Gannett should not expect a turnaround in the second quarter, say J.P. Morgan analysts Alexia Quadrani and Monica DiCenso. They forecast that newspaper advertising revenue at Gannett fell 32% in Q2. "Severe revenue declines" are expected at the flagship USA Today. "Advertisers and local media operators remain very cautious about local ad spending, leading us to believe that we may not have reached a bottom," the analysts say. Despite Gannett's efforts at cost cutting, ad revenues are dropping at such a rapid pace it won't alleviate margin pressure. "Weakness at Gannett will set the tone for another …

The Star-Tribune of Minneapolis has unveiled a new edition of the paper that can be read on the Kindle E-reader. The Kindle edition costs $10 per month, or 75 cents a day-25 cents more than the cover price of a weekday print edition. There is also a free 14-day trial period. The Kindle version is black-and-white and "will not include some images and tables," [such as] crosswords, box scores and classifieds," says David Brauer of minnpost.com. The Star-Tribune's Kindle edition price of $10/month is equal to that of The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune and The Washington …

In a survey of print subscribers, The New York Times says it's considering a $5 monthly fee for access to its Web site, nytimes.com. The publisher then asks subscribers if they would be willing to pay a discounted fee of $2.50 a month for access to the site. The free site is currently the most visited among newspapers' sites. Times Co. is contemplating additional sources of revenue as marketers slow ad spending on the Internet. Ad sales at the New York Times Co.'s other sites, including about.com and boston.com, fell 8% in first quarter of 2009, compared to …

Lifetime grabbed the off-net rights to the CBS comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine," with an eye toward adding the show to its lineup in the fourth quarter of 2010. Lifetime will hold the exclusive cable rights to all 88 episodes of "Old Christine," which stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, per terms of the deal with Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution. While Lifetime did not specify when it would run "Old Christine," the series would be a natural fit for the network's Monday night comedy roster, which includes repeats of "Reba" and "How I Met Your Mother." Entering …

Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers has paid out more than $1.6 million to settle legal cases after its journalists were accused of involvement in phone tapping. The journalists allegedly hired private investigators to hack into the mobile phones of politicians, sports stars and actors ranging from former deputy prime minister John Prescott to supermodel Elle McPherson. The journalists allegedly gained access to confidential information about these people, including financial records. The payments secured secrecy over out-of-court settlements. While some media watchers say these allegations are not new or particularly dangerous, one of Murdoch's former editors at theNews of …

The Mountain West Conference is signing a $495 million contract with ESPN after holding out for months. It is last of 11 college football conferences to join the four-year arrangement. The Mountain West Conference, home to last year's undefeated University of Utah Utes team, wanted to replace the bowl games with a playoff system. The reasoning was that a seven-game playoff would provide a more exciting national championship and a more equitable distribution of funds. Currently, the six biggest football conferences and the University of Notre Dame take home a larger share of the broadcast contract revenues. …

Some media companies are running out of time as they struggle to generate revenue from the Web, says Liberty Media Chairman John Malone at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. Without new pay models, the Internet will drain profits at media conglomerates, as it has at newspapers, says Malone, who has controlling interests in DirecTV, Discovery Communications and the QVC channel. Companies must find ways to be compensated, just as cable operators convinced consumers to pay for TV after decades of free broadcasts, he says. Internet companies including Twitter and YouTube will also need …

Mainstream media's advertising meltdown is the "new normal" for the ad business, says a new study from private equity fund Catalyst Investors. The cause: plummeting consumer spending and the Web's ability to eat away at prices. Taking a historic perspective, Catalyst blames the Internet. Its unlimited content and its ability to measure ad impact broke "the oligopolistic pricing power that traditional media enjoyed in the 1980s and 1990s." A further dip in ad spending as a percent of GDP will occur over the next two to three years, predicts Catalyst. There are some bright spots. The slide …

Martin Cass, who took over as head of Carat's U.S. operations some nine months ago, has had his eyes opened regarding social media and the role of network TV. In a Q&A session, he explains that "the really interesting thing about social [media] and the vehicle that carries it is this idea of earned media -- the idea that in the social world you can get pass on and that can incrementally increase your reach and effect. "This whole principal of bought, earned and owned media is going to be a really powerful model for the future, and social …

A push to tweak existing copyright laws to help newspapers charge for their content continues to gain currency. Jason Klein, president and CEO of the National Newspaper Network, says he supports a rethinking of the current copyright regime, although he stops short of endorsing any particular blueprint for accomplishing it. A proposal has recently been put forth by brothers David and Daniel Marburger, a First Amendment lawyer and an economics professor, to limit the ability of "parasitic aggregators" to summarize and link to news stories. "Now other entities can rewrite stories very quickly," thanks to the Internet, …