Canadian cable, pay TV and other niche services have survived the economic crash by bulking up on U.S. programming fare. Domestic narrowcasters in 2009 spent $521.7 million on foreign, mostly American TV fare, up 36% from 2008 expenditures to $1 billion. The biggest slice went to dramatic shows, some $302 million, the second on sports. Part of the spike was due to the debut of HBO Canada in late 2008 by co-owners Corus Entertainment and Astral Media. In response, rival broadcasters bought popular U.S. series to offset falling ad revenue with higher subscriber revenue.

In a note to investors,post NAB, Wells Fargo Securities analysts note that 2Q pacings are up 20%-plus for TV and high single-to-low double digits for radio, due to easy year-over-year comps, plus resurging auto ad spending and robust political advertising. Some radio executives believe radio is capable of posting a double-digit gain in 2010. Still, even at a 10% growth rate this year, industry-wide radio revenue would be at 1999 levels of $17.6 billion. As for TV, we heard from a few executives who lamented that despite the recovery, station ad revenue may not return to peak levels …

Turner Broadcasting's deal to snag most NCAA's March Madness college basketball tournament will give it leverage to charge more money to the cable and satellite distributors that carry its cable channels. The distributors then turn around and pass the costs on to consumers. As part of its $10.8-billion pact with CBS to share the rights to the NCAA tounament, Turner will put games on TNT, TBS and TruTV. By doing this, viewers will be able to see all the games. Currently, CBS has the exclusive rights to the tournament, but with only one channel it could not show every …

Why, then, is Murdoch committing $30 million to launch The Wall Street Journal's New York section on Apr. 26? Because he sees an opening in his fight against New York Times Co. Servicing the deb to Mexican industrialist Carlos Slim costs The New York Times $35 million a year. A local section in WSJ is a chance to poach department store and luxury ads. The Times has 44% of its weekday circulation in the New York City area; high-end retailers overwhelmingly place their newspaper ads in the daily. The Journal derives an estimated 15% of its circulation from …

The board of Publicis, the Paris-based advertising and marketing group, is "not happy" with the idea of Maurice Lévy retiring as chairman and chief executive next year, he said yesterday, as he hailed a stronger-than-expected rebound in revenues as "a turning point" for the industry. Speculation about possible successors began when it became known that Lévy's contract expires at the end of next year. Lévy told the Financial Times he was not seeking to renew his contract and would not consider such a proposal, should it be broached, till the second quarter of 2011. An extension of Lévy's …

CNET is launching three new series. Among the new slate of shows debuting on the tech-oriented site are "Tap That App," which will showcase the latest in mobile applications for devices like the iPhone and BlackBerry, and preGame, which previews upcoming videogame releases. New episodes of Tap That App will debut on CNETTV.com each Wednesday, while new preGame episodes will be posted on Tuesdays. In addition, CNET plans to introduce a Thursday series called "CNET Tech Review" that will lsit the site's top technology videos from each week. These shows join CNET's lineup of talk- and review-driven series, including …

Cartoon Network is branching out into new genres, with its first awards show and new efforts in the live-action arena. It is also kicking off an updated version of Warner Bros.' classic "Looney Tunes" series starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. "Looney" will have classic characters singing original songs in two-minute music videos called "Merrie Melodies" and the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote in CG shorts. "Cartoon Network's Hall of Game" will honor professional and amateur athletes. It is set to debut early next year. The new show "Run It Back Sunday" condenses a full NBA game …

Acme Television made a license and consulting agreement with Fisher Communications Inc. to consult and manage operations of Acme's The Daily Buzz and sites using Fisher's broadcast-to-broadband strategic initiative. Fisher will provide consulting services to "The Daily Buzz," a three-hour nationally syndicated morning news show currently airing in more than 161 markets. Fisher will also license certain assets of the program in order to produce unique, digital content to be distributed on both traditional broadcast and newly created digital platforms. In connection with the agreement, Troy McGuire, Fisher's vice president of digital content, will oversee operations of the show …

Simulmedia, the media marketing company founded by marketing veteran Dave Morgan, has raised an $8 million Series B round of financing led by Time Warner Investments. The funding round also includes existing investors Avalon Ventures and Union Square Ventures, which led Simulmedia's $4 million Series A round raised in March 2009. Simulmedia aims to help TV programmers increase their ability to build audiences through smarter marketing based on anonymous viewing data and a proprietary predictive technology platform. By analyzing this data, Simulmedia believes it can more effectively deliver on-air promotions to viewers. The 18-month old company has partnered …

Procter & Gamble Co. signed an advertising pact valued at more than $100 million with the Oprah Winfrey Network, according to sources, notes The Wall Street Journal. The deal comes as the ad market heats up in advance of the yearly TV upfront. P&G's deal with OWN follows the network's planned debut next January. OWN, a joint venture between Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Inc. and cable programmer Discovery Communications Inc., is to replace the Discovery Health Channel in its approximately 80 million U.S. homes. Winfrey, the most popular host on daytime TV, is slated to appear prominently on the network. …