As Charlie Sheen came perilously close on Tuesday to missing his call time on "Two and a Half Men," CBS, Warner Bros. Television and executive producer Chuck Lorre were struggling with how to address the problem of their star and his private behavior. He reportedly went on a vodka-fueled bender this weekend in Las Vegas with three porn stars. Both CBS and Warner Bros. Television are "worried" about Sheen and have been in dialogue about how to deal with him. The actor, who had the network nervous before signing up for two more seasons in mid-2010, failed to show …

Gannett Co. will lay off nearly half its editorial staff at three New Jersey community newspapers by next month and will restructure the remaining positions. The affected newspapers are the Courier News of Bridgewater, Daily Record of Parsippany and Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, where a combined 99 staff members will have to apply for 53 remaining positions. Those not kept will be cut loose by Feb. 4. The company offered to pay staff the difference between their salary and unemployment insurance, a week for every year of service up to 26 weeks, but no less than four, …

"Baggage," the Game Show Network dating show hosted by Jerry Springer, could be a new option for broadcast syndication, if all goes well in NBC Universal Television Distribution's 10-week, 10-market test of the show, which began Monday. The daily half-hour show, in its second season on GSN, is airing on nine Sinclair stations, including Tampa, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Birmingham and Las Vegas, and Weigel Broadcasting's WCIU in Chicago. Baggage, which features three contestants vying for a date who have to divulge their "baggage," is being tested in afternoon, early and latenight time slots. In its first two days on …

Cox Cross Media, the digital sales arm of Cox Reps, has combined with Adify to create Cox Digital Solutions. The combo is both business reorganization and a merger of technologies. Cox Reps, a TV spot sales organization, created Cox Cross Media in 2007 to broker inventory for its local TV station Web sites, installing radio veteran Steve Shaw as senior vice president. Shaw is now president of Cox Digital Solutions. Founded in 2006, Adify began life as an ad management provider that could fill the gap between large, opaque ad networks and direct ad sales. Early customers were niche …

The 'Anywhere Coffee Is Needed' campaign depicts people in unexpected situations and locations to illustrate the wide availability of the coffee. That's the theme line behind Seattle's Best's first major branding campaign and first TV spot, which is aimed at both pointing out the availability of its brand and highlighting its "mass premium" appeal. The overarching campaign touts a less-serious, fun approach to coffee, as well as a less-complex image compared with premium coffees in the market -- like Starbucks. The "Anywhere Coffee Is Needed" campaign will include three 30-second spots that depict people in unexpected situations and locations …

The CW confirmed Monday that it has ordered a daily, half-hour show titled "Dr. Drew's Lifechangers" that will air in its afternoon block starting in the fall. The show, from Warner Bros.' Telepictures Prods., will focus on people dealing with conflicts in their lives, which could include relationship or addiction issues. Pinsky and a panel of experts ranging from celebrities to people working in the medical field will try to help the show's guests. "Lifechangers" will air weekdays in a two-episode block from 3-4 p.m. (an original episode will be followed by a repeat). The CW currently airs repeats …

With the nation's unemployment rate relentlessly above 9% and cable subscribers cutting the cord, Comcast Corp. has lowered the price of its entry-level 50-channel TV-only package to $29.95 a month in the Philadelphia area, a 25% drop from its previous $39.95 level. Separately, the nation's No. 2 cable company, Time Warner Cable Inc., is experimenting in New York City and Ohio with lower prices targeted at economically distressed consumers. Time Warner's TV Essentials $49.95 package has been discounted to $29.99 in the Cleveland area and $39.99 in New York. Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury said the $29.95 price for its …

After the History channel said it would not air a controversial miniseries on the Kennedy family, producers were already seeking another television home. The Showtime pay cable network has been approached to air the eight-part series, a spokesman said. Eight years ago, Showtime aired a movie about President Reagan that CBS had made but decided not to broadcast when it faced pressure from some of that former president's family. Showtime won't make a decision about the Kennedy miniseries until its executives have a chance to see it, spokesman Richard Licata said. The multimillion dollar miniseries, which stars Greg …

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in Congress, said Sunday the deadly shooting in Arizona should get the country thinking about what's acceptable to say publicly and when people should keep their mouths shut. Clyburn said he thinks vitriol in public discourse led a suspect to open fire at an event Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords held for her constituents in Tucson, Ariz. Six people were killed and 14 others were injured, including Giffords, says the Charleston Post and Courier. The shooting is cause for the country to rethink parameters on free speech, Clyburn said from his …

Walt Disney Co. may make videos from some of its television networks available on sets embedded with Yahoo Inc.'s Internet-TV software. Such new offerings would propel Yahoo into a broader battle to use the Internet to bring premium content to digital TVs, amping up the competition with traditional cable-TV and satellite operators. Companies including Apple Inc., Google Inc., and Cisco Systems Inc. have entered the race to combine Internet video and conventional TV in a variety of ways, such as selling separate devices that attach to cable boxes and building software into cable boxes and new TV sets. …