Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has been experimenting with social networking outfit, Ning, on an online meeting place for female entrepreneurs. The MSLO site on the Ning network is called "Dreamers into Doers." It allows users to post tips about running a small business, share videos about their companies and meet other women grappling with the challenges of building a company while raising families. The site operates much like a small biz-focused mini-Facebook. Martha Stewart Living asked Ning to help them build the network earlier this year after realizing that articles about female entrepreneurs on its main Web site attracted …

The sagging economy has cratered several media giants, leaving the companies' main lender -- JPMorgan Chase -- in the driver's seat. The bank now holds sway over Readers Digest, Source Interlink Media and American Media, with combined revenues of about $5.04 billion. That number doesn't even include JPMorgan's role as a banker in the still unraveling bankruptcy of Sam Zell's Tribune Company. In comparison, Time Inc., generally considered the nation's No. 1 magazine publisher, rang up $4.6 billion in revenue last year. In fact, the combined revenue of Hearst and Condé Nast is less than JPMorgan's $5.04 billion …

Rentrak has struck a deal to provide mobile TV ratings for Flo TV, a subscription mobile TV service that offers programming from CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC Universal. The deal expands Rentrak's TV Essentials services, which provide measurements based on set top box data into the mobile platform. The Rentrak viewership data will be used by Flo TV to sell advertising and better understand mobile TV viewing patterns. Flo TV, a Qualcomm subsidiary, offers full-length simulcast and time-shifted TV programming. Available via AT&T and Verizon Wireless, Flo TV is currently available in 84 markets, rolling out to 109 markets …

Rupert Murdoch's News International is shutting down its free evening newspaper, the London Paper, after it posted an almost $21.4 million pretax loss for the year. Produced by a staff of 60, the paper is given out on the streets of London and covers the city's news, sports and celebrities. Earlier this month, Murdoch said quality journalism doesn't come cheap, and that he intends to charge for all his Web sites -- which include those of Britain's The Times, Sunday Times, The Sun. "By closing the London Paper Murdoch seems to be [underlining] the message that content produced …

Luxury homebuilder Bruce Toll and a group of local investors are putting up $52 million in cash and credit to buy bankrupt Philadelphia Media Holdings, owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. The plan will eliminate all debt for the new company headed by Toll. The plan provides an additional $25 million to Toll's new company to pay bankruptcy exit costs. Philadelphia Media listed $300 million in debt when it filed for bankruptcy last February. Creditors will be paid approximately $66 million of that $300 million in a combination of cash and real estate. "With …

The kids' upfront is expected to finish this week with volume down as much as 10% to 15% -- a far cry from the optimistic flat-to-2% prediction several executives first gave the press back in February. The reason for the disappointment can be given in two words: toy sales. Category leader Mattel's net sales were off a whopping 19% year over year during the second quarter of 2009, following a 6% slide in the first quarter. The dip was mainly due to sluggish sales of Barbie and other major brands. Market leader Nickelodeon is expected to finish …

In a first for "Project Runway," full episodes of the show are streaming on demand at MyLifetime.com after they premiere on cable. The show started a new life with season six on Lifetime last night. Previously it was on NBC Universal's Bravo channel. NBC CEO Jeff Zucker didn't want to make Bravo shows available in full for free online to protect their value to MSOs. On Lifetime, the show has new online strategy based on streaming replays, along with a real-time Buzz Room, behind-the-scenes video and gaming. Unlike the broadcast nets, which usually post episodes online the day …

As McKinsey consultants evaluate the Condé Nast empire, they are paying special attention to Anna Wintour's Vogue and Klara Glowczewska's Condé Nast Traveler. Those two magazines have been getting a close examination in order to potentially serve as models for how the company will revamp its business, say insiders. It is expected that lessons learned from those two studies will inspire what changes are made throughout the organization. Why those two? Vogue, the ad-heavy breadwinner, is seen as being reflective of a bigger magazine. Traveler, with its moderately hefty staff, is smaller than Vogue and considered …

A short-lived experiment with newspaper employee ownership is coming to an end. With Tribune navigating the bankruptcy process, its creditors are expected to dump the company's employee stock ownership plan, leaving workers with worthless shares, say insiders. In 2007, real-estate tycoon Sam Zell used the stock plan, called an ESOP, to gain tax benefits on his $8.2 billion buyout of the company. The plan made employees official owners, with 100% of the equity but no say over management or the board. However, in the bankruptcy, the staffers are viewed as common shareholders with less claim than other creditors. …

Another sign of "Mad Men's" rising buzz: it has scored a complaint from the Parents Television Council, which says the show got a TV-14 rating when it should have been rated for mature audiences only. There were racy elements to this season's first episode, sure, "but nothing unprecedented in graphicness for the show," writes TV critic James Poniewozik. Perhaps the PTC's attention was been drawn by the fact that the episode featured a big kiss between two gay men. Or could the complaint be an attempt to piggyback on the show's substantial pre-season publicity? Actually, "the PTC …