At the Magazines Publishers of America's first online video conference this week, publishers mulled over how they can make money from Web videos. Paul Speaker, head of Time Studios, insisted that magazines significantly under-use the emerging video platform. This industry has the most "under-leveraged storytellers on the planet," he said. Eric Gonon, television producer at BusinessWeek, said his magazine's strategy is to place video next to the highest trafficked stories on its Web site, embedding it into pages "where people are already going." But getting advertiser interest in the magazines' video content is still elusive. Researchers said …

Disney sports chief George Bodenheimer says he is optimistic about growth prospects for cable network ESPN, which in recent years has been the main engine for Disney's operating income. "Ratings are up, and I am bullish on ESPN's continued advertising (growth)," he says. "We're peddling as fast as we can on every business that serves sports fans." Bodenheimer declines to give growth targets but says that overall, "The entire pie to sports consumption is growing, and ESPN is continuing to ride that wave."

The nation's first weekly sports magazine will cut its publishing schedule from weekly to every other week, beginning Sept. 1. The reformatted print publication will come in a larger, glossier format and will focus more on features than breaking news. In July, Sporting News will begin publishing a free daily online newsletter in PDF format, featuring blue-chip contributors, such as former athletes John Elway and Rick Barry, New York Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner, and sports blogger Will Leitch. The print magazine's rate base is also being cut to 600,000 from 700,000 this summer. Executives say the shift …

The weak U.S. economy is hurting The New York Times, but there are encouraging signs from increases in luxury-related advertising, thanks to the online launch of T: The New York Times Style Magazine. The economic downturn has exacerbated print-revenue declines, "as technology alters the habits of readers and advertisers," CEO Janet Robinson told investors this week. However, national ad sales at the company are up, due to improvements in ads for luxury goods, entertainment/media and financial services. The online edition of The New York Times Style Magazine has attracted American Express, Bloomingdale's, Christian Dior, Hammacher Schlemmer and …

In the latest volley in the heated debate about whether legislation should force broadcasters to pay musical performers for songs aired on the radio, the radio industry is circulating a new study about the benefits of airplay. The study is based on data from Nielsen and Pollstar, and shows--predictably--that when music airs on the radio, record sales of that music go up. "This free advertising drives record sales, and is one way local radio provides value to artists and contributes to their financial success," says the study. In other words, since playing music serves as advertising for the …

This summer, the Dallas Morning News will unveil "Briefing," a free "quick-read" version of the newspaper for non-subscribers, with the most important stories of the day presented in an easy-to-read print format. The new ad-driven publication "is designed for consumers who are interested in the world, but are not able to fit the traditional newspaper into their busy lifestyles," says John McKeon, president of the paper. "Briefing" will have a circ of 200,000 and be published Wednesday through Saturday. The Dallas Morning News also plans to triple the free distribution of its Spanish-language newspaper, Al Dia, in response …