MTV Networks wants to jettison Caribbean music and culture network Tempo, insiders says, with parent Viacom busily shopping it to local investors who might run it under a licensing deal or maybe just buy it outright. The move comes after the group restructures its cable operations to boost profitability overseas, buying stakes in big markets and making licensing deals in small ones. MTV rolled out Tempo less than two years ago via a carriag edeal with 100,000-subscriber Innovative Cable TV. At the time, it said Tempo would debut in North America in 2006, something that never happened. Cable …

Musician Harry Connick, Jr. and triathlete Sarah Reinertsen have central roles in new TV ads for Ford's Lincoln that broke over the weekend. The newcampaign, tagged "Dreams," launched during NBC's "Sunday Night Football" and is now going into wider rotation. The first ad has Connick in a 2008 Lincoln MKX driving through his hometown of New Orleans. In it, he looks back at his youth and musical start while touting the importance of remembering your roots and giving something back. The second execution features Reinersten and a Lincoln MKZ on the streets of New York. The first …

Former Vice President Al Gore, the go-to guy on climate change, is pushing for a public advertising campaign with an estimated annual cost of $100 million to $200 million, making it one of the largest public service ad efforts ever. TV ads, newspaper spreads and Internet ads will roll out in the coming months in the campaign, funded by donations and proceeds from his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." The campaign's focus is on convincing people they can help fight global warming. "It's about communicating the urgency and solvability of the climate crises," says Brian Hardwick, a spokesman for the …

General Motors is positioning its new Chevy Malibu as the "car you can't ignore" in an attempt to capture some of the 700,000 folks who buy Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords each year. "We are the underdogs," says Kim Kosak, general director of Chevy advertising. "This is not a silver bullet car, and this won't be a silver bullet launch. But we have scrutinized the landscape, and we are after a different target, one that is highly skeptical of domestic car brands." The hope is also to lure buyers of cars like the Kia Sonata and Nissan Altima, while working …

After two-plus years of delay, Comcast Corp. is finally rolling out set-top boxes that use TiVo's digital video recording technology. New England is the first market to get them, and the program has just started with test customers only. The new boxes will be commercially available "in coming weeks," Comcast says, but pricing has yet to be disclosed. The deal between Comcast and TiVo was first announced in 2005, and is key to TiVo's future as it tries to attract more customers and turn a profit. The company pioneered the DVR and is still the best-known brand name, but …

A new report from brokerage Bear Stearns says that newspaper companies with holdings in Florida and California will see their ad sales weaken even further as the real estate downturn starts to pinch other categories. "Already struggling with the secular challenges of declining circulation and shifts in ad spending away from print, the cyclical hit of the weak housing market and the ripple effect we believe will occur into retail should continue to weigh on earnings into first half of 2008," writes Bear Stearns analyst Alexia Quadrani. Through August, newspaper ad revenue is down 7% year-to-date, while classifieds alone fell …

Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the powerful Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is roundly denying a report in a conservative magazine that he has initiated an investigation into conservative radio talkers Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin with an eye to bringing back the Fairness Doctrine. The story, which appeared in The American Spectator, is "completely false," according to the California Democrat. "There is not now, nor has there ever been, any investigation of this subject," Waxman says. "The American Spectator should immediately retract its report and apologize for the confusion its fictitious report has caused." In its …

New York has rolled out its first multinational ad campaign as it battles stiff international competition to bring in tourists. Tagged "This Is New York City," the effort highlights the wide range of activities and sights of the Big Apple, and will be on TV in Spain, Ireland, France and the U.K. Billboards are planned for Brazil, Portugal, Italy and Spain, while print is ready to go in countries including South Africa and Germany. NYC & Company, the city's tourism office, has pushed hard overseas, signing up marketing reps and running smaller outdoor campaigns in the U.K. and Ireland. But …

After almost 25 years on USA, early coverage of the Masters Tournament will move to ESPN next year. The sports net will only get three hours a day of live coverage, with limited commercial time, but it is still a big win for the Disney-owned unit to land that much of the tournament. So far, ESPN has only announced the rights to the Masters next year, and a spokesman won't say if the deal goes beyond that. Typically, tournament organizers go with one-year TV rights deals. ESPN says it will run live coverage of the first and second rounds …

A California-based group is shelling out millions for a TV campaign that hopes to change some hearts and minds about same-sex marriage. A 60-second spot from Equality California is set to air this week in Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Palm Springs. It shows a traditional wedding ceremony, complete with flower girl, groom and guests, with one of the last tripping the bride as she marches down the aisle. On-screen text reads: "What if you couldn't marry the person you loved?" According to Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, "the long-term goal is to have the …