Football fans will soon be able to log on to the Internet to watch top professional games, and the sports world will be able to see how online access to games affects TV viewership. For the first time, the NFL and NBC Sports will widely distribute complete games live on the Internet in the U.S. They plan to stream 17 regular-season games, mostly Sunday night match-ups. It is a tentative step, covering only games that air on NBC. The plan excludes the league's playoffs and the Super Bowl, which airs on NBC next year.

The news and data company Thomson Reuters is planning to start a television news channel that will run on a cable or digital platform and the Internet as early as January 2009. The new channel would compete directly with Bloomberg and CNBC. Late last week, the company opened a television studio in its New York newsroom in preparation for the push into the TV business news business. In May, Thomson announced it would eliminate about 140 existing news positions and add about 50 jobs for upcoming projects that closely integrate its news, video and picture operations.

Unfortunately for publishers and other media companies, it is getting a lot more common for advertisers to rethink and renege on supposedly done ad buys. Besides the sour economy and more competition, the rising number of innovative deals that can seem strange to a new CMO or agency are triggering the changes. In a high profile case, Dell and its new agency, Enfatico, are reconsidering expensive back-cover buys with Forbes, BusinessWeek and the Economist, which were supposed to last as long as three years. "Many years ago, you held clients to a deal come hell or high …

"The Dark Knight" became the first film to surpass $300 million in 10 days. The Time Warner release took in $76 million in ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters, giving it $314 million since its July 18 debut, per Media By Numbers. The revenue helped Warner Bros. vault from last place among Hollywood's six major studios to second with 2008 sales of $789 million as of July 24. "This could reach $400 million in 18 days. No film has ever done that before," notes an analyst. "The Dark Knight," starring the late Heath Ledger as the …

Wal-Mart is readying a new interactive version of its in-store digital TV and signage network, dubbed the Wal-Mart Smart Network. Improvements include moving the TV screens much closer to eye level and incorporating the screens into product displays. The upgrade will also provide interactive digital screens in the health and beauty departments, where shoppers can get product information and refine their product choices. The interactive program is similar to a test Wal-Mart is conducting with Procter & Gamble that modifies the online recommendation content for Olay for You products for use in stores.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate Thursday to go after copyright violators prompted industry players, such as the MPAA and NBC Universal, to immediately voice their support. MPAA chairman Dan Glickman said the measure would help "strengthen our economy and generate more American jobs." U.S. copyright industries account for more than 11% of the nation's gross domestic product, he noted. A key provision in the bill is the establishment of an intellectual property enforcement coordinator, who would report directly to the president. Enforcement would be left to the FBI, which would form a task force …

Although syndicated celebrity shows thrive on famous 20somethings like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, they don't attract viewers of the same age. Almost all the shows have median ages of 50 -- and that median is getting older at a rate faster than TV in general, per Nielsen. In the last few years, gossip shows have aged about three to four years, while shows such as "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" have aged a year or less in the same period. Younger viewers are keeping track of celebrity gossip on TMZ.com, Perez Hilton and elsewhere on …