Media General has almost left the newspaper business, with a $142 million sale of 63 daily and weekly titles in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama to Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. The only remaining print property for Media General to unload is “The Tampa Tribune,” whose sale is now under discussion with other parties.  Media General will now focus on its 18 TV stations and their “future growth opportunities, including digital content and Mobile DTV,” according to President/CEO Marshall Morton. The sale to Buffet seems to herald a new trend, according to Gawker's Hamilton Nolan: the middling-sized newspaper …

Amidst all of this week’s upfront hoopla about the broadcast networks’ fall plans, mixed in with a slew of Internet Week New York activities, who has time to pay attention to PBS announcing its fall schedule?  Deadline.com and Around the Net, that’s who! No return of “Downton Abbey” until 2013, it seems, but the six-part UK hit “Call the Midwife” will run Sunday nights, followed by season two of the new “Upstairs Downstairs.”  Also on the schedule: a two-part Ken Burns documentary remembering “The Dust Bowl,” Tuesday night election-oriented documentaries leading up to the U.S. presidential election itself; and “Broadway …

Skechers has settled with the Federal Trade Commission, agreeing to pay a whopping $40 million over charges that it created deceptive ads for its Shape-ups shoes and toning products. The brand claimed that Shape-ups could tone muscles and help wearers lose weight. Ads also encouraged consumers to "Get in shape without setting foot in a gym."

Look who’s moved up on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list: Rush Limbaugh, to #19, from #23 a year earlier, despite the ongoing advertiser boycott of his radio show.   Jeff Bercovici offers two explanations.  First, the Celebrity 100 covers a one-year period ending this past April 30 and, since the ad boycott “didn’t really kick in until mid-March,” only a month and a half of Limbaugh’s earnings were affected. Second, only some of Limbaugh’s radio earnings come from ad sales: he is guaranteed $50 million a year from his eight-year deal with syndicator Premiere Radio, for example, which makes up a …

"When a subscriber reacts to a give-away sub price offer, how much real interest can that subscriber have in the editorial product?" asks Steve Blacker. He compares the actual subscription fees for different magazines, such as Conde Nast's (generally higher-priced than other publishing company's) New Yorker at $69.99 a year, versus Esquire's "bargain basement rate of $8" or three years for $18. "Aside from showing product weakness, the 60 cents Esquire sub offer has to reflect a poor renewal rate as well," writes Blacker.  "It's a game of charades," according to Blacker. "Advertisers know that magazines that sell cut rate …

In Brazil, Budweiser and its agency, Agência Africa São Paulo, have placed a magazine ad they claim as a first – the page doubles as a vinyl record playable on any turntable (remember them?). Adweek’s Tim Nudd, however, notes that such “wishful thinking” banks on people “not actually remembering the ‘70, when playable page-size vinyl was packaged inside music magazines quite often.”  The ad and song, “Great Times,” promote Bud’s new partnership with Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am.

The Los Angeles Times will cease publication of LA, its Sunday magazine, after the June 3 issue. The pub had a monthly schedule, though until 2009 it came out weekly. However, the paper "is developing a quarterly publication focusing on luxury, fashion and style," writes Alana Semuels. That move is in line with the trend of targeting the luxury lifestyle market evident in such newspaper magazines as the New York Times' T and the Wall Street Journal's WSJ. Meanwhile, the Sunday New York Times article on ad agencies referenced in this week's episode of "Mad Men" actually jumped to a …

Retailers have all sorts of options these days for digital out-of-home displays, but where exactly should stores put the screens?  Close to eye level and within arms’ reach of the product being advertised, say signage executives.  Another good place is anywhere consumers need to wait for a while, such as bank lobbies. What locations to avoid? “Hanging the screens in the middle of an aisle above eye level,” according to Digital Signage Today.

Although an avowed Bravo junkie, we’re nevertheless always surprised to learn that “Inside the Actors Studio” is still on the air (the network never promotes the series). So we missed last night’s episode featuring most of the cast of “Mad Men”! Thankfully, though, Entertainment Weekly’s Popwatch provides a nice recap.  Wow, didn’t know that the actor who plays Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) is the son of Richard Harris and stepson of Rex Harrison!  But written recaps can go only so far -- we’ve still got to watch the video online or on demand, if only to see Sally Draper (Kiernan …

International video site Viki (www.viki.com) has partnered with BBC Worldwide to expand its ad sales efforts into the Americas, Asia and Europe. Viki has distribution deals with Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo, MSN, NBC, A+E, TVB in Hong Kong, SBS in South Korea, Fuji TV in Japan and Amedia in Russia, writes George Winslow.  Another distribution deal is with BBC Worldwide, which is also an investor.