DO networks in medical venues (e.g. doctor's offices) are a growth industry, and there's another deal today: Interactivation Health Networks bought The Patient Channel and The Newborn Channel from iVillage, a division of NBC Universal.  Details at 4 pm...

A striking moment at Discovery's upfront last week came when a red logo for the Planet Green net appeared. The net has been green-hued since launch and said to focus on Earth and protecting it, but Mars is the "Red Planet." PG has struggled and now has a new prime-time programming block in hopes of reinvention. Some acquisitions made at MIPTV include a British show where rich people spend 10 days as homeless folks trying to survive on the streets of London. PG has also picked up re-runs of the FX series "30 Days," from "Supersize Me's" Morgan Spurlock, where …

from my upcoming Social Graf, the real takeaway is this piece of advice:  if you’re going to call someone you don’t even know a “moron� in a public forum… use spell-check.

Squeeze marketing budgets from TV programmers have put a bit of a crunch on those outside entertainment marketing boutiques recently. When it comes to surviving in the TV promo field, some executives are can be found to do a hodgepodge of chores: straight ahead key art stuff, consulting on concepts, individual work for print or audio/visual, finishing, or even broader marketing ideas. Jeremy Kaplan, president/creative director of Art Machine, a Trailer Park company, who does work for A&E Networks and HBO, says some the trick is keeping quality at a decent level. Fortunately, he says, most clients have …

Remember when the bank gave a free toaster for opening a checking account. How about a free iPad? Open an account with Covestor's online investment trading system, fund it with $30,000 and get a free Pad (value $499). Oh, keep the account funded with at least $30,000 for six months or pay back the $499. Of course, this might be a good end-around to get a Pad now with demand so high. Covestor Investment Management allows people to mirror the Jim Cramer's of the world -- experienced Wall Streeters -- and make the same trades they do in real …

Just saw an ad on a bus for Popular Science for its iPad presence. Wondering how soon publications, networks, etc. are going to start telling the world they're on the Pad en masse. Once again new media helping out old media. Another question: Is Apple intentionally allowing the Pads to sell out in order to create a perception demand is through the roof? Apple knew for months when it would release the things, probably has crazy algorithms to project demand after focus groups and all a …

Or so says, Brian Wieser, the director of global forecasting at Interpublic's Magna unit, in an updated ad outlook released moments ago. "In total, we expect media suppliers to generate $164.5 billion dollars of advertising revenues during 2010," Wieser writes.

A mural painted on the side of a building in New York City's East Village advertising NBA2K10 has been painted over after local residents complained vociferously, the local blog EV Grieve reports (and documents with new photos). According to a story in MEDIA magazine in November, a community group had a ten year lease with the landlord for the mural to carry an animal care PSA that had become iconic. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation claims that the billboard was removed after the city inspected the site and issued …