David Shipley and James P. Rubin will join Bloomberg News as executive editors starting in January. Shipley, deputy editorial page editor and op-ed editor of The New York Times, and Rubin, former U.S. Department of State assistant secretary, will lead a new editorial page called the "Bloomberg View," which will publish columns and commentary across all Bloomberg platforms. Rubin will oversee editorial issues in Central and South America, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and Shipley will maintain oversight of the U.S. and Canada. Both will report directly to editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler.

President Obama signed the CALM Act into law Wednesday. That is the measure that empowers the FCC to regularize the volume between programming and commercials. The CALM (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation) Act was approved in the House Dec. 3. The bill, which has been pushed by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), adopts the Advanced Television Systems Committee's recommended practices for variations in commercial volume in relation to the programs around them. Now, viewers will not have to worry about the boosted volume of some commercials coming in and out of shows. The bill directs the FCC to regulate commercial volume per …

Cablevision Systems said Thursday that its board of directors has authorized management to move forward with the leveraged spin-off of its Rainbow Media Holdings programming unit to Cablevision's stockholders. The spin would be constructed as a tax-free pro rata distribution to stockholders and is expected to be completed by mid-year 2011. The new Rainbow's assets will include AMC, WE tv, IFC, Sundance Channel and Wedding Central. Also IFC Entertainment, an independent film business that consists of multiple brands - including IFC Films, IFC Productions and the IFC Center. The Rainbow Network Communications is a full-service network programming origination and …

Comcast hit a 52-week high today after analyst Craig Moffett of Bernstein Research upgraded the cable company to a buy rating and raised his target price to $26 from $20. Comcast spiked more than 4% to a new year-high of $22.22 in morning trading today and is currently trading around $22.15. Moffett upgraded Comcast in anticipation of the company's acquisition of General Electric's NBC Universal, which he expects to be finalized in 2011. Moffett upgraded Comcast in anticipation of the company's acquisition of GE's NBC Universal, which he expects to be finalized in 2011.

Yahoo Inc. cut 600 workers, the latest in a series of layoffs as the Web pioneer continues to struggle to find its niche in the modern online world. Since the beginning of 2008, Yahoo has suffered through at least four major rounds of layoffs, totaling nearly 4,000 positions. The move, which amounts to a 4% reduction in its workforce, comes amid soft ad growth and declining user engagement. The news stands in sharp contrast to the hiring binges at other local Internet companies, such as Zynga, Facebook and Google, which is looking to expand its already 23,000-person staff …

A&E is launching its next pilot season with cast-contingent pilot orders to two hourlong projects, "Big Mike" and "Longmire." Both are male-targeted, akin to A&E's two series on the air, "The Glades" and the upcoming "Breakout Kings." And "Big Mike," named after the central character, a plus-sized detective and a force of nature in the San Diego PD, appears to share the light tone of "The Glades." Based on the Walt Longmire Mystery series of novels by Craig Johnson, Longmire also is named after its central character, Walt Longmire, the local sheriff in rural Wyoming. Veteran Closer writer-producers …

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism faculty and officers tell President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder that "while we hold varying opinions of Wikileaks' methods and decisions, we all believe that in publishing diplomatic cables Wikileaks is engaging in journalistic activity protected by the First Amendment" and that "as a historical matter, government overreaction to publication of leaked material in the press has always been more damaging to American democracy than the leaks themselves." In a letter to both, staffers write: "The U.S. and the First Amendment continue to set a world standard for freedom of the press, …

Hollywood may not be a fan of Google TV, but YouTube loves the idea of the Internet-tube so much that it's giving away 100 of them. YouTube has a call out to viewers to submit videos on why they're "pumped up" about Google TV, the service from Google Inc. that allows viewers to search for television programs online and then watch them on their television sets. Broadcast networks have been wary -- even downright hostile -- toward the service. Winners of the YouTube contest with the most original, entertaining and technically adept videos will be in the running for a …

"Soy tu duena" is the most-watched telenovela on Univision in nearly 20 years, regularly popping up among the top 10 shows in any language among adults 18-49 and top five with adults 18-34. Univision's surge in young adult viewers is a sign of the nation's rapidly expanding Latino population, and network execs happily see it as a harbinger of growth trends to come. The telenovela is a big part of the double-digit ratings growth Univision has seen this year, in sharp contrast to the performance of the Big Four English nets. More young adults have tuned in to see …

Former AOL Media President Bill Wilson has snagged 10 of his former colleagues to join Townsquare Media, the venture that develops sites for local radio stations. Wilson, who serves as Townsquare Media's executive vice president and chief digital officer, said the company has relaunched over 30 digital sites for local radio stations and plans to redo all of the company's 171 radio station digital properties by the first quarter of 2011. The Townsquare announcement is timely in that AOL has been in the news lately reportedly trying to figure out a way to combine with Yahoo. One latest path …