In a case where the Internet trumped both TV and print exclusivity, a blogger got hold of the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue -- due out Tuesday, and set to be introduced on David Letterman's show Monday night -- and released it online on Friday, when "it almost instantaneously spread across the web," writes Jeff Bercovici in Forbes. "It helped (or hurt, depending on your point of view) that the cover girl, for the second year running, is viral sensation Kate Upton." And in happy/sad news, also depending on one's …

Wenner Media founder Jann Wenner has closed a deal to keep him in "control of the company and refinance about $200 million in long-term debt," writes Keith Kelly. Still, "the banks are keeping a short leash on the free-spending mogul."

First of all, the Washington Post is conducting consumer research on whether it should have a digital paywall -- and what to charge for it, writes Washington Business Journal's Michael Neibauer.  The Boston Globe is tightening its flexible paywall, with fewer free stories available, writes Nieman Journalism Lab's Dan Kennedy. And the New York Times is considering raising the price of digital access to both "its mobile app as well as the traditional online platform," writes David Wilkerson.

NBC's trajectory seems so dire that "five or ten years from now, there's a good chance we'll recognize [the network] as the Peacock in the coal mine, the first one to fall as the broadcast era came to a close — or, at least, morphed into something far different than what we've known for the past 60 years," writes Josef Adalian. This latest almost-obituary for broadcast television analyzes NBC's brief reign as number one again this fall, its current slips, and the mistakes of past and present regimes against the backdrop of a business in freefall.

In what could be the antidote to the dark pessimism of "Mad Men"'s view of adland, CBS has ordered a pilot of "The Crazy Ones," a half-hour David E. Kelley comedy starring Robin Williams about father-daughter owners of an ad agency. "[T]he very fact that CBS -- home to many of the nation's most watched TV programs -- is interested only underscores the ongoing fascination TV outlets have with shows about the ad world," writes Brian Steinberg.

“Downton Abbey” sponsors Ralph Lauren and Viking River Cruises don’t get much air time on PBS for the hit series, but the non-commercial network is much more generous during the show’s popular online airings (2.7 million streams in January alone), writes David Griner. While advertisers get a pre-roll clip and up to two mid-program breaks (we don’t think PBS ever interrupts programs on-air, except for pledge appeals, of course), the network points out that the increased ad time is only 1.5 minutes, compared with six minutes on commercial network streams of hour-long shows.  The sponsors also get on-site display ads.  …

Radio station owner Federated Media is beta-testing a technology called the Hammer that allows its online listeners to skip songs they don’t want to hear, with another song from the station’s playlist being immediately substituted and played in its entirety.  Hammer provider Abacast says it will reveal metrics showing increased station ratings once the product launches in the second quarter.  Advertisers will further benefit from the technology because listeners who choose to skip songs are more engaged, the company said.

The Alliance for Audited Media released data showing plummeting sales for newsstand magazines -- down 8.2% in the second half of 2012, compared with just a 0.3% decline in overall magazine sales.  Leading the crash were young women’s titles and celebrity gossip magazines.  Cosmopolitan was down 18.5% on newsstands, Glamour 14.5%, People 12.2%, US Weekly 14.6%, In Touch Weekly 14.8% and Life & Style Weekly 19.1%.  On the plus side, older-skewing Family Circle and Woman’s Day were up, but both titles had cut back on their frequencies and are also relatively inexpensive.

ABS has sold all its advertising inventory for the Academy Awards, set for Feb. 24 -- "the best selling pace for the Oscars in more than a decade," according to Deadline.com. Performers who have been announced include Adele, Barbra Streisand and Norah Jones.

More ugly arithmetic from Time Inc., which earlier reported layoffs of roughly 500 employees: That move will actually cost the company $60 million in "restructuring" costs this year, writes Peter Kafka. Time Inc.'s Q4 report tracked losses including a revenue decrease of 7%. "But the publisher is still the world’s biggest, and it still makes piles of money," with operating income of $200 million.