If you thought DVDs’ days were numbered, check this out: even porn DVDs aren’t worth selling. That seems to be the bottom line from Playboy, anyway, which is shutting its DVD operation to save money and focus on online porn (not that playboy.com isn’t full of interesting articles). To get the full scoop, check out our story here.

Former Merrill Lynch newspaper publisher analyst Lauren Rich Fine said something cautiously optimistic about newspapers at the Dow Jones Media and Money conference on Wednesday: “Most of these companies can still be decent businesses. They just have to rethink their expectations. … Eventually, people will demand quality information, and they will pay for it.”

You can quibble with whether that’s optimistic if you like. To be fair, it’s a nice way of saying that newspapers will no longer be equipped with a license to mint their own coin, and that it’s Wall Street that has to get used to it. After all, as long as Wall Street doesn’t get used to it, you see stock moves like these today:

Gannett down 10 percent, McClatchy down 13 percent, New York Times down 8 percent (To be fair, Journal Register is up 50 percent this afternoon to an ultra-cheap 1.5 cents per share on news likely known only to itself)

Fine, who retired from Merrill and now teaches at Kent State University and was just hired to media blog PaidContent.org, made her comment on the same day that Goldman Sachs analyst Peter Appert — negative on the newspaper business for more than three years — dared to put a time on when U.S. newspaper publishers might see fortunes improve.

Here’s a line from his research note on Wednesday:

Newspaper companies are NOT going out of business (although highly leveraged companies will face particularly acute challenges). Ultimately, we believe newspapers will re-emerge as healthy and dominant players in the local media marketplace as their business models evolve into a hybrid print and online offering. Margins, however, will be significantly below the 20%+ levels historically achieved, and it will likely take another five years before online revenues are sufficiently large to offset secular declines in the print business. Accordingly, we continue to recommend an underweight position in the group.

Again — cautiously optimistic.

Another noteworthy moment at the conference was when Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson responded to the question of whether newspapers should be run as non-profit entities to help them survive:

“I think it’s fair to say that a lot of newspapers already were not for profit.”

The audience liked that one.

The panel also included comments from Fine, Thomson, Tribune innovation chief Lee Abrams and others on whether the U.S. government should bail out newspapers as a way to preserve the future of the press and its role in U.S. society. Read PaidContent for the writeup, though it’s safe to conclude before clicking on the link that the answer was “No.”

Also see Portfolio.com where Mixed Media reporter Jeff Bercovici wrote about Abrams waxing revolutionary about Tribune Co. He also wrote about Robert Thomson’s remark on Wall Street Journal newsstand circulation being up 20 percent (he explains the frame of reference in which Thomson made that remark.)

(Photo: Reuters)

The Redstone family knows drama. Late last week, Sumner Redstone’s family holding, National Amusements, announced that it was making a substantial stock sale in each of its key holdings, CBS and Viacom to comply with debt covenants. 

But the sale raised questions about whether some of the proceeds from the sales were actually earmarked to fund and expansion of National Amusements movie theater business, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Sumner Redstone’s daughter, Shari, who runs National Amusements, issued a statement to the Wall Street Journal denying that the stock sale had anything to do with expanding the theater business.

“The implication that this stock sale was required by the operation and expansion of the company’s theater circuit is not accurate,” Ms. Redstone’s movie theater unit said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “National Amusement’s recent sale of a portion of its Viacom and CBS non-voting stock was the direct result of last week’s historic financial crisis, which included the precipitous drop in value of CBS and Viacom stock.”

Sumner Redstone has not publicly weighed in on the reason for the stock sale, and people familiar with the situation told the Wall Street Journal that he was caught off guard by the events. 

The sale — and the reason behind it — fueled more speculation about tension between Sumner and his daughter. For some time, the two have been at odds over a number of issues, including the direction of the movie theater business and her own professional goals.

Is more family drama ahead? Stay tuned.

Keep an eye on:

• EBay plans a major expansion of its fast-growing U.S. web classifieds unit, but experts doubt it can overtake well-loved rival Craigslist and build a viable business as its online auctions slow (Reuters)
• Financial Times-owner Pearson Plc said its adjusted 2008 earnings per share should be toward the top end of current market estimates if the dollar maintains gains versus sterling (Reuters)
• Colin Callender will leave his job as president of HBO Films by the end of the year to start his own entertainment production company (NY Times)

(Photo: Reuters)

It was just yesterday that I posted a blog entry on MediaFile that talked about how Gannett watchdog Jim Hopkins is soliciting advertising and reader contributions to keep himself afloat after his Gannett severance agreement peters out. Here’s one for the papers, contained in a letter I got from journalism trade publication Editor & Publisher on Tuesday:

Dear Subscriber,

In an attempt to better target the needs of our audience, we are asking all of our subscribers to indicate their types of business and job function according to the categories below. Per audit requirements, we must receive your response no later than October 31, 2008.

As thanks for your help in updating our records, we will make a donation of $1 to the charity of your choice upon receiving your completed form. (emphasis ours)

Sincerely,

Michael Nass

Associate Audience Marketing Director

Why not donate to your local newspaper chain? They need all the help they can get.

When it comes to newspapers, there’s nothing like the thrill of defeat. Scott Sperling, co-president of private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, sounded anything but disappointed on stage Tuesday at the Dow Jones Media and Money conference when he told Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Lattman about dropping out of the bid for the Knight Ridder newspaper chain in 2006.

THL avoided the newspaper beat early on, Sperling said, after deciding that newspapers were just too expensive. “We looked at Knight Ridder more recently,” he said. “But we weren’t able to approach the price.”

So what does he think of the amazing advertising revenue plunge that has smacked newspaper publishers silly since then? “I would have predicted a lesser decline than what we’ve seen… We were probably too kind in our assessment of the industry three years ago.”

To drive home the point, Sperling told Lattman about reading the Journal on its website.

Lattman: You read the hard copy too, I hope?

Sperling: [pause] Sometimes.

[cue audience laughter]

It was a big week in the TV world for CBS, according to the latest Nielsen data.

Its live plus same day ratings for the week ending October 12, the third week of the new TV season, are below. As you can see, CBS won in total viewers, adults aged 18-49, and had the top show of the week in CSI.

TOTAL VIEWERS (Average ratings/Audience)
CBS 3.8/11.0 million
ABC 3.3/9.6 million
Fox 2.7/8.0 million
NBC 2.4/7.0 million

ADULTS 18-49 (Average rating/Audience)
CBS 3.2/4.2 million
ABC 3.0/3.9 million
Fox 2.7/3.6 million
NBC 2.7/3.5 million

WEEK’S TOP SHOWS, ADULTS 18-49 (Network, Rating)
1.    CSI (CBS 7.1)
2.    Desperate Housewives (ABC 5.9)
3.    Grey’s Anatomy-Thursday 9pm (ABC, 5.6)
4.    OT, The (FOX, 5.4)
5.    NBC Sunday Night Football (NBC, 5.2)
6.    Two and a Half Men (CBS, 5.1)
6.    SNL: Weekend Update 10/9 (NBC, 5.1)
8.    Office (NBC, 4.8)
9.    Survivor: Gabon (CBS, 4.4)
10.  Dancing With The Stars (ABC, 4.3)
10.  Criminal Minds (CBS, 4.3)
10.  CSI: NY (CBS, 4.3)

(Photo: Reuters)

After joking last month about reports of his death, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is poking fun again at the endless speculation over the state of his health.

At a Tuesday event to unveil new MacBook laptop computers, Jobs stood in front of a big screen that said his blood pressure was 110/70, quipping, “And that’s all we’re going to be talking about – Steve’s health today.”

(In case anyone’s wondering, blood pressure under 120/80 is considered normal)

Remember a month ago at Apple’s 3G iPhone launch, Jobs had stood in front of another big screen that said “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

(Photo: REUTERS/Kimberly White)

Does Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon’s top executive, fancy himself the next media mogul with a pro-sports team, a la Mark Cuban, the Dolan family and Paul Allen?

He hinted as much at the Dow Jones Media and Money conference  conference in New York. The trouble is the team he mentioned — The New York Knicks — are owned by Cablevision, a chief rival of Verizon. So pretty much kiss that idea goodbye.

Seidenberg hinted at the very, very unlikely possibility of buying the Knicks during a back and forth at the conference Michael Burgi of MediaWeek. Burgi asked Seidenberg to discuss his “content strategy.”

“People keep asking, when are you going to go vertical and add a lot of content?” Seidenberg said. “Content gets to the customer in a lot of (ways). We like to think of ourselves as bundling it, packaging it, formatting it, helping to store it if that’s what you need, helping to send it … to your PC, to your television (and so on).”

Burgi then asked whether Verizon was actually interested in creating content.

 “No,” Seidenberg answered. “Having said that, if somebody came up with the perfect killer service, that we could invest in, we can do it. It’s not necessarily a strategic imperative that we do it — we’d do it to annoy the hell out of everybody.”

At that point, Seidenberg said that it wouldn’t be in the shareholders’ best interest to buy just any content, but if the right thing came along he’d look at it. And here’s the killer quote…

“If I could buy the Knicks and fix them, I would do it. But we can’t do it.”

(Allow me take a moment with a message for Mr. Seidenberg. Millions of Knicks fans — especially rabid, win-starved ones like yours truly – would welcome, how do I say it, new leadership for the legendary team. We have not had a winning season since 2000-2001. You’re a local product. I can tell that you’re are fan, too. So, hey, don’t give up the dream. That’s all.)

(Photos: Reuters)

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a new line of MacBook notebooks made partly from recycled aluminum with “faster graphics” and LED-backlit glass displays.

They’re sexy and sure to be the object of your friends’ envy (until the next announcement). And the beefed-up video card performance should appeal to gamers and graphic pros.

That said, time will tell if Apple learned from problems that plagued the initial release of previous models, including battery issues.

But at almost $1,300 for a basic 13.3 inch MacBook that includes the new 9400M Nvidia graphics processor and aluminum body found on the $1,799, 15.4 inch MacBook Pro, could it be that Apple has found the sweet spot in terms of performance, aesthetics and price?

(Edited to remove reference to swappable hard drives)

(Photo: Reuters)

Live Nation, the Los Angeles-based concert promoter that’s moving into everything from recordings to merchandise, has signed up its latest ticketing partner, the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.

Live Nation’s first big ticketing deal last month was a massive national deal with SMG with potential of up to 10 million ticket sales. But the deal with Roseland is still worthy of note.

Firstly, it’s a key mid-size music venue in New York and has hosted the likes of Madonna, Dave Matthews Band and Coldplay in the last few years and was previously serviced by Ticketmaster, Live Nation’s soon-to-be-ex ticketing partner.

Secondly, this deal means Live Nation execs are getting closer to Cablevision’s New York City empire of live venues like Madison Square Gardens and Radio City Music Hall.

At an investor conference last month, Cablevision CEO Jim Dolan at first suggested he would consider dumpling Ticketmaster for Live Nation’s new ticketing service. But he  was forced to clarify his statement later that day, saying Cablevision and Ticketmaster  enjoyed a long and mutually beneficial relationship.