Q&A with Tom Shales

Live with Regis and Kelly and Divorce Court are the only first-run strips to turn in increases from the week before. The off-cable Storm Stories also posted higher numbers.

Fox is allowing marketers to push back the deadline on second quarter cancellation options on the TV network to Feb. 1, according to Tony Vinciquerra, CEO of Fox Networks Group. Vinciquerra, delivering a general business outlook at the Citi media investor conference, said some marketers had also requested a Feb. 15 deadline.

A warning from tech giant Intel about poor business conditions and more evidence of rising unemployment left stocks with their biggest losses in a month Wednesday.

John Verrilli moves from CBS's Pittsburgh duopoly to become news director at WBZ and WSBK.

ABC News and the BBC will expand their news partnership in Iraq, with ABC reducing its full-time presence there while relying on the BBC for day-to-day reports from inside the country.

With a new multi-year deal, Alan Perris will continue as COO to supervise department heads and staff in overseeing the day-to-day activities of the Television Academy and its Foundation.

There were smiles all around last night as the Big Three networks all saw promising results from their Tuesday lineups, days before Fox's American Idol returns to rule the night. The season debut of NBC's The Biggest Loser: Couples was the night's highest-rated show, averaging a 4.4 adults 18-49 rating. That lifted NBC to an easy victory on the night in the demo.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has provided President-elect Barack Obama's transition team with some suggestions for how to reform the FCC and remedy its current "process breakdowns." That came in a letter to Susan Crawford, who is helping head up the vetting process at the agency for the transition.

An exciting Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game between Ohio State and Texas, which won with a final-minute touchdown, lifted Fox to an easy victory Monday night. The network averaged a strong 5.5 adults 18-49 rating and 13 share in primetime, 77% ahead of No. 2 ABC at 3.1/8.

Ads, banners and billboards urging commuters to upgrade and policymakers to ensure their constituents are ready for next month's digital TV transition blanket a Metro stop near the Capitol.

Time Warner Inc. said today that it expects to record a fourth-quarter $25 billion impairment charge for its cable, publishing and AOL units that will lead to an operating loss for the period.

With DVR penetration time-shifted viewing growing steadily, TVB-led local broadcasters wants to sell time using live-plus-three days ratings, but media buyer want nothing to do with the new metric.The see live only or commercial ratings as the way to go in local. A compromise may be live plus same day ratings that should be available later this year.

The Bonneville International Salt Lake City NBC affiliate laid off five full-time and three part-time employees, including the Spanish translation staff who provided voice translations to the newscasts. Reporter Gene Kennedy, who covered the courts and general-assigment stories, was the only on-air staff member cut.

Univision Communications, the top Spanish-language broadcaster, signed a distribution agreement with the biggest cable operator, Comcast. The deal covers retrans consent for stations owned by Univision, plus Univision affiliates owned by Entravision, Fisher and Equity Media. Also covered are Univision's cable network Galavision and, outside of markets in which Univision has a station, feeds for the Univision and TeleFutura networks.

The Gannett CBS affiliate in Washington will eliminate its lightly viewed morning newscasts on Saturday (6-8 a.m.) and Sunday (8-9 a.m.). The last program will be on Jan. 18, two days before the presidential inauguration. They will be replaced with infomercials and unspecified local programs.

CBS CEO Les Moonves told investors at a Citigroup media conference in Arizona that CBS would get advertisers to pay more for ads in the next upfront, but said it was "way too early" to speculate on how big those increases would be.

With less than two weeks to go until a historic presidential inauguration, more television networks than usual are finalizing ambitious coverage plans.

With 2009 promising to be an economically tough row to hoe and credit markets constipated, operators may be tempted to slow down planned rollouts of new services and applications. But that's the wrong move in an increasingly competitive market, said mobile TV chipmaker Telegent, which offers some advice to operators on beating the capex crunch.

NBC and Warner Bros. TV remain locked in negotiations over the new John Wells drama Police. According to insiders, the two sides have been haggling for weeks -- but so far haven't been able to come to a deal that would bring the series to NBC. Staffing on the show has slowed down as the two sides work on an accord.

HBO will kick off coverage of Inauguration Week with an exclusive Sunday, Jan. 18, telecast of the star-studded opening ceremony, two days before the saturation coverage of President Barack Obama's inauguration begins in earnest. It will offer the event free to cable and satellite subscribers, regardless of whether they have the pay channel or not.

Former Time Warner Chairman and CEO is under consideration as possible replacement for Bill Richardson at Commerce.

Raycom Media and Local TV will swap stations in Alabama and Kentucky. As part of an asset exchange agreement, Raycom will acquire Local TV's Fox affiliate WBRC Birmingham, Ala., in exchange for its CBS affiliate WTVR Richmond, Va., plus additional consideration.

Twelve grassroots groups get $8.4 million in an effort to reach seniors, people with disabilities and Spanish-speaking households in areas with highest over-the-air populations.

It will take the place of Worst Week on CBS's midseason schedule. The show will drop March 3 after Two and a Half Men and take CBS's Monday lineup through the rest of the season.

According to a spokesman for the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, no decision has been made on whether Rep. Ed Markey, chairman of the Telecommuncations & Internet Subcommittee, will trade that gavel for the chairmanship of the Energy & Air Quality Subcommittee. Markey already chairs the Select Committee.

President-elect Barack Obama has offered the job of surgeon general to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and correspondent for CNN and CBS, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.