Richard Pinder is leaving the top spot at Publicis Worldwide after less than two years in the company's sole leadership position. On Wednesday, Publicis Groupe announced that Chief Operating Officer Jean-Yves Naouri would take the helm at Publicis Worldwide as executive chairman. The move came as a surprise. Pinder had been COO at Publicis Worldwide from 2006 until 2009, he shared global leadership of the agency with then-executive chairman Oliver Fleurot. He is a 25-year ad vet. Separately, the promotion puts Naouri in a better position to succeed Maurice Lévy as head of Publicis Groupe. He is already …

Calling James Murdoch the ideal person for the position, News Corp. has announced his promotion to deputy chief operating officer. Oh, and he is Rupert's son. James, 38, will move to the firm's Manhattan office from London, where he runs the European and Asian operations. The news confirmed analysts' expectations that he was the favored successor to his father. Lachlan Murdoch, acting chief executive of Ten Network, is already a News Corp director, to be joined by sister Elisabeth on the board. ''It's part of the overall family plan to have James mostly in charge," David Joyce, an analyst at …

If you're looking for ratings these days, why not go with a proven champ? And so, Los Angeles Times blogger Melissa Maerz reports, NBC signed Betty White for a new non-scripted series -- one that crosses the generations by having senior citizens playing pranks on younger people. Called, we kid you not, "Betty White's Off Their Rockers," the series is based, and again we're not kidding, on a Flemmish show called "Benidorm Bastards." White, of course, achieved high ratings and an Emmy on "Saturday Night Live" and continues to star in TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland" and make …

Free. It's not a word you hear every day. For the month of April, Volvo is sponsoring MLB's MLB.TV, allowing baseball fans to stream live games via iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch apps, for free. Users save $25, the cost of a month's subscription. The apps still run users $14.99, not bad for having your favorite team at your fingertips. Fear not, Android users; you get a free game per day.

Fresh on the heels of landing Microsoft, a unit of Starcom MediaVest Group has landed some soft-serve -- ice cream that is. SMG's Spark Communications division has picked up Dairy Queen's $100 million media planning and buying account, according to Brandweek magazine. WPP's MediaCom was the incumbent.

James Murdoch, son of you-know-who, is moving to News Corp.'s New York corporate headquarters and taking on the newly created job of deputy COO and chairman and CEO, international, which marks him as the no. 3 guy in the company, just behind Chase Carey, the deputy chairman, president and COO. It's a step up the ladder from Murdoch's previous gig, chairman and CEO, Europe and Asia, as well as executive chairman, News International,

In a post and a video, Gigaom reviews EyeTV One, a "TV tuner and DVR option that plugs into your USB port and allows you to watch and record live, over-the-air HD video streams." While there are plusses, one pitfall is that "the saved saved recordings take up a lot of hard drive space."

An Ad Age story quoting no one specific -- instead, attributing information to many unidentified sources -- says Comcast and NBC Universal are planning to consolidate all their media accounts, currently spread across a host of agencies, and put them up for review. The winner would have an ad spend worth a cool $1.2 billion. Yowza!

Ion Media ranks first among TV station owners in TV Newscheck's ranking of the top 30 in audience reach, followed by Univision, Trinity, CBS, Fox, NBC, Tribune, ABC, Sinclair and Gannett. The list remains much the same as 2009's, due to the economic slowdown, with the exception of Multicultural Television Broadcasting, which was killed last year.

CBS Television Distribution is currently the front-runner in the race to land rights to Katie Couric's daytime talk show in 2012, according to a story in Broadcasting & Cable citing unnamed sources undoubtedly from, yep, CBS. As her current employer, the company has a contractual advantage in a clause giving it the option to match other offers. CBS CEO Leslie Moonves is said to be "very involved in talks" to keep Couric at the station.