In light of the just-announced layoffs at Time Inc. and continued general shrinking of print mags, the company "should start an advertising agency" to build "a business that can make great ads on paper – ads that belong in Time Inc. titles," writes Michael Wolff.  Right now, he notes, print ads are "only written by has-beens or novices." Ouch! Many more digs at the ad biz follow in this post.

Time Inc. is considering getting rid of mastheads for its publications, though "a decision has not been made,” a company spokesperson tells Jim Romenesko. "I can’t imagine," writes the source who first tipped Romenesko about the story. "Vanity is the motivating force behind most people working in publishing; it’s like eliminating bylines."

Who will be the next editor of the Sunday New York Times Magazine? Or will it be reinvented, maybe as an amalgam of style-based T magazine? Matthew Lynch and Joe Pompeo take a long, thoughtful look at these questions, which may not be answered until next year, though "New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson had given herself until the end of the year to name a new editor...to replace Hugo Lindgren."

Verizon Communications is close to a finalizing a deal with Intel Corp. to acquire the latter's OnCue, an Internet based pay-TV startup, according to anonymous sources cited by Bloomberg reporters. "Verizon, the second-largest U.S. communications company, will use OnCue to extend its pay-TV offering beyond the geographic footprint of its FiOS fiber-optic service," bringing  another strong competitor to cable and satellite companies. 

It's taken longer than first anticipated to create original content for Microsoft to run on Xbox videogame consoles, but “We’re hoping we will be able to put something up in the first quarter, at minimum second quarter,” says Nancy Tellem, the company's president of entertainment and digital. That will include a Steven Spielberg-produced show based on the videogame franchise "Halo."

Vanity Fair joins the native advertising pack with a pitch for Hennessy Cognac premiering on the pub's website today. To run for six weeks, the series of ads provide more information on the brand's traditional campaign that began last year, writes Stuart Elliott.

A number of staffers at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia were reported to get the ax today, in a very unhappy holiday scenario. The number of those pink-slipped varied from about 100, according to Keith Kelly at the New York Post, to 70, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

We've long enjoyed the behind-the-scenes aspect of The Hollywood Reporter's roundtables, in which Oscar contenders (actors, actresses, directors, producers) interact with each other while answering a reporter's questions. But here's a group new to this series: casting directors, those often-unsung heroes who have yet to be honored with an Oscar category of their own. They have some insightful stuff to say, including this quote: "I think the job also requires a high tolerance and appreciation for people who might not be very likable. You have to be able to think, 'That person's really talented' and not let the …

The New York Observer will "trade in its most distinctive feature—the salmon-colored paper it's printed on—for basic newspaper white" when its redesign is rolled out in February, writes Joe Pompeo. Other changes now being shown to advertisers include a new logo, a return to tabloid format and weekly subsections.

Content marketing is all the rage these days, but beverage company Red Bull started its magazine, The Red Bulletin, in 2007, and its "business model and content" go beyond trying "to sell more cans," writes Caysey Welton. The pub, with 2.7 million in circulation, has managed to carve out "a big piece of the lifestyle market," tapping "into a demographic different from its typical beverage consumer--specifically, men in their late 20s and into their early 30s."