Old man Sumner honored and more in our afternoon aggregation

BY SDH Viacom/CBS's immortal leader, Sumner Redstone was honored by the Paley Center for Media and everyone who is anyone was their except for CBS's day to day ruler Les Moonves who was on the west coast tending to some CBS business. Couldn't he have stuck an underling with that and be present to see the boss honored? Not a good look Leslie [HR] What's up with Seagram killer Edgar Bronfman Jr. being investigated for insider trading dating back to his Vivendi Universal days as Executive Vice Chair [AP] MTV Prexy Christina Norman will call it quits at the end of the month to "Have more time for herself" No one just ups and quits if all is well right?. We think MTV is eliminating layers which they have a lot of and Christina was asked to bow out gracefully [B&C] MySpace exec Travis Katz says that more of you will hang out on Myspace while on the go in about 5 years via your mobile device. Funny we thought Myspace would have just become a stain on the major internet wall by then with the next big thing taking away all the fakes and pedophiles [NMA]

Afternoon Wire....

-BY SDH MTV is returning to its roots in an effort to take on Yahoo Music and Myspace. But isn't Yahoo Music being killed? [JR] Do we really need another online video site? Actor Damon Wayans, hurting for a hit movie is putting on his entrepreneurial hat with the soon to be launched wayouttv.com. Hopefully it wont end up like Revver.com [LAT] Vanity Fair's Mike Wolfe tells us something we all already know [VF] What's with Viacom and video game's? There is a little rumor that they are eying yet another video game publisher, Take-Two Interactive which is currently ran by former BMG Music boss Strauss "In the house" Zelnick [GI] Awww! Rupert Murdoch will attend his mother's 99th birthday. Ok so we are adding to the total fucking question as to why is this news? Of course he is. Happy B-Day Mrs. Murdoch! [AP] Rush & Malloy confuses rap mogul Jay-z with that skinny white kid Aaron Carter? They have got to be kidding! And what's with the corny headline? A weak attempt at being cool? [NYDN]

John Malone now has an additional 369 reasons to throw Barry Diller out on his ass, and more in this Afternoon's round up

-SDH For IAC/Interactive Corp CEO Barry Diller, news that the company lost $369.9 million in the fourth quarter, on a big write-down at its mortgage referral business couldn't have come at a worst time. Reports like this will just give Diller's indirect boss John Malone more ammunition in his quest to re-gain Liberty's 62% voting shares from Diller and use them to show him the door. [AP] So Time Warner says they are working to split AOL's outdated dial business from it's newly rolled out ad driven business. But if Time Warner is looking to sell the dial up business, who in the world would want to by a declining business? [CNNmoney] Businessweek announced today that it has named Jessica Sibley in a new roll as Senior Vice President and Worldwide Publisher [PRNW]

Afternoon Wire: But is AOL's customer service still incompetent

-NEIL YOSHIDA AOL may be moving in a more healthy direction as far as their new strategy. But has their customer service improved since the clip below? Do customer service reps still find it difficult to understand a simple request? For former AOL customer Vincent Ferrari he basically had to talk the rep on the other end of the phone line into canceling his account.

Afternoon Wire: Mel Karmazin's promise and more in this afternoon's worthy media news....

-NEIL YOSHIDA Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin continues in his efforts to convince himself, the public and U.S. regulators that the consumer will be the winner if they allow his company and XM to merge [Reuters] Guess what? The guy who went on that shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, was a loner. Aren't they always? [AP] Traditional media was just a temporary phenomenon? Who let the guy into the room who said this? [Info Week] Time Warner to go lite on cable TV and heavy on Internet TV. We say don't jump the gun just yet [WSJ] To all you digital media entrepreneurs, get your business plans in order, NBC Universal has $250 Million they are looking to invest in you [Reuters] Analyst Anthony J DiClemente of Lehman Brothers maintains his "equal weight" rating on Viacom Inc [New Ratings]

Afternoon Wire: Les Moonves meets with black people, Debbie Nathan echoes our thought about the whole Kurt Eichenwald thing...and more...

-LENNOX Al Sharpton and company reportedly meat with CBS big gun Les Moonves in an effort to press him to drop Don Imus from CBS Radio, but Les reportedly didn't budge and has made no promises. Hey Al, don't let Les's size fool you. He is one tough mother_______. His boss Sumner Redstone thinks he will do the right thing though [Newsweek] Debbie Nathan stops short of saying Kurt Eichenwald funded a gay teen porn website, like we did a while back [Gawker] Former GE ruler Jack Welch is finally convinced that the New York Times Co is not interested in selling the Boston Globe. Wow! wonder what tipped him off? [Reuters] CBS is really pushing their digital strategy to the limits [Press Release] Some guy is suing Myspace for deleting his profile twice. Dude, stop posting those disturbing pictures of yourself on your page [Threat Level] Oh brother, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner wants to create a social networking site for music fans. Another one who wants to take on the mighty Myspace. [WWM] Print edition of magazines continue to fall victim to their online siblings. [Chic Tribune]

Afternoon Wire: $50 Mil for Anderson, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-SDH CNN anchor Anderson Cooper just got even richer with the extra cash CNN just threw at him. Guess the cable network decided its better to pay him more money instead of continuing to spend millions to market him. [NYP] Viacom will do a deal with any website but Youtube, for now [PC Mag] TimeWarner getting lashed at for indirectly supporting celeb gossip whore Perez Hilton [Canada.com] CNN has a new International boss, yeeeeah! [AJC] CMP Media firms up the editorial team on their Network Computing magazine because believe it or not, there are people out there who want Global IT related content [PRNW] Barry Diller's Interactive Corp names a new guy who will help you find your dream home [PRNW]

Afternoon Wire: Magazines out the wazoo, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

Holy crap! a total of 145 new magazines were introduced to the American magazine scene in the first quarter of 2007. And holy holy shit! that's 47 titles less then the 192 launched in 2006. Wonder how many trees fell for these launches? [Mr.Magazine] In big media, its all about scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, well most of the time. The two biggest media/entertainment companies in the world has entered a cable deal where Time Warner will carry Disney's sports channels ESPN2 HD and ESPNU later this year. Some systems will also offer Disney Channel on Demand and ESPN Desportes. [Reuters] Viacom continues to pump content into Joost.com [MarketWatch] Sam Zell believes in newspapers, no wonder the guy bought Tribune [WBBM] The New York Post is thisclose to giving itself away [VillageVoice]

Afternoon Wire: GodTube | Blogging is dangerous, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-SHOMARI HINES Broadcast him. Say hello to GodTube [Godtube] International News from McClatchy's many news properties and blogs written by Iraqi staffers will be featured on Yahoo. is it us, or are Iraqi bloggers gaining on U.S. bloggers? [Reuters] Any and everyone who had dealings with Hollinger could be sucked into the circus that is the Conrad Black trial. [BlogCentral] NYPD officials will pull a rabbit out of their ass if they could, to justify the killing of Sean Bell and the media will eat it. [NYPress] Seriously, who hacked John McCain’s MySpace page [TheBrowser] Wow this blog thing could really put us in danger. Kathy Sierra should probably hire bodyguards or something. [Businessweek] Bob Andelman kinda likes the new Onion News Network...we think, kinda [Mr. Media]

Afternoon Wire: Reported AMI firings does not include Dave Pecker, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

AMI is reportedly dropping the ax Ann Moore style on 10 staffers signaling more cuts will follow to offset the company's $160 million loss. All the little people have to pay because of an incompetent management team. [Gawker] WebProNews tells us something we already knew [WPN] Mark Glaser of Mediashift explains how the Online Newspaper Can Become a Community Hub [Mediashift] If architect Frank Gehry held back on the new IAC building, we would love to see a structure he didn't hold back on [FBNY] The Onion plans to launch newsish network [Jossip]

Afternoon Wire: The media model got Suge Knighted | NBC, News Corp & Youtube in 3some?, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-SHOMARI HINES Market Watch tells us how we the consumer did a Suge Knight on the media model [MarketWatch] Looks like NBC and News Corp will end up in bed with Youtube after all. Wonder who will be on top [WSJ] Speaking of NBC and News Corp. that online video thing they plan to launch, has the potential to become an ad playground for advertisers who want to do clean business [NYP] Note to Paul R. La Monica: Advertisers have to grab our attention first before we start to give a shit about their product. Geico is making a killing from their Cave man commercials and that's because people remember it because its so fucking funny. Wouldn't you want to be insured by the company with the funny cave man commercials? [CNN Money] A Youtube swiftboat? [Wired]

Afternoon Wire: Blogs Edition

-Neil Yoshida The future of social media via social media club [SMC] Fox news shifts more to the left by hiring liberal former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. as a political commentator? [FreePublic] More Viacom Youtube crap, only this time the alleged daughter of a Viacom exec strips in support of Youtube [MetaFilter] Both Fox and CBS are leaning on you for news now [TCO] Is Time Warner buying into itself again? [BloggingStocks] A sit down with Thomas J. Wallace, Editorial Director of Conde Nast Publications [TSC]

Afternoon Wire: Ex-media baron Black a greedy thief, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-Shomari Hines prosecutors are telling it like they see it, calling Conrad Black a greedy thief. Wonder what they're secretly calling Lady Black being that she probably enjoyed Conrad's alleged wrong doings more then he did?[Reuters] CBS continues to show sister company Viacom how its done, snatching up another web property that makes sense. [Reuters] $3 million in pirated CDs and DVDs discovered in Malaysia. Dam there goes the down low bootleg operation secretly funded by rogue Hollywood execs [Reuters] Couldn't they have done a deal with Maxim instead? Some former FHM subscribers will get ESPN magazine for the remainder of their FHM subscriptions. [Mediaweek] Media planners are placing their bets on which celeb rag will die first. [Media Life] Ariana Huffington predicts that traditional media will become dinosaurs if they don't get with the program [News.com]

Afternoon Wire: And now this afternoon's worthy media news...

-Shomari Hines More news out of Tribune but it has nothing to do with whether or not the board has made up their minds on what to do with the company [Reuters] Apparently young girls have better things to do than build online flip books. Flip.com looking like a flop [Gawker] Guess what? Google is a media company [Fortune] Will you be nominated for a Youtube video award? [Reuters] Say hello to the CEO of the TechCrunch Network [TechCrunch] We totally forgot all about the pending Sirius XM merger [WaPo] The Outdoor Channel is losing the moose [Mediaweek] MTV launches another post myspace effort [A3D]

Afternoon Wire: Ad death threats | Magazines doing videos, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-Neil Yoshida And they act as if the hip hop industry is the only violent industry. Ad execs can get gangsta too which is exactly what happened with some Italian individuals and the CEO of ad giant WPP or something like that [AdAge] Magazines are going all out to make sure your visit to their website is worth your time [AdAge] While Viacom fights with Youtube, it's sister company CBS gets into bed with the online video site. [LAT] Guess after feeling guilty of rewarding themselves in 06 the senior management at New York Times will skip giving themselves raises and bonuses this year. [Telgram] NBC's new sitcom was depressing [DI]

Afternoon Wire: Clear Channel's Plan B? | Newspaper ads sucked in Q4 and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-Shomari Hines Delaying a vote on a $19 Billion offer can open up a trunk of questions which is exactly what happened to radio giant Clear Channel. Everyone and their mother wants to know if the Clear Channelers have a plan B. [Reuters] Newspapers are really taking a beating with ads leading us to wonder what will happen if ads sales were to drop even lower? Publishers probably need to start pushing more on the web and roll out ways to deliver the day's news to subscribers where ever they are. [Reuters] A closer look at whether or not Viacom's suit against Youtube holds water or not [SeekingAlpha] What has Jeff Zucker been up to? The only news we can find on him is old news [Yahoo]

Afternoon Wire: And now this afternoon's worthy media news....

Suicide and advertising, not such a good mix, or is it? [NYT] Fox continues to kick ass in the ratings race [Reuters] We have over 200 channels and we only watch about 5 of them [Mediapost] Project for Excellence in Journalism takes a look at excellence in journalism via 38 sites [MediaShift] Viacom could come out on top with this whole Youtube thing you know. Anything is possible in the world of media [The Browser]

Afternoon Wire: Mike Eisner's a VuGuru | The Reilly victory, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-Shomari Hines Looks like Michael Eisner will land on our winners list this week again. The man just keeps the news coming. last week he and some of his money bags buddies took over baseball card maker Topps, and now the former Disney dictator has launched a media studio which will produce content for the Internet. Is this the comeback of Eisner or the new Eisner? [Businesswire] Kevin Reilly being kept on as President of entertainment at NBC, some kind of victory for fans. [AZstarnet] That chick who got the NBC Nightly News Executive Producer job, does a Q&A with Broadcasting & Cable in what seems like an effort to convince herself and readers that she can do the job [B&C] Our friends in our heads at Gawker talks to the staff of the New York Daily News in a way only they can understand [Gawker]

Afternoon Wire: You agree that Les Moonves should be running Viacom too, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-Shomari Hines The results from our poll last week shows that you support our "Les is More Campaign" which calls for Les Moonves to be put in charge of Viacom in addition to CBS Corp. You know what? We're not surprised at all. Now here is a die hard Disney fan [Angedawn] Wondering whats in the latest issue of Vanity Fair? Well here is a rundown before you decide to buy it or not [Movie Corner] FishBowlNY's knock off of New York Magazine's look book [FishbowlNY] FCC chair Kevin Martin does what the whole country knew he would do regarding the Siris XM merger plan [NYT]

Afternoon Wire: Eisner Topps | Viacom continues to whore itself online | Bob Iger predicts, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-Shomari Hines Former Disney dictator Mike Eisner is really getting his pockets wet in since leaving Disney. First he dropped some cash on Team Baby Entertainment, the online video site VEOH and now he and some of his deep pocketed buddies are getting into the baseball and bubblegum business by taking control of TOPPS for $385.4 million [USA Today] Time Warner telecom wants to wash itself clean of any and everything Time Warnerish [Investors] Virgin gives Sky 30 day deadline [BTN] Viacom and Miscrosoft will stay in bed longer so Viacom can flood MS's Xbox Live Internet service. [MarketWatch] Bob Iger said they built it, and now he wants advertisers to come [HR]

Afternoon Wire: And now this afternoon's worthy media news

-Shomari Hines Mad Money man Jim Cramer believes in Viacom's stock and said he would buy the stock even if it's up right now, because its fourth quarter was good and the CEO admitted on the conference call that Q1 is looking "even better." Yeah why not buy the stock. An honest CEO will do your money good. [BloggingStocks] Blackstone Group is ballsy enough want to take on Disney in the theme parks business [BoggingStocks] Speaking of Disney, animation chief John Lasseter is trying to make Disney's old school sketch animation flow with the current times [RBB] Tech companies are betting it all on advertising [Fortune] Is a drop in pay a sign that Yahoo boss Terry Semel either needs to shift faster with the times or hang it up? [Reuters] PC World Magazine names their 50 most important people on the internet. You know more of the same [PCWorld]

Afternoon Wire: Reuters Space | FOX likes 5th graders, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news

-Shomari Hines Eric Rhoads is just happy to be touching base with Bob Andelman again [Mr. Media] The folks at Reuters are planning to launch a Myspace for financial professionals mainly fund managers, traders and analysts. We can only imagine the hook ups that will happen via this site. [Guardian] FOX has another hit on their hands and so they are picking up a few more episodes of “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” [MediaLife] Barry Diller is in a buying mood again and this time he is going after reviews-based local search provider Insider Pages [ClickzNews] Is Google a media company? Hell fucking yeah. A new media company. [GigaOM] A late congrats for Jeff Zucker followed by a suggestion [VocinoBlog] Is ABC really doing a sitcom based on the Geico caveman? Holy shit this could be the beginning of the end of Bob Iger! [ruiner] On his off time, Anderson Cooper shops at work [HMG]

Afternoon Wire: An NBC casualty | Viacom has more money to spend | BUY CBS, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news

-Neil Yoshida The new regime at NBC Universal has a no tolerance policy against executive producers of shows losing in the ratings game [AP] Viacom's Q4 profits hits $480.8 million that they can use to continue their irrelevant web buying spree. [AP] BUY, BUY, BUY CBS! [NewRatings] Rupert Murdoch will officially put the ball and chain on News Corp [SMH] More radical advise from Mark Cuban [BlogMaverick] Block Buster in its never ended effort to one up Netflix is dropping cash for MovieLink [MarketWatch] Even our presidential candidates going all out to reach us [Reuters] More heads to roll at MTV [Guardian]

Afternoon Wire: We were having posting issues again, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news

We were not able to post for few hours today due to, you know usual technical bullshit which is never on our part. Yeah! We agree. We don't see News Corp dropping green for Maxim Magazine [SeekingAlpha] News Corp.'s Low-Glamour Internet Play? Huh! [Forbes] Time Warner Cable boss caked big time in 2006 [Netscape] Looks like people really believe News Corp would be interested in Dennis Publishing. We just don't see why [StockTrendz]

Afternoon Wire: Nick Magazine is dead | That Olbermann dude | Viacom, and more....

Nick Jr is dead, or will be soon [Gawker] Jeff Zucker keeping Keith Olbermann for a few more years [Reuters] Finally! The picture is getting clearer at Viacom [BloggingStocks] If you, or your parents are divorced, chances are Disney is the reason why [RWJOTR] News Corp won't be responsible for your son or daughter getting violated by Myspace perverts either [Reuters] Viacom's campus dreams officially gone to shits [OTTA]

Afternoon Wire: VH1 erases a whole department | HBO gives the brits some love | Veoh talks shit but still deals up, and more...

First you bleed then you heal. Viacom's employees dropping like flies [Gawker] HBO introducing Tony Soprano to the Brits via new on-demand channel [Reuters] Diane Sawyer's big balls interview with Iran's dictator recapped [FBNY] Nobody wants less reporting [Buzzmachine] Video sharing site Veoh was talking shit but now they are getting in bed for some group action [Mediaweek]

Afternoon Wire: And now this afternoon's worthy media news

Viacom vs. YouTube - Guess Who Lost? [MediaLoper] Disney: DRM Makes Online Video Happen [NewTeeVee] Radar Magazine on Jeff Zucker's Fall to the Top [IAATJ] Can't afford to deliver on a finacial settlement? The sell yourself [LM] Ross Levinsohn moving under the radar [IL]

Afternoon Wire: And now, this afternoon's worthy media news

King Rupe predicts Myspace will break even this year. [Market Watch] Barry Diller's been ready to wet his lips in the online video pool [CNet] Bob Wright thinks Zucker will have an uphill battle with digitalizing NBC content [B&C] Did Ron Burkle stupidly dump big cash into Radar Magazine? [Gawker] Conde Nast's Flip.com doing their part to protect America [FBNY] Seventeen Magazine will even spam you while you're in the middle of a serious number 2 [Jossip]

Afternoon Wire: And now this afternoon's worthy media news

When you really think about it, maybe Google is buying loyalty and it doesn't come cheap either. [Business Wire Daily] New York Time's Photoshop guy was probably out sick or something [Gawker] Perhaps Turner Broadcasting got the promo blitz they wanted [Jossip] AOL revenues jump but don't give credit to Randy Falco [NYP] New York Times getting into you [RedHerring]

Afternoon Wire: And now this afternoon's worthy media news

If you're a obsessed with stars, then Sirius is the place for you to work [AP] Ad giant WPP is getting into the mobile spamming business [Reuters] Sony BMG settles for slipping potentially damaging anti-piracy software in our CDs [Reuters] A look at Liz Spiers' Fashionista [Gawker] Nickelodeon's second life for kids [Daily Intel]

Afternoon Wire: Its happening.The Bewkerization widens. Jeff Bewkes named to TimeWarner board

The Bewkerization of TimeWarner just got a little more juice. Time Warner CEO in training Jeff Bewkes has joined the board. [Market Watch] More big cuts are expected this year in big media. But is this really news being that we all knew this already? [Reuters] We thought Rupert Murdoch already bet big on the Internet and it paid off? [Forbes] DowJones is making money. Oh yeah they got that money from the jobs cuts [AdAge] This makes no sense to us, but Google Video and Youtube will continue to live their lives apart. [AdAge]

Afternoon Wire: Big media held a gun to your kid's head and stuffed Big Macks down his throat

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin really has some serious time on his hands. Not only did he flush Mel Karmazin's dream of a link up between his Sirius and Hugh Panero's XM, now Mr. FCC along with Sen. Sam Brownback are questioning whether media made that kid across the street fat? We're not sure if participation in this study was mandatory but some of media's biggest players are playing along, we guess to look like they care. Media huh? And all this time we thought the cause of fat kids was due to lazy ass parents who would rather plop down in front of the TV to watch Jeopardy instead of cooking a healthy meal for their kids. I am concerned about links between media, advertising and children's health, but I do not necessarily think that more government regulation is the answer," Brownback said in a statement. "I'm hopeful that this task force will forge a voluntary, public-private partnership to effectively address the pressing issue of media and child health." Media face obesity probe [Variety]