V-me partners with the NYT

V-me is collaborating with The New York Times News Service to produce a weekly television program.

Hispanic Market Weekly reports that "Páginas del New York Times," will focus on stories appearing in the newspaper - "presented from a U.S. Hispanic perspective." Former CBS Telenoticias anchor Marián de la Fuente will host the program, which debuts March 1st.

GM musical chairs at Telemundo

Several general managers have been reassigned within the Telemundo station group.

Manuel Abud, missing in action after he was removed from the helm of KVEA-52 for violating conflict of interest policies in the mayor-reporter scandal, will now take charge of KXTX-Channel 39 in Dallas. He replaces José Valle, who was given Abud's old job in L.A.

Carlos Sánchez abandons his role as GM of KBLR-39 in Las Vegas and KDEN-25 in Denver to head WNJU-47 in NYC. He takes over from Manuel Martínez-Llorián, who became general manager at Miami´s WSCV-51.

Celia Chávez replaces Sánchez at KBLR and KDEN. She leaves the top job at KVDA-60 in San Antonio. The job she leaves vacant will be absorbed by Roel Medina, who will continue in his role of GM of KTMD-47 in Houston.

1,000 layoffs @ Yahoo

Yahoo confirmed it will lay off 7% of its workforce - that comes out to 1,000 employees. News of the restructuring began last week, with analysts pointing out to Yahoo's struggle to compete with Google. The internet company disclosed the workforce reduction during a fourth-quarter conference call.

According to Online Media Daily, profits were down 23% from the year-earlier period. No word yet on which company divisions would suffer the cutbacks. A targeted "jobs realignment" is scheduled to start by mid-February.

Current TV files for $100 million IPO

Current Media Inc, which owns the youth-oriented TV network founded by Al Gore, is out to raise $100 million in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock market.

Gore is executive chairman of the company which owns Current TV, an interactive cable television network which airs viewer-generated as well as professionally produced content.

Current TV, based in San Francisco, was launched in August 2005.

According to a Reuters article on the NYT, the company reported $63.8 million in revenue in 2007, but it also made a net loss of $9.9 million.

KLAS and WTVF up for sale

Landmark Communications Inc said today it will sell its TV stations in Las Vegas and Nashville. Both KLAS and WTVF are CBS affiliates.

TV Newday reports that the family-owned company decided on the sale after completing a strategic review of its TV broadcasting businesses. Sale of its flagship daily newspaper, The Virginian Pilot, is also being considered.

The Norfolk-based company announced at the beginning of January the sale of one of its largest properties, The Weather Channel.

WSJ starts making changes

Seven weeks after Rupert Murdoch took over the Wall Street Journal, comes the first big change - moving the paper to Midtown, to News Corp's headquarters.

The NYT reports the move will be some time this year, in an effort to integrate it into Murdoch's media empire. Also in the works: plans to start a sports page and a magazine devoted to the lifestyles of the affluent. Both ideas are part of a strategy to gain a bigger share of the consumer ad market.

Murdoch bought the WSJ for more than $5 billion in December.

Nielsen launches NORA

Nielsen is launching a new video-on-demand measurement service which will use data from cable set-top boxes. Comcast, which has been a pilot partner in the beta-testing of the system since last year, is the first to sign on to NORA (Nielsen on-Demand Reporting & Analytics).

TV Week reports that NORA will aggregate and anonymously report VOD usage based on real-time transactions and will complement Nielsen’s existing VOD measurement service, which uses information from its People Meters.

FiOS TV becomes cable contender

As more and more customers become frustrated with cable service in some areas of the country, FiOS TV is becoming a popular alternative.

Verizon announced today that its fiber optic alternative to wired cable has surpassed 1 million subscribers. According to Mediaweek, this makes FiOS the 10th largest cable provider in the U.S.

FiOS was launched in September of 2005 and also offers internet service, with more than 1.5 million subscribers.

Nielsen to recalculate ratings

For the second time in less than a month, Nielsen has had to admit its ratings measurement has been inaccurate.

Mediaweek is reporting that Nielsen will have to recalculate and reprocess WCVB and WMUR's ratings in Boston from January 1 to the 9th, due to a malfunctioning station encoder and faulty monitoring system. The technical glitch gave WCVB lower ratings and WMUR higher ratings, which in turn cost WCVB big time with advertisers.

Nielsen will now reprocess ratings data for all of its clients in the Boston DMA.

Stations in other markets are also reporting problems and question the accuracy of the Nielsen ratings.

Philadelphia papers face cuts

The owners of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News have told the paper's unions that they must cut costs by an additional 10 percent or the company will face dire consequences.

Just a year ago, both papers went through a round of major layoffs. Chief executive Brian Tierney met with reps from all the unions and warned of a ""grim financial picture."

In an online bulletin, the Guild points out Tierney made references to outsourcing jobs overseas and threatened job cuts if the union continues arbitrations on behalf of 5 ad reps.

Layoffs at Chicago Sun-Times

17 reporters and editors are the latest downsizing casualty at the Chicago Sun-Times. The layoffs were done via phone. Two other newsroom employees took buyouts. In all, this round of cuts eliminated 36 editorial department jobs.

The Chicago Tribune reports the paper's objective was to reduce its editorial payroll by $3 million as part of parent Sun-Times Media Group's effort to cut $50 million in operating costs.

Columnist Esther Cepeda was among those laid-off .

FCC approves Clear Channel buyout

The $27.4 billion buyout of Clear Channel Communications by a private equity consortium was approved today by the FCC.

Radio Ink reports the FCC concluded the acquisition would not be anticompetitive or result in a lack of diversity, or that it would harm competition in any broadcast market.

Major layoffs at Yahoo

As it reorganizes its business operations, Yahoo is expected to layoff off between 5 to 10 percent of its workforce this week as well as eliminate several underperforming businesses.

Mediaweek reports Yahoo has gone through some tough times the past 12 months in its struggle to catch up to Google in the search advertising race and to adapt to a rapidly changing online market.

Analysts say that while the layoffs will eliminate redundancies and reduce costs at Yahoo, it won't result in bringing in more revenue to the company. A 5 percent workforce reduction would save Yahoo $100 million in 2008.

Sale of airwaves expected to bring in $10 billion

The airwaves that will become available from the digital transition go on sale today and the FCC hopes to gain about $10 billion from the sale of the spectrum.

$7.4 billion of the proceeds will go to the U.S. Treasury to help offset the federal budget deficit, $1.5 billion will go to the coupon program subsidizing the digital converter boxes and $1 billion is scheduled to improve communications among public safety agencies.

There are 214 bidders for the 1,099 licenses that are being auctioned. Among the bidders: Google, which has become involved in wireless technology, now that internet searches have gone mobile. The AP reports Google has pledged to pay at least the reserve amount of $4.6 billion for the C-block (the open-access spectrum block), which is broken into 12 regional licenses. The winners may not be known for weeks or even months.

The SF Chronicle points out the auction also holds the promise of delivering a good wireless broadband alternative to cable and DSL, since the 700 megahertz spectrum on sale has enough capacity to build a nationwide broadband network with faster speeds than current cellular data networks.

Telemundo and Televisa settle lawsuit

Telemundo has reached a settlement agreement in a federal lawsuit filed four years ago by Grupo Televisa alleging that Telemundo interfered with Televisa's contract with actor Mauricio Islas.

Marketing y Medios reports the U.S. federal courts ruled Televisa's contract with Islas was valid and enforceable. Telemundo pledges to respect Televisa's rights in its contracts with actors and other artists and looks forward to focusing "on future projects with Grupo Televisa."

Azteca América hires El Cucuy

As it seeks to better position itself in the U.S. Hispanic television market, Azteca América is now betting on radio personality El Cucuy to help the network bring in a bigger audience.

Starting February 23, Renán Alméndarez Coello, will host "Azte pa' cá." The prime-time entertainment show will air Saturday nights from 8 to 10 pm, going head to head with Don Francisco's Sábado Gigante. It will include celebrity interviews, musical guests and comedy skits.

"We're growing by leaps and bounds," says Karen Davis, EVP of marketing for Azteca América. And with this original program we're looking forward to having great results."

La Opinión raises price

For the first time in 29 years, La Opinión has raised the price of its weekday paper. The 25 cent hike brings the Impremedia daily to 50 cents. Hispanic Market Weekly reports the price change comes ahead of a soon to be unveiled redesign of La Opinión. The Sunday edition remains 75 cents per copy.

La Raza gets new publisher

Rubén Keoseyán was named publisher of Chicago's Spanish-language weekly La Raza. He previously worked as director of Primera Hora in Puerto Rico. Prior to that, he was executive editor of La Opinión in Los Angeles.

Keoseyán, who was born in Mexico City, began his career as a journalist for Televisa. He was news director and anchor for KSBY, an NBC affiliate, on the first Spanish-language newscast in California's Central coast.

Belo spin-off is tax free

Belo's plan to spin off its newspaper business into a separate publicly traded corporation qualifies as a tax-free event for its shareholders, according to the IRS.

Editor & Publisher reports Belo expects to record in its fourth quarter a non-cash impairment charge for goodwill and other intangible assets and is scheduled to release its earnings report on Feb. 13.

L.A. Times editor fired for refusing to cut news jobs

James O'Shea, the L.A. Times' top editor was forced out for resisting to cut $4 million from his newsroom budget.

The New York Times reports publisher David D. Hiller had ordered the multi-million dollar cuts specifically related to presidential election coverage, as well as reducing staff by the end of the year.

O'Shea's ouster marks the fourth time in less than three years that the highest-ranking editor or the publisher has left for that reason.

Since 2000, the L.A. Times has eliminated more than 200 newsroom staff positions and its weekday circulation has dropped to about 800,000, from 1.1 million.

LATV buys American Latino TV

LATV, the bilingual music and entertainment digital broadcast network, announced today that it has bought American Latino TV, the production and syndication company that makes programs targeting English-dominant Hispanics.

According to TVNewsday, the multi-million dollar deal includes several broadcast syndicated properties such as American Latino TV and LatiNation as well as ALTV’s library of video content.

Robert Rose, founder and president of AIM Tell-A-Vision and American Latino TV, stays on as executive producer of the shows and will also oversee LATV's new broadcast syndication division.

1,000 mags to be pulled off racks

Wal-mart, which generates more than 20 percent of all retail magazine sales in the US., is doing some "winter cleaning" of its shelves. The retail giant will no longer be selling more than 1,000 magazine titles in its stores.

Keith J. Kelly, from the NY Post reports most of the magazines pulled off the racks are small, but even some well-known magazines are being "purged" from the aproximately 4,000 stores. Among them: Better Homes & Gardens, Ladies Home Journal, The Economist, BusinessWeek, Forbes and Fortune.

Spanish broadcaster invests in Caribevisión

Gestevisión Telecinco S.A. has obtained a 28.3 percent equity stake in Caribevisión for $32 million. The deal calls for the Madrid-based company to hold 34.2 percent control of "Pegaso TV," a group led by Mexican television entrepreneur Alejandro Burillo that owns 83 percent of Caribevisión. A second group led by Carlos Barba will own 17 percent of Caribevisión.

More layoffs at San Diego Tribune

27 employees were laid-off on Tuesday, including at least five newsroom staffers at The San Diego Union-Tribune. Since late December, 76 employees were bought out and 14 press room workers were eliminated. These cuts have reduced its workforce by 10 percent in the past month.

The Voice of San Diego reports the company's president said in a memo to employees the paper must undergo change in light of dramatic revenue losses. "More difficult measures" are to be expected.

Cleveland reporter moves to NYC

Carolina Leid makes a big jump from WEWS in Cleveland to WABC in New York. She was a general assignment reporter with WEWS for the past 2 years.

Carolina previously worked at Central Florida News 13 in Orlando.

Bentivoglio resurfaces at LATV

Luca Bentivoglio was named VP of programming for LATV , a bilingual music and entertainment digital broadcast network headquartered in Los Angeles. He will be in charge of all of LATV's content and program scheduling.

Bentivoglio is a former Telemundo VP of programming and executive director for Latino Public Broadcasting, as well as independent producer.

Mora signs off two days early

Anchor Antonio Mora said goodbye to his Chicago audience two days before his scheduled departure date. Check out his farewell video. As I reported Tuesday, Antonio moves to the CBS station in Miami as main anchor.

Azteca América reaches deal with Pappas in L.A.

For a while, it looked like it was all over for Azteca América in some of the most important Hispanic markets. But now a deal with Pappas Telecasting has saved its place in L.A. - the number-one Hispanic DMA in the United States. The new agreement will allow Azteca América to continue airing programming for five years until 2012 on KAZA-54.

"It gives us strength to keep positioning Azteca América in the most important Spanish-language media market, while we continue our nation-wide distribution strategy," says A.A. spokeswoman Mónica Taher.

In April of last year, Pappas Telecasting, terminated its affiliation agreements with the Azteca América Network in all markets. Pappas launched Tu Visión, a new Spanish-language network as a replacement, claiming Azteca América programming was underperforming on its stations. The only exemption was KAZA-54 in Los Angeles, because the contract expired in June 30, 2008.

Pappas announced in December an intent to sell its television stations, but Taher confirms any potential sale will not affect the current agreement.

Scripps launches political and cultural web forum

Today's debut of RedBlueAmerica.com shows just how involved some media companies are in this year's political process.

The E. W. Scripps Company says it hopes the new Web site "will serve as an ongoing public forum for a full array of user-generated content, including blogs, personal profiles, videos" and become "a fully interactive forum for diverse political and cultural ideas and opinion."

RedBlueAmerica is a free online service. It will deliver timely political news, provide subscribers with an e-mail service and will conduct daily public opinion polls.

Oprah and Discovery launch new network

The Oprah Winfrey Network - OWN - will premiere in 2009. The joint venture between Oprah and Discovery communications "designed to entertain, inform and inspire people to live their best lives" will be distributed to 70 Million U.S. homes. It will replace the Discovery Health Channel and will be simulcast in HD.

TVNewsday reports Oprah will serve as chairman of OWN and will be 50/50 owned by Discovery and Harpo.

Antonio Mora moves back to Miami

Antonio Mora leaves the CBS station in Chicago to head back home to Miami. He had been the 6 p.m. co-anchor at WBBM-Ch. 2. In June of last year, he was pulled from anchoring the 10 p.m newscast.

Antonio becomes primary anchor for the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts at WFOR-TV in Miami. His last day at WBBM will be this Friday. His first day at WFOR will be January 28, just in time to cover the Florida primary.

$10 million price tag for new ZGS station

I reported last week that ZGS was buying WSSI- Channel 62 in Philadelphia for an "undisclosed price." Well... it looks like ZGS Communications Inc. is paying Hispanic Broadcasters of Philadelphia $10 million dollars for the station, according to an FCC filing. That figure was just reported in the PM edition of TVNewsday.

Impremedia teams up with McClatchy

Impremedia and The McClatchy Company are combining their Spanish-language newspapers to form a national print and online advertising platform. The agreement gives advertisers "one-stop" access to 18 of the largest Hispanic markets in the U.S., with a single media purchase.

McClatchy papers participating include El Nuevo Herald in Miami, La Estrella in Fort Worth and Vida en el Valle in California's central valley. Among Impremedia's properties: La Opinión in Los Angeles, El Diario La Prensa and Hoy in New York, El Mensajero in San Francisco and La Raza in Chicago.

Belo print assets spin off to new company

The board of Belo Corp. has approved the spinoff of the company's newspapers into a separate publicly traded firm. According to the Hollywood Reporter, shareholders pushed Belo to split up the company, arguing its "stock price reflects the newspaper industry's challenges and hides the better momentum at its TV stations."

The new company will be named A.H. Belo and shareholders will receive 0.20 shares of the new print business for each Belo share held.

Univision shakes up ad-sales

CEO Joe Uva is working hard to turn Univision into a much bigger media powerhouse. And it all comes down to making money. Four months ago, Mr. Uva hired David Lawenda from Viacom's MTV Networks as president-ad sales to oversee sales across all of Univision's media platforms.

Last week, Univision appointed Peter Lazarus executive VP of network sales. He will be in charge of sales for all three TV networks: Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision. And starting today, Lisa McCarthy becomes executive VP of client development and partnership marketing. Lazarus is a former sales exec at NBC who spearheaded the last two Olympic Games efforts and McCarthy comes to Univision from MTV, where she headed Viacom Plus, a now-defunct cross-platform sales group.

AdAge reports Univision will be announcing more hires from English-language networks today as it restructures its sales approach.

Santa Barbara bureau shuts down - eliminates reporter

KSBY, the San Luis Obispo based NBC affiliate is closing its Santa Barbara bureau. As a result, it is eliminating the position of reporter and bureau chief, so Leanna Orsua will be let go from the station. Photographer Juan Espinoza will remain with the station.

ABC and NABET agree on new contract

ABC and NABET ratified a four-year contract covering over 1,000 staff and freelance employees at the network's owned and operated stations. The NABET Master Agreement covers employees at stations in N.Y, L.A., Chicago, San Francisco and at the network.

The new contract is effective January 12.

Port officer cleared in reporter shoving incident

There will be no disciplinary action against Sgt. Kevin McCloskey for pushing Azteca América reporter Alicia Unger into a steel container.

Art Marroquín, of the Daily Breeze, reports Port Police Chief Ronald J. Boyd said McCloskey acted within policy to "maintain security at the port" when he "nudged" Unger.

The incident took place on August 3rd of 2007, after a news conference held by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - his first public appearance after Telemundo announced suspending his then girlfriend, Mirthala Salinas, for reporting on the mayor while dating him.

As Villaraigosa walked away from the conference, several reporters chased after him, including Unger. A video shows that when she got close to him, McCloskey shoved her aside and she hit a cargo container.

McCloskey, who was assigned to desk duty after the incident, will return to field duty on Jan. 20. Unger meanwhile, has filed a claim against the city, alleging she suffered injuries when McCloskey pushed her.

Clear Channel ok'd to go private

San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications is going private and the FCC has signed off on the $19.5 billion deal. The buyout, by a group headed by Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Bain Capital Partners LLC, still needs approval from the Justice Department.

TV Newsday reports that all five commissioners approved the deal and a formal announcement with the details of the transfer of the media giant's broadcast licenses will be revealed next week.

Clear Channel sold of its 35 TV stations for $1.3 billion in December to Newport Television LLC in a separate transaction.

CBS news strikes deal with writer's guild

CBS News and the Writers Guild of America, which represents 500 of the network's news employees reached an agreement on a new contract. The deal proposes a 3.5 percent salary raise both this year and next and includes a 90-day notification and bargaining period if CBS should decides to consolidate its operations. It has yet to be ratified by the membership.

The NYT reports the deal ends a two-and-a-half-year dispute that led to the cancellation of a presidential primary debate last month. The news staff working for CBS radio and TV stations in N.Y, L.A, Chicago and Washington have been working without a contract since April 2005.

In December, 250 members of the guild ratified a similar deal with ABC News.

KRON for sale

Young Broadcasting announced today it is selling KRON-4 in San Francisco. KRON, the largest station in the company, was independent from 2002 until 2006, when it became an affiliate of MyNetwork TV. Young bought the station in 2000 from Chronicle Publishing for $820 million. At the time, KRON had been an NBC affiliate for 50 years.

ZGS buys Philadelphia station

ZGS Communications has agreed to purchase WWSI-Channel 62, the Telemundo affiliate in Philadelphia, from Hispanic Broadcasters of Philadelphia for an undisclosed price. ZGS began managing the station's sales on January 1st and expects to complete the acquisition during the first quarter.

New AP feature to help local Web sites

Making money off the Web has become important... even crucial for many media properties. Now, the Associated Press has come up with a new feature that will enable local Web sites to monetize their own video content.

Local newspapers, radio and TV stations affiliated to the AP’s Online Video Network currently receive video content created specifically for the Web, along with an AP-managed video player. Now, they'll be able to upload their own locally produced video content via the player and attach their own local ads to it.

Mediaweek reports the idea is to give local news outlets a way to post video coverage of local events on their Web sites without having to build out or license new technology. The AP says subscribers will see more traffic and ad dollars once they implement the new tool.

Yahoo partners with Belo... again

In an effort to become a more relevant news source, Yahoo News has found a new way to continue its expansion into local media. It has now partnered with Belo Corp. to host video content from 13 local Belo TV stations.

Mediaweek reports the new arrangement will have Yahoo News distributing Belo station news clips on a daily basis within its local pages. Both companies will share the revenue generated through the ad-supported content.

Yahoo and Belo have a previous deal to distribute newspaper content on the online site.

Fanjul moves back to Florida

Juan Carlos Fanjul returns to West Palm Beach to work as weeknight anchor/reporter at WPEC CBS 12. He leaves WGN-TV in Chicago, where he was a reporter and substitute anchor since 2002.

Before his Chicago gig, Juan Carlos worked at WSVN-TV in Miami as a reporter/substitute anchor. He previously reported for several years at WPBF-TV and WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach.

Juan Carlos will be at the anchor desk weekdays for the 7 pm newscast and report live at 11 pm. He starts the new job on January 23.

Behar buys Bela Broadcasting

Bob Behar's newly formed HERO Broadcasting has just bought Bela Broadcasting and its main assets - KBEH-Channel 63 in Los Angeles and KEJR-43/KMOH-6 in Phoenix. According to Hispanic Market Weekly, the deal is valued at $100 million. Behar, who owned 24 percent and was CEO of Bela, says he won't change the stations' status as MTV Tr3s affiliates.

Behar was Sr VP and COO of Telemundo Productions from 1987 to 1992. In 1993, he built Hero Productions, a television production and transmission facility. He sold Hero to France Telecom in 1998 and was president and CEO of GlobeCast America, before moving on to Bela Broadcasting.

Tellez new anchor at KOB

Marla Tellez joins the Eyewitness News 4 Today team from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and Eyewitness News 4 Midday at noon. Her first day on the job as anchor at the Albuquerque station is tomorrow.

Originally from the Bay Area, Marla was most recently a news reporter and a correspondent for Eye on the Bay at KPIX-5 in San Francisco.

Anchor Alycia Lane fired from CBS3

Three weeks after she was accused of assaulting an undercover New York policewoman, Philly anchor Alycia Lane is out of a job.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting CBS3 fired her because management feels it's impossible for "Alycia to continue to report the news as she, herself, has become the focus of so many news stories."

Earlier this morning, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that the anchor had hired a lawyer last week to help her keep her anchor job at the station.

CNBC and NYT team up on Web sites

Starting today, CNBC and The New York Times will share material on their Web sites, in an effort to better compete with News Corp's new ventures, the Fox Business Network and The Wall Street Journal.

Richard Pérez-Peña reports in today's NYT that the deal mostly consists of a content swap: Times articles and other written material will be posted on CNBC’s site, and CNBC video will run on the Times site. There will be no exhcange of money between the two companies for this agreement.

New format for Rodriguez's first day on Early Show

Starting today, CBS's Early Show debuts a new set, new music, new graphics, new format and a new anchor.

Maggie Rodriguez takes over as co-anchor of the morning network show, currently trailing in third place.

In an effort to build a better national profile and a bigger audience, executives were able to renegotiate an affiliate agreement that allowed local stations to insert programming in the first hour of the show. Stations in several cities will be saying good-bye to their local morning shows. You can read more details in B&C.

Few viewers tuning in to Fox Business news

Looks like the Fox Business Network has a lot of work to do to attract viewers. Early Nielsen estimates show about 6,300 people view the new network on any given weekday. Compare that to 283,000 daily viewers on CNBC from October 15 to December 14, the first two months FBN has been on the air.

The NYT reports Nielsen Media Research has been measuring FBN's viewership since its premiere. But since they fall below Nielsen’s minimum standards for reporting, the company cannot publicly release or confirm those numbers. However, somebody who saw the internal reports, leaked the numbers to the NYT.

That's a big difference from the Fox News Channel, which draws millions of viewers a day.

Spanish-language reporters on campaign trail

With 2008 shaping up to witness one of the most interesting presidential races in decades, hordes of reporters, including journalists from U.S. Spanish-language papers, are being sent to cover the caucuses up close.

Impremedia, the nation's largest Spanish-language newspaper publisher, has assigned six reporters to cover the presidential campaign trail at least through the February 5 multi-state "Super Duper Primary." La Opinion sent four reporters to Iowa and New Hampshire. They are Pilar Marrero, Maribel Hastings, Eileen Truax and Ruben Moreno. Meanwhile, its New York City daily El Diario/La Prensa sent two: Lorenzo Morales and Evelyn Hernandez. They will share reports with the company's other papers, such as La Raza in Chicago and the newly acquired Rumbo papers in Texas.

Tribune Co.'s two Hoy Spanish-language dailies, distributed in Chicago and L.A, were not in Iowa and don't plan to be in New Hampshire next week, but according to Editor & Publisher, they will send staff to cover campaining for the Feb. 5 primaries in California and Illinois.

ImpreMedia has also set up a chain-wide Web site about the election.

New publisher at Selecciones

Elaine Alimonti was named Publisher of Selecciones, replacing Elizabeth Bradley, who leaves the magazine after six years. Alimonti has been Associate Publisher of Reader's Digest since July 2007.

Selecciones is available in 20 countries. Ten different editions of the Spanish-language version of Reader's Digest go to print, including one specifically for the U.S. Hispanic market. The U.S. edition has a circulation of 375,000 with a readership of 2.6 million.

Spanish-language news pioneer dies

Manolo Reyes, one of the first Spanish-language broadcasters in Miami, died Thursday of complications from Parkinson's disease.

In 1960, Reyes convinced WTVJ's execs to let him produce a Spanish newscast for the Cuban exiles in Miami. News En Español debuted on August 28 of that year. It only lasted 15-minutes and aired weekdays at 6:45 a.m. and at 1 a.m., but it had a loyal following.

Reyes had his own newscast at the station for 19 years, eventually becoming Latin news editor and regular contributor for Walter Cronkite's CBS Evening News. His show received an Emmy award. You can read more about Reyes in today's Miami Herald.

Weather Channel up for sale

The competition could get heated in the bid to buy The Weather Channel. It's estimated the price tag for the channel and its hugely popular website, weather.com could reach $5 billion dollars. The Web site ranks #18 in the U.S., with more than 32 million unique users in November.

The New York Times is reporting that NBC and Comcast are among the interested parties. The sale is said to be part of a larger breakup of its parent, Landmark Communications, a privately held company which also owns daily newspapers and other media properties, including KLAS-TV 8 in Las Vegas and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk and The Roanoke Times in Virginia.

Reporters on the move

Kristina Guerrero joins "Inside Edition" as a Los Angeles-based correspondent. She leaves her job as co-host of "Great Day S.A." in San Antonio. She previously worked for "Access Hollywood" and "The Rub," on the SiTV network.

Maria Ines Zamudio has just been hired at The Salinas Californian newspaper. She's a recent graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

NYT eliminates regional op-eds

The New York Times says good-bye to the local opinion pages starting this week. The move to eliminate the City section, New Jersey, Westchester, Connecticut, and Long Island pages follows last year’s decision to reduce the number of stories specific to each region and packaging material that can run in all the suburban sections.

The Times’ editorial-page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, told The New York Observer it took six months to make the move, considered "the right thing to do from a business perspective.”

Test run for DTV?

The FCC is considering whether to test the digital TV transition in a few markets before pulling the plug on all analog transmissions on February 17, 2009.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said on Monday that he recognizes there would be technical challenges in doing the test, but that "It is unfathomable to me that we are planning to turn off every analog signal in the country on a single day without running at least one test market first.”

Multichannel reports Copps said that FCC chairman Kevin Martin and unnamed “colleagues” have agreed to "begin exploring the idea of one or more DTV demonstration projects” in several markets.