Condé Nast Publications has trimmed its corporate pension plan, announcing that whatever money is in the pension plan is now frozen and that parent Advance Publications will no longer contribute to the plan. In addition, employees who are not yet vested in the pension plan will no longer be eligible to become vested. The company will continue to make limited contributions into employees' 401(k) retirement plans. A company rep states that the plan was "modified to help the company manage its business through this challenging time." The drop in ad pages at Condé Nast has reached 30% …

When you are the fourth-place network, it's a tough challenge to get the attention of viewers, even when you have something new or intriguing. Two shows that recently premiered on fourth-placed NBC barely moved the Nielsen needle. Most surprising was "Kings," the ambitious two-hour opener of a modern-day David & Goliath tale, starring Ian McShane. It was seen by only 6.1 million viewers last week, less than half the audience of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," which aired at the same time. Viewership was even less than the collection of old "Saturday Night Live" skits that ran in the same …

The New Yorker, Condé Nast's literary title, got 10 nominations for the American Society of Magazine Editors' prestigious National Magazine Awards. The categories include General Excellence, Reporting, and Feature Writing. GQ, also owned by Condé, was the second-most nominated with eight nominations, the most ever for GQ in a single year, per ASME. While The New Yorker has received more awards (47) than any other magazine, nominations don't always translate into wins, as evidenced by 2007, when the title got 12 nominations but won none.

Score one for big billboards. A federal judge found the city of Los Angeles in contempt of court this week for issuing citations against a company that erects enormous outdoor advertising signs. In a tentative decision, the judge said the city would have to rescind citations it issued against World Wide Rush LLC for its massive signs draped across two buildings and must pay the company's legal fees, which are expected to be around $100,000. World Wide Rush was cited for hanging signs without permits, although the city had refused to issue permits, citing a ban on so-called supergraphics. …

The Conde Nast Media Group, headed by Richard Beckman, is expected to be hit by job cuts as soon as this week. The unit, which formed in 2004, handles more than 80% of the company's revenue. With a staff of 135, the Media Group takes the lead on big corporate marketing programs and contracts with advertisers that buy across three or more Conde titles. It has less work on its hands this year in the absence of "Fashion Rocks," its biggest program, which is on hiatus for 2009. Beckman's role atop the Media Group was also recently questioned when …

Media companies have begun furiously experimenting with new strategies they hope will help them retain their relevance, including personalized newspapers and a re-energized interest in robust CRM programs. More media outlets are reviewing all of the content that they own and trying to figure out how to package it in a way that will provide the most value to loyal customers. "Newspapers, magazines and other companies have to think about what content they reserve and what they don't," says David Rosen, senior vp at Loyalty Lab. Asking people to sign up for digital content, for example, creates a …

The Council for Research Excellence, a cross-industry think tank of top executives from agencies and TV networks, has spent the past year executing a $3.5 million project called the "Video Consumer Mapping Study." Its research is set to explode some commonly held myths about how consumers watch TV. The survey is expected to reveal such things as which age groups do the most media multi-tasking; whether younger viewers are really shifting away from traditional TV and how much commercial time viewers are exposed to. The major findings are being kept for a presentation on Thursday, March 26. …

At the Radio Advertising Bureau conference this week, Radio One's urban stations KMJQ-FM and KBXX-FM in Houston were treated as textbook cases of how to adjust programming to adapt to the new PPM ratings technology. "You have to look at everything: jocks, where you place stopsets, how you do your contesting. PPM is so unforgiving," advised Radio One vie president Doug Abernathy. The sales component of Radio One's PPM strategy involves training account execs to educate the marketplace about the new ratings currency. "We have become students in PPM, so we can answer questions for clients," Abernathy said. …

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, is urging the Justice Department to consider giving San Francisco Bay Area papers "more leeway to merge or consolidate business operations to stay afloat." Pelosi released her two-page letter to the Justice Department after meeting in her Capitol office last week with the San Francisco Chronicle editor-at-Large Phil Bronstein and Hearst general counsel Eve Burton, where they discussed the future of the paper and federal media shield legislation. Hearst has said it may have to close the San Francisco Chronicle because of financial difficulties.

With advertising softness cutting into its revenue, Martha Stewart wants to get a bigger piece of the estimated $52 billion consumers spent on their pets in 2008. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia will add pet-related content to its TV and radio show and in its magazines, which include Martha Stewart Living, Everyday Food and Body + Soul. The company also plans to launch a new pet channel on its Web site, with Nestle Purina PetCare serving as the primary sponsor. The advertiser will be integrated into the site as well as in two segments on upcoming episodes of "The Martha …