Comcast Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are teaming to launch a video-on-demand channel featuring action movies and TV shows, aimed at males 18-49. The new "Impact" channel will have about 30 mostly free titles every month, including the James Bond franchise. The selection will tap into MGM's library of over 1,000 action movies and TV shows, including many in high-def. Programming will be grouped as thrillers, crime, war films, martial arts, westerns and espionage. Comcast already has a genre-specific VOD channel FEARnet, which features horror movies and thrillers. In the first quarter of 2008, FEARnet VOD views were up …

Disney and Pixar are intensifying their quest for innovative technologies. Disney is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology to conduct R&D for several Disney projects and companies. Aside from improving ways for fans to interact with robotic and virtual Disney characters, research will include "sports visualization for ESPN, simulations for Disney Interactive Games and artificial intelligence for park attractions and games," say executives. The work will also support Pixar animation. "The scope of technology today means no single company or single university can do everything," says Disney vice president Joe Marks.

CNN will double the number of regions from which its newsgathering staffs operate, even as an advertising slump prompts job cuts at other news organizations. CNN will add 10 regions of coverage including Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Seattle. It will also hire a handful of employees and reassign some current employees to create a mix of traditional news correspondents and "all-platform journalists," who gather news using laptops, cameras and online editing tools. "Everyone's a reporter now, even our viewers," says Nancy Lane, CNN executive. The network has said it intends to own more of …

Everyone talks about the ad revenues that NBC is hauling in at the Olympics for its owner General Electric. But the Games are helping GE in other ways as well; sales of GE industrial products that have been incorporated into Olympic venues will generate profits of more than $150 million. NBC Universal's coverage of the Games has helped GE pry open the potentially vast Chinese market for its lighting, medical equipment, security systems, water treatment technology and wind turbines. For GE, owning NBC Universal has never been just about producing sitcoms, newscasts or movies. The Olympics …

You can't plan for everything. Most viewers in the nation's No. 1 TV market didn't see a special promotion from Honda specifically designed to go along with NBC's "Last Comic Standing" reality show. A unique ad plan, created by NBC, Honda and Honda's agency RPA, involved outside comics appearing in ads during the series and soliciting online votes from viewers. The winner appeared in a long-form ad during the last episode. But the finale show was preempted for football in New York, Cleveland and Baltimore. Crafting ads tailored to programs is gaining more popularity at networks, but …

CNN plans to analyze the out-of-home TV ad exposure of 10 brands that are handled by media shops OMD and PHD. The TV network has commissioned Integrated Media Measurement to collect and study the data with an eye toward bringing more accountability to ads shown in bars, dorm rooms, gyms and other venues. With spending on out-of-home media booming, networks are eager to get a better handle on the relative effectiveness of TV ads inside and outside the family room. IMMI will share the results with the agencies and their participating clients in early 2009.