The Hollywood Reporter
Another round of WTF news from a "Two and a Half Men" cast member: The "half" man of the title, Angus T. Jones, testified in a church video that the show is "filth" and viewers should stop watching it. The 19-year-old actor, whose salary was reportedly recently raised to about $350,000 an episode, said, "I'm on 'Two and a Half Men' and I don't want to be on it."
Daily Kos
Volunteers in the "Flush Rush" movement, using a systematic campaign of complaints to advertisers on the Rush Limbaugh radio show, are "helping to bring significant elements of one of the most powerful industries in the country to their knees," writes Richard Myers. He cites as evidence Radio Network Dial Global's precipitous (over 90%) drop in earnings over a year, along with Cumulus Media's "'material decline' in top-line revenue." The practice of selling radio ads on a run-of-station, bulk or remnant status also doesn't help, with 70% of Rush Limbaugh's sponsors unaware of that fact, adds Myers. "Many are …
The New York Times
In the wake of O magazine's 22% drop in newsstand sales after the end of Oprah Winfrey's syndicated talk show, the media magnate is looking to attract readers younger than the pub's median age of 49. Winfrey wants to target women "in their 30s or perhaps their 20s, to be able to reach people when they are looking to fulfill their destiny,” Winfrey tells Christine Haughney. But what's the pub's strategy for this goal, when "articles in women’s magazines like Glamour or Cosmopolitan often focus on new sex positions to try and embarrassing dates," while recent O "articles discussed how …
Adweek
Former Essence editor in chief Angela Burt-Murray will launch CocoaFab.com, an entertainment news and style site targeted to young African-American women. The site will feature six original Web series weekly and such "original and aggregated content, [as] street style look books, live-streamed 'viewing parties,' and photo galleries," writes Emma Bazilian.
Metro
Good news for fans of "Downton Abbey": the show was
just renewed for a fourth season on U.K. TV network ITV. And show creator Julian Fellowes says Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess Violet Crawley -- for many viewers, "Downtown'"s highlight -- will not be killed off this season. In fact, even if Smith wanted to leave the show, Fellowes says, he would plot it so she could return: in that case, Violet would be sent off "to live by the sea." Violet is going …
The New York Times
It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to tell you that the Discovery Channel is canceling "Dirty Jobs," "a forerunner to the genre of weird-workplace reality television that now flourishes on cable," after nine years on air, according to Brian Stelter. Good quote from the show's host -- featuring "exploding toilets...and feces from every species" -- on this post. This is the second long-running Discovery show to get the ax this month. "American Choppers," which premiered in 2002, was canceled last week.
Advertising Age
Viewers of Fox's "New Girl" wil now be able to buy products featured on the show through an American Express partnership with the Fox Now app. Amex's experiments in interactive TV also include its digital channel, available since September on such pay TV systems as Cablevision, Direct TV, and Verizon Fios. The channel is like "a TV commercial that is always on -- you just have to decide to find it," writes Brian Steinberg. It's also like a corporate Web site with editorial content, since it lets viewers not only "explore member benefits, learn about various American Express …
All Things D
Time Warner is said to be leading a $40 million round of investment in start-up Maker Studios, which "specializes in creating and distributing clips" for YouTube, writes Peter Kafka. Reports of this deal (but not how much money Time Warner will actually put in) come from unnamed sources who say the funding "should close within the next three weeks." Some of the money will reportedly "go toward building out the company’s direct sales force," writes Kafka.
Home Media Magazine
Subscription VOD services like Netflix and Hulu Plus have had "little impact on cable, satellite and telecommunication premium television — despite scuttlebutt to the contrary," according to a report by London-based Futuresource Consulting, writes Erik Gruenwedel. "Indeed, premium TV continues to dominate the U.S. home entertainment industry, with 86% of homes paying for monthly bundled service. Revenue rose 4.3% in 2011 to reach $94 billion."
Financial Times
Time Inc. will launch Time Engage, an ad product that mines data from the 130 million readers of its magazines as well as from advertisers and third parties "to optimise the placement of ads in Time’s print and digital properties," writes Emily Steel. Toyota is currently testing Time Engage for targeting its Venza vehicle to baby boomers; no results reported yet.