The NFL said Tuesday that it is investigating allegations that coaches during Monday Night Football were asked to call timeouts so that ESPN could squeeze in some TV commercials. The situation had NFL purists and fantasy football players outraged that the outcome of a game could be influenced by concerns related to TV broadcasting. In the situation Monday, the Jacksonville Jaguars were losing 23-3, and the Tennessee Titans had the ball with less than two minutes left. Quarterback Kerry Collins handed the ball to Chris Johnson, who scampered 35 yards for a touchdown that the Titans clearly did not …

Newly released survey data from GfK MRI confirm the popular wisdom that consumers can run but they can't hide from advertising. 30% of respondents said they'd seen a "place-based" video ad in stores in the 30 days before being queried. Polling was conducted this past spring. Other places registering in double digits were shopping malls (15%), restaurants (11%) and medical offices (11%). Slightly fewer reported seeing video ads within the 30-day period in bars/pubs (9%), airports (8%) or gyms/health clubs (7%). As GfK MRI says in its analysis of the data, the percentages translate into a total of …

Under her new deal with Warner Bros. TV, DeGeneres and her A Very Good Production will develop and serve as an executive producer on television projects with different production divisions of WBTVG. The terms including scripted prime time programs for Warner Bros. Television, scripted and unscripted broadcast and cable series for Warner Horizon Television, and syndicated programming with Telepictures Productions, which produces the Emmy Award-winning "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." DeGeneres has named Lauren Corrao president at A Very Good Production. Most recently, Corrao held the post of president, original programming and head of development for Comedy Central, where …

The National Basketball Association is getting in on the location-based "check in" phenomenon with NBA Turnstile, a new app that encourages the league's fans to alert their various friends when they attend and watch games during the soon-to-tip-off season. NBA Turnstile will let fans virtually check in when they attend live games to earn points and virtual prizes. NBA Turnstile, developed in conjunction with the sports-centric, social-media company Fanvibe, is designed to encourage fan attendance and viewership during the 2010-11 season (which starts on Oct. 27), while also further spreading the league-and its TV partners' brands-through multiple social networks. …

Note to candidates: What plays in Spanish no longer stays in Spanish. Spanish-language networks and publications are taking on a more prominent role this election season, nabbing debates with major candidates and increasingly seeing their political coverage spin out into mainstream English-language media. In California, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman hoped to attract Hispanic voters and others during her debate against Democrat Jerry Brown, sponsored by Univision and held in English with translations. Instead, the former eBay CEO was put on the defensive over accusations she should have known her longtime housekeeper was in the U.S. illegally. The exchange …

Comcast Corp. increased political giving by more than half as the biggest U.S. cable company sought federal approval to buy General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. From December 2009, when the deal was reached, through August 2010, Comcast's contributions to federal candidates and political parties rose to $1.1 million from $682,450 in the same period two years earlier. The Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department are weighing the proposed acquisition, which would give Comcast control of the NBC television network, 11 cable channels such as MSNBC and USA Network and a movie studio. 91 of the 99 House members and …

"The editorial staff of Editor & Publisher has been eliminated by its new owners, Duncan McIntosh Co. inc. Top editor Mark Fitzgerald and tech editor Jim Rosenberg also were axed. The new editor works for owner Duncan McIntosh who took over in January-his other titles, based in Irving, Ca., are boating and fishing magazines. The Nielsen Co. had shuttered the magazine last December. The once-vital E&P site was only a "shadow" of its former self. Ads largely disappeared. The magazine's top writer, Jennifer Saba, left months ago for Reuters and was never replaced. Instead, per the Maynard Institute, …

A record number of people watched the FIFA 2010 World Cup on ESPN. Even more watched on online and via mobile, listened on radio, checked in online and perused ESPN the Magazine. It was a great way to examine multiplatform behavior of consumer and the results of cross-platform advertising. The first take away from the study, dubbed ESPN XP, was that multiple platforms don't cannibalize TV viewing, said Glenn Enoch, vice president integrated media research, at ESPN. In fact, the more platforms consumers used, the more TV they watched on average. For the big numbers, ESPN's research found that …

The Associated Press is overseeing the creation of an organization to help newspapers and broadcasters make more money as more people get their news from mobile phones and other wireless devices. The AP recently negotiated a new licensing agreement with Google. The ambitious project signals that the AP, a 164-year-old news cooperative, hopes to play a leadership role as long-established media try to reverse several years of decline brought on by their inability to capitalize on the Internet. AP CEO Tom Curley said the company is creating a digital-rights clearinghouse that should help news media protect their content and …

Per Nielsen, Univisión frequently finished among the top two or three broadcast networks in overall viewers in September, a performance that threatened to erase the traditional distinction between Spanish-language stations and what the industry refers to as the "general market," the four big broadcast networks, notes The Miami Herald. Moving beyond its immigrant roots, the network began targeting younger second- and third-generation U.S. Hispanics by broadening its news programming beyond Latin America, as well as experimenting with reality shows and other entertainment beyond the traditional telenovela format. Result: The network has increased its share of viewers in …