It's officially official -- Comcast now owns all of NBCUniversal. The cable giant "closed Tuesday on its $16.7-billion purchase of the 49 percent of NBCUniversal it didn't already own," writes Bob Fernandez.

Time Out Chicago "is ceasing print operations and going all digital, according to sources," writes Mitch Dudek. The majority owner of the pub, Joe Mansueto, will sell his stake to "a partnership that publishes the Time Out brand in dozens of cities around the world."

Cable companies Verizon and Cablevision, both "publicly pressing media companies that own... programming to stop pushing them to distribute unwanted channels," could become "unlikely allies of cable-TV customers fed up with bundling," according to Cecilia Kang. "If successful, the efforts could lead to cheaper options for consumers and a sea-change in how the television industry has done business — and protected its profits — for more than two decades."

"We don't watch morning TV to be made to feel embarrassed about the trivial things we want to know about" -- and "Today" host Matt Lauer's visible distaste for show-biz gossip and other fluff is one of the reasons he "now finds himself at the wrong end of a rumor about a shakeup at the show, which has lately faced suboptimal ratings and plummeting ad revenue," according to Noreen Malone in this witty piece. Also see the link to another post that skewers Lauer deliciously: one noting that he's being considered as a replacement when "Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek retires …

"Some 88 years after Harold Ross launched The New Yorker with the pitch that it was 'not edited for the old lady in Dubuque,' Iowa is turning into a surprising seat of power" with the continued success of Meredith Corp. despite digital competition, writes Felix Gillette. "This is the revenge of the old lady from Dubuque—only she’s from Des Moines,” is the pertinent quote here, from Isaiah Wilner, the author of "The Man Time Forgot: A Tale of Genius, Betrayal, and the Creation of Time Magazine." Gillette provides a thorough, fascinating analysis of Meredith's winning "devotion to service …

Hearst has named Jane Wladar publisher and and chief revenue officer of Country Living. The Hearst veteran (with the company since 1999) was most recently group associate publisher of Popular Mechanics, Car and Driver and Road & Track.

Liberty Media will buy roughly 27% of Charter Communications at a price of $2.62 billion, "helping Liberty re-establish itself as a force in cable TV," writes Ben Fox. Charter is currently the fourth largest cable operator in the U.S.

Good news for syndicator News Cred: it's receiving $15 million in funding, and is taking on the New York Times as one of its 2,500 syndication partners. "NewsCred uses technology to place a stream of relevant, licensed news content onto the websites of clients like the New York Daily News and Pepsi,"  writes Jeff John Roberts.

Disney's ABC network could be live-streaming its programming to the mobile devices of cable and satellite subscribers later this year, according to sources cited by Brian Stelter. "Executives at other networks who have heard about the ABC plan regard it with a mixture of awe and fear," he writes. "No other broadcaster is believed to be as far along as ABC, which is also the first broadcaster to sell TV episodes through Apple’s iTunes store and the first to stream free episodes on its Web site."

It dwells on weather, traffic and sports as opposed to harder news stories, a new study says, and cable news more and more resembles a talk show.  Also, the Pew study says, 60% of the public is generally unaware that the news business is in tough financial straits. One analyst estimates newspaper newsroom employment is at its lowest level since 1978.