ABC's affiliates are angry that corporate sibling ESPN is being handed live sports events they were initially supposed to carry. The most recent move came in January when ESPN announced it planned to take eight Nascar races this fall from ABC for the coming season. Previously, ESPN got the Rose Bowl beginning in 2011 and golf's British Open in 2010 from ABC, too. Station executives argued that losing live sports events will not only cost them significant ad revenue and take away a negotiating chip with media buyers, but will also hamper their ability to promote other programming …

"The View" discusses fashion and celebrities, but it also has raised interest and D.C. notice by talking politics. In recent days, the five hosts -- Walters, Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd -- have jousted over gay marriage, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's derisive remarks to lawmakers and the appropriate venue for the Sept. 11 terrorist trials. New York Gov. David Paterson help analyze the State of the Union speech, joining political guests this season that have included Rudy Giuliani, Janet Napolitano and Mike Huckabee. The political focus is going to get even more intense …

Jeff Bewkes, chief executive officer of Time Warner, expects the publishing division to show earnings growth and make significant progress in its digital transformation. Bewkes will hold on to Time Inc. -- or any other asset -- "if it fits Time Warner. If they can't," he said with a shrug, "they're better candidates for private ownerships." Bewkes' strategy hinges on taking the world-class Time Warner brands -- which include People, Real Simple, Time and Sports Illustrated among its magazines; HBO, a thriving movie division and CNN, to name a few -- and making them easily available on every …

Fox and Conan O'Brien have begun doing their respective due diligence as they try to figure out how a deal might be hammered out to bring O'Brien to Fox. To make Conan on Fox a reality, however, everyone involved will have to eschew the dynamics of past network deals for late-night talent and hammer out a workable business model -- with shared risk and mutual reward. That means managing expectations, committing to a long-term plan and figuring out a way to ensure nobody gets soaked if the whole venture bombs with viewers. Having been ousted by the network …

Quietly taking over as anchor from Charles Gibson at " ABC World News" at the end of last year, Diane Sawyer may be able to succeed where Katie Couric hasn't quite clicked. (Both still trail NBC News' Brian Williams in the ratings.) If nothing else, Sawyer's early success proves that Americans are not as disgusted with the media or cultural elite as pundits and politicians might say. During her first month in the big chair, she faced the Christmas bombing attempt, the health-care crisis, the earthquake in Haiti, she handled with seriousness and concern. While Couric often comes …

HBO is developing "Tilda," a half-hour comedy series with Oscar-winning writer-director Bill Condon and "Tell Me You Love Me" creator Cynthia Mort. The show centers on a powerful showbiz journalist, possibly in the real-life Nikki Finke, Sharon Waxman mold. "Tilda" marks a series writing debut for Condon, whose first pilot, the Laura Linney-starring dark comedy "The C-Word," was picked up by Showtime. He also won an Oscar for writing "Gods and Monsters," another Hollywood tale. The show's premise comes at a booming time for Internet journalism.

AT&T reversed a policy banning Sling Media's mobile video player from using its 3G wireless data network. It will allow an "optimized" version of the app to run on the Apple iPhone. Sling Media, a subsidiary of EchoStar, launched the SlingPlayer Mobile app for iPhones in May 2009 and AT&T began testing in December. The reversal on the SlingPlayer could play well for Netflix, which is also is developing a streaming-video application for the iPhone. But not everyone was pleased with AT&T's decision. Free Press policy counsel Chris Riley said "the incident highlights AT&T's anti-competitive and anti-consumer veto …

In a first for the Emmys telecast, NBC executives are seriously considering a plan to offer the awards show live across the country when the network broadcasts the ceremony Aug. 29. NBC just broke the same ground with the Golden Globes on Jan. 17 -- and the gamble paid off with ratings 12% higher for adults 18-49 and up 14% in total viewers: 17 million. The move toward real-time award shows comes as the use of Twitter, Facebook and mobile news applications makes winners widely public by the time tape-delayed TV telecasts air in the West, undermining the …

Five rival publishing companies have come together to launch a magazine marketing campaign plan that breaks in April in the pages of their magazines. Young & Rubicam is handling the creative work. Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, Time Inc. and Wenner Media are funding the campaign to help a troubled industry. All but Wenner are also backing, along with News Corp., Next Issue Media, a newly formed digital publishing consortium. Next Issue's goals include setting digital publishing standards and creating a digital storefront to sell magazine editions for e-readers.

Strata has introduced Volos, a new product that allows media sales organizations to manage their multimedia advertising platforms (spot, interactive television, video-on-demand, Internet, microsites and more). Comcast, Cablevision and Dish Network are signed on to use Volos in their advertising planning and reporting. Volos is handles the ad sales from pre-buy and scheduling to placement and tracking -- all within a single sales tool. It can also manage additional new media platforms or enhancements as they are added to the sales arsenal. Strata has over 12,000 media users