Diversified media companies, such as Time Warner, Disney, News Corp. and Viacom, have a better chance than other companies of staying afloat during this financial crisis, per global ratings agency Fitch Ratings. Such conglomerates benefit from "strong and stable operating liquidity, diverse revenue streams and meaningful amounts of cash on hand." Fitch believes these factors make "some media companies relatively attractive borrowers for banks and bondholders," even under poor market conditions.

Credit problems are springing up throughout the newspaper industry as the global financial and economic crisis takes its toll on an industry already reeling from the Internet and a weak ad market. On Wednesday, the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper reported that it halted payments to its senior creditors, skipping a $9 million quarterly payment on its $432 million in debt. Experts say that's just the beginning. "We didn't think it could get any worse for newspapers, but apparently it can," says Ken Doctor, newspaper analyst with Outsell.

While tough times have prompted many media outlets to consolidate their publications, Bonnier is doing the opposite with Parenting magazine. Next year, it will split the title into two editions: Parenting Early Years and Parenting School Years. A year of research found moms with schoolage children face much different issues than moms with infants and toddlers, and "the differences were not being addressed by current offerings," says Walter Rosenthal, Parenting director. Early Years, with a rate base of 1.65 million, will target mothers of newborns to preschoolers, while School Years, with a rate base of 500,000, will …

Slide, a software startup previously known for tools that help people amuse themselves on MySpace and Facebook, is partnering with major media players. Slide will now handle distribution of TV clips on social media sites for Warner Bros., CBS and Comcast's E Entertainment channel, among others. Social-networking users will be able to view parts of "Nightly News," "Beverly Hills 90210" and other shows for free in a program called "FunSpace Channels." The new agreement also calls for ads sold by Slide to run alongside the video content.

TheChicago Tribune's redesign is out, and readers' response is that it is different, but not better. Nearly 72% of readers responding to a ChicagoBusiness.com poll said they didn't like the new look, with nearly 81% saying the new design makes it no easier to find stories that are important to them. Some 65% of respondents also said there isn't enough space devoted to the stories they want to read. The new format collapses the front, local and business sections into a single section and adds a bolder, more graphics-centered look. Most important for the Trib, 60% of …

Katie Couric's interviews with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin have generated lots of buzz for "CBS Evening News," but only a modest rise in ratings. Couric scored an exclusive interview last week with Palin, which was chopped into segments that appeared on "Evening News" on Wednesday, and Thursday nights. Several clips attracted significant Web traffic. Ratings went up on both nights, though not enough to overtake ABC and NBC. But the buzz helped in other ways. Traffic to CBSNews.com was "substantially higher than normal," and Couric's Webcast following the presidential debate, was the most popular yet, with …

MTV's latest ad strategy includes linking online communities built around its TV programs and tracking viewing of its Web ads and videos. The network is striving to learn more about fans of top shows like "The Hills" or "Real World" through the shows' websites, says Mika Salmi, MTV president. This week the network signed an agreement with Visible Measures to provide second-by-second viewing data on the MTV videos on its site as well as on outside blogs and social networks "We want the advertisers to know how big we are in online video. Internally, we want to understand …

In an ironic twist, after years of marginalizing film reviewers, Hollywood is facing a glut of movies and shrinking pool of established reviewers to get the word out. It turns out the success of movies that aren't blockbusters often depends on people's "consistent relationship [with a critic] to get them to the theater." Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, says there are "notable" declines in movie attendance in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, San Diego and Seattle, because of the departures of influential film critics in those cities. "[Editors] felt they should get new critics that …

Cooking at home is on the rise, and may get a bigger boost as the economy struggles. More than 300 food-related magazines published this year, nearly one-third more than in 2003. Tighter budgets are encouraging more people to entertain at home, feeding demand for recipes and advice. Everyday Food's newsstand sales rose 8.9% in the first half of the year, while sales of Everyday with Rachael Ray gained 6.2%. As a result, this month Hearst will test the Food Network Magazine, Rodale's Prevention is adding a new brand called Cook, and Hoffman Media will launch a magazine tied …