Unlike other struggling, papers, The Financial Times newspaper has almost doubled its subscription prices and is successfully charging for online content. CEO John Ridding, explains that the paper is enjoying the benefits of a strategy it launched three years ago to build up content revenue by developing new print and online products in specialist areas around the core brand. FT seeks to differentiate itself by the kind of content it offers as well as the quality of its journalism. "Being different and distinctive gives you pricing power. And it doesn't have to be the whole publication. You can …

With the rise of social media, broadcasters are eager to prove their programming can adapt. In Fox's "twee-peat" experiment last week, the network aired reruns of "Fringe" and "Glee" with Twitter feeds at the bottom of the screen. Both featured comments by actors and producers involved. Each tweet had to be vetted for suitability to run on a broadcast network, which resulted in some unplanned delays. It also turned out that viewers of the "Fringe" repeat were not as enthusiastic as those who watched the third airing of the "Glee" pilot. What did Fox learn? "For the …

Several Wall Street analysts are suggesting it's time the media mergers and acquisition market got started again. Conditions are ripe. Political money is primed to kick start the ad markets and media stocks are relatively cheap with the potential upswings not yet priced into shares. This year could see a potential $1 billion windfall in election and issues money, and national spot pricing will be up between 6% and 12%, per TVB. As for which deals might be first, Citigroup's media analyst Jason Bazinet has made the case for a Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger. J.P. Morgan's Stephen Tusa …

TV Guide, starting next month, will drop its current rate base more than 30% -- from 2.9 million down to 2 million. It follows the January lowering of the rate base from 3.2 million to 2.9, which in turn followed a cut in October 2005 from 9 million down to 3.2 million. In TV Guide's glory days, the bulk of its circulation came from sales at newsstands. Now, the overwhelming majority of the circulation is mailed to homes, and with ad pages down 28% through the Sept. 7 issue, advertising is no longer paying the freight. Jack Kliger, …

CBS Outdoor is partnering with endorsement marketing company Brand Affinity Technologies, which has a network of more than 3,000 athletes and celebrities. The relationship will allow advertisers to match the endorsements of specific athletes and celebrities with regional out-of-home campaigns. CBS Outdoor can now offer clients a "turnkey approach to launching geographically relevant ad campaigns featuring talent proven to resonate with audiences in target markets," says Jodi Senese, vp of marketing for CBS Outdoor. The two companies recently coordinated on a campaign for San Francisco­-based auto dealership Royal Motor Sales, bringing San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain to …

Time Inc. wants to start competing with Amazon's Kindle and other electronic readers before the end of the year, say insiders. It's a big shift in strategy by Time, which earlier this year said it would not introduce its own e-reader. But things have changed, and Time's plans for the e-reader market are on a fast track. According to an in-house presentation, the giant magazine publisher is seeking to unveil its plans within the next three months. The presentation concludes that Time Inc. and other partners should form a new, jointly owned company. Time might spin out its …

The unlikeliest benefactor of Apple's fifth-generation nano is the radio industry. The 5G nanos are compatible with Apple's first FM tuner. The radio tuner allows users to tag songs they hear on the radio, sync the songs with their iTunes and then purchase the songs, where applicable, from the iTunes store via the Radio Advertising Bureau's "Buy From FM" platform. The FM tuner also allows listeners to pause a song from a live radio feed, rewind it or resume listening after switching to another station. In addition, The FM tuner could enable radio stations and advertisers to tag …

The initial high rate of new video customers for TV services offered by Verizon and AT&T is starting to flatten, says DirecTV CFO Patrick Doyle. After an early spike in the months after the services launched, there has been a stabilizing of net new subscriber additions, Doyle told analysts Thursday. Verizon Communications sells its television service through FiOS, while AT&T offers its service via U-Verse. Both companies partner with DirecTV to provide the services. Doyle says despite the slowdown, the telecommunications providers continue to line up well in competition against the cable providers. On another front, DirecTV …

Fox has landed a multicamera coming-of-age TV show based on the popular Web site TextsFromLastNight. The site's signature slogan is "Remember that text you shouldn't have sent last night? We do." Called "a living document of 20something life in 2009," the site launched in February and averages 4 million hits a day. The user-generated blog posts "regrettable," often embarrassing text messages usually sent late at night by people who are drunk or high. "The show is about 20somethings in that post-college, pre-the-rest-of-their-lives limbo trying to figure out what to do, and texting is a large part of that," …

Discovery Communications is planning a five-year programming initiative spearheaded by Discovery founder and chairman John Hendricks. The campaign, "Curiosity," will center around a 60-episode TV series that launches in January 2011. "Curiosity" will air 12 episodes each year. Every episode will address questions in fields such as space, biology, geology, medicine, physics, technology, nature, the human mind and history. The Experius Academy, which Hendricks also founded, is jointly producing the programming with Discovery. Supplemental programming will be produced for Discovery Channel and sister nets such as the Science Channel, Planet Green and HD Theater. Among the schools …