As the unlikely "Britain's Got Talent" contestant Susan Boyle makes her way through the pop-culture zeitgeist, she could change American reality TV. The frenzy over Boyle may open the door for less-photogenic people to audition for shows, such as NBC's "America's Got Talent." "Now [you'll get] somebody who says, 'I think I am talented, and I don't think people will judge me for the way I look,' " says judge Simon Cowell. "Does America have its own Susan Boyle, talent that comes out of nowhere that can stun the audience?" asks judge Piers Morgan. That said, Cowell …

CBS News is reviving its documentary series "CBS Reports." It will use the format for several stories on how the economic meltdown is affecting children. The network will report extensively on the topic for a week in May on its morning and evening newscasts, on "Face the Nation" and its Web site. "We haven't done a real division-wide initiative for a while, and it was time to do it," says CBS president Sean McManus. On Saturday "CBS Evening News" was broadcast from Detroit, using the format. Other CBS platforms are working on their own stories. "CBS Reports" aired …

Hearst Magazines is considering a major overhaul of 124-year-old flagship Good Housekeeping in a bid to move it from a service title to a lifestyle magazine. Lifestyle readers tend to be younger and more affluent. If a marketing test goes as expected, the company may raise GH's cover price by a dollar, to $3.49, increase the trim size and reduce its 4.6 million-rate base. A decision is expected to come within two to three months. "If the metrics play out, we will take the magazine up a size," says Michael Clinton, CMO at Hearst. "It would be a …

New York magazine is cutting two issues from its weekly publishing schedule in anticipation of a summertime pullback by advertisers. The issues dated June 22 and August 17 will not be published. "These are two weeks not popular with advertisers," says Serena Torrey, executive director of business development. New York also cut an issue in January, so it will publish 43 issues this year. According to the PIB, ad pages for New York plummeted nearly 40% during the first quarter of 2009. Estimated revenue was also down 40%, or roughly $20 million.

Many network bosses seem to understand that they have reached an inflection point and that the industry's business model has got to change. As a result, we can expect that network television will look very different five years from now. The prime-time period likely will be shorter, programs will be tailored to audiences, and increasingly, advertisers will show up in the programs instead of just the commercials. Even more radical, say industry insiders: Networks may turn over programming to outsiders some nights or let local stations provide their own shows on certain evenings. To save money, NBC …

In response to questions about privacy issues, Canoe Ventures is offering up its point of view. Cable TV privacy is a hot button being pushed by the Center for Digital Democracy and its executive director Jeff Chester, and is currently being scrutinized by Congress. In an e-mail to Broadcasting & Cable, Canoe states that it is "designing and building products that comply with the comprehensive privacy rules that govern the cable industry and that follow best practices in protecting consumer privacy." Its first product -- slated for a May launch -- "allows for the delivery of a different …

Initiative has managed to keep Home Depot's estimated $600 million media account after a review. Initiative also added digital duties, which had previously been handled by Digitas. Contenders in the review included Mindshare, Carat, Zenith Optimedia and Digitas. The winning pitch was led by Dennis Donlin, former president of GM Planworks, an entity within Starcom MediaVest that serviced the General Motors assignment. Donlin left Planworks in early 2008 after SMG decided to absorb the group into its broader operations. Donlin is expected to helm strategy for the Home Depot business at Initiative. The media contest follows the …

New York Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. says there are no plans to take the company private. At the publisher's shareholders meeting yesterday, Sulzberger also said that Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire who recently became one of the company's largest shareholders, has not sought representation on the board. Taking the New York newspaper private is an option the company has looked at in the past, say insiders. The shareholders meeting came two days after the publisher reported a first-quarter loss as advertising revenue fell 27%. Sulzberger said there "is no one solution" to the secular problems facing …

Some would say the newspaper business inhabits a surreal world. "So long as we continue to think of the business of providing our society with news as a business in the traditional sense, we will keep feeding it the poison that is hastening its death," according to this essay. The absurdity of the current moment is best exemplified by the recent threat by The New York Times Company to shut down The Boston Globe within 30 days if the paper doesn't find $20 million in immediate savings. But the Globe is expected to lose $85 million this year. From …

Univision has signed a retransmission agreement with Verizon's FiOS TV. Terms were not disclosed, but Univision has been seeking cash compensation in exchange for its programming instead of opting for must-carry. The multi-year pact covers carriage of Univision's owned-and-operated stations; affiliated stations owned by Entravision Communications and Fisher Communications; Univision's cable network, Galavision; and network feeds for both Univision and TeleFutura networks. The agreement follows a string of retransmission deals Univision has made with other subscription TV providers, including Comcast, DirecTV and Time Warner.