Good article in Bloomberg Businessweek analyzing the power of the Oprah brand, "radically different but no less powerful than Coca-Cola or the Marlboro Man," writes Susan Berfield. Still, as she moves to cable, her message is shifting a bit, and her power may already be abating, since she's a baby boomer whose "historical moment is passing,"according to the author of a book about the queen of media.

Google told newspaper publishers it would no longer be archiving their old issues, effectively ending the search giant's five-year-old News Archive Project. So far, Google has scanned 60 million pages, covering 250 years of the world's newspapers -- digital files it says it will continue to support online. Why end the project now? "Here's two wild guesses: the process may have turned out to be harder than Google anticipated," writes Carly Carioli in the Boston Phoenix. "Or it may have turned out that the resulting pages drew far fewer eyeballs than anyone expected."

Comcast has not fulfilled the conditions of its merger with NBC because it neglected to increase local and Spanish-language news programming as required by the FCC, according to a study done by media watchdog group Free Press. Comcast reportedly counted commercials as part of its local news tally.

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.

Univision plans to "tighten its grip on the growing Latino market" with three new cable channels, the L.A. Times reports. One of the channels will focus on sports, another news, and the third,telenovelas, "the spicy Spanish-language soap operas... that fuel Univision Network's prime-time [broadcast] ratings."

Ok, you can pretty much write your own headline here, but please keep it tasteful. Yes, every Playboy issue from its 57 years (and counting) of publication is now available in a Web-based subscription service (and iPad app) for $8 a month or $60 a year. Check out this Chicago Tribune article for some snarky comments on how feasible a money-making scheme this really is.

Ebersol, who has been head of NBC Sports since 1989, is reported to have left because of disagreements about the terms of his contract. However, as recently as Monday he was still around for NBC's upfront presentation.

The Atlantic Wire, the esteemed pub's Web site, yesterday opened up its editing and writing process to the public in what will be an ongoing experiment. Very cool. Readers can pitch stories, give feedback on existing ones, and listen in as staffers go back and forth during the editing process.

But the "Two and a Half Men' creator had to say that, didn't he? Actually, the quote is all hearsay upfront talk from CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler. Lorre's still got time to think about the best way of -- um, killing off? -- the Charlie Harper character on the show, and introducing Ashton Kutcher.As have we. Something to do with Charlie's stalker girlfriend Rose? He witnesses a murder and has to hide in a convent -- or don drag? (Oh, drat, that's been done.)

One of our favorite TV writers -- TV Guide's Matt Roush -- analyzes ABC's upfront offerings, as well as the trend for the alphabet network, NBC and Fox to hold back what Roush thinks could be their strongest offerings till mid-season. "Once again, as with 'Awake and Smash' on NBC and 'Alcatraz' on Fox, some of my most visceral and enthusiastic knee-jerk responses to ABC's bulging shelf of new series was reserved for the shows that are waiting in the wings for winter or spring," he writes. "I'm at a loss to understand why a show with so much buzz …