Disney on Ice--traveling shows populated with ice skaters dressed as Disney cartoon characters--are teaching youngsters about the Disney brand and helping the media company expand into difficult foreign markets. "People don't realize these kinds of live shows can be extremely powerful brand builders," said analyst Alan Gould. Establishing Disney Channel outposts around the world has proceeded slowly because of tight government restrictions on foreign media. But those rules don't apply to the ice shows. Now Pixar is getting into the act, with characters from "Cars" joining the show, and Pixar creative guru John Lasseter working on an upcoming …

Advertisers' optimism is waning. Pessimism about ad spending in broadcast TV is particularly bad, according to a new survey by market-research firm Advertising Perceptions. Almost one-third of media buyers said they expect to decrease spending in broadcast in the next six months. The survey also shows that a higher percentage of respondents said they would decrease their budgets in broadcast TV, magazines, newspapers, radio and outdoor this year than said they would increase their budgets in those media.

Could it be that reality TV is over-hyped? While the future of franchise dramas, such as "CSI" and "Law & Order," has seemed dim lately, things may be changing. TV experts think such dramas are networks' best hope for keeping viewers loyal amid multiplying entertainment options. "A franchise lends familiarity in a crowded TV landscape," says Brad Adgate, senior executive at Horizon Media. "It's like doing a sequel to a movie." This year's season of the original "Law & Order" actually had more viewers than last year's, even though the audience may be aging and viewers for …

The Los Angeles Times plans to cut 250 positions across the company, including 150 positions--or 17%--of the newsroom jobs. In a further cost-cutting step, the paper will also publish 15% fewer pages each week. "Thanks to the Internet, we have more readers than at any time in our history. But also thanks to the Internet, our advertisers have more choices, and we have less money," Editor Russ Stanton told his staff. The prospects are for continued revenue shrinkage through the end of this year. Staff cuts cross all departments, including circulation, marketing advertising, print editorial and online editorial. …

Insiders say that Marcus Brauchli, former editor at The Wall Street Journal, is going to be the next executive editor of The Washington Post. Press reports state that an official announcement about who will succeed Len Downie in the job is expected early next week. Brauchli resigned from the WSJ in May and his lawyer reportedly has met with News Corp., the WSJ's parent, to make sure his non-compete agreement won't be an issue for the Post job. Friends also say Brauchli has been eager to get back into an editing role.

In an experiment that might portend the future of magazine publishing, JPG magazine co-founder Derek Powazek has unveiled MagCloud, a print-on-demand service. The project, currently in beta, allows users to upload pages in PDF files and then MagCloud prints the publication on paper, handles subscriptions and mails the issues. "It's the future of magazine publishing," Powazek says. "MagCloud wants to be the people's printing press." The process costs the print publisher 20 cents a page for printing, plus about $1.50 per issue for shipping. The idea is to appeal to independent, niche and do-it-yourself publishers. The service …

Networks' experiments to keep flighty viewers tuned in to commercials include split screens and ad-sponsored microseries. For instance, TLC treated viewers to a glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes of a home-makeover game show with a "box inside the box" during the show's commercials. Networks that skew younger--such as Fox, the CW and MTV--are the most aggressive because younger people channel surf more. CW offers 10-second "CWickies" ads and this season will debut "CWingers," in which the plot of the commercials start and end on TV, with the middle part on the Web. The …