ESPN has sold 90% of its "Monday Night Football" inventory and NBC has sold over 80% of its "Sunday Night Football" inventory at price increases said to be in the 9% range. National Football League ad inventory has been among the best selling among advertisers and their media agencies over the past few years. Seth Winter, senior vice presdient, NBC Sports & Olympics sales and marketing, called his network's NFL sellout levels "extraordinary." Winter said NBC wrote more than a dozen multiyear deals for "SNF," and added that auto, telecommunications, fast food restaurants, financial/insurance, electronics and packaged goods were …

Once defined by clear content niches, many cable TV networks are scrambling to broaden their audiences by reaching beyond their original mission. Some are shedding entire identities, others are overhauling formats, and many are sprinkling traditional lineups with reality, food, dramas and comedies - popular genres that viewers are accustomed to seeing on rival cable and broadcast networks. Overall viewership and the time people spend in front of the tube is rising. Forget about brand purity; it's all about the chase for eyeballs. In the clamor for viewers and advertisers, cablers "have come to the realization that some channels …

Over the next few months, Sony Corp. and its competitors will introduce a new generation of Web-connected televisions and services that will stream movies, TV shows, and music over the Internet and onto those sets. The idea is to make it easier for consumers to bypass cable and effectively create their own personal TV channels. That may sound a lot like what many people are doing by tapping into YouTube, Hulu, and other entertainment Web sites. What's different is that Sony and the other manufacturers are hoping to go after ad dollars as well as subscription revenue and pay-per-view …

A pair of NBC Universal digital properties enjoyed record traffic surges this past May, driven, in part, by interest in the BP oil spill and the volatile stock market. MSNBC.com, a joint venture between NBCU and Microsoft, delivered a record 154 million total video streams in May, a 59% rise versus last year. CNBC.com reached a user peak in May as well; per comScore, the site attracted over 6 million unique visitors for the first time, generating 326 million page views, also a record. CNBC.com's reach boost was propelled by Wall Street's May 6 meltdown, which resulted in …

Journalists covering the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have been yelled at, kicked off public beaches and islands and threatened with arrest in the nearly three weeks since the government promised improved media access. Despite government assurances to coverage, reporters face obstacles, harassment and intimidation by federal officials and local police, as well as BP employees and contractors, reports AP. Among the limitations AP is protesting is a Federal Aviation Administration rule barring aircraft from flying low enough to observe and photograph coastal impact and cleanup. The limit is set at 3,000 feet for planes, and …

The Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Columbia University and the city plan to open a new lab that will aim to stimulate the local media industry. The NYC Media Lab is the latest of several steps by the Bloomberg administration to boost the city's traditional and digital media sectors. Media remains one of New York's most important sectors, with about 300,000 employees and $30 billion in annual revenues. Since July 2007, the publishing industry in New York shed 8,700 jobs. Much of the research will focus on mobile technology, gaming, cyber security and other areas of digital …

Conde Nast has turned out the lights on high-end magazine development, but other wings of the media giant controlled by the Newhouse family seem to be incubating magazines on shoestring budgets. The latest is MensWear, which is being produced by the Fairchild wing. The new magazine comes two years after Fairchild folded its men's fashion newspaper DNR and made it a weekly section in Women's Wear Daily. The new men's magazine, a scaled-down version of one Richard Beckman created before becoming CEO of e5 Global Media, will be overseen by Ed Nardoza, the editor-in-chief of WWD.

As the Young Broadcasting bankruptcy claws its way toward a conclusion, employees of the 10-station group are wondering just who's in charge. "We're still on hold," said Robert Prather, president-COO of Gray, who had expected to manage the group. "The lawyers are telling us to let the litigation play out. We've not been involved in day-to-day stuff for a couple months." Still, Gray is collecting on its estimated $2.2 million annual management contract. By early last fall, everything appeared to be on track. But unsecured creditors, unhappy with the proposed reorganization plan, countered with their own plan, which sent …

MSNBC is adding Lawrence O'Donnell to the starting lineup. The veteran political reporter will develop a show for the 10 p.m. ET hour. The network had been content to air reruns of Keith Olbermann's show from two hours earlier in that slot. O'Donnell has been with the network as a political analyst since it started 14 years ago. He was also a writer for the Emmy winning NBC show "The West Wing." No date has been set for the new show.

TiVO shares leaped 5.11% and closed at $8.02, following rumors of a buyout by DirecTV, according to the Street Insider. Neither company supplied concrete information and the acquisition would face antitrust hurdles. The shares are currently trading near the low of its 52 week range of $7.10 to $18.93. Shares are expected to trade higher on the back of the buyout speculation. DirecTV is an important competitor for TiVO. In the satellite business, DIRECTV has introduced DVR technology including both standard definition and high definition broadcasts that competes against TiVO's offerings. Separately, TiVO, a leading video …