A new Strata survey of national ad firms found 47.3% felt their business picked up in the first quarter, almost double the portion that felt business was improving a year ago. That translates into 25% of agencies planning to hire staff and 16% claiming clients have increased budgets. Strata surveyed 60 agencies from January and April. One big change: ad dollars continue to shift out of traditional media, with 68% of agencies saying their clients are more focused on digital and less focused on print.Social media and search is also catching up in campaigns work.

Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, will seek a creditors' vote to settle allegations that Chairman Sam Zell and the company's lenders violated bankruptcy law and left the publisher insolvent when they organized a 2007 buyout. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin J. Carey gave interim approval to Tribune's request to mail its bankruptcy exit plan to creditors for a vote. Some lower-ranking creditors have alleged the buyout was a fraudulent transfer because it added more than $8 billion to Tribune's debt while benefiting only Zell and the shareholders. Creditors must vote on the plan …

Democrats have modified the DISCLOSE Act (HR 5175.) to allow for hardship waivers of disclosure requirements for political ads on radio and TV. The DISCLOSE Act, which is short for Democracy is Strengthened by casting Light On Spending In Elections, was a response to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizen's United case that a ban on direct corporate and union funding of political ads was unconstitutional. The response is to tighten disclosures on the corporations and unions backing those ads, are ones that would require more explicit, and potentially longer and more extensive, disclaimers on all TV ads funded …

Not to be outdone by the movies like "Avatar" and a sudden burst of 3D sporting events, The Philadelphia Inquirer, fresh out of a bankruptcy auction with new owners, is rolling out a special 3-D newspaper section on Sunday June 13. The Web site philly.com gets the treatment on June 14. The paper will helpfully provide 3-D viewing glasses inserted in the Sunday edition so readers can get the full visual effect of "local interest" photos and a front page folded ad - known as a spadea in newspaper lingo - from Best Buy. This all comes from …

Google opened up new inventory for advertisers with Google TV, an interactive platform that collapses the wall between TV and Internet in the living room. The service, created with hardware partners Sony, Logitech and Intel, will launch this fall on TVs, set-top boxes and Blu-ray players, says Ad Age. "Every ad on TV has the potential to become interactive," Google TV Technical Director Vincent Dureau said at the I/O developer conference, where the platform was announced. "Your TV content just became more interesting." One clear winner is online video, which Google claims will be both easier to view and …

Univision is planning a slew of shows produced or co-produced by its new content creation unit, Univision Studios, for the 2010-11 TV season, including weekday prime-time telenovela "Eva Luna," as well as a dancing and an island reality show. Some 20 new shows across TV and online sites will be unveiled at the upfront. Sunday night will see Univision focus on reality shows. It will launch a dance competition show called "Mira Quien Baila" (Look Who's Dancing) from Univision Studios in co-production with Endemol and a "Survivor"-type show called "Desafio: La Gran Batalla" (The Challenge -- The Big …

When NBC announced it was nixing the original "Law & Order," many people lamented the effect on New York theater actors, for whom a spot on the show has long been a résumé staple. But another New York-based production, "The Good Wife," is already filling the void. That CBS procedural, in which Julianna Margulies, as the wife of Chris Noth's disgraced politician, goes back to practicing law, but crime scenes, courtrooms and law offices are crawling with top-tier New York theater talent. Shows like "30 Rock," "Nurse Jackie," "Gossip Girl," "Damages" and the recently canceled "Ugly Betty" also …

Litton Entertainment's original E/I series package produced exclusively for ABC Stations for September 2011 continues to add new groups. Signing on for the six, all-new half-hour original series are Belo, Bonten, Chambers Communications, Cordillera, Fisher, Gannett, Hubbard, Journal, LIN, News Post Gazette, Young and Weigel. They join previously announced ABC O&Os, Cox, McGraw-Hill, Newport and Post Newsweek. Litton's original three-hour programming block - all shot in HD - focuses on high-impact subjects such as ocean and land animals, health and wellness, and the digital connections among global cultures. Litton Entertainment offers station support for both D1 and D2 programs, …

Several television and radio outlets have approached Elit Spitzer, who resigned from his post as New York governor in the wake of a prostitution scandal in March 2008, about hosting possibilities, according to a source close to the former governor. It was reported that Spitzer may take over for the departing Campbell Brown, though to date, both he and CNN have denied the talk. According to a source close to Spitzer, he has expressed some interest in a radio or television gig, but only if the venue allowed him to be as partisan as he wanted. Spitzer has appeared …

Fox News, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, said the new site FoxNews Latino (www.FoxNewsLatino.com) will provide original news and features focused exclusively on the Latino community, reports Reuters. The U.S. Latino population is one of the fastest growing, accounting for around 15.4% of the population in 2008, up from 12.5% in 2000, according to Pew Research. As that population grows, marketers are spending more of their advertising dollars with Hispanic media outlets. "About a third of the country is going to be of Latino heritage by 2050, and we thought it was time to launch a …