Newspaper publishers should consider consolidating and outsourcing news operations to save money as revenues continue to shrink, says MediaNews CEO Dean Singleton. He told the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association that papers should explore outsourcing in nearly every aspect of their operations, including sending copy-editing and design jobs overseas. "In today's world, whether your desk is down the hall or around the world, from a computer standpoint, it doesn't matter. We're exploring is having one news desk for all of our newspapers ... maybe even offshore," he says. MediaNews publishes The Denver Post, The Detroit News and 52 …

Hollywood has found its next bad guy: Wall Street. Film and television studios are rushing to tap America's fixation with the financial crisis and anger at the Wall Street executives blamed for it. NBC's "Law & Order" is building episodes around financial themes and the network is developing a one-hour series called "Outrageous Behavior," a battle of the sexes set in Wall Street. 20th Century Fox has started work on a sequel to "Wall Street," with the Gordon Gekko character. "Our development is tied to what is relevant in today's world," says Teri Weinberg, NBC executive. "We …

Mixed martial arts were supposed to be the next big media phenomenon. Less than two years ago, Showtime co-founded ProElite as an entertainment and media company to tap the trend. When CBS broadcast four live EliteXC events in prime time this year, the sport gained a tremendous amount of visibility. Now ProElite and its promotional brand EliteXC, are gone. The group notified employees and fighters this week it was shutting its doors effective immediately. ProElite hemorrhaged millions during its short life. Negotiations with Showtime to buy the company broke down recently and its funding quickly dried …

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" is now available in Spanish in the country's six largest Hispanic TV markets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston and Dallas. More cities are expected to be added this season. Winfrey's Chicago-based Harpo Productions is picking up the cost of the translation service in order to boost the show's Hispanic audience. "It allows us to serve the fastest-growing demographic of the U.S. population," says a Harpo rep. Advertising spots remain the same, and the show's syndication fees are locked in through 2011. The talk show, now in its 23rd season, is syndicated …

Chief marketing officers of Hewlett Packard and Charles Schwab openly discussed the attractiveness of bypassing agencies to work directly with media companies. They and other executives vented their dissatisfaction with agency models during the ANA conference last weekend. "I don't think any [of our agency] relationships are satisfactory enough. What's lacking is speed to market," said Gary Elliott, HP marketing VP. As a result, HP is "going to pilot relationships where we deal directly with media companies." He pointed to Meredith and Time Warner as candidates. "If I were an agency, I would be really worried about …

Fox News, CNN and MSNBC are enjoying huge gains during the '08 election, but afterwards, their future is less rosy. Rachel Maddow is the sole breakout news personality of 2008. Her ratings are double her predecessor Dan Abrams, and "in an election where age and experience have been knocked around like tetherballs," she has bested Larry King and Keith Olbermann. Assuming the election goes off without a hitch, it's likely all three news nets will show declines immediately. Media buyers assume that younger viewers will be the first to turn away. The sting will be lessened a bit …

In time for a tough employment market, cable operator Comcast and Internet recruiter Monster plan to introduce a television channel devoted to help-wanted advertising. It's expected to start by the end of the year and will be part of the on-demand section of Comcast's digital-cable service. The job channel will reach 16.5 million homes and will be similar to a Comcast channel that runs with ads for cars. Comcast is trying to attract help-wanted advertisers who rarely use TV now. The job channel, called Monster On Demand, will let viewers scroll through job listings using their remote …

Amid media clutter, everyone has to get innovative, even government regulators. To get the word out about the switch to all-digital TV, the Federal Communications Commission is buying space on NASCAR driver's David Gilliland's car. For a reported $350,000, which is about $100,000 less than the going rate, the FCC gets to put its DTV message on the car's hood for three races. FCC chairman Kevin Martin is originally from North Carolina, where NASCAR is huge. "NASCAR fans' awareness and responsiveness to race sponsors are exceptionally high," says Martin. "This is an extremely effective way to raise awareness …

CBS has launched "Social Viewing Rooms" where people can schmooze while watching CBS shows. The idea is that users log in to a special Web site, watch a show and chat with other viewers about what they are watching. The social viewing tool is in beta and can be used in Canada as well as the U.S.,br> CBS is encouraging viewers to "watch your favorite episodes of your favorite shows together with your friends. Boo the latest villains on at the same time, laugh in unison at the same crazy antics on "Worst Week" and toss tomatoes at …