When it comes to traditional cable TV, cord cutting is "overstated," but there are definitely younger consumers who are "cord nevers" -- those who "never acquire cable in the first place," writes Jeff John Roberts in a report on Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes' speech on Friday. For cord nevers, "it’s not a question of money — 'they can afford three Starbucks a day' [said Bewkes] — but rather different habits and expectations." Bewkes also discussed other challenges cable TV faces, "including the spiraling cost of sports," writes Roberts. "As Bewkes noted, 'half of the population …

E.W. Scripps Co. is the latest newspaper company to announce an upcoming paywall for its digital product, to be rolled out in early 2013 in all 13 cities where it publishes. "Scripps hasn’t finalized its pricing strategy but sees 'great opportunity' to increase revenue by bundling digital and print products for a single price," writes Dan Monk.

Will Bourne will become editor in chief of iconic but now-struggling alt-weekly Village Voice  Nov. 26, taking over from Tony Ortega, who left the post in September after six years. Bourne's background at two snappily edited business pubs -- most recently Inc., but also Fast Company -- should help him as he attempts to "reinforce the paper’s position as a showcase for progressive — but balanced, disciplined — journalism, and to make it an even more forceful presence on the culture front," as he notes of his plans.

Variety, recently purchased by Penske Media,  announced roughly 20 job cuts mostly on the business, not editorial side (no reporters or editors were affected), along with plans to cut frequency of its daily edition, though "it's not yet known by how much," writesL.A. Times' Ben Fritz. Meanwhile Variety's competitor Hollywood Reporter is proceeding with its plans to become a luxury lifestyle as well as trade pub, attempting to court cosmetics, fashion and home design advertisers with corresponding editorial and promotions.  Most recently, there's the cover story "Hollywood’s Top 25 Beauty Moments of 2012,” which "examines …

When Stephen Colbert mentions your brand on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," are you happy or sad? Probably a little of both, since his conservative-dummy persona always manages to skewer whatever he discusses. So Campbell's marketing folks may have had mixed feelings about being featured for their new "youth-skewing" pouch-packaged soups.  But since Colbert also got his info from a MediaPost story -- shown prominently on-air along with the MediaPost logo (and byline by our own Karl Greenberg) -- our reaction was undiluted brand pride.

"This week, events on both seaboards of the Atlantic displayed anew just how thin the foundations on which many major news operations operate are," writes Ken Doctor. He details the recent problems, from two companies rocked by scandals or links to others' scandals (the BBC, The New York Times with new CEO Mark Thompson, previously of the BBC), to The Washington Post's own top masthead shifts and a high operating loss for Q3, to rumors of the Financial Times' being in play since its CEO announced her retirement. Doctor also details "newsonomics," with FT seemingly the most profitable of the …

Masthead shift at Marie Claire: Nina Garcia (also a longtime judge on "Project Runaway," who inspired the phrase "Don't bore Nina!") has been promoted to creative director; she was formerly fashion director. And Alex Gonzalez, previously of W and GQ, will join the women's fashion pub next week as artistic director.

News Corp. is in talks to buy a stake in the Yes Network, the cable channel that broadcasts regional sports including Yankees and Nets games, according to an unnamed source cited by Amy Chozick and Michael Cieply. Deal could be finalized as soon as Friday, adding  "significant heft to News Corporation’s already large portfolio of regional sports assets."

Big Thunder Mountain -- a Western-themed ride at Disney theme parks in California, Florida, Tokyo and Paris -- will be developed into a TV series by ABC Studios. This is the second Disney ride to get the Hollywood treatment; the first was Pirates of the Caribbean, developed into the movie franchise starring Johnny Depp.

Time Warner is discussing the purchase of a minority stake in Maker Studios, "a key producer of original programming for YouTube," according to multiple anonymous sources cited by Andrew Wallenstein and Rachel Abrams. Maker Studios "has been attracting TV-size audiences to its top YouTube series including 'Epic Rap Battles of History.'''