Those glitzy upfront presentations may well soon be a thing of the past, at least if NBC follows through on a threat to end its annual extravaganza at Radio City Hall. Every May for years, the nets have used elaborate performances to help drum up billions of dollars worth of TV ads, but the Peacock Network may be ready to call off a tradition its chief executive Jeff Zucker now terms a "dog and pony show." Last year, $16 billion worth of ad time was sold during the network upfront, out of a total market of roughly …

Lee Enterprises had a rough go of it in the fiscal first quarter as the newspaper firm reported a 6.2% slide in operating revenues to $279 on weakness in advertising -- including a nearly 20% plunged in real estate classifieds. The company's profit dropped from 58 cents a share to 48 cents and operating cash flow was off 10%. Total ad revenue declined 6.5% to $217.6 million, even as online ad revenue jumped 24%. National advertising was off 24.1%, while circulation revenue was down 4.3%. But it could be worse, says CEO Mary Junck. "We believe we're …

One regional TV net that carries major league baseball and college sports in North Carolina has won a round in its court battle with media behemoth Time Warner. An arbitrator with the Federal Communications Commission has just ruled in favor of the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, saying Time Warner discriminated against MASN because it wanted to protect sports coverage on its own regional network, News 14 Carolina. Now, Time Warner has to carry MASN on the arbitrator's terms -- at least pending appeal. Said arbitrator will review plans from both companies and figure out which best represents the …

Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. have pulled the "two sources" TV ad campaign for cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin after catching heat for holding back on a study questioning the combo's effectiveness. "We have voluntarily and temporarily suspended broadcast advertising for Vytorin and Zetia," says Schering-Plough spokesman Lee Davies said this afternoon. "Vytorin and Zetia print advertising campaigns will continue in consumer print publications and in professional trade journalism." He declines to say how long the TV effort, from Omnicom Group's DDB Worldwide, will be on hiatus. The companies have been under fire since last week, when a study …

In his quest for the Democratic presidential nod, Sen. Barack Obama is taking his ad campaign national -- and that isn't sitting too well with at least one rival. A new 60-second spot running on CNN and MSNBC focuses on his work with Republicans in Illinois and in the U.S. Senate, along with a clip from his 2004 address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, where he spurned the notion of "red" and "blue" states. "This is a man who knows how to get things done," says rookie Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who was elected in the …

NBC has signed up a U.S. version of Endemol's "Celebrity Circus" format, which is already on-air in Argentina and Portugal. The live competition series pits celebrities alongside circus troupes to produce the most engaging performances. The new series will be part of the Peacock Network's "All-American Summer" in its run-up to exclusive coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. "This show will draw our favorite celebrities out of their comfort zone and into a stunning and magical circus environment that allows them to showcase their unseen skills," says Craig Plestis, executive vice president of alternative …

Daytime soap operas may end up going down the drain in coming weeks as the networks resort to episodes penned by writers not on strike. The Writers Guild of America, on strike since early November, has been picketing in front of ABC headquarters in New York to protest the nets airing of "All My Children" episodes written by non-WGA members. The Alphabet Network is the only one that produces all of its own soaps as "Days of Our Lives" on NBC is produced by Corday Prods. and all of CBS' offerings are produced outside the network, two …

The return of "American Idol" not only helped Fox nab first place in the ratings race last week -- the show could well help put the network on top for the entire season. "Idol's" seventh go-round pulled a 13.8 rating, with 33.2 million average viewers. That is down about 10% from recent years, but still beats every other record set this season. This in an age of increased DVR use and slightly lower overall viewership levels. Further, the show has enough viewers to get hit with two 20% ratings drops in the next few weeks -- and still …