• An estimated 25 million people tuned into last night's broadcast of the Grammy Awards on CBS, earning it its highest ratings in six years. [AP]
• Disney is looking to sell off the Miramax name and its library of 700 movies, and seven to 10 parties have reportedly expressed interest. [NYT, NYP]
• Nate Berkus's new TV…
Us Weekly's Windfall, More Trouble For Olbermann
• It's not just TLC that is happy about the Jon & Kate nonsense. Putting them on the cover of Us six times in a row has been a "windfall" for Janice Min. [NYP]
• Get ready to pay for People.com: Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes says the company may begin charging for access to online magazine content. [AP]
• With book…
Live at Five, Richard Branson, NBC, & Wolff
• Say it ain't so, Sue: WNBC may be planning to drop the 5 o'clock newscast, Live at Five, in favor of a "lifestyle show" of some sort. [NYO]
• Richard Branson does not want to buy Playboy. Sorry, Hugh. [Reuters]
• NBC ratings hit a new low last week. [AP/HuffPo]
• Naturally, NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker painted a…
WNBC Helicopter Grounded
New York has never had the same car chase culture of LA. But if you were hoping the day would come when you'd be able turn on the TV at any moment of the day and watch felons flee the scene of a crime from a news helicopter overhead, don't get your hopes up. After dumping many of its human assets over the past few…
Splits at the NYO and MySpace; Viacom's New Channel
• Chris DeWolfe is out as the CEO of News Corp.-owned MySpace. [CNN]
• More on Peter Kaplan's split from Jared Kushner's Observer, and the rumor Kaplan is now heading to Condé Nast Traveler. [NYT, WWD, DHD]
• ABC has renewed 12 series, including Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor, Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate…
Big Pay Days at the Times, Big Cuts at Yahoo
• The New York Times Co.'s bank balance is running a bit low, but that hasn't detered the company from handing out lavish pay packages. The company's CEO, Janet Robinson, received a total compensation package valued at $5.58 million in 2008, up from $4.14 million in 2007. [NYP, HP]
• Is Rachel Maddow losing her glow?…
Blooper King Len Berman Leaving WNBC a Rich Man
Monday we heard that WNBC's Chuck Scarborough and KNBC's Paul Moyer, the Kent Brockman and Ron Burgundy of New York, were both potential buyout targets. And now loooooooongtime WNBC sports guy Len Berman—the guy who shows the bloopers!—is getting bought out:
WNBC Drops Berman
Chuck Scarborough has yet to be given a pink slip by WNBC, as per the rumors making the rounds yesterday, but the same can't be said for sports anchor Len Berman. The 20-year veteran of Ch. 4 will stick around for the next 30 to 60 days before bidding goodbye to his $1-million-a-year salary. Whether his "Spanning the…
Scarborough in Jeopardy?
Is Chuck Scarborough's tenure at WNBC coming to an end in the near future? He's been at the station for 35 years now, but Gawker reports his reported $3 million-a-year salary may be too rich for the local station, and it may be seeking to buy him out of his contract. In the meantime, a WNBC rep is denying the story:…
NBC News to Axe Chuck Scarborough and Paul Moyer?
A tipster says a "pervasive rumor" is making the rounds at NBC News that the network is putting long-time local anchors Chuck Scarborough of WNBC and Paul Moyer of KNBC out to pasture.
WSJ Scales Back, Dan Rather Now Hiring
• The Wall Street Journal's new glossy mag, WSJ, will remain a quarterly and will not be going monthly as planned due to "market conditions." [WWD]
• Amazon is launching a program to let you read books by iPhone. [WSJ]
• Fox is ahead in the ratings with 18 to 49-year-olds thanks to the success of Idol, but CBS is…
Think You Have It Rough? Talk to Carolyn Gusoff
Carolyn Gusoff covered the Long Island beat for WNBC until the station let her go in December as part of a round of budget cuts. It's been a rocky transition for the vapid TV reporter—or so she says in a Newsday opinion piece—as she details the "harrowing and debasing ordeal" involved in filing for unemployment, and…
Nepotism For Roger Ebert's 26-Year-Old Replacement?
"Ben Lyons admitted, 'It has definitely helped to have my dad to open some doors for me.'" [Daily News]
Sue Simmons Will Apologize To You On Email, Good Luck Finding Her
Sue Simmons gets it: You don't like that she said the f-word on WNBC Monday, all angry like. So the news anchor has yanked her email address from the WNBC website, according to an email tipster. Comparing Simmons' current WNBC Web page with the latest one in archive.org, from 2007, does show that her email address was…
Kathie Lee Gifford Scared She'll Have Meltdown Too
Today hosted a very meta discussion this morning about Sue Simmons' WNBC f-bomb and Bill O'Reilly's old Inside Edition eruption, and anchpr Kathie Lee Gifford is extremely sympathetic toward both of the old TV hands and their embarassments. She told co-host Hoda Kotb there's always a chance she'll have her own "FUCK…
WNBC Anchor's Swearing Was All Co-Anchor's Fault
The Times got to the bottom of WNBC anchor Sue Simmons' on-air cuss out Monday night and discovered the whole incident can basically blamed on Simmons' co-anchor Chuck Scarborough for not paying enough "fucking" attention. During the live promo, Simmons read her tease for a grocery store story, but then when the video…
WNBC Anchor: "What The Fuck Are You Doing?!"
Exploring, perhaps, her inner Bill O'Reilly, WNBC news anchor Sue Simmons turned what should have been a straightforward promo for the evening news into an angry cuss-out of one of her co-workers. And Simmons' cursing made it onto the air, unlike Fox News anchor O'Reilly's recently-publicized meltdown. We've received…
New York Blogger Summit To Be Held Somewhere Other Than The Magician
So you've finally made it in the big time world of New York City blogging, and all the fame and fortune that are accorded to that profession's most celebrated members is starting to come your way: nubile young groupies, book deals, invitations to all the hippest parties, crazy e-mails from Andrew Krucoff threatening…
Media Bubble: Mixed Bag
Media Bubble: Try and Act Surprised
