As Rupert Murdoch prepares over the next several weeks to bow his new iPad-only newspaper, The Daily, for which he's hired a staff of nearly 100, News Corp.'s MySpace division could pink-slip as many as 500 workers shortly. The layoffs may be a precursor to a sale for the once wildly popular social networkingsite whose traffic continues to dwindle as Facebook explodes. Murdoch's latest obsession is the potential of the iPad. Since last summer, he has been closely involved with creating a newspaper to be made available only on the iPad and eventually on other tablets. He lured …

As NBC enjoyed some of its best TV ratings for the NFL in years, the network's 3-year-old experiment in streaming live Sunday night games also reached new heights. According to NBC's internal figures, an average of 125,100 unique viewers streamed Sunday Night Football Extra this past season, an increase of 13% versus last year. Compared to previous years, fans also logged on and stayed longer during live "SNF" games. Visits surged 26% versus 2009 to 2.5 million, while total minutes jumped 18% to 65.2 million.

Modern Family" co-creator and executive producer Steve Levitan hasbeen concerned that the show's exposure on the Web would hurt its long-term value and ratings. Seems that Turner Broadcasting Chief Executive Phil Kent shares some of Levitan's concerns. Kent said Turner, parent of the cable network TBS, which buys lots of sitcom reruns, pulled out of bidding for "Modern Family" for that very reason. NBC Universal's USA Network did not share those same concerns, shelling out about $1.4 million for reruns of the show. TBS was said to have bid just over $1 million per episode for "Modern Family." Turner …

Belo Corp. announced that its stations provided free airtime to 151 congressional and gubernatorial candidates across the U.S. during the 2010 election season through the Company's "It's Your Time" program. In addition, Belo said it broadcast more than 162 hours of political coverage on its 15 news-producing television stations in the seven weeks leading up to Election Day. From Sept. 19 to Nov. 1, Belo said its television stations aired an average of 72 local and national election-related stories each week. The coverage included 14 debates. Belo rebroadcast an average of 144 stories weekly on the company's six regional …

Ford Motor Co. says its U.S. sales rose 15% in 2010 thanks to strong demand for its pickups and sedans. The company sold 1.9 million cars and trucks and grabbed market share from rivals, including General Motors and Toyota. Ford says 2010 was the second year in a row it gained U.S. market share, its first back-to-back increase since 1993. The Ford F-150 pickup was the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. last year. The company also saw strong sales of its Fusion midsize sedan and Edge. Sales of Ford's luxury Lincoln brand rose only 4% for the year.Chrysler …

A new nationally syndicated program designed to enlighten viewers about the many splendored glories of smartphone apps is popping up on TV screens this week, reaching some 92 million households in nearly all major markets. The brainchild of mobile-video pioneer Frank Chindamo and the Emmy-winning creators behind the tabloid TV staples "A Current Affair" and "Hard Copy," "The Mo Show" is a weekly 30-minute syndie offering reminiscent of G4's "Attack of the Show." Each installment will introduce viewers to some of the coolest and most useful apps for iPhones, Androids and the like, as the hosts survey an …

The midseason brings two major changes to the schedule that will mix up the broadcast networks rankings over the next few months. The first is the premiere of Fox's "American Idol," the No. 1 show on television, which has boosted Fox to six straight season wins among adults 18-49. But the other change, equally significant, is what will be missing, NBC's "Sunday Night Football," the show that boosted the network to a surprising second-place finish during the fall. Everyone expects Fox will move to No. 1 after "Idol" returns on Jan. 18 and NBC will slip from No. 2 …

Talk is spreading that future publishing partner The Daily Beast plans to further gut the Newsweek staff by offering buyouts. Newsweek owner Sidney Harman agreed late last year to merge with the IAC-backed news and commentary site in a joint venture. The deal hasn't closed yet, and it's not clear when it will. But Beasteditor Tina Brown, who has been named editor of the merged company, is already making her mark on the news weekly, ordering up stories and quietly making new hires, leading some there to feel like the union is more a takeover than a merger. The …

2011 looks to be another good year for most media, although maybe not as strikingly good as 2010's comps vs. the dismal 2009. The goal for these organizations will be to help constituents capitalize on the latest mobile devices and help roll out/standardize new apps for them; take advantage of new platforms and technologies that increase accountability, serve the advertiser better and "target the interested" more efficiently. Automotive will again top the charts for categories, especially without the political comps, but financial and retail are predicted to continue to do well. Confidence is up, and most are optimistic …

If you gave or got a TV set, game console, Blu-ray player or DVR for the holidays, you might become the kind of person who scares executives who run movie and television production studios, broadcast and cable channels, and cable and satellite systems. What media moguls fear: 2011 could become the year when more people watch Web TV content from sources including Netflix, iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, Vudu, Hulu Plus and Crackle - and trim or even cancel their monthly TV subscriptions for cable, satellite or phone company TV service. There's still wide disagreement over how many people will …