David Letterman seems to be using a controversy with Alaska governor and one-time media darling Sarah Palin to boost buzz in his show at a crucial time. Longtime talk-show leader Jay Leno just stepped down and has been replaced by Conan O'Brien, upending the late-night status quo. Letterman made some cracks Monday about one of the Palin girls having to fend off Eliot Spitzer and getting knocked up by Yankees star Alex Rodriguez during a recent trip to the Big Apple. In a statement to Fox News, Palin fired back at the CBS comedian. Facing the family's …

Some members of Congress want broadcasters to turn down the volume on television ads. A bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D., Calif.) would require the FCC to "preclude commercials from being broadcast at louder volumes than the program material they accompany." Broadcasters, however, say they are addressing the problem already. "Major networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, are all attempting to control loud commercials," says David Donovan, president a broadcast industry trade group. "The industry is motivated to act," stated NBC Universal Principal Engineer Jim Starzynksi at a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce …

After a strong start in the ratings, "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" is already slipping behind "Late Show With David Letterman," the program that Jay Leno defeated handily for years. On Tuesday night, Letterman edged past O'Brien in the overnight household ratings for the first time since O'Brien took over his show, per Nielsen. More troubling for NBC, the "Tonight" numbers since late last week have been well below Leno's overnight average during the first three months of this year. Letterman's numbers, meanwhile, are landing within his usual range. Those figures don't tell the whole story, …

News Corp. is nearing a deal to sell the Weekly Standard, a magazine about conservative politics, to Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, say insiders. At News Corp., a stand-alone magazine like the Weekly Standard isn't considered a core asset. The potential sale price was unknown, as well as when a deal may be completed. Anschutz is an oil, railroad and media investor known for supporting conservative Christian causes. In September, he was named the 36th richest American by Forbes with a net worth then of more than $8 billion. His company, AEG, owns and operates some of the biggest …

BMW has signed on as the single sponsor of the premiere of the third season of AMC's "Mad Men." The show airs with limited commercial interruption on Aug. 16. This marks a return engagement for BMW, which kicked off last season's premiere of the series with a flight of on-air and online promotions. The automaker's on-screen exposure this time around will be similar to that of a year ago. Along with a 60-second spot, BMW was incorporated into AMC's "Mad-vertising" initiative, a DVR-thwarting execution that paired the brand with industry-related trivia. In order to defray the higher licensing …

This was the plan: With digital broadcasts, the television set would become a shopping portal, an information node and an Internet-surfing console. Each night while you slept, a digital "data" broadcast would send a customized daily newspaper to your set-top box. Well, DTV is here this week and none of those bright, blue-sky proposals has been realized. Broadcasters are using their digital powers simply to broadcast more TV shows, albeit in crisper digital format. The net impact of the conversion will be a few more channels and the chance to see more reruns. Why the disappointment? Because "broadcasters …

Digital out-of-home company Danoo will roll out a mobile component to its network in coffeehouses and cafes. The new offering allows advertisers to add mobile downloads of special promotions to their on-screen content. The new capability will launch next month in 200 venues in New York and Los Angeles. Danoo tested the mobile option last spring in 39 locations in Los Angeles. The advertisers who participated -- ABC, The History Channel and Electronic Arts -- each averaged nearly 10,000 downloads over a two-week period. Download rates were 3%. When users set their mobile phones to "discoverable mode," making …

Qualcomm will expand its Flo TV live mobile-television service to 39 new markets following this week's transition of TV signals to all-digital from analog. The company said it would go live in 15 new markets including Boston and Miami immediately following the digital transition -- which frees up broadband spectrum. At the same time, it will expand service in existing markets such as New York and Los Angeles. Working with Audiovox, Qualcomm will also supply units that allow people to watch Flo TV in their cars. Flo TV says that by the end of the year it will …

TV broadcasters and electronics device makers have a vision for the future in which we access live television not just on big screens in our living rooms, but also on the cellphones in our pockets. Shows and live video clips are already available on some phones, but after the digital switch on Thursday, companies will use the broadcast spectrum freed by the switch to transmit more live television to mobile phones. Broadcasters and cellphone companies intend to turn TV-via-phone from a luxury into a must-have. Expect broadcasters to push customers to use service provided by the Open Mobile …

Four TV stations in New York, the nation's largest TV market, have formed a local news service to pool video newsgathering resources. The news service will launch June 22. The four stations are: Fox Television's WNYW-TV; NBC Universal's WNBC-TV; Tribune's WPIX-TV; and CBS's WCBS-TV. The stations will share video of commonly covered stories, but each station can put its own spin on the content. WNYW-TV and WNBC-TV already share aerial news footage. Stations have launched similar local video news services in several large markets including, Chicago, Atlanta and Tampa. A local service will go into effect in …