News Corp. may drop out of bidding for the Travel Channel because it isn't willing to pay the $1.1 billion being sought by owner Cox Communications. Scripps Networks Interactive is the other front runner seeking to acquire the cable channel. Offers for the channel have climbed since Cox kicked off a bidding competition by announcing in June that it had received unsolicited inquiries for the network. At the time, Hale Holden, a Barclays Capital Inc. credit analyst in New York, estimated Travel Channel Media was worth $600 million to $700 million. The channel is distributed in 94 million U.S. …

ESPN has been working with Toshiba to create advertising that illustrates specifically how ESPN fans could use Toshiba TV sets and laptops. As part of the package, Toshiba will sponsor a weekly segment on ESPN's "SportsCenter" that asks fans to vote on an "innovative" sports play of the week. The fans will be steered to SportsCenter.com and ESPN.com to vote. Toshiba will run the promotion from Nov. 16 through December 2010. The sports channel also helped create four video ads and digital elements to run on the websites. ESPN spent about eight months brainstorming and talking with …

Cliff Freeman & Partners, a one-time creative hotbed, is shutting its doors. The New York agency's only major client, Baskin-Robbins, says it is searching for a new shop. Agency founder Cliff Freeman is known for creating Little Caesar's "Pizza, Pizza" ads and Wendy the Snapple Lady ads. The shop had trouble emerging from the dot-com bust and by 2003, was leaking crucial talent. One trio of former executives started the boutique Amalgamated. In 2005, Freeman brought in CEO Jeff McClelland, a big agency executive with time at Dentsu and Ogilvy. The idea was to help the firm adapt …

In the ongoing saga of Los Angeles' digital signs, a Superior Court judge says he will invalidate a 2006 settlement between the city of Los Angeles and CBS Outdoor and Clear Channel Outdoor. The pact allowed the companies to convert 840 conventional billboards to a digital format. Bowing to the public outcry against the signs, the City Council passed a temporary sign moratorium last year and banned the construction of digital billboards in August. Judge Terry A. Green is still weighing whether he will void the permits for the 101 signs that were digitized after the settlement or …

BusinessWeek President Keith Fox is stepping down from the magazine, which is being sold to Bloomberg. He will remain at the title's parent company, McGraw-Hill in an unspecified role. Fox was named president of BusinessWeek Group back in April 2007, after overseeing marketing strategy at the magazine years before. Fox says he will take on new responsibilities in 2010, after assisting the BusinessWeek team with the transition to Bloomberg. The sale is expected to close in early December. BusinessWeek editor-in-chief Stephen J. Adler, announced Oct. 22 that he is also stepping down.

Disney's ABC Domestic Television is partnering with iTunes to promote the second-season premiere of syndicated series "Legend of the Seeker." Starting late last week, moviegoers are being presented with one of three collectible 3D "Seeker" cards when they purchase a ticket at one of 1,300 participating movie theaters nationwide. Each card contains a code to be redeemed on iTunes, giving fans an exclusive free download of the TV series' first episode. The cards are being given away until Nov. 6 and the show debuts Saturday, Nov. 7. In addition, beginning Nov. 9, current episodes of "Seeker" will …

About a week ago, Microsoft bailed out of being the exclusive sponsor for Fox's "Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show." Now it looks like Warner Bros. is stepping in, using the special to promote the Christmas release of its new film, "Sherlock Holmes." A commercial in Fox's pregame broadcast before Game 3 of the World Series told viewers to tune in to the Nov. 8 "Family Guy" comedy special for a sneak peek of the movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. Whether the special will feature promotions exclusively for "Sherlock Holmes" remains to be seen, but …

Magazines have become more dependent on pharmaceutical ads, just as those ads are facing a rash of potential curbs. With healthcare issues on the front burner, lawmakers are taking aim at the tax deduction on ad expenses for prescription drugs, while TV ads for sex aids like Viagra are coming under scrutiny. But magazines apparently prefer to look the other way. "The [real] pressure is on results. Talk about regulations has been there a while and until it comes, you've still got to do business, says Dick Porter, CEO, Publishing Group of America. From 2003-'08, ads for drugs …