Google Fiber will be a real threat to pay TV operators -- something they should be "very, very afraid of," according to an SNL Kagen report. "Google is reinventing the business of pay TV and broadband — and it may not need to wire every US city to make an impact."

Venture capital firms are investing heavily in YouTube channels like teenage-targeted AwesomenessTV, betting that video content providers have "the potential to eventually become global media companies," writes Matthew Wong. "This is the third wave of programming from broadcast to cable to YouTube,” is the money quote from Mark Terbeek, a partner at MK Capital, "which led AwesomenessTV’s $3.5 million Series A round."

The luxury media market appears to be rebounding. Digital and quarterly glossy Du Jour launches in print later this month with "110 ad pages and an estimated $4 million in booked advertising right out of the gate," making it "one of the larger launches of the 2012-13 season, if not the largest," writes Keith Kelly. To qualify for a free subscription, you need a net worth of a cool $1.5 million. Also, Condé Nast's Fashion Media Group will premiere M, a high-end men’s fashion magazine, in September.

Urban Broadcasting Co. will launch as a video-on-demand channel on Time-Warner, Comcast and Dish Network this fall, "hoping to fill what [founder Peggy Dodson] calls a gaping hole in 'multicultural programming,'” writes David Hinckley. Programming will include “The UBC Mix Dance Show,” which Dodson calls “a contemporary version of ‘Soul Train’ and ‘American Bandstand.’" Among other shows: news/talk show "A Different Perspective,” and upcoming ones on "style, beauty, personal finance, food, health, small business and fitness."

If you're a Dish subscriber, get used to a Don Draper-less existence -- "because dropping AMC and three sister channels is good for Dish’s bottom line, and the company isn’t looking to take them back, according to Charlie Ergen, Dish Network chairman," writes Greg Avery. "Dish may lose some fans of AMC’s most popular shows in the short run, Ergen said, but the long-term cost of carrying all four AMC Networks’ channels exceeded any revenue Dish might lose or the cost of replacing the four channels with programming by HD Net."

Americans don't think much of political media, according to a Daily Kos/SEIU poll of 1,000 registered voters: only 10% said they had a "favorable opinion" of such media, and 78% gave a solid thumbs-down, "That’s a lower approval rating than Congress has," writes Andrew Beaujon. Still, "for a group of people who hate the coverage they’re getting, Americans sure consume a lot of it. Even in the slow month of July, coverage of the 2012 presidential election was at or near the top of Pew’s News Interest Index every week."

The Oregonian, the Portland  newspaper owned by Advance Publications, is considering less-than-daily publication, following the example of eight other Advance papers that have already taken this step, including the New Orleans' Times-Picayune. The 162-year-old Oregonian —"once considered one of the nation’s best—is losing readers and advertisers in a state where it dominated the media landscape for decades," writes Aaron Mesh.

In the second season of the reboot of its iconic "Pop Up Video" show, VHI has added social features to its "Create Your Own Pop-Up Video" Web app by enabling users to collaborate with friends on their video and embed it on Facebook. "This is a prime example of our storytelling without borders strategy which looks to engage fans before, during and after show…and even between seasons," notes Dan Sacher, VHI's senior vice president of digital.

TNT's retooling of the hit Krya Sedgwick detective show "The Closer" into "Major Crimes," an ensemble show featuring much of the same cast but without Sedgwick, is a "decidedly uncommon" maneuver that could be copied by other networks if successful, writes Brian Steinberg. "One of the few examples that stands out is 'Mayberry R.F.D,' which was essentially a way for CBS to keep 'The Andy Griffith Show' on the air after its star left the series in 1968," according to Steinberg. The new show is an easier sell to advertisers because of its "familiar elements," and "Apple, AT&T …

Gotham, Niche Media's lifestyle mag, is getting its own publisher -- David Katz -- after having shared a publisher with sister title Hamptons for years. Katz has a varied background, having been publisher at a "girly" pub -- Conde Nast's Brides -- as well as, most recently, digital sales manager at Bonnier's Field & Stream and Outdoor Life.