Tribune’s plan to separate its newspaper and television properties emulates NewsCorp’s dissection earlier this year, writes Abram Brown.  Tribune will spin off its namesake the Chicago Tribune, along with the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and other papers into a new Tribune Publishing company, while its TV properties will remain in Tribune Co.  NewsCorp had done the reverse, keeping its newspapers in the established name, and spinning off its entertainment properties into 21st Cenutry Fox.  Oh yes, as Brown notes, Time Warner should also soon be joining Tribune and NewsCorp in splitting its publishing and electronic media.

Former "Today" co-anchor Meredith Vieira will host a new NBCUniversal syndicated daytime talk show beginning in fall 2014. "The deal may also put Vieira in competition with the woman she replaced on 'Today,' Katie Couric," whose "daytime talk show (produced by Disney/ABC) is returning this Fall, and if it has a good second season, it would likely return for the 2014-2015 season," writes Alex Weprin. 

Men's magazine Maxim, which has been on the sales block since March, is entertaining bids of "about $20 million, less than a 10th of the price its owners paid six years ago, according to people familiar with the situation," writes Edmund Lee. The rest of this post explores why the pub is facing declining fortunes. "The U.S. magazine industry has increasingly struggled to find buyers for once-vaunted publications," concludes Lee.

Through an NBCUniversal deal with digital publisher Lion Forge Comics, five classic NBCUniversal TV series from the '80s and '90s -- "Airwolf," "Knight Rider," "Miami Vice," "Punky Brewster" and "Saved by the Bell" -- will become online comic books. "The comics are planned for distribution in Q3 and Q4 2013, and will be available through the Amazon Kindle Bookstore, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble's The Nook Book Store and Kobo," according to SitcomsOnline.com.

"Fewer magazines were launched in the first half of 2013 than in the same period a year ago, but, on the bright side, a lot fewer folded this year than last," according to a survey by MediaFinder, writes Matthew Flamm. "And though digital-only launches remained a small piece of the magazine pie, the practice of brand-name properties spinning off iPad editions—last year's Huffington Post Magazine, for example—appeared to be gaining steam," with iPad editions like Esquire Weekly and The Atlantic Weekly debuting this spring.

Netflix is positively influencing the direction of current and future programming on cable and Internet TV, notes Rebecca Greenfield in this think piece. For example, "the fees paid by Netflix (and services like it) for streaming rights make up a growing part of content owner's revenues... For individual channels the money from these streaming deals can dictate what succeeds."

Forget Silicon Alley. Now the hip, trendy spot for setting up shop is Silicon Beach, "a multimile stretch of Los Angeles that grew from iconic Venice Beach to Santa Monica, Marina del Rey and surrounding seaside burgs," which is "attracting tech startups, budding e-commerce, digital ad shops, and cutting-edge media and entertainment companies," writes T.L. Stanley. Setting up his agency in the area in 2006  put "us right next to the cool kids, and it informs our work,” one agency owner tells Stanley.

Trying to get a jump on  back-to-school spending,  this year retailers have started running such ads in early July, at least a few weeks before the season typically begins. "Walmart and Apple are already promoting school-related products, while others, including tween brand Justice, are touting steep discounts," writes Natalie Zmuda. "It is one of the most competitive times of year for big retailers. They know consumers are on budgets, and they're vying for those dollars," National Retail Federation spokeswoman Kathy Grannis told Zmuda.

New Jersey-based television station WWOR just canceled its last remaining newscast, a half-hour format formerly scheduled at 10 p.m., which it is replacing with "a youthful newsmagazine called 'Chasing New Jersey,'” writes Brian Stelter. "The anchor, a real estate executive and onetime Republican candidate for Congress, will be called the 'ringleader' on the program; the reporters will be called 'chasers.'" The move is either "irresponsible or innovative," according to "one's perspective," writes Stelter.

Anyone still using Microsoft’s MSN TV, which began life as WebTV back in 1996, will need to find a modern way to access the Internet over their TV sets come Oct. 1.  Microsoft, which has focused on Xbox as its connected TV platform for the past few years, said that after Sept. 30 remaining MSN TV/WebTV users will be able to access their email via Outlook.com and transfer any photos to SkyDrive.