NBC, the most ratings-challenged among broadcast networks, is getting a boost in viewership for several of its programs, according to just-released Total Audience Measure Index (TAMi) data. The increase comes mainly from Internet streaming videos, with small assists from VOD and mobile viewing. The show benefiting the most from viewership beyond TV is "The Office." Its first two episodes had a total of 8.7 million Internet video streams. "Heroes" had 8.1 million streams for its two-hour premiere, but that dipped to 4 million streams for its second episode. TAMi was first tested during NBC's coverage of the Summer …

New York Times Targeted Media is launching a magazine for Florida moms this week that is printed on a "purse size" 7-by-9-inch format. Designed for active mothers, the monthly is titled "Go Momma." The new publication will be distributed to 40,000 mothers of children under 15 years in the Tampa Bay area. NYT Targeted Media already publishes the nearby St. Petersburg Times. The magazine coves everyday topics of mothers on the playground, at work, and at school, says editor Katherine Snow Smith. Recipes, family outing ideas and a companion Web site with child-rearing advice are also provided …

CNN and MTV are hooking up for a cross-network television event spotlighting U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The program, slated for Oct. 24-25, will feature a pop concert and special news coverage. The effort ties in with MTV's new lobbying initiative, which aims to get elected officials to support veterans' issues. "A Night for Vets: An MTV Concert for the Brave" will air on MTV Oct. 24 and include both live and taped performances and celebrity appearances. In conjunction with the concert, CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" will air a prime time special Oct. 25 …

Is it news or is it a perverse form of comedy? Comic D.L. Hughley has been tapped by CNN to host a new live program, launching Oct. 25, based on his humorous take on the week's news events and newsmakers. The show airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. and will include live interviews of high-profile news figures. Says Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S., "When you watch as much news as our audience does, there comes a time you just want to stop and laugh. D.L. is a news junkie who is bursting with things to say about what is …

In a controversy that looks suspiciously like a brilliant PR stunt, billboards and commercials for the upcoming movie "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" are being rejected everywhere from baseball games to bus shelters. Indie director Kevin Smith probably could have predicted that placing advertisements for the new comedy from The Weinstein Co. would be not just hard, but buzz-inducing. The pesky word "porno" just keeps getting in the way. Even a workaround ad campaign substituting the lead actors with stick figures failed to pass the prude test -- but did attract lots of attention. Mission accomplished.

The Breeders' Cup tournament is copying an ad planning technique from the Fox sci-fi series "Fringe." The horse-racing championship will run fewer commercials in fewer breaks to give more time to uninterrupted programming. Slated to air on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 on Oct. 24-25, the Breeders' Cup plans to cut in half the number of ad units that run during the races, says Peter Land, marketing chief. The event will have only 12 ad units per hour on Friday and 10 per hour on Saturday. "When you start to see the same spots over and over again, they …

Merrill Lynch media analyst Jessica Reif-Cohen offered a deeply sobering outlook at the Dow Jones/Nielsen Media and Money conference yesterday. "This year's been horrific" for the media industry, said Reif-Cohen, and next year won't be any better. "Expectations that the recession will last a year or less are unlikely to be correct." She predicted this consumer spending recession will resemble pre-World War II downturns, which typically lasted 18 months. Media stocks will start to rebound a quarter before the recession ends; ad spending won't recover until a quarter or two after it ends, she says.

As recently as last month, sales of high-definition television sets looked unstoppable despite a crummy economy. But those days may be over. Market data suggests a sharp decline in spending on consumer electronics. Craig Moffett, Bernstein analyst, cites MasterCard's retail data service, which indicates a 13.8% drop in electronics purchases in September. "As we have been reminded so painfully in recent weeks, what goes up must come down. So it shouldn't be a surprise that HDTV sales may be the next shoe to drop," says Moffett.

Christopher Buckley, son of late conservative icon William F. Buckley, is resigning as columnist at the magazine his father founded. He is under fire from readers for endorsing Barack Obama in a column on the Daily Beast blog last week. "It upset a great number of people -- a huge number of canceled subscriptions, apostasy, the whole thing," he says. When he offered his resignation to the magazine's editors, "I was hoping for, 'Well, let's think about it,' " Buckley says. "But to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, I didn't leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me... it's too …