To support its marketing initiatives, Denny's is rolling out a digital out-of-home network across its restaurant locations through a five-year pact with IndoorDIRECT. The program calls for LCD screens in dining rooms to carry IndoorDIRECT's hour-long lifestyle program covering news, entertainment, music and sports. About one-third of the 60 minutes is devoted to advertising. Denny's investment in the network follows a year of testing at a handful of its locations. "The restaurant network is great entertainment that represents an additional value to our customers," says Mark Chmiel, Denny's CMO. Initially offered in 300 Denny's locations in large …

Postmaster General John E. Potter has requested Congress for the flexibility to offer five days a week of mail service. No one knows what day the Postal Service will drop, but depending on the day, it will hurt newspapers, magazines, direct marketers or coupon mailers. Newspapers, looking to expand the use of mail delivery to reach suburban and rural subscribers, could lose no matter what day is dropped. For business magazines, "the two days that would not be acceptable are Monday and Saturday," says David Strauss, Washington counsel for American Business Media. Media trade groups suggest that …

President Obama's desire to talk to the American public could cost broadcast networks millions of prime-time TV dollars. Broadcasters are bracing themselves for the likelihood of three prime-time interruptions in three weeks, totaling a loss of at least three hours of prime ad breaks. "His economic stimulus package apparently does not extend to the TV networks," one network exec notes. The president's news conference today is expected to eat up the first hour of prime time; costing broadcasters more than $9 million in lost ad revenue. Obama's also mulling a shorter prime-time appearance Feb. 16, and on Feb. …

NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker has managed to stay positive during daunting times, especially about MSNBC. "NBC Universal's 2008 profits were up 1%. I don't think there's a media company out there that's had a better year," he boasts. MSNBC used to be an also-ran, but last year it changed the entire game, attracting an entirely new audience, Zucker contends. The fact that MSNBC has a reputation for leaning left, largely because of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, has not had any adverse impact on NBC News. "NBC Nightly News," "Today" show and "Meet the Press" all now …

The magazine Every Day with Rachael Ray will launch "Supermarket 101" in April, a monthly section that "goes into shopping carts to see what turns shoppers on, what products they love and analyzes their receipts," says editor Theresa O'Rourke. Parent company Reader's Digest Association will introduce the package via a "State of the Supermarket" feature in April. Playing off the section's theme, the magazine is introducing content that is designed like a supermarket circular. Topics include hidden grocery shopping costs, the best online grocery services and top-selling sodas. To gather the material, the magazine has hired a network of …

Citing public safety and urban blight, Los Angeles and the state of California are considering measures that could restrict the growth of digital boards. At the end of 2008, L.A.'s city council declared a 90-day moratorium on new digital boards, until it decides how to regulate them. The state also is considering a statewide moratorium on building more digital boards. The Outdoor Advertising Association of America is countering the moves with a study from Arbitron showing that people actually like digital boards. Digital boards have been a financial boon to outdoor companies, which have increased revenue from a single …

The recent World Economic Forum in Davos sometimes seemed like a duel between the world's two most prominent ad execs, Martin Sorrell and Maurice Lévy. The two used the event as a stage to compete for the attention of advertisers, investors, journalists and fellow media magnates. When not competing for television air time, they are battling over takeover targets or clients - and trading unusually sharp barbs. Despite their differences and antagonism, the two men are similar in some important ways. For instance, neither Lévy nor Sorrell has ever made an ad or managed a marketing campaign. Instead, …

EchoStar Corp. has quietly accumulated a substantial portion of Sirius XM Satellite Radio's maturing debt. This could be the first salvo in an attempt to take control of the embattled company. Charles Ergen, who controls a satellite-television empire that owns Dish Network, recently acquired part of a $300 million debt package that matures on Feb. 17. Sirius recently converted part of the debt to equity, reducing the total debt outstanding to about $175 million. EchoStar could be pursuing a plan to use the debt as a way to take control of the company either inside or …

Scripps Networks Interactive says that cancellations of its second-quarter upfront buys are running "in the low teens," compared to pullbacks in the first quarter, which came in at around 6%. SNI president John Lansing says the Scripps nets have been seeing "a fair number of advertisers coming back into the scatter marketplace looking to negotiate on price." Scatter pricing across the five networks -- HGTV, Food Network, DIY, Fine Living and GAC -- is down 10% compared to last year. But at Food Network alone scatter pricing is up 11% over its upfront levels. Pricing at the second …