General Motors, one of the country's largest ad spenders, will create new pain for the advertising and media sectors by cutting its sales and marketing budget. The marketing cuts, which GM announced this week, are part of a broader cost-cutting initiative by the auto maker, the latest in a series of ad-budget cuts that started in 2006. Newspapers, already struggling, have been the hardest hit. GM's ad spending on newspapers was down 32% in 2007 from 2006, per TNS. Compare that to GM TV ads, which dropped 11% in 2007. GM's reductions could also encourage other automakers …

Could a new owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team start a new cable TV channel devoted to the team? That's one of the enticing ideas the Tribune Co, is floating as part of its planned sale of the Cubs, Wrigley Field and its 25% stake in Comcast SportsNet. Opening bids for the team are due by Friday. After Comcast SportsNet's rights to broadcast Cub games expires in 2019, a new owner could conceivably create a new sports network dedicated to the Cubs. The idea is a tempting prospect, say observers, considering the size of the …

Greg Osberg, Newsweek's president and worldwide publisher, is leaving the Washington Post Company this fall. No successor has been named, though Jon Meacham, the magazine's editor, is considered a prime candidate. Osberg joined Newsweek in 1990, then left in 1997 to become president of sales and marketing at CNet, but came back in 2000 to build the international editions and Newsweek.com. "I have a passion for the digital space," Osberg says. "I've always wanted to return there." He says his next move would most likely not be in the magazine industry. Osberg's departure comes as advertising …

Phil Griffin is ceding control of NBC's "Today," freeing him to focus exclusively on the oversight of MSNBC. The 25-year NBC News veteran takes control as MSNBC enjoys a remarkable ratings run. In the second quarter, MSNBC, averaged an increase of 46% among adults 25-54 in prime time, compared to the same period last year, putting MSNBC just slightly behind CNN. NBC News president Steve Capus says the time is right to give Griffin full control of the cable operation, which is "one of the most important assets we have at NBC News and is poised to …

Katharine Weymouth, The Washington Post's publisher since February, is among the last of the great American newspaper families. She is also photogenic, driven and not given to corporatespeak. Tough financial times mean "we have to make some choices about what we can cover and what we can't-and those are going to be hard choices," she says. "There are days when I look at the front page and think, You must be kidding me!" Weymouth's goal seems to be to involve herself in any aspect of the newspaper that defines its brand--and she's comfortable with the resulting …

Once the staple of broadcast television, the traditional family sitcom has been relegated lately to niche cable channels like TBS, which airs "Engvall" and The Disney Channel, which has "Hannah Montana." In recent years, the proliferation of Internet and video games and the fragmentation of the American family have undermined the traditional family comedy on network TV. "The family comedy is like that kid in the corner of the quad who's not the coolest kid, but he's a good solid kid," says Michael Wright, content chief for TNT, TBS and TCM. "Everybody wants the hippest and newest thing, …

Certainly ad pages in business magazines, newsweeklies and celebrity titles declined in the first half of 2008, according to PIB. But it isn't all grim news. In the business sector, Condé Nast's Portfolio, launched last spring, posted a 69% spike in ad pages and Mansueto Venture's Fast Company rose 31%. Music magazines saw dwindling ad pages, except for Spin, which pulled in 15% more pages. In celebrity magazines, OK! realized a 32% spike and InTouch Weekly jumped 14%. These winners are all the more impressive compared to consumer magazines' overall performance, with ad pages slipping 7.4% for …