Oprah Winfrey kicked off her 25th and final season of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Monday with promised surprises. After teasing the 300 audience members with a suggestion she might take them on a trip to New York, Philadelphia or Los Angeles, she said her last season merited something "bigger. ... "We're going to Australia," Winfrey shouted. With that, a mock-up of a Quantas Air Lines jet rolled onto stage, its door opened and actor John Travolta, who also flies airplanes, stepped out dressed as a Quantas pilot. Winfrey, who opened her 19th season six years ago by giving …

Media planners and buyers are closer to the media economy than most and influenced by the grim news. The result is an increasing pessimism among media people about the recovery in ad spending, even while all the signs point to a recovery that remains pretty much on track. Per a recent Media Life poll on the state of the ad economy, just 7% agreed with this statement: "Yes. The recent economic data, while disappointing, nonetheless tells me the worst is over. It's about time." A far larger share, 46%, were somewhat more guarded, agreeing with this statement: "Not quite, …

As over-the-counter marketers bumped up the share of their TV commercials from 25% 15-sec spots in 2007 to 63% last year and 65% so far this year, their market share has eroded to private label faster than those of other package-goods categories. And it may be no coincidence. Copy-testing firm Ameritest has found a marked decrease in ad effectiveness for 15's vs. 30's, particularly for OTC brands. The ratio of 15s to 30s has been rising fairly quickly for all marketers since 2007. The shorter form now accounts broadly for anywhere from a quarter to 35% of conventional TV …

The round of freshman first-run and off-network offerings being introduced to stations this fall exemplify syndication's new paradigm: pre-branded, economically produced shows that can make a splash without costing a fortune. This fall, five first-run shows, three from major distributors, are premiering. Both Sony's Nate Berkus and CBS Television Distribution's "Swift Justice With Nancy Grace" fit that model. That's also why syndicators and stations are taking their chances with three off-cable shows, NBC Universal's "Real Housewives," MGM's "Cash Cab" and Debmar-Mercury's "E! True Hollywood Stories" -- viewers know them and they are already produced.

The Asia-Pacific region will overtake North America as the largest advertising market "soon after 2014," according to eMarketer Inc. and Starcom MediaVest Group, which issued a joint report. The economic slowdown accelerated the shift of ad dollars to digital media in China, India and Brazil, The Middle East and Africa will grow 11.4% this year, faster than any other major region, they said. Increased consumer spending in China and India helped Asia-Pacific fare better in the economic slowdown than the rest of the world. Online spending in Asia-Pacific in 2014 will account for $22.2 billion, or 22.9 percent …

British legislators authorized a sweeping inquiry Thursday into illicit snooping on politicians and celebrities by tabloids, as one lawmaker called for media tycoon Rupert Murdoch to testify over allegations one of his newspapers illegally hacked into cell phones. Tom Watson, a former Cabinet Office minister and opposition Labour party lawmaker, said Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp., should be asked to explain the actions of reporters and editors at the News of The World. Lawmakers agreed that Parliament's Standards and Privileges committee would hold hearings into claims that illegal methods to gather personal information on high-profile figures have …

Britain's Duchess of York is to make a six-part documentary show for U.S. television about her struggle to rebuild her life after a scandal over selling access to the British royal family. The Oprah Winfrey Network said the documentary would be called "Finding Sarah" and would debut in the first three months of 2011. Ferguson, 50, is the ex-wife of Britain's Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II. She was caught in an embarrassing British newspaper sting in May in which she was filmed appearing to ask for, and accept, $40,000 in cash in exchange for access …

As news organizations wrestle with the challenge of discovering profitable reporting models for a digital age, at least three types of public service journalism are endangered species: investigative reporting, in-depth statehouse and city government coverage and foreign coverage. Expensive to produce, they have been subsidized by more profitable facets of news operations. While online news producers like ProPublica and Voice of San Diego offer promising new models to sustain investigative and local government reporting, less experimentation-though some-is being directed at sustaining high-quality international coverage on digital platforms. If greater attention is not paid to this circumstance, we may soon …

Alex Trebek is the 6,000 episode man. Season 27 of the classic game show "Jeopardy" will feature the milestone 6,000th episode and a brand new two-week-long "Teacher's Tournament" that shows 15 teachers battling for $100,000 and a spot in the "Jeopardy Tournament of Champions." The "Teacher's Tournament" is the first new "Jeopardy" challenge since "Kid's Week" in 1999. "Jeopardy," which debuted in 1984, is the top syndicated quiz show with approximately 9 million daily viewers. It is produced by Sony Pictures Television and distributed by CBS Television.

A year after its ratings debacle with comedian Jay Leno, NBC has changed course and will air prime-time shows from some of Hollywood's most expensive producers when the new television season begins this month. General Electric Co.'s entertainment unit, the least- watched major broadcast network for six straight years, opened its coffers to attract Jerry Bruckheimer and J.J. Abrams, and is introducing seven new shows to recover from last season's failed experiment with Leno's talk show in prime time. NBC programmers probably had to earmark $125 million to $150 million for new-show development, about double last year's total, according …