New CNN president Jeff Zucker, set to take the reins in late January,  "has quietly been sending out feelers to talent agents who represent, 'smart, funny comics like ('Daily Show' host) Jon Stewart' for a potential 'late night comedy,'" an anonymous source tells Don Kaplan.  This news is in line with reports of a Zucker strategy that "favors some of the 'infotainment' moves made by the cable network last year, like tapping 'Supersize Me' producer and star Morgan Spurlock and cranky globe-trotting TV chef Anthony Bourdain for new programming next year..."

A horrific tragedy like last Friday's Newton, Conn. shooting invariably brings a full-court media press -- often along with media reflections on how to cover such news without sensationalizing it. Among the thoughtful posts examining this issue: Time's James Poniewozik's argument to turn off the video camera for kids on-site at the school. "There is no good journalistic reason to put a child at a mass-murder scene on live TV, permission of the parents or not," he writes. "There’s not even a bad-but-practical reason to do it, beyond getting buzz and adding 'color' to a story. No one learned …

With Dailymotion reportedly eyeing overseas expansion via a U.S. investor, the French-based YouTube  competitor is launching its first subscription video-on-demand service -- a kids’ channel with 1,000 hours of videos already under license.  Subscription movies are said to be on the horizon

"Liberty Media has started sending out feelers to potential buyers for its premium channel Starz," although it is prohibited from negotiating a sale until "the expected mid-January spinoff of its pay-TV division" has been completed, writes Claire Atkinson. "Recently, Starz was dealt what many saw as a blow when it didn’t extend its current deal for Disney movies, which ended up going with streaming video service Netflix."

For its "first real foray into ebook publishing," The New York Times is partnering with "e-singles startup Byliner" and "publishing platform Vook," writes Laura Hazard Owen.  The first New York Times/Byliner Originals -- up to a dozen are expected for next year -- will be “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek," by John Branch, a longer version of an article set to run in the Dec. 17 paper, priced at $2.99.Twenty-five of the product available through Vook -- TimesFiles, a selection of articles "assembled into compelling narratives about a particular topic or event,”  according to the company -- will …

While "entertaining America’s Hispanics has become a big business," with major media companies like News Corp. joining up and the number of Hispanic-targeted networks rising from 14 to around 100 in 10 years, there are several reasons why these investments  may not pay off, according to The Economist. For example: "Most of the Hispanic population’s recent growth has come from births, not immigration. As they grow up, second- and third-generation Hispanics may want to watch ABC, instead of 'Abismo de Pasión.'"

Popular conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, who ended her Talk Radio Network show a couple of weeks back, will return to 300 stations on Jan. 2 via distributor Courtside Entertainment. Ingraham will also have an expanded online presence through Courtside’s Launchpad Digital Media. Courtside will sell ads for the show, with production to be handled by Ingraham’s Dream In My Head Productions.

TV's future is here -- and it's the iPad, according to Nilay Patel, reporting on the TV of Tomorrow conference, where "almost all  discussion [on the industry's direction] revolved around the iPad." The second screen's role in "changing viewer habits present[s] both a threat and opportunity," adds Patel. "Reinventing the TV and TV ads might generate a little more money, but creating an entirely new platform for ads opens up major secondary revenue streams." Still, "there's no settled industry standard metric like Nielsen ratings for iPad apps, so measuring viewership consistently for advertisers is a major area of concern. …

Condé Nast Traveler is testing a digital-out-of-home program with mall advertiser Adspace: a 45-second holiday-themed video clip featuring a CNT editor that will appear on 2,900 video screens in 207 malls around the country.  The program will be reevaluated in January, and follows a similar deal Adspace had with the publisher's Lucky magazine.

Spots from Nike, Pepsi and Volkswagen respectively headed the list of the 20 most-watched commercials on YouTube this year. Other trends: Automotive was the category that did the best, with almost half the spots car ads, also mostly from the Super Bowl. Winning commercials showed "a wide range of styles and themes—from comedies to dramas to mini documentaries and music videos—in varying lengths, from just 15 seconds up to five minutes," writes Tim Nudd. "Also remarkable is the staying power of many of these spots, which continue to rack up impressive daily views many months after their release."