The FCC says 491 TV stations just announced they will go ahead with the digital TV transition Feb. 17, despite congressional action pushing the national changeover to June 12. That number is added to 190 stations that have already gone through the transition or plan to do so before Feb. 17. Included are some big-market stations, in cities such as Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and Baltimore. More than one-third of the nation's approximately 1,800 TV stations will switch early, which could rile critics. Ad groups are concerned about the potential loss of audience. Nielsen …

Lamar Advertising is testing a new digital billboard technology that uses solar power and light-reflecting digital ink instead of light-emitting diodes. For the past few months, Lamar has operated a poster-size billboard equipped with this magink technology in Pensacola, Fla. By April, Lamar plans to move the sign to New York to ensure it works under different weather conditions. Lamar hopes to use the technology for its Vista Media inventory in New York and Los Angeles. Looking more like paper than a lighted sign, the technology offers higher resolution than LED boards, providing more creative options for advertising. …

In December, Jimmy Jellinek, 34, was appointed editorial director of Playboy with little fanfare, making him the man in charge of saving the magazine. The former editor of lad magazines Maxim and Stuff, Jellinek promises no laddie hijinks now. He says he wants to produce a magazine like "the Playboy of the 1960s, which occupied the political and moral high ground." Expect more columnists and classic interviews with leading thinkers, such as economist Paul Krugman. The competition will not be porn, but New Yorker and Vanity Fair, he says. What has Jellinek done so far? Last month, he …

Mark Willes, the former General Mills president known for unprecedented cutbacks at the Los Angeles Times, will become CEO of the Mormon Church-owned Deseret News. Willes will head Deseret Management Corp., parent for the News in Salt Lake City, Utah, a television station and other for-profit enterprises owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Willes, 67, replaces Rodney H. Brady, 76, who is retiring. To many in the newsrooms of the LAT and its sibling newspapers, Willes was a polarizing figure. He shut down Newsday in New York and the Evening Sun in Baltimore. He …

Clear Channel Communications' bonds traded at sharply lower levels after the company announced this week that it was tapping an additional $1.6 billion in credit. Investors are becoming increasingly skeptical that the giant radio and outdoor advertising company will be able to pay back its loans. Clear Channel's term loan due in 2016, among its most senior debt, traded around 45 cents on the dollar late on Tuesday. That is down from around 50 cents last week. A Clear Channel bond due in 2013 traded at 13 cents on the dollar, down from 15 cents at the start …

Cablevision Systems is writing down more than $375 million in the value of Newsday Media, the Long Island newspaper group it purchased last year. The pretax impairment charge will wipe out nearly 70% of the $650 million Cablevision paid to buy the paper from Tribune Co. In an SEC filing, Cablevision says the charges "reflect the continuing deterioration of values in the newspaper industry and the greater-than-anticipated economic downturn" that hurt the media group's ad business. The charges, which will be reflected in the 2008 earnings report, won't result in any future cash outlays. Cablevision had planned …

Sports Illustrated is trying to turn its iconic swimsuit edition into a revved-up marketing machine. The magazine always tries to create lots of buzz for the issue, but this year it has turned its promotional efforts themselves into moneymakers, generating about $3 million in revenue. Among the deals struck by the magazine: PepsiCo's SoBe brand is sponsoring YouTube videos of the swimsuit models frolicking on the Canary Islands and in Naples, Italy. Also, as part of a days-long Vegas celebration, stunt drivers sponsored by Nissan Motor will race cars on a lot adjacent to the Luxor hotel, with swimsuit …

MyNetworkTV is moving toward a new "programming service" business model, featuring syndicated material and the WWE. It is shifting away from its former strict network business model in order to "continue to be a valuable asset in the News Corp. portfolio," says MyNet president Greg Meidel. The network will continue to air "WWE Friday Night Smackdown" on Fridays, plus a two-hour block of NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" on another night. A movie will air on a third night. The rest of the schedule will give stations 12 hours' worth of prime-time programming Monday through Saturday. Specific …

With advertising and television production budgets being cut, TV producers are seeking to soothe the financial pain, coming around to the idea that branded entertainment and product integration are viable symbiotic solutions. Talk-show hosts are on the leading edge of the trend. "Jay Leno is going to be a fresh new platform to experiment with product integration and ad techniques," says Mike Pilot, president of sales for NBC Universal. "Look for us to be very innovative between the show and the commercials." The potential problem is the risk of overexposure, with shows becoming overrun with sales pitches. As …

Micropayments-as-the-savior-of-journalism meme seems to have taken off of late, especially in discussions about The New York Times. The idea is that people would pay small sums for articles or for limited subscriptions, similar to how they buy music on iTunes. But not everyone is convinced. There's enormous amounts of journalism available for free, much of it better than the NYT's, say critics. A newspaper subscription firewall might only serve to help drive Internet traffic to someone better -- an aggregator, perhaps, which finds the best free coverage of every story. A better payment idea is to sell …