Prime-time TV could be credited for paving the way for Barack Obama's historic victory. In recent years, viewers have seen an African-American TV president played by Dennis Haysbert on "24," and -- in an almost eerily prescient parallel -- Matt Santos (played by Jimmy Smits), was a youthful minority congressman who defeated an older senator in the final season of "The West Wing." Obama's debt to television goes even deeper, with his mastery of TV's grammar and visual imagery. For instance, the candidate's slick prime-time infomercial employed a heart-tugging newsmagazine format, proving he picked up a few tricks …

A boom in outdoor advertising has turned Moscow into one of Europe's largest billboard markets, transforming parts of the city into a Times Square-style patchwork of ads in all shapes and sizes. But the spreading ad clutter in historic and tourist districts embarrasses many Muscovites and worries the local ad industry. Many industry executives are now backing the city's push to thin thickets of competing signs and remove larger ads from historic areas. Is this a backlash that could spread to other cities?

Media companies looking for income streams besides advertising might consider T-shirts. The election of Barack Obama has led to a flurry of orders for keepsake T-shirts carrying the headline from CNN.com reporting Obama's victory. Within 24 hours of CNN.com publishing its story about Obama's win, the site sold nearly 5,000 T-shirts. They feature the headline "Obama inspires historic victory." And in smaller type: "I just saw it on CNN.com" and the time and date. In April CNN, working with The Barbarian Group, began offering $15 T-shirts carrying the site's headlines. The promotion is meant to build awareness …

The Washington Post is meeting the incoming Obama administration with new content offerings via its Web site. A new Web page, "Inside the Government Workforce," is designed to provide information about officials up for key posts in the new administration. It offers blogs and new-generation tools to let readers go deeper into the policy-making process, say insiders. "This page is about, for and even by people in the federal workforce and those [who do business with] the federal government," says executive editor Marcus Brauchli.

The warm, cuddly Animal Planet is so yesterday. The new Animal Planet has gotten more aggressive in its programming and its ad sales strategy. It is diversifying the Discovery cable net's client base beyond pet food and kitty litter brands to new clients, such as Pizza Hut, Honda and Mattel. "People do not watch our TV network because they have pets. They like Animal Planet because they like TV," says Marjorie Kaplan, general manager. "We want to retain our base advertisers and become a broad entertainment destination." The network is appealing to 25-to-54s with shows like a competition …

President-elect Barack Obama is expected to name Washington, D.C. lawyer Henry Rivera, a Democrat, to head a transition team focused on the FCC. Rivera served at the FCC from 1981 to 1985 under Republican chairman Mark Fowler. Rivera is married to Dr. Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, who is an associate administrator at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. She is one of the officials running the $1.5 billion digital TV converter box coupon program.

DirecTV is trying to make it easy for advertisers to target its million subscribers with new advertising sales tools on a business-to-business Web site, directvadsales.com. The media kit on the new site helps advertisers navigate through all of DirecTV's ad sales offerings, including traditional 30-second and 60-second spots, interactive advertising campaigns and long-form programming. The site also gives advertisers access to examples of current campaigns, interactive programs, news about new clients and contact information. The company also indicated this week that its satellite television business may reach high-end viewers, but it is not immune to macroeconomic woes.

As the auto industry suffers, its trade magazine AutoWeek is no longer able to keep up a weekly schedule. Publisher Crain Communications will reduce its frequency to every other week starting Jan. 5, 2009. The modified publication will focus on "comprehensive editorial features, vehicle reviews and automotive lifestyle content," says AutoWeek executive KC Crain. Through the first nine months of this year, automotive ad pages have dipped 23.6% and estimated revenue dropped 19.9%, per PIB. AutoWeek, which has a circulation of 259,000, has seen ad pages fall 7.1%.