CR Fashion Book will be the name of the biannual book edited by long-time French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld -- a secret "closely guarded for months," writes Miles Socha. The mag's publisher, Fashion Media Group LLC, "is projecting more than 100 pages of advertising in the first 288-page issue, which will carry a cover price of $9.95" and will be on newsstands in September. CR's advertising will be spread-only, "echoing the book-like mission of editorial, with no front-of-book section and only longer-format articles," writes Socha.

AMC's "The Pitch," the reality show featuring two agencies slugging it out for an account, premiered last night right after "Mad Men""s fictional version of ad world shenanigans. So does it present modern-day advertising in a flattering light?  Not according to the New York Times' absolutely "scathing" review (that adjective comes via Ad Age's Rupal Parekh), which begins: "Do you enjoy being manipulated? Of course not. So why would you enjoy watching people as they make plans to manipulate you?" Ouch. So far, that's the only consumer media review we've seen -- last night's episode was billed as a …

The "skyrocketing cost of sports television" will increasingly "undermine the pay TV model and spur a new round of cord cutting," according to a new report from Bernstein Research cited by Daniel Frankel. "'The ridiculous escalation in sports rights is getting to be an old story,' Bernstein writes. 'But lately it has gone to unimagined proportions. Unchecked, it threatens to blow the entire media model apart.'"

Hearst's two upcoming YouTube channels, set to debut April 15 (Hello Style) and Car and Driver TV (May 1), push "some envelopes," says John Loughlin, evp and general manager of Hearst Magazines, in this post detailing what's been "a learning curve" for the company. "Producing high-quality shows with a plot is a leap for most magazines, whose videos to date have largely consisted of how-to’s and behind-the-scenes with celebrities," writes Lucia Moses. The Hello Style channel, which includes programming from five of Hearst's women’s pubs, "will be closely inspired by print features like Cosmo’s Sexy vs. Skanky and Marie Claire’s …

Despite speculation to the contrary, Matt Lauer will remain co-host of the "Today" show, having just signed a multiyear contract with NBC News. Execs were relieved to learn that the figurehead for "the most profitable show on NBC" is not leaving, reports Bill Carter.  "The news comes at a critical time for 'Today' as its main competitor, 'Good Morning, America' on ABC, closes the ratings gap on 'Today,' which has recorded the longest ratings winning streak in television history..."

It's game over for NFL Magazine after just four issues. Dauphin Media Group will cease publishing the mag with the April issue. A spokesman's statements about the shutdown  -- NFL was a "viable product" and "well received by fans," he says -- doesn't clarify what the problem was. Writer Nat Ives has some ideas, though, from the less-than-robust performance of the magazine business this year, to the fact that "it wasn't clear yet whether fans wanted a league-owned print treatment, one that might not be able to criticize the head office or star players on subjects such as concussions or …

"Not surprisingly, banks are no longer so eager to finance newspaper purchases," writes John Morton "So where is the money coming from to fund the current wave of acquisitions? And what do the buyers see that banks apparently do not?" Morton analyzes the reasoning behind the most recent deals, giving plenty of credence "to the lingering value of [papers]] strong newsgathering franchises, still the most dominant in every market despite rampant layoffs and downsizing..."

Google+ is underperforming for newspapers trying to get online traffic and followers, according to Jon Mitchell, reporting on a Searchmetrics study.  What the data "reveals most of all is that engagement on Google+ is still too low to send reliable social signals about a story to Google," writes Mitchell. "Google's all-important social signal, the +1 button, does not even correspond to the number of Google+ followers for... major newspapers. If people are seeing stories from these papers on Google+, they either don't like them or they aren't bothering to tell Google."

What do Oprah Winfrey and Al Gore have in common? Yeah, the obvious is that they both have struggling cable networks --  but both were also just the subject of speculative news stories about the failure of said networks. In the first, Duane Shimogawa reports on a new business venture, Oprah's Farms LLC, registered with the Hawaii Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs --  making him wonder if Oprah is firming up her possible plans to run an organic farm if she can't make a go of OWN. Here's the scoop on the story about the former vice president: …

Funny or Die, the comedy Web site co-founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay that also creates branded entertainment videos, is branching out into shorter, purely commercial videos. The new venture, Gifted Youth, will produce commercials that can be used online, on TV or in cinemas.The first two such spots featured comic actors like Jeff Goldblum and  Nick Offerman, of "Parks and Recreation."