The America One television network has restructured its prime-time lineup to revolve around themed sports programming. The network has begun creating targeted destinations for fans of tennis, soccer, motor sports, golf and rugby, setting aside a night for each discipline. For example, Monday nights are now dedicated to tennis and golf. Among the sports packages now available on America One viewers are Canadian Football League replays and Australian Rules Football matches. The sports silos are designed to draw larger audiences, while offering affiliates a more "impactful" advertising environment. The network reaches about 33 million homes in 32 states. …

Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire has approved a tax break for the state's troubled newspaper industry. The new law gives newspaper printers and publishers a 40% cut in the state's main business tax. The discounted rate mirrors breaks given in years past to the Boeing Co. and the timber industry. Newspapers across the country have resorted to layoffs and other cost-cutting moves to deal with a wounded business model. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer printed its final edition earlier this year and was converted to an Internet-only publication with a much-reduced staff.

About four years ago, a handful large media companies, from ABC to Viacom, created the new position of digital strategist-in-chief and picked rising stars to fill it. As a group, the digital gurus lacked bigtime media-operations chops, but their presence showed that the companies were thinking seriously about the interactive future. Many of these digital honchos were hired to do deals that have now either fallen by the wayside or become so core to doing business that they no longer need to be led by a specialized chief. At companies like MTV, the need for a single digital decision-maker …

This week New York Times writer Frank Rich became the latest to argue that cable- and satellite-TV subscriptions should give hope to the newspaper industry. But cable and satellite subscriptions really aren't a very good model for newspapers, writes Nat Ives. The main reason is that cable and TV offers something better than broadcast TV. Their packages include perfect reception, programming you couldn't get otherwise and many channels that are mostly unavailable any other way. Newspapers, on the other hand, are trying to take back content that people already view on the Web for free. International news, sports …

Almost since its inception, "American Idol" has maintained strong ties with three main benefactors: Coca-Cola, Ford and AT&T (previously Cingular). Those brands have reaped a level of promotion on the show that is unrivaled in recent TV history. This season the show also added Apple as a sponsor in a deal that puts the "Idol" performances exclusively on iTunes.,br> Coke might be getting the most for its investment. The soda company got in on the ground floor in 2002 for a reported $10 million. In 2008, "Idol" had 2,000 Coke occurrences for the season. In addition to Coke cups …

Arbitron says the defection of radio broadcasters to Nielsen for diary-based ratings services will hurt Arbitron revenue by about $10 million per year starting in 2010. The statement, made in the company's Q1 earnings report, may be too optimistic. Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media have said they signed with Nielsen because of improvements in audience recruitment measures. However, the true reason might have more to do with costs -- Arbitron customers have long complained about its fees. To fight back, Arbitron is working to strengthen the sampling quality in its diary-based ratings, including adding cell-phone only households …

Woman's Day has started making some of its articles -- as well as its ads -- interactive for advertisers. Readers are invited to snap pictures with their mobile phones of any page in the magazine that bears a special icon. After sending their pictures to a designated address, readers receive a coupon, a sample or other promotion. Target Stores was among the first advertisers to try the program. Carlos Lamadrid, senior vice president at the magazine, says the mobile program's performance has exceeded expectations, and will likely be a mainstay of Woman's Day's printed pages. Four interactive issues are …

Why would billionaire David Geffen--a movies and music mogul -- want to buy a piece of The New York Times, a company that saw a 7.7% decline in revenue in 2008? Geffen confirms that he unsuccessfully attempted to buy Harbinger Capital Partner's 19% stake in the New York Times Co. last month. It is unclear if he plans to continue his pursuit to buy a piece of the famed newspaper. Remember, back in 2007 Geffen attempted to buy the Los Angeles Times for $2 billion. So what's he up to now? It could be civic pride, a …

FX has picked up TV rights to the new "Star Trek" movie. The network could pay Paramount as much as $24 million for the sci-fi flick -- or about 12% of box office gross if it hits the $200 million threshold domestically. "Star Trek" opened last weekend with a three-day domestic gross of nearly $80 million. The movie will start appearing on FX about 30 months from now -- in time for the 2011 holiday season. FX likely outbid two other major cable movie buyers, Turner and USA. All three cablers have been aggressive on the movie acquisition front …

WCBS New York is reaching out to print advertisers that typically have not advertised on television. General Manager Peter Dunn has retooled the station's creative services department, so that it can pre-produce spots from ads that appear in the newspaper, on the Web, even on signs at hockey games. Salespeople bring the spec commercials on their sales calls, and tell prospective customers that all they have to do is sign up. Known as "Print to Motion," WCBS managers see the new initiative as the creation of an in-house agency-capable of creating not only spots, but Web sites and …