The recent CBS-CNET dustup -- in which CBS forbid CNET to give an award to Dish's Hopper, creating a controversy still playing out in the press -- "may have also blown to bits broadcasters' best chance for looser media ownership rules at the Federal Communications Commission," writes Katy Bachman. Opponents of looser rules are saying things like "The editorial meddling by CBS in CNET's activities goes directly to the heart of why the commission has media ownership rules in the first place,"

For all the Jon Hamm-deprived: Start counting down now to Sunday, April 7, when "Mad Men" returns for its sixth season at 9 p.m. on AMC with a two-hour premiere directed by the guy himself. For right now, get ready for lots of speculation about what year the story will be set in,  if Sally will be wearing bell bottoms, etc. For the first of such talk, check out Margaret Lyons' list of burning questions about the new season, along with her wish list, both on Vulture. Yes, we'd love to see a new "Pete scheme" …

In light of a recent Jim Romenesko report that Sinclair Broadcasting "owns" the official, company-oriented social media accounts of its on-air talent,  Jeff Sonderman here delves into the latest National Labor Relations Board rulings on social media policies for employees.  "If your social media policy prevents employees from saying anything bad about the company, it might be going too far," he writes.

The Financial Times is looking for "voluntary" buyouts first in its move to lay off 25 employees and hire for 10 new digital-only positions, "to ensure that we are serving a digital platform first, and a newspaper second," according to a staff memo from the paper's editor, reports Lauren Indvik. Yet "if 2013 seems like a late date for a newspaper to announce a 'digital-first' strategy, you're right," writes Indvik. However, "though the FT's operations have continued to prioritize print, the paper already has more digital-only subscribers than print ones."

Comedy Central and Sirius XM will launch a channel on the satellite radio service featuring the cable network's "stable of stand-up comics," in a move for Comedy Central "to spread its brand outside of television," writes David Bauder.  Hoped-for premiere date will be sometime in spring -- perhaps April Fool's Day. Comedy Central stars like Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert will not be a part of the initial effort, since "their programs are more visual and don't translate as well to radio as the stand-up comics," according to a company exec. 

they've "become landlords recently to make ends meet," and are "leasing out leasing out abandoned areas of their offices" -- abandoned because they've laid off staff, of course, writes Adam Clark Estes. He adds, "What's sort of funny about the otherwise sort of sad story is that, aside from the extra money, newspapers really like the fact that their offices feel busy again." Estes cites a New York Times piece covering this trend, with quotes from the Boston Globe and the L.A. Times.

The concept and practice of TV Everywhere could have adverse effects on actual TV ratings, argues Jeremy Toeman. "Combine [the] lean-back TV-watching mentality – designed to let people escape whatever’s going on in their lives – with the dawning requirement that TV watching be about selecting content from seemingly endless arrays of menus and catalogs," he writes. "Suddenly it looks like there could be a problem brewing."

Two news reports on New York City radio: First, CBS boss Les Moonves is "open to a sale of the [CBS Radio] station group as he looks to reduce the company’s reliance on advertising and shed slower growth businesses," according to sources cited by New York Post reporters.  And today Cumulus launched "Nash 94.7" -- WRXP, New York City's first country music radio station in 17 years. "Past country stations in New York have had the highest listenership of any country station in America, simply because the total pool of listeners in New York is so much …

What can agencies do to promote hiring diversity in an industry that still underemploys minorities, 50 years after the question was first identified as an industry concern? Lincoln Stephens provides some "practical tips" that "may not be news. But for myself, what is new is an inspired commitment toward creating effective solutions, partnering more efficiently (without fighting for budget), and elevating the now 50-year-old conversation to a level that won't have some people scowling at the word diversity." 

"Television has been quietly creeping" into the Sundance Film Festival, with big cable channels along with such festival newcomers as CNN Films and Participant Media looking for programming, and the Sundance Channel "using home-court advantage to promote its new series 'Rectify' and 'Top of the Lake,' both of which screened and had press events here," writes Josh Dickey and Jeff Sneider. The festival also featured a panel on TV and online, in which one participant "said that when movie projects are struggling to find financing, more filmmakers are considering the TV series option."