Tina Brown's Daily Beast made a surprise hire The Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz -- which has revived speculation about a Beast-Newsweek merger. Brown and audio pioneer Sidney Harman, who just bought the struggling newsweekly from The Washington Post Co., are said to be in talks about a merger. On her site, Brown said Kurtz's hire shows how the site has been able to attract talent from traditional media, as well as the blogosphere. Brown also boasted about the site's business-side success, with visitors now approaching 5 million uniques a month and growth in blue-chip advertisers, including Burberry, HBO …

Facebook appears serious about getting into the livestream business, and the latest sign comes from a deal it's doing with ABC News for election night coverage. ABC News will stream its election night (November 2) coverage at ABCNews.com and the ABC iPad app -- and will also livestream on Facebook. There will be online-only coverage from 8 pm - 9:30 pm, at which time the network will jump in as well. Per ABC: "Facebook will reach out to people on Facebook in key congressional districts to explore the issues that are driving campaigns, giving ABC News a unique perspective …

The vast gap between Democrats and Republicans in soft campaign spending speaks not only to the dispirited state of Democratic donors, but also to the party's conflicted reaction to the Supreme Court's loosening of campaign finance rules, which was strongly denounced by President Obama. Aside from organized labor and Patriot Majority -- a PAC backing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada -- Commonsense Ten is the only significant independent operation running ads for Senate Democrats. Nervous Democratic operatives are hoping it will soon extend its reach. Independent groups backing Republican candidates have run $34.5 million worth of television …

Jeffrey Bewkes, chief executive of Time Warner,said he is turning to Google Inc. as an ally in his push to bring cable shows to users across various devices. Moreover, the Web giant's new service for accessing and searching Internet programming on TVs isn't the threat many television distributors fear. Bewkes, who oversees a company that includes the TNT, TBS and HBO cable networks, also predicted a "massive amount of competition" for Netflix Inc. and Hulu LLC as more content owners make their TV shows available through operators on demand and online and as cable and satellite companies improve their …

The Hub, a channel aimed at kids that launches Sunday and is co-owned by cable giant Discovery Communications Inc. and Hasbro, is already in the crosshairs of media watchdogs. They fear the network's programming, with shows based on toy lines G.I. Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony and Pound Puppies, amounts to little more than plugs for Hasbro products, reports the Lo s Angeles Times.  "The notion of a toy company owning a television channel for the sole purpose of promoting their toys is egregious practice," said Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Whether the …

CNN's primetime talk show anchored byex-New York governor Eliot Spitzer and conservative journalist Kathleen Parker debuted to scathing reviews, with comments on Tuesday ranging from "unbearable" to "icky" and "obnoxious." Both were hired by ousted former CNN chief Jonathan Klein to add fireworks to the evening news lineup. The New York Times said the Spitzer sex scandal "cast an awkward shadow" over the pair's chemistry and gave the show an "ickiness factor" that was hard to watch. Time's James Poniewozik also felt uncomfortable, saying the show struggled to find its tone, and he called the closing "round-table" section "just …

Ben Silverman is returning to scripted television via the same route that made him an independent producer. ABC is finalizing a deal for a single-camera comedy based on the popular Spanish series "Aquí no hay quien viva,"loosely translated as "I Hate This Place." Silverman will executive produce with Sofia Vergara, star of the network's Emmy-winning family comedy "Modern Family." Craig Doyle has been tapped to write the adaptation, which marks the first broadcast scripted project for Silverman's IAC-based company Electus. "I Hate This Place" is a multicultural and multigenerational comedy in the tone of "Modern Family" and set …

Grupo Televisa SA, the world's largest Spanish-language broadcaster, gained the most in almost two years in Mexico trading after agreeing to buy as much as 35% of Univision Communications Inc. to expand in the U.S. The $1.2 billion investment will include a 5% stake and debt that can be converted into a stake of up to 30% of Univision. Televisa also has an option to buy an additional 5% of the closely held U.S. broadcaster after three years. The deal may help Mexico City-based Televisa add viewers for its Mexican-made programs, including prime-time soap operas known as telenovelas, in …

The Federal Communications Commission has requested more information from Comcast and NBC Universal as it reviews the former's unprecedented bid to gain control of 51% of NBCU. Comcast and NBCU have until Oct. 18 to submit the paperwork. This marks the second time the FCC has made such an information request. The commission is asking for details of the agreements between Comcast and several programmers, including Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Verizon and AT&T. The FCC also asked for details about carriage agreements over the last two years, subscriber rate changes, channel lineups and ownership in local markets. It even …

NBC Local Media said its city Web sites are delivering double-digit audience growth versus one year ago. Comparing August 2010 to August 2009, monthly page views have increased 32% to 112 million, monthly unique visits are up 20% to 12 million and total visits per month grew 15% to 15 million. Users also now average eight page views per visit, a 33% jump, reports B&C. NBC Local Media re-launched the 10 local sites less than two years ago to broaden their content coverage and integrate social media platforms. In the past year, the percentage of online …