Wall Street lenders are hitting roadblocks over U.S. media-ownership rules as distressed firms restructure debt by offering equity stakes. The lenders are tripping over the federal regulations as they find themselves the unexpected owners of several distressed radio, television and newspaper companies. The issue has taken center stage at Citadel Broadcasting, as one of the U.S.'s largest radio broadcasters races to revamp its balance sheet. Citadel has offered senior lenders owed $2 billion -- including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., General Electric Co.'s GE Capital and ING Groep NV -- a deal that would exchange a big chunk of …

Condé Nast magazines Teen Vogue, Allure and Details are believed to be bleeding red ink and have been on the watch list for possible shutdowns. But they are all going to be spared, at least this year, say insiders. A blueprint for keeping all the company's magazine brands intact is expected in an upcoming report from management consultants McKinsey & Co. At the same time, there will be some major ratcheting down of expenses across the board. For instance, Graydon Carter, the editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, had intended to make the trek to the upcoming European fashion shows, …

As multiplatform distribution takes root, audiences have more options to choose the shows they watch and when they watch them. So pay cablers, such as HBO, Showtime and Starz, will have to work harder to keep their customers writing monthly checks. If viewers know they can eventually check out HBO's "True Blood" or Showtime's "Dexter" via iTunes or DVD, that flexibility may dampen the incentive to pay a monthly subscription fee, especially in a recession. The next frontier for pay TV players is Web streaming of hit shows a la Hulu and YouTube. Starz has a service dubbed …

NBC's "The Jay Leno Show" symbolizes the new and heartbreaking reality of broadcast-network. NBC and its rivals may no longer be able to garner the audiences that allowed them to create hours of dramas that cost tens of millions of dollars to produce each week. The Leno show is the first sign that TV going forward will be decidedly less grand. In place of special effects, highly paid celebrities and cliffhanger plots, broadcast TV could become a venue for newsy shows that play off the headlines and live telecasts of important events to see as they happen, not hours …

Radio programmers are now able to collect so much data about listener habits that some have begun fine-tuning their shows down to the second -- to the dismay of on-air personalities. With two years' worth of data from Arbitron's Portable People Meter, program directors in some markets are figuring out the optimum ratio of talk to music, or how many commercials a listener can bear before switching the dial. Now, "we can specifically see when the tune-ins and tune-outs are," says Jimmy Steal, program director for Emmis's KPWR in Los Angeles. "I can sit down with talent and say, …

After 13 years as the senior national television buyer at Universal McCann, Donna Wolfe is leaving the agency effective immediately. Her duties will be divided between co-executive vps of national broadcast, Dani Benowitz and Catherine Warburton. Benowitz previously served as senior vp, national broadcast buying for the standalone Johnson & Johnson organization within UM. Warburton had been a senior level national TV buyer, overseeing the Sony account since 2005. Both buyers will report to Jacki Kelley, president, UM North America.

Moody's is downgrading its credit ratings on GateHouse Media's approximately $1.2 billion in debt, declaring the publisher's capital structure "unsustainable." Moody's also raised the possibility that the community newspaper company may choose bankruptcy protection as debt payments come due after 2010. Moody's says GateHouse has aggressively cut expenses and has won relief from its lenders, but the company is likely to incur losses in free cash flow that will make servicing the debt difficult. "Management may conclude that a distressed exchange or pre-packaged bankruptcy filing is the optimal solution," says senior analyst John Page. Under principal ownership by …

The Washington Post and washingtonpost.com have set a wedding date. The print and online operations of the newspaper will merge as of Jan. 1, 2010. Post publisher Katharine Weymouth says it is important to create one organization for print and online operations that would mirror the perception of readers, users and advertisers. When the Washington Post and Washington Post Digital integrate, Washington Post Digital employees responsible for washingtonpost.com will become employees of The Washington Post. Website leadership will remain in place. Washingtonpost.com leader Goli Sheikholeslami will become GM of Digital, and VP of Digital Product Development. Digital advertising …

CBS is planning to air another Saturday night mixed martial arts card on November 7. CBS's previous experience in the sport began in mid-2008 and was with the now defunct EliteXC organization, featuring fighters such as YouTube sensation Kimbo Slice. The network has aired three Saturday Night Fights events so far, often drawing more than 5 million viewers and delivering huge boosts in young male demos. In November, the Strikeforce MMA event will feature Fedor Emelianenko, considered one of the best in the world, fighting challenger Brett Rogers. A female fight might also be part of the card …

Ad sales for the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 are moving more briskly than expected, given the sorry state of the economy. CBS has sold approximately 70% of its inventory for the game, including two spots to Hyundai. The automaker will use its in-house agency Innocean to craft the spots. Hyundai joins a roster of advertisers that includes: Careerbuilder, InBev Anheuser Busch, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and GoDaddy.com. Bridgestone will again be the half-time sponsor and gets two 30-second spots in the game. CBS has sold ad time for top positions for prices between $2.5 million and $3 million and …