Sumner Redstone, the billionaire who controls Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp., is being forced to sell about one-fifth of his stake in the media companies to meet loan terms at his holding company, National Amusements Inc.

The sale plan followed a statement from Viacom today that third-quarter earnings missed analysts' estimates, sending the stock down as much as 28 percent. CBS fell as much as 15 percent after cutting its profit forecast this year.

We already played "Which magazine will fold next?" Now let's play "Which mogul will be hugely inconvenienced next?" I guess Sam Zell. [Bloomberg]

"The buy will push CBS comedy 'The New Adventures of Old Christine' to 8:30 p.m. and pre-empt 'Gary Unmarried.' NBC typically airs the hourlong 'Knight Rider' in the slot, and will likely throw in a comedy repeat at 8:30 p.m."

Thank you Senator Obama for preempting Gary Unmarried! Change you can believe in!

In response, Senator McCain is going to co-host an infomercial for the Flavor Wave Over Turbo, which will air at 5 a.m. the following morning on Lifetime.

The archives! The CBS show Eleventh Hour has a "sponsored archive" of free NYT stories about cloning humans and stuff, which presumably is a topic related to Eleventh Hour. It might grate on traditionalists, but we can't hate on things like this too much. Better to sell new online ads than, say, start plastering the front page of the print edition with ads. Besides, Thomas Friedman's mustache wax ain't free.

But you can't say it didn't generate any user dialogue:

Citizen journalism, ladies and gentlemen. [Ad Age]

UPDATE: Cajun Boy points out Palin was a journalism major. HA.

See? The word "governor" worked wonders! Smooth, dignified Gov. Sarah Palin.

[The judge] said he was throwing out Rather's fraud claim not because he wasn't duped, but because he didn't suffer any damages from the alleged trickery. The judge noted that Rather, 76, was still paid the money he was owed under his contract, and is still gainfully - and lucratively - employed by HDNet.

He said Rather's claims for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty can go forward.

Now Rather's suit has come down to proving that CBS stopped giving him (enough) work in the 15 months following the Bush story controversy. Which is not quite as dramatic as it was before.

I apologize for perpetuating Rather-talk.

[NYP]

• Palin get.
• David Carr's friendly "I'm sorry" column in the Monday Times.
• Catching Cindy McCain not knowing what Roe v. Wade is.
• Finds Michael Dukakis at the Democratic National Convention, gets the former presidential candidate to apologize for letting George Bush win.
• Avoids random fights with her coworkers like Keith Olbermann.
• The iconic sexism chat with America, which even John McCain tries to sample.

This doesn't really add up to a real return for Couric, but would certainly earn her "leaving on a high note" status if she should hypothetically want to leave her anchor job sometime soon!

[Post]

David Carr got in trouble for being all sexist about Katie last time he wrote about her, and in this piece he once again reminds everyone that she is "perky" (almost!) and "America's Sweetheart" (almost!). But he also says: "Ms. Couric is a highly skilled interviewer, and people tend to tell her stuff."

Of course CBS is still in third place and the fact that MSNBC has sucked all the coverage away from Katie is good, sort of, but also means that no one is talking about Katie and CBS. So she can do all the surprisingly good work in the world, but it won't attract the attention of a Chris Matthews meltdown on a third-place cable network.

In other words, we figure she's enjoying herself as anchor for the first time since she started, mostly because she's still going to quit soon, so why not have fun. (Of course she still needs to make sure she's getting that payday before she hands the reigns back to Bob Scheiffer.)

[Photo: HuffPo]

Moonves is counting on CNET to raise CBS' revenue by two points within three years, which would mean that its online growth would have to offset the "flattening out" of CBS' own TV and radio ad revenue. But CNET is basically a tech news brand, and a pretty unexciting one. CBS is a general interest brand, and an unexciting one. So why try to make CNET another unexciting, general-interest brand?

Watching Moonves at a meeting of CNET executives, it's hard to miss the CEO's competitive spirit. The key, he says, is to boost traffic at CNET's dozen or so Web sites, which include video gamer site Gamespot.com, the all-things-television TV.com, and food site Chow.com. Katie Couric was on CNET streaming special shows from the convention. Chow.com's photogenic food editor Aida Mollenkamp is headed to a guest spot on Rachael Ray's show, which CBS syndicates, while CNET reporters are expected to populate every segment possible on its news shows.

It's going to take more than corporate synergy, though. For example, Moonves says TV.com is bound to be "the destination for online TV viewing" once it has shows from all the networks. Eh. It has a good name, but it doesn't even have CBS shows yet.

The basic problem: CBS itself has an increasingly old audience. They're counting on CNET to bring in the young audience. But CNET isn't cool. And if Les Moonves is the man who has to make it cool, its chances are less than average.

[BW; pic from Valleywag]

NBC limited its potential for ad revenue in a number of ways, industry analysts say. To provide a measure of exclusivity for its TV advertisers, it chose not to make available live video for some of the Games' highest-profile events. The network failed to distribute its videos widely on other sites, which would have boosted its audience.

In contrast, here's what Yahoo did, via the Times:

On Wednesday, for example, Yahoo’s Olympics blog linked to two Web sites that were showing BBC video of Usain Bolt’s 200-meter race, hours before NBC showed it on television and placed it on its Web site. Yahoo, which added a gold medal to its logo for the duration of the Games, used the power of its popular home page to push visitors to a special mini-site devoted to the Olympics.

Though the Olympics have been hailed as evidence of the enduring power of broadcast television — could a cable network have penetrated so many homes? — they may also go down in history as a textbook case of how to blow a huge opportunity online.

Unfortunately I have found out that many viewers are afraid of change. The glory days of TV news are over, and the media landscape has been dramatically changed. News is available now for everyone, everywhere, all the time, and everybody fights for the last pieces of the shrinking pie. The corporate pressure and the ratings terror are intensifying all the time, and the situation is not simple. I find myself in the last bastion of male dominance, and realizing what Hillary Clinton might have realized not long ago: that sexism in the American society is more common than racism, and certainly more acceptable or forgivable. In any case, I think my post and Hillary's race are important steps in the right direction."

It is virtually impossible to argue against the notion that both Hillary Clinton and Katie Couric faced repeated, institutionalized instances of sexism. But it's puzzling that Couric brings this up in the context of race — jumping into the argument over whether women or minorities are more aggrieved in America.

How has Couric's own professional experience taught her anything about the prevalence of racism versus the prevalence of sexism? It's all too easy to leap to the conclusion that she's talking in this case not so much about herself as about the Democratic primary — about Barack Obama, and about how he, as some Clinton supporters like Geraldine Ferraro argued, faced fewer obstacles as a black man than Clinton did as a white woman.

Is that really a debate in which Couric wants to take sides? Because it's hard to see how it would be particularly wise for her, as a network evening news anchor, to do so. Unless she's angling for Keith Olbermann's job..

[Haaretz via Tabloid Baby]

“I’m kind of relying, my client is relying, on just the inner workings of that station,” said [Brent Williams, account supervisor at Karsh/Hagan, the advertising agency that arranged the deal]. “Not that editorial would ever give a heads-up to sales or be expected to give a heads-up to sales, but these are professionals. They do realize that some businesses’ brands, some businesses’ reputations, could be at stake in terms of how commerce and news are interacting here.”

Setting aside how the deal complicates reporting on certain topics, one also can't help but note how it highlights those parts of the news operation already considered journalistically weakest. For the Las Vegas station, the second part of the morning newscast can be sold for product placement, but not the first, since... the first contains the real, actual, trustworthy journalism? At other stations mentioned in the Times story, the entire morning newscast is marked off this way.

The stations are moving forward with the product placements despite the fact that the national news divisions ABC, NBC and CBS have ruled out such practices as misleading. It's almost enough to make one wonder if the local affiliates care more about ratings than presenting a balanced, helpful newscast.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll take a break from all this journalistic hand-wringing and enjoy a crisp, cool Miller High Life. It is truly the champagne of beers!

[Times]

[Ad Age]

Jingles was supposed to debut this month, but CBS, like a kid who left her homework until the last minute, is pushing the debut back because they haven't "promoted" the show enough. The reason they have such crappy judges is also, reportedly, because they had a "time crunch" in assembling them. When they take care of these things, perhaps they can "rethink" the show's concept and then "cancel" it.

Rounding out the judging panel: the ad lady who came up with that song, "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid." Well, she's a fine choice.

[Ad Age]

Both Logan and Burkett were married (and both also reportedly separated, though the Enquirer glossed over that point), both are divorcing, and Logan, according to Kurtz, expects to marry Burkett eventually.

We're happy that things seem to be working out for Lara, though Burkett does not actually sound like much of a catch. Between the fact that he's a mysterious "civilian contractor" and the fact that his other marriage ended in the bitterest divorce ever on account of him spending the entirety of it—including the pregnancy and birth bits—war profiteering in Iraq, maybe he is not the marrying kind? Or maybe that's just his psycho ex-wife, who took the story to the Enquirer in the first place.

We just feel bad for CNN reporter Michael Ware, the other other man, for being totally overshadowed in all this.

Logan did not even think she was able to get pregnant, because she is missing a fallopian tube, so this homewrecking Baghdad warzone baby is truly a miracle. Once it is born it can take over Meet the Press.

The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes foreign correspondent, Lara Logan, has been named as the “other woman” in a Texas couple Joe and Kimberly Burkett's bitter divorce.

Burkett’s wife Kimberly, 32, was so distraught with his cheating that she took an overdose of Valium

Kimberly Burkett's attorney Susie Chmielowiec told The ENQUIRER, “Kimberly believes Lara stole her husband – and now they’re trying to steal her little girl."

And in a twist that’s as shocking as any story Lara has covered, sources are charging she also had another affair, and her two lovers got into a brutal battle over her in Baghdad!

Sources charge that the Emmy winning Logan began her affair with 36-year-old U.S. State Department contractor, Burkett in war-torn Baghdad.

And yet another scandal brews in the steamy mix: Lara’s reported romance with a star CNN correspondent – whose jealousy exploded in a battle royal with Burkett in a Baghdad “safe house.”

“Not only is Lara having a torrid affair with a married man – she apparently has more than one lover!” Chmielowiec charged to The ENQUIRER.

When CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric heard about Lara’s sexual shenanigans, she blew a gasket!

What is your favorite part of that story? Katie Couric blowing a gasket is good, but we particularly enjoy the bit where an affair is "as shocking as any story Lara has covered." Because, like, she reports from war zones, where people are fighting wars and stuff.

Of course none of this is really shocking at ALL because foreign correspondents basically all sleep with everyone they can. It's stressful work and adrenaline runs high. Though some war zones are more conducive to this sort of thing. It depends on heat, relative humidity, and availability of showers.

Update: SO the print Enquirer further claims that Logan's second affair is with CNN reporter Michael Ware, and that Ware fought Burkett over it in Baghdad.

Then the contractor dude who announced in court that he's having this affair with Logan told his wife that he killed people in Iraq. Which is maybe not true?

Finally, Lara was "entertaining" some people in Baghdad when Ware came in and then him and Burkett fought for HOURS and even ended up in the CNN safehouse! It's amazing they had time to cover the war, what with all this drama.

Lara supposedly "sputtered" something when an Enquirer reporter inquired about her husband, and her husband is said to have had no comment. Whee. We're still not clear on how Katie Couric is involved?

CBS NEWS LARA LOGAN DIVORCE WAR [Enquirer]

SchwartzBing's latest book is called Executricks: How to Retire While You're Still Working. His five key points:

* Delegation: the art of making other people do what you don't want to;

* Absence: the establishments of zones in which one is working and not working at the same time;

* Abuse of status: formerly the realm of senior officers, now available to everyone with creativity and even a modest amount of plastic;

* The appearance of decisiveness, even when confused - the decision-making process is the single greatest eater of retirement time and must be telescoped;

* Intense Engagement when required. Short, intense bursts of actual work are sometimes necessary and must be managed with aplomb.

SchwartzBing is having a contest now looking for slacking suggestions. Best one wins a free lunch with him. Please enter, win, and send a full report.

(Gil: Don't forget to also think up excuses for Katie Couric, though.)

[HuffPo, PRNewser, Bloomberg TV. Pic via WP]

Kaplan's great plan for sweeps, the season during which networks put on crowd-pleasing stunts to show better viewer numbers for advertisers, was to send the morning show's presenters to Greensburg. The Kansas town had been devastated by a tornado, and Kaplan believed that a broadcast from the recovering town a year later would resonate with American viewers more than the exotic travels of rivals such as Matt Lauer of NBC's Today Show. "Kaplan carried his 'sweeps playbook' around like a junior varsity coach," says one of his critics.

Most of Kaplan's colleagues hated the pet project, which was expensive as well as "hyper-cheesy". Anchor Julie Chen simply refused to go, despite Kaplan's angry demands. Chen has the clout to back up her defiance: she's married to CBS chief executive Les Moonves. Kaplan was overheard yelling: "Fuck her: she may be sleeping with my boss, but she works for me." Wrong. At CBS, everybody works for Moonves, as Kaplan discovered when he was unceremoniously sent off on forced vacation.

And here, Cohen vents righteously about the righteous venting of the PR industry in response to Cohen's original righteous venting.

Mendte is accused of opening Lane's email "hundreds" of times, and possibly of leaking some of the information he found to the media. Investigators are currently trying to match up the timing of leaks with the emails that they know Mendte opened—including a bunch from her lawyer, which may be related to a lawsuit Lane filed against CBS3 after her police-smacking incident. Bad! This is considered the same as opening someone's mail at home, legally speaking. So why did he do it, allegedly? Even gossiping colleagues aren't sure:

Several current and former CBS3 newsroom staffers, who agreed to speak yesterday on condition of anonymity, said they were shocked at the suggestion of animosity between Mendte and Lane, who became an anchor team on Sept. 15, 2003. The combination quickly boosted the station's appeal: Mendte, the hometown guy, raised in Lansdowne, hired away from NBC10 after six years; and Lane, the rising star from Long Island, hired from Miami.

But two sources said their off-air relationship had its highs and lows; they seemed to be barely speaking by the end of last year, they said.

It's also unclear why the feds would get involved in a case like this, except to make an example out of a high-profile TV star. The curse of tabloid television hosts in action! Ironic, too, that Mendte's best YouTube clip involves him falling down on the job:

[Inky]

*Uh, extreme-violence-and-language-disclaimer-here.

The CW's fall schedule, unveiled this week, suggests the network has few fresh ideas. It is debuting only three new shows, all designed to complement Gossip Girl, which executives hope will find a larger audience come fall. The new offerings are: 90210, an updated version of the 1990s hit prime-time soap about rich kids in California, Beverly Hills, 90210; Surviving the Filthy Rich, a drama about rich kids in Palm Beach; and the reality show Stylista.

Nothing is said about what happens to Gossip Girl if CW closes, but it's hard to imagine neither CBS nor Time Warner could find space for the series on some other network. If need be, alternative strategic plans could perhaps be generated at another Gossip Girl summit.

[WSJ]

Lorre's little game is revealed today in one of the Wall Street Journal's increasingly rare marginalized A-Heds, the long and colorful front-page stories that were the signature of the business newspaper before it was taken over by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. And author Katherine Rosman follows Lorre's example and works in a little dig at her new overlord, the Australian media mogul. She quotes Lorre's most recent vanity card, which "lampooned" the Murdoch régime. Lorre wrote of the upcoming "article in The Wall Street Journal (or as I like to call it, The Depressingly Inevitable Next Step Toward the End of a Free Press in America, Thanks a Lot Rupert, Journal)."

(Incidentally, subversive messages on Gawker are often hidden in the tags. Hover over the red subhead above the headline, which reveals other words and phrases by which the article has been categorized. Just so you know.)

Word is that he's going on vacation next week for two weeks — DURING SWEEPS — this is a show that under Shelley Ross you couldn't take off even if you died — and that he won't be returning to the network after his vacation.

Yes — he has been pushed out of the Evening News and the Early Show.

Word is that a senior producer Shelley hired from Canada will be the next EP — but that could be a tough sell b/c well he has NO news experience. He was the EP of a program in Canada titled "Gay TV."

Things are still tough at the morning show — in fact a senior producer David Shenfeld — who has lost all his power to Laurye Blackford — in fact just didn't come to work starting last Sunday — just didn't bother to call or e-mail anyone. Apparently he was so fed up and frustrated he just decided to come to work. Really professional.

Btw — Rick is having a staff meeting on Friday — I'm sure no one over there will admit that he's leaving — but what a shame — he really tried to get the show to a better place after the Shelley debacle...and now he's being pushed out. You gotta wonder what the execs are really doing there except reading staffers' e-mails.

The cable and satellite companies that would have to carry the new channel aren't convinced the world needs another movie service, according to executives at several companies. Even Comcast Corp., which owns 20% of MGM, has little interest in carrying a new movie channel, according to a person close to that company.

"Movies are not as much a part of the mix" with the growth of video-on-demand, says Michael Willner, chief executive of Insight Communications, a cable operator primarily in the Midwest. "If they are just another outlet for movies they will have a tough go."

Of course, it's impossible for any human to win Cranky Redstone's enduring love. As the old expression goes, the only way to win is not to play the game.

The new venture could create some awkward moments around Hollywood. Leslie Moonves, the chief executive of CBS, is close friends with Harry E. Sloan, the chief executive of MGM, and Jon Feltheimer, the chief executive of Lionsgate. A spokesman for CBS declined to comment.

I think this just means Les Moonves has to dance around certain topics during lunch meetings or dinner parties. That's not so awkward. You know what's awkward? Having lunch with a crazy Scientologist who is about to mock you in a movie, per Redstone's recent rendezvous with Tom Cruise at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Oh, and Redstone, being a cantankerous old bastard, is totally supportive of this CBS-Viacom infighting:

Last month Mr. Redstone, who is the controlling shareholder in both Viacom and CBS, was asked at an investor conference about the two companies entering each other’s business. “They were always intended to be independent companies, free to compete with each other,” he said.

[Deadline Hollywood, Times]