Magazine publishers have gotten slapped with word that a major distribution company is about to jack up the rates it charges to deliver issues to retailers. Starting Feb. 1, Anderson News will impose a 7-cent charge for each copy of a magazine that it delivers to stores. Magazines have a sell-through rate of around 38% and the surcharge would apply to both sold and unsold copies. American Media, which is on the brink of bankruptcy, could be hit with a bill of up to $12 million. People, which has one of the best sell-through rates in the business, …

On Jan. 9, Hearst told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the paper was being put up for sale and would stop printing if a buyer wasn't found in 60 days. It's unlikely the paper will last past March. What does a newspaper's staff do when faced with the deadliest of deadlines? It writes about itself on the Internet. Different journalists, including managing editor David McCumber, are covering the P-I's two-month drain day-by-day on a blog called "Sixty Days." The blog carries little historical stories about the paper, newsroom video and accounts of McCumber's attempts to find a …

A Deutsche Bank analyst slashed his 2009 earnings estimates for News Corp., projecting more deterioration in the advertising and DVD markets. Doug Mitchelson expects Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to earn 89 cents per share in 2009, down from a forecast of $1.06 per share. In general, analysts expect 96 cents per share, per Thomson Reuters. For the company's fiscal second quarter, Mitchelson cut his profit estimate to 21 cents from 29 cents per share and hinted that the worse is yet to come. He warns that the economic downturn has cut across several of the company's businesses, …

Softening ratings for MTV may exacerbate the effects of a weak TV advertising market for parent Viacom, says Barclays analyst Anthony J. DiClemente. He estimates MTV's ratings were down about 24% in the fourth quarter, as younger viewers moved online. Streaming video sites like Hulu.com and Netflix are gaining popularity as more consumers turn to their computers to watch TV. DVD sales at Viacom's Paramount unit also continue to be weak, he notes. DiClemente lowered his 2009 earnings estimate for Viacom to $2.15 per share from $2.40 per share. Overall, Analysts expect a profit of $2.40 …

Two subsidiaries of Charter Communications missed interest payments worth $73.7 million by a mid-January deadline, raising the potential for a bankruptcy filing. The St. Louis cable operator, controlled by Paul Allen, has been trying to restructure its debt since December and says it has a grace period for interest payments that ends in mid-February. Charter says it has about $900 million in cash and cash equivalents, which it is earmarking for operating costs and expenses. Citi analyst David Hamburger says the news about the missed payments increases the likelihood that Charter will file Chapter 11, "given how …

China plans to spend $6.6 billion on expanding news coverage around the world. China Central TV, People's Daily and other Chinese news organizations intend to hire hundreds of reporters and are laying plans for an al-Jazeera-style, 24-hour, state-owned global TV network. As part of the plan, new Chinese-owned, English-language newspapers are planned both in the U.S. and China. To put this media blitz in perspective, for $6.6 billion China could buy the Washington Post Co. and Gannett and have enough money left over to buy The New York Times Co. Just one problem: China doesn't have a …

In a sign that struggling media outlets could find new life with foreign owners, London's Evening Standard newspaper is in talks to sell a 75% stake to Russian banker Alexander Lebedev. The billionaire and former lieutenant-colonel in the KGB would be the first Russian citizen to own a high-profile UK newspaper. The newspaper is believed to have rejected an earlier attempt by Lebedev to buy the newspaper outright. Lebedev is a member of the Russian parliament and heads the National Reserve Bank in Russia. He is also the owner of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which has been critical …

Belden Associates, which has provided newspapers with proprietary marketing, editorial and circulation research for 68 years, is going out of business. CEO Sammy Papert announced the move in a newsletter to clients Wednesday. He claimed that in recent years newspapers had a "declining appetite" for proprietary audience research that would help them "understand existing audiences and identify new ones." Papert says it did not make sense to invest time and money in creating a downsized Belden. At the same time, the interactive division of Belden Associates is branching off and starting life as a separate company in …

Media layoffs have gotten common. Less common are media companies asking their surviving employees to take pay cuts in order to keep their jobs. In an effort to retain its talent base, New York, which laid off a few people last year, is asking its core writing staff to "redefine" their pay scale. The new definition apparently involves getting paid less and the cuts don't appear to be the same amount for each writer. The move seems to make sense. Magazine owner Bruce Wasserstein is a billionaire, but his industry shrank by 12% last year and the high-end …

House Republicans are trying to change the minds of a growing chorus of lawmakers and activists who want to delay the Feb. 17 DTV transition. Texas Congressman Joe Barton and 14 other Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce committee say that delaying the deadline would hurt the public safety improvements intended by the transition. Many Democrats and groups, such as the Consumers Union, maintain that numerous Americans are woefully unprepared for the DTV transition. The matter came to a head last week when the federal bureau that hands out $40 coupons for DTV converter boxes ran out …