If you haven't seen the negative presidential campaign ads the media's been fussing over, it's because they are not being aired. The presidential candidates are putting some of their most provocative claims in videos meant to get the attention of the media without the expense of actually buying time to show them, says Evan Tracey, TNS chief. Each campaign appears to be rolling out new ads at the rate of one or more a day, but only four or five make up the bulk of the ads that television viewers see during commercial breaks. Two ads, for instance, …

MSNBC thinks investigative journalism on TV is a natural source of content for the Web. To prove it, Chris Hansen, the Dateline NBC investigative reporter known for the controversial ongoing "To Catch a Predator" reports, is getting his own Web site courtesy of MSNBC.com. The new The Hansen Files site features video and text related to Hansen's investigative stories on "Dateline" and archived footage from past "To Catch a Predator" reports. It will also serve as a forum for viewers to comment, respond and pitch the reporter with ideas. Beyond the new site, Hansen plans to begin …

MGM, Lionsgate and Paramount have been working to create a premium movie channel that would take on HBO, Showtime and Starz. They were counting on Comcast to be a partner and distribute their channel, but Comcast recently pulled out. Now the three Hollywood studios are scrambling to find distribution partners--including offering "market exclusive" deals with satellite or telephone providers eager to steal subscribers from Comcast. "We're flexible," says Mark Greenberg, the executive who runs the venture, called Studio Three Partners. Observers point out that movie watching is declining on channels such as HBO and Showtime, which now …

General Electric Co shares tumbled 6.6% on Wednesday, even as the conglomerate's chief said people should "not be panicked" about the current financial crisis. GE, parent company of NBC Universal, has lost about 17%of its market value, or $46.7 billion, over the past week. GE shares sold off as investors worried that the trouble at Lehman, AIG and other large financial services firms may be a warning sign about GE Capital, the financial arm that provides about half of GE's profits. GE chief Jeff Immelt tried to be reassuring. "GE capital earned $5.2 billion through the first …

Steve Dildarian was the brains behind the comical Budweiser "Lizards" spots, which he wrote while at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners a few years back. Now the ad guy is becoming a TV guy. As a side project during his Bud stint, Dildarian worked on a series of pilots, including a wry animated short he wrote with his girlfriend called "Angry Unpaid Hooker," which screened at the 2006 Comedy Arts Festival. One thing led to the next; and based on the hooker pilot, Dildarian was commissioned to create the animated series "The Life & Times of Tim," which …

People like TV. They don't want to give it up even if the economy is going to hell in a hand basket. Actually, Americans are less willing to sacrifice TV programming in a recession than in good times, according to some Wall Street analysts. "Incumbent cable TV providers are better protected [from the economy] than other businesses because their only competitive pressure is from Verizon and AT&T, which aren't big enough yet to pose a serious threat," says analyst Chris King. Among all the cable players, Comcast, like a cockroach, is perceived as a safe bet in …

The chaos roiling Wall Street this week erases hope that a cure is on the horizon for the ailing advertising industry. The financial industry's double-digit ad spending growth through the first three quarters of 2007 has dropped to zero so far this year, per TNS. Among the suffering financial companies, American International Group is canceling advertising commitments. TNS estimates that AIG's advertising budget last year was $118.7 million, mostly for television. The sudden downturn will likely spark a broader advertising slowdown. "We're talking about people's money here," says TNS research chief Jon Swallen, "The state of financial …

After pitching media buyers on the concept of customized ad narratives that offer clients a clutter-free environment, Scripps has drafted 26 separate "Short Stories" for brands, such as Dial's Tri-Scent and Liberty Mutual. Each treatment is structured around three vignettes, which run in successive pods throughout a single half-hour program. In the Tri-Scent effort, a homemaker puts the finishing touches on her basement renovation with an assist from the product. The first and third installments lead into a 30-second spot. Research commissioned by HGTV indicates that brand recall more than tripled in the two months that the …