"Investors... hate the New York Times Company thinking that in our internet age, all newspapers are toast," writes stock analyst Carl Delfeld. "Slow growth, high union wages and painful fixed printing costs complete its bleak prospects." Still, there are at least three reasons to consider investing in the company now, including the fact that "the fee-based website is working well," and "The print side is stable with growth opportunities in media markets," he writes.

Andy Sareyan, who had been Meredith's chief brand officer and president for consumer brands, including such major magazines as the Ladies' Home Journal, Family Circle and Parents, has left the company after a five-year stint there. According to Ad Age, "It's unclear whether Mr. Sareyan has another post lined up."

Frank Bruni, who has been a writer for The New York Times since 1995, was named an Op-Ed columnist there. Bruni will also be the first gay columnist at the Times, writes Fishbowl's Chris O'Shea (but we'd qualify it to say, the "first openly gay columnist"-- ya never know).

From "Tough Lady Teboots" to "Male-Insecurity Sitcoms" to "'Mad Men' Knockoffs" -- pick a trend from the handy-dandy Vulture slide show that aims to tell you "How To Pick Which New TV Show to Watch Next Fall." Also could be useful if you're trying to decide which show to support with your advertising dollars?

Conde Nast has founded Conde Nast Ideactive, a marketing services division that will provide app development, video, web design and social media. By moving beyond ad-page sales for its glossy magazines, Conde joins other media companies aiming to diversify their businesses by becoming marketing partners with advertisers -- including Hearst, which last year purchased the search specialist iCrossing. Those who already advertise in Conde publications will get preferential rates with Ideactive.

Barnes & Noble's Nook Color, introduced in November, is gaining on its tablet rivals in the magazine field with especially strong sales of women's mags -- including subscriptions. "On the surface, the reason for the strong performance of female-oriented publications on the Nook is relatively straightforward. Generically speaking, the iPad and other tablets are men's toys, while the Nook Color and other e-readers are more popular with women," writes Jeremy W. Peters in The New York Times. But Barnes and Noble also heavily promoted the device to women as well. Credit the Nook's popularity with helping to attract Liberty Media …

Variety's Paige Albiniak discusses the murky path ahead for Viacom and News Corp. as heads of both companies, 88 and 80 respectively (that's Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone, of course) decline mention of retirement. "Both patriarchs have muddied the waters by bringing children into their companies even as they have hired strong non-family members as their top execs -- leaving Wall Street watchers to fill in the blanks with speculation," Albiniak writes.

"Nonsense," says TV by the Numbers' Bill Gorman, responding to last week's Bloomberg piece crediting the large number of new TV shows introduced at the upfronts to the "Netflix affect," which creates more of a market for older shows. "That effect does not extend to shows early in their lifespan," writes Gorman. "In fact, if the 'Netflix effect' were in force for new shows, you'd expect more rookie shows from this season with marginal ratings renewed, and hence fewer new shows introduced next season." Gorman also writes: "The reason that the broadcast nets introduced 39 new programs is …

Ed Martin ranks the major nets' upfront presentations on entertainment and information values -- from highest rated (Fox) to lowest (ABC -- because it "once again put together an event that consisted almost entirely of executives making speeches and introducing clips.") Entertaining read itself.

The list of new shows the four major broadcast networks previewed this week at the upfronts is the longest -- 39 -- since 2004. That's due in part to what Bloomberg calls the "Netflix Effect": spending on new programs is "less risky," because there are new markets like Web-based services for TV content, including older shows. "Ratings are less and less of an important barometer for whether a show will stay on the air," notes one pundit quoted in the piece.