After seven seasons, NBC's "The Biggest Loser" is shaping up to be a model for programs whose product lines might outlive the shows that spawned them. The series is still growing its alternative revenue streams beyond advertising. "Loser's" consumer-product lines, which include CDs, weight-loss plans, DVDs, workout equipment and now a Nintendo Wii video game, have garnered around $75 million in revenue, says NBC. There's also a partnership with home-shopping channel QVC, which brings winners of "Loser" on to promote goods. In conceiving the show with Reveille, NBC wanted to create the 21st-century version of Weight Watchers. For …

Gourmet has launched an online social network for home entertainers. Similar to Evite, the site is called GourmetGuestList.com, and it helps users plan events, send invitations, assign tasks and plan the menu. Users also can share photos and recipes. The site went live June 1 after being beta-tested for the month of May. In a survey the magazine fielded last November, it found that 44% of respondents planned to increase their family meal preparation and 33% percent planned to entertain at home more 2009. GourmetGuestList.com was born out of the magazine's marketing department and is not an …

Hyatt Hotels has begun distributing complimentary copies of The Wall Street Journal to guests who are Hyatt Gold Passport members. The program will roll out this month at all Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt hotels. Hotel copies accounted for about 4% of the Journal's average weekday circulation for the six months ending March 2009, according to the paper. In April, Marriott Hotels started delivering the newspaper to guests upon request.

TV Guide's recently replaced CEO Scott Crystal is accusing the magazine's private equity owners of raiding the company and hastening its decline. Crystal says he resigned from the company last weekend and has filed legal notice that he's preparing to sue Open Gate Capital for breach of contract. "The [owners] are putting the business at risk by hastening the reduction of cash from a business that's losing money. It's unconscionable," Crystal charges. Yesterday he told staff via email that his responsibility was to "not allow the ongoing raids of our corporate cash balances by Open Gate." He says …

Si Newhouse's Condé Nast empire is losing its glamorous sheen. In the last two years, Newhouse has had to close Jane, House & Garden, Men's Vogue, Golf for Women, Domino and Portfolio. The rumor mill wants to know which will be next? Wired? Architectural Digest? The grim work has taken a toll. The man who loves magazines, one of the great media entrepreneurs of the past three decades, dies a bit with every closure. Colleagues say they've never seen him so depressed. He'll be 82 soon, and Portfolio may have been his last great fling. Condé Nast, …

Chase Carey, the CEO of DirecTV, is being recruited to become the second in command at News Corp, replacing Peter Chernin when he steps down after the end of his contract in June. Insiders say the only hitch is whether DirecTV will allow Carey out of his contract early. It is up at the end of this year. That situation may be complicated by the fact that Liberty Media, the major stakeholder in DirecTV, is seeking to spin out about half the company and sell it to the public. Efforts to recruit Carey represent a shift in …

The sponsorship business will enjoy significant global growth this year despite the economic downturn, according to Mediaedge:cia and sister consulting agency EIG. A new report predicts that spending on sponsorships and related activity will climb worldwide by 15% this year to $44 billion and will increase by a little more than 2% in North America to roughly $17 billion. Jon Levine, senior vice president at MEC Access, admits that "sponsorships are clearly under the microscope and the sector is politically charged" as being a wasteful luxury. But he argues that sponsorships "constitute a key and significant piece of the …

In a bid to keep ratings up, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is launching a three-month, watch-and-win contest. The promotion, "Oprah's Summer Giveaway," calls on viewers to watch summer repeats of the show to discover a Word of the Day. Once they've heard the word, viewers are encouraged to visit Oprah.com, enter the word, and try to win daily prizes. While the promo encourages viewers to both tune in summer repeats and visit Winfrey's website, the Word of the Day will also be available on Oprah.com. That means that viewers technically don't need to watch "Oprah" on TV to …

Playboy Enterprises named Southern California newspaper publisher Scott Flanders as its new chief executive. Flanders is CEO of Freedom Communications, a television broadcaster and publisher of the Orange County Register. Previously he was CEO of Columbia House, which sells music and DVDs. Flanders is the first permanent Playboy CEO to be named after the resignation last year of Christie Hefner, daughter of the magazine's founder. She left after two decades at the company. The new chief says he sees "huge potential" for Playboy's licensing of its brand at nightclubs and on clothing and other accessories. Recent reports …

This season of annual meetings is a critical time for shareholders to demand oversight of the boards of directors at advertising holding companies. Executive compensation will likely be the flash point amid soaring industry layoffs. For instance, IPG's top five executives, including CEO Michael Roth, were awarded pay equivalent to 7.8% of the holding company's net income last year, per RiskMetrics Group. As a comparison, the top five at Omnicom, including CEO John Wren, received 2.3% of net income. The election and reelection of non-executive directors is also under scrutiny, with questions about some board members' independence. As …