruled that state laws barring such ads were …

As Katie Couric's one-year anniversary as anchor of "CBS Evening News" is marked by visits to Iraq and Syria, questions linger about her newscast's rotten ratings. A stint that began with the promise of a new approach to the evening news has "turned into a $15 million-a-year disappointment so far for CBS, which has found itself in third place even with the former morning star in the anchor chair. But CBS isn't giving up yet, bringing in veteran producer Rick Kaplan earlier this year. He has given the show a harder edge and made it more newsy. "I …

Inventory in this fall's NFL season is hard -- and expensive -- to come by after an upfront that had advertisers paying top prices for prime ad time and saw CPM increases of as much as 25% for programs like NBC's "Sunday Night Football." One reason is that football is among the rare breeds of programming shown to be the most "TiVo-proof," which means marketers know their ads are being seen the moment they air or by night's end on DVR. At the same time, top categories like movies and retail like doing business on the old Nielsen …

While the various manufacturers of high-definition TV sets have long claimed superiority over each other in their pricy ad campaigns, many of the top brands are pretty much the same -- with almost all the target of recent patent infringement litigation. One thing to come out of this expensive legal morass is that many components for rival brands are made by the same people at the same factories. These "copycat" aspects are being revealed by suits including one against Samsung by Sharp Electronics, which wants some Samsung products yanked from store shelves, while the company also sues HannStar …

Hockey's Dallas Stars are having sport at pro basketball's expense as part of an ad campaign to fill seats in the upcoming season. A billboard near the American Airlines Center, which the Stars share with the Dallas Mavericks, is tagged "The only thing we shave is the ice," a clear shot at the NBA's recent refereeing scandal. Still, the Stars' "come into the cold" ads don't bother Mavericks owner Mark Cuban a bit. "I think it's hysterical," he says. "Good for them. It's a fun ad." Of course, the team had some reservations about the new ads. …

HGTV will move ahead with a third season of reality competition series "Design Star," a show which has set new viewership records at the cable net.The next round of "Design" will roll out in the third quarter, with the show rewarding the winning designer with his or her own series on TV. The network is putting out the call for applications from potential contestants, even as the second-season finale of "Design" sets to air on Sept. 16. In addition, the channel has ordered up three more seasons -- 39 episodes -- of "Color Splash," a show hosted by …

Actor and tabloid staple George Clooney is apparently annoyed with questions on how he can criticize multinational corporations, while also appearing in ads for Nestle. Clooney, at the Venice Film Festival to promote his latest film "Michael Clayton," where he is a "fixer" for a huge New York law firm, was asked at a news conference about ads for Nespresso. He claims he does not work for Nestle, but just does the ads. "I'm not going to apologize to you for trying to make a living every once in a while," he says. "I find that an …

Despite attacks on its new reality series "Kid Nation," CBS is putting the program on air Sept. 19. Network executives express confidence that it will go as planned. "Everybody's questions about the show will be answered when it airs," says Tom Forman, the show's executive producer. However, the Tiffany Network is worried about scaring off advertisers and has screened the first episode for some. The show puts dozens of kids ages 8 to 15, in a "ghost town" in New Mexico to see if they can build a working society without adults. But after production wrapped, one mom …