The Obama administration has rejected giving teetering newspapers new immunity from antitrust laws. Newspapers can adapt and ultimately conquer the threat posed by the Internet, the Justice Department's Carl Shapiro told a House panel on Tuesday. Newspaper industry representatives maintain that they need more legal flexibility than current antitrust law allows. "Newspaper publishers need to explore new approaches and innovative business models without the delay, burdens and uncertainty of the competition laws," says Brian P. Tierney, CEO of Philadelphia Newspapers LLC. But some witnesses expressed fears that further relaxing controls on mergers could create monopolies and dilute the …

Playboy Enterprises Inc. has received notice from the New York Stock Exchange that it is not in compliance with the exchange's listing criteria, per a SEC filing. Playboy's average market cap over a 30-day trading period fell below $75 million. Playboy's market cap was listed Tuesday at $69.5 million. Playboy said it would comply with NYSE's requirement that it submit a plan to the Exchange detailing how it expects to comply with the listing standard within the next 18 months. Recently, No. 3 U.S. newspaper company The McClatchy Co., also was warned by the NYSE that it …

Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., will hold hearings in Washington, D.C., beginning April 30 to consider the economic problems facing the newspaper industry, The Boston Globe reported. At present, many newspapers are in bankruptcy protection or seeking cost-savings, including The Boston Globe and The San Francisco Chronicle, which have threatened to close or sell if certain union concessions are not made. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., introduced a bill last month that would allow newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits. "America's newspapers are struggling to survive -- and while there will be serious consequences in terms …

What do 18-34 year-old women want? At Oxygen network, which parent NBC Universal bought for $925 million in 2007, the answer is outrageous reality shows like "Bad Girls Club" and "Pretty Wicked." Female viewers in that demo are up 57% in prime time from last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. 100 advertisers, including BlackBerry and Budweiser, came aboard in 2008, and another 25 have already signed up in '09. "It's not your mother's cable network," says general manager Jason Klarman. Oxygen says its goal is to grow "trenders" (early fad adapters), "spenders" (recession-proof purchasers) and "recommenders" …

Starting April 27, CW will air new ads that travel with the 18-34 audience they target. The network intends to unveil its first "cwingers," ads that push viewers to move from TV to online and then back again, in "Gossip Girl." Unilver's Dove, set to release a new body wash aimed at women 20something, will sponsor video vignettes about four real 20-something women who once lived lives similar to the characters in the popular private-school drama. The trade magazine notes that "cwingers" represent an admission from broadcast networks that their audiences are not always consuming TV entertainment. A recent …

Hollywood labor union Screen Actors Guild has cuts its own staff 8%, or about 35 employees, due to sagging membership dues and a waning economy, reports the Los Angeles Times. SAG, which is one of the key unions that negotiates labor contracts for advertising and TV production, is struggling to close a $6.5 million deficit in its 2009 fiscal budget. The paper said the layoffs impact several departments, including those who work in the information technology department.

The New York Times Co.'s losses widened during the first quarter of 2009, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Murdoch-owned paper attributed the Times Co.'s losses to "another steep decline in advertising revenue," as well as costs related to job cuts and the write-down of leases related to its newsstand distribution unit. The Times Co.'s first-quarter loss totaled $74.5 million, which compares with a reported loss of only $335,000 a year earlier. The Journal said the Times Co. has been particularly hard hit by the reduction in classified advertising sales, noting total ad sales fell 27% during the first …

WPP's MediaCom unit has raided a top strategist from Omnicom's Atmosphere BBDO unit, Sue Davidson, to oversee MediaCom's recently launched "Freshness Initiative." Davidson, who will have the dual role of senior partner and director of communications planning, will serve as director of the initiative, which was created to encourage "fresh, creative thinking both in communications planning for clients and throughout" MediaCom, Adweek magazine reported. The trade publication said Davidson would work within MediaCom's consumer insights unit, reporting to Chief Strategy Officer Margaret Lewis.

Red Sox principal owner John Henry has signaled his willingness to take on the troubled Boston Globe as part of a deal to acquire The New York Times Co.'s stake in his baseball team. Insiders say that his talks with the NYT Co. are in the early stages. Henry isn't commenting about his intentions, he but does say, "Baseball fans rely heavily on newspapers. No one wants to see a newspaper with a great, long-term history go away. Losing the Globe, the or any New England paper is a big loss for the Red Sox." The New …

The Children's Media Policy Council, whose members include the PTA and the American Academy of Pediatrics, wants the FCC to add ratings for TV commercials and embedded advertising in TV shows to the V-chip/ratings system. The council wants to give patents the option of blocking ads as well as TV programming. It argues that parents' concern about violence, sex and coarse language includes not only shows, but the content in ads for alcohol or Viagra. They call the fact that the V-chip cannot block ads a "serious flaw" that needs to be addressed. On the other side …