The Wall Street Journal is planning a "premium initiative" to sell "narrower information services" at a higher subscription rate to subsets of its readership, according to Alan Murray, executive editor of WSJ Online. Among the first offerings of this tiered-premium service will be energy coverage and a news service for chief financial officers, say insiders. Murray advises other publications to put niche-oriented online content behind a pay wall. Sure -- it may be easier to identify those opportunities with financial news, but he uses the example of a local newspaper that could charge for coverage of high school sports, …

Consumers remain open to printed custom publications, at least according to a new survey by Roper and the Custom Publishing Council. In the 2009 survey, 59% of respondents said they look through print custom publications they receive. People generally understand that such publications are marketing vehicles. More than three-quarters said they "don't mind that sponsors are clearly selling their products and services, as long as the publications are filled with interesting information." Indeed, 66% said they're "likely to buy from the company that provided them with a custom publication." Custom publications seem to benefit from the contrast with …

Fox has picked up the reality show "Someone's Gotta Go," which enters real businesses and gives employees the power to decide which one of them will be terminated. Endemol USA is behind the show, which could be on the air by late summer or early fall. "It's 'Survivor' meets 'The Office,'" says Fox reality chief Mike Darnell. Each episode will revolve around a different small business -- usually one with 15-20 employees -- that has been forced to make staff reductions because of the sour economy. Employees will be assisted by a professional business coach who will double as …

Some National Public Radio member stations fear that NPR budget cuts might make it harder for them to bring in corporate underwriting and listener donations. The concern is that national cutbacks will hurt the quality of marquee public radio shows "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," which typically bring in the lion's share of funds. Currently, local station fund drives raise money for the stations themselves, although some of the money goes toward dues to NPR for its programming. But there has been a suggestion that member stations hold fund drives directly for NPR, which has gotten many station …

By the end of the year, Canoe Ventures -- a consortium of major cable operators, Dish Network, and others -- will roll out "addressable" ad technology that allows companies to run two or more commercials aimed at different slices of viewers during the same 30-second time slot. The first major initiative by Canoe begins in late May with cable networks such as USA and MTV. Another venture by Comcast in Baltimore is slicing viewers into four groups based on shared characteristics --such as whether they likely have a new baby or own a dog. Burger King plans to …

Mars, in the wake of its $23 billion merger with Wrigley, is reviewing its domestic media chores. Mars' media spending in the U.S. last year was $530 million -- down 10% from '07, per Nielsen. Wrigley spent $250 million on ads last year, up 22% from '07. MediaVest is the incumbent on the Mars business in the U.S., while Mindshare handles the Wrigley account. Sources say both agencies are defending, but it is unclear whether other agencies were being invited to participate. The review is part of a larger market-by-market appraisal process by Mars, covering various regions worldwide. The …

Under attack from the newspaper industry, Google sought to defend itself on two fronts yesterday. In answer to the Associated Press, which says it is working on a plan to protect its content from misappropriation on the Internet, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, said AP has a "multimillion-dollar" deal with Google to host and distribute AP news. Alexander Macgillivray, Google attorney, also tried to answer papers that complain Google and Yahoo make millions distributing the news content that the papers create. He asserts that Google actually helps newspaper sites make money through online advertising and does not misappropriate their content. …

McClatchy Chief Executive Gary Pruitt shared some hopeful details about his company at the Newspaper Association of America's meeting this week. He said 15% of McClatchy's advertising revenue today comes from online ads and that the company will generate nearly $200 million in digital revenue this year at a higher profit margin than its print business. That's significant because 15% is above the average newspaper publisher's take from digital. Also, $200 million would be almost enough to run The New York Times newsroom operations for a year. The fact that online profit margins have finally surpassed print margins …

One of the media industry's most stable venues continues to struggle in an extremely tough economy. Three of the nation's five big broadcast networks showed year-over-year declines in 2008 ad revenue, per TNS. Only Fox and NBC were up in 2008 -- thanks to the Super Bowl and the Olympics. It's relatively rare for broadcast revenues to decline from one year to the next, and the slump is likely to put the big networks in a weakened position in negotiations during this year's upfront. Many advertisers are playing things much more close to the vest, canceling options for …

Courting children as well as their hipster parents, live-action preschool series "Yo Gabba Gabba" is expanding well beyond its TV roots. The show, which is starting its third season on Nickelodeon, has spawned a live tour in Australia and the U.S. this year as well as a feature film that's slated for 2010. In addition, "Gabba" has sealed more than 40 merchandising licenses, including an extensive collection of toys and the DVD "New Friends," which hits stores this week. More than 20 "Gabba" books will be published this year by Simon and Schuster. The show has developed …