In a measure passed unanimously by the City Council and encouraged by the mayor, Salt Lake City has banned new digital billboard sites and the conversion of conventional billboards into digital ones.  But In Dallas, mayor Dwaine Caraway -- a former billboard owner -- "would like to see the whole city go digital because it is where the technology is today."  A Dallas City Council committee is recommending that the city should allow 25 new digital billboards over the next three years.

The Wall Street Journal is the first U.S. newspaper to launch a Wikileaks-type file-sharing system for tipsters, reports Forbes' "Mixed Media" blogger Jeff Bercovici. Called WSJ Safehouse, the site allows sources to upload documents to a secure server where the paper's editors -- but no one else -- can access them via encrypted connections.  The New York Times, meanwhile, says it's "continuing to work" on the possibility of a similar system.

The iPad is an "especially good" option for watching TV shows on something besides a TV set, writes Walt Mossberg, who goes on to provide his take on a range of iPad TV viewing apps -- from HBO's new app HBO Go, WatchESPN and the ABC Player to iTunes, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Xfinity TV, and even MLB At Bat. "I hope eventually tablet offerings are more complete," Mossberg concludes.

The common industry assumption that the New York Times Co. wants 300,000 digital subscribers over the next year is "inaccurate," Times digital head Martin Nisenholtz said in a recent interview.  "I don't know where that number came from."  Actually, the figure first appeared in a highly reputable source that often serves as the basis for news that shows up all over the place -- the pages of The New York Times. Staci Kramer, reporting in PaidContent, takes care to point out that Niesenholtz knew that fact, and that his comment referred to the "company executives" who "privately" …

Ok, Maine's newspaper industry may well bring in almost as much revenue as the state's long-haled potato crop, according to research touted by the Maine Press Association, but it's a "fuddy-duddy" study," writes Al Diamon.  "Those are impressive numbers, although I suspect they'd be less so if compared to, say, the Maine fast-food industry or the state's combined convenience-store purchases or the amount of liquor sales Maine loses to New Hampshire every year," says the "Maine Media" columnist.To put the study in perspective, Diamon notes that Maine's newspaper industry is currently fighting two pieces of proposed legislation - one …

Joseph Rydholm describes how Showtime mixed quantitative and qualitative research methods, including an online survey and Web-based chats to better understand the preferred viewing platforms (i.e., linear, on-demand/DVR) of "Nurse Jackie" viewers - and how viewers of the show on different platforms may differ from each other.One interesting insight: "in an ideal world, most fans would watch the live Monday night episode premiere...those who did were the most fervent fans. However, due to an array of work, family and social commitments, most utilize DVR and on-demand technologies to watch the show."With the research, Showtime was able to distinguish five different …

"If you've never heard of Bloomberg Markets, you're not alone," begins Noah Davis in this look at the financial mag. "All it means is that you probably are not a Master of the Universe, one of the 'global financial elite' in the magazine's parlance. You do not make $400,000 per year, have a net worth of $2.5 million, or spend nine hours a day logged into your Bloomberg terminal."But Davis writes in "The Wire" column, "You should know Markets... because the publication consistently produces some of the best investigative journalism about the financial sector, an area where virtually everyone agrees …

Comcast has just released its Q1 earnings, which marks the first time analysts were given "a detailed outline of NBC's financials" since the merger, according to Bloomberg. The news for the combined combination was good, noted Matthew Harrigan, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities in Denver, Colorado. "When the deal was announced, I think a lot of analysts gave NBCU a stale valuation," he said. "I think it's worth well north of $40 billion at this point."

Forbes' Eric Savitz discusses a post by BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield looking at this question in depth. Greenfield notes that subscriber numbers are rising at Netflix while dipping at HBO, leading to fears that HBO's service is "simply too expensive relative to the competition."A separate HBO would allow for such strategies as selling HBO subscriptions directly to consumers, for example.

The Wall Street Journal targets a niche audience -- chief financial officers and those who handle similar job functions -- with CFO Journal, a subscription-based Web product. For $49 a month, subscribers get full access to WSJ.com, use of Factiva SmartSearch, and Deloitte LLP-sponsored "CFO-centric" content including research and technical analyses.