This could get fun.

Internet regulators just voted to relax the rules that govern top level domain names — you know, the .edu or .com or .org that you type into your Web browser. Basically, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, decided it would allow all sorts of new top level domain names to come into existence.

What does that mean? If your name is Keith Richards then you could try to get the .KeithRichards or .Guitar domain name. Well, you could if you’re the real Keith Richards and had a few extra bucks sitting around. It seems that applying for domain names isn’t cheap.

That’s one reason that Icann Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush figures there won’t be too many regular folks lining up for domain names under the new rules.

Here’s what he said on a conference call:

We don’t expect there to be thousands of applications. First of all, the cost is going to be at least $100,000. But also to be a successful applicant for a new top level domain, you’re going to have to show that you’ve got the capacity to run an Internet registry, which may eventually have to hold millions of domain names. So you’re going to have to be a reasonably serious business — in most cases — or a community of businesses to put forward an application.

So where will all the applications come from?

We’re hoping for a broad range, and expecting a broad range of applicants. We’re expecting indigenous communities to be interested in protecting aspects of their indigenous language and culture. We’re expecting businesses to come forward. One of the board members today in this discussion refered to the likelihood of there being applications for vanity names. You may see .smith, for example, so all the Smiths of the world would have a place. We’ve been threatened that the Irish will get behind a Dennis Jennings top level domain.

We expect to see things such as .perfume and .wine and .silk and all sorts of commodity names coming forward, which will then be taken up by the people who deal in those particular goods and services in all sorts of inventive ways.

A few possible domain names immediately spring to mind, like .news or .sports or .blog or .sex (if they allow it). But it’ll be interesting to see what other names catch hold.

(Photo: Reuters)

So Tribune Co is cutting jobs at The Sun in Baltimore and Hartford Courant.

Not to sound callous, but by this point should anyone be surprised by news that a publisher is getting rid of jobs? After all, this is shaping up to be one of the worst years in memory for the newspaper business.

The upshot: The Sun will lose 100 jobs, 60 of them in the newsroom, and the Courant will cut about 60 jobs. (Don’t forget, Tribune is also cutting jobs at the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune)

But it’s not just Tribune. It seems everyone is cutting jobs as advertising revenue plunges thanks to the one-two combination of a weak economy and competition from the Internet for marketing dollars.

Here’s what the union had to say about Tribune’s cuts:

“Baltimore Sun employees are being punished for Tribune’s mismanagement,” Cet Parks, chief negotiator for the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, said in a statement. “Tribune’s answer to solving declining circulation and readership is to slash employees from the payroll and cut the news hole, salaries and benefits.”

Perhaps that is their answer — but is there a better one out there? So far, nobody seems to have found one.

Keep an eye on:

• WPP Group chief Sir Martin Sorrell is warning that Google is trying to do an end-run around ad agencies. But French rival Publicis is keen to partner with the search giant - and just about anyone else in the online realm (NY Post)
• Video games are known to improve hand-eye coordination but can they help someone quit smoking or lose weight? (Reuters)
• NBC has settled a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who killed himself when confronted with cameras for the documentary series “To Catch a Predator” (NY Times)
• It costs less to run run ads during “The Office” on Hulu than NBC.com. But keep in mind you can’t buy individual shows on Hulu, just demographics across a number of shows (Silicon Alley Insider)

(Reuters photo of Tribune Tower)

Things have gotten tense over at Live Nation. An internal feud at the concert promoter could end with Chairman Michael Cohl resigning.

The Wall Street Journal says Cohl is currently negotiating his resignation, having fought with Chief Executive Michael Rapino for weeks over so-called “360 deals.” In such deals, Live Nation gives superstars hefty upfront payments in exchange for financial rights in nearly all their business. Think Madonna and U2 and Jay-Z.

It seems, according to the reports, fairly simple: Cohl wants to sign more of these deals and Rapino wants the pace of these signings to slow; the board tells them to work out their differences; Cohl heads out the door.

Still, there is the fundamental question of whether these “360 deals” are good business or not. As the New York Times points out, the “deals were expensive for Live Nation - a reported $120 million for Madonna and $150 million for Jay-Z - spurring many industry executives and analysts to debate whether the company was paying too much.”

While Cohl could be gone as soon as next week, it will take some time to sort through which executive had it right.

Keep an eye on: 

• Online social network site Facebook.com has launched a version targeting mainland Chinese Web surfers to compete with local and overseas rivals in the world’s largest Internet market (Reuters)
• Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures must show it can thrive in the film industry without some of Hollywood’s top talent, if DreamWorks’ Steven Spielberg and others bolt (WSJ.com) 
• After taking on the big and small screens, comic book heroes like Spiderman and Superman may soon be appearing on an even smaller screen — your mobile phone (Reuters)
• Microsoft isn’t about to kickstart a bunch of internet acquisitions after its failed move on Yahoo (FT.com)
• After the departure of former chief executive Victor Ganzi, speculation about who will ultimately succeed him is swirling at Hearst (NY Post)

(Photo: Reuters)

There was much written in the sports pages (and in some cases the business pages) about Tiger Woods’ decision to miss the rest of the golf season and undergo reconstructive knee surgery.  

His absence is a big deal for sports fans – not to mention marketers and TV networks. After all, he is the biggest American sports machine since Michael Jordan.   

 ”Much like Michael Jordan did (Woods) has the power of drawing in the more casual viewer or participant to the sport,” Stifel Nicolaus analyst Thomas Shaw told Reuters. “He has the ability of driving some participation. It gets people excited to get out and dust off the clubs and play some.”

This hasn’t been lost on advertisers. Woods ranked second on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list, bringing in $115 million in 2007. He promotes General Motors’ Buick line of cars, Nike, Gillette and Accenture. He also began his first licensing venture this year with Gatorade Tiger, which media outlets reported as being worth at least $100 million.

Of course, nobody is about to abandon Tiger just because he’s taking the season off. But his layoff could alter some near term plans. General Motors is one company, for instance, that will have to change course, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Buick is being forced to drop one of its advertising efforts, which has been hyping a Buick promotion and contest. TV ads, print ads and a slew of Internet ads have been highlighting a “Tee-Off with Tiger” promotion that gives entrants a chance to win the opportunity to have Mr. Woods caddie for them while playing a round of golf in October.

The TV networks will also feel some pain from Tiger’s injury. He’s carried the sport with viewers for the past decade. As the New York Times put it:

Network executives and sponsors were not visibly panicking Wednesday that Tiger Woods would be gone from golf for the rest of the year as he recovered from reconstructive knee surgery. But their disappointment was palpable.

As the newspaper points out, the numbers make clear that Tiger has a bigtime impact on ratings. It says that in 88 tournaments over the last five years, Woods finished in the top five. During those, final round TV ratings hit an average of 4.4. In those events in which he did not finish in the top five, ratings averaged just 3.4 percent.

Keep an eye on:

• French financier Vincent Bollore said on Thursday that figures for his advertising company Havas were very good so far this year and added that Havas had not been impacted by the global credit crunch (Reuters)
• Google and Yahoo face intense U.S. Justice Department scrutiny of their deal to share some advertising revenue, and the heat will likely increase under a new administration (Reuters)
• Mario Puzo’s estate filed a $1-million lawsuit against Paramount Pictures for allegedly cheating “The Godfather” author’s heirs out of proceeds from a Corleone-inspired video game (LA Times)
• Billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s new blog, The Icahn Report, would go live Thursday afternoon (USA Today)

(Photo: Reuters)

Surprise, surprise! Online advertising spending appears to have slipped quarter-to-quarter, the first time that’s happened in three years, according to a new report.

Before pulling your hair out, keep in mind that first quarter online advertising spending rose 18 percent from the year ago period – it’s just that it slipped from the fourth quarter,  according to the IAB. So while still robust, it seems that online advertising isn’t impervious to the economic troubles gripping the United States.

Another report, this one by PricewaterhouseCoopers, takes a longer view of advertising in new media. It finds that advertising tied to digital and mobile media will account for 24 percent of the growth in the media and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 19.5 percent to 2012.

There are a lot of different numbers to sort through, and they address different things, but the upshot seems to be this: Digital media may suffer a bit during the downturn, but smart money still has it booming over the coming years and leading the way for growth in media.

Keep an eye on:  

• Sam Zell’s Tribune could face default by year’s end, even with attempts to sell assets and debt to shore up its debt, says a Standard & Poor’s analyst (Bloomberg) 
• DreamWorks SKG and India’s Reliance ADA Group are near a deal to create a new movie venture, which would provide director Steven Spielberg with the cash to finance his DreamWorks team’s departure from Paramount Pictures (WSJ.com) 
• Business community site LinkedIn has pulled in a $53 million infusion from venture capitalists, valuing the company at $1 billion (Reuters)
• A new study finds that advertisements in traditional media are ”much more likely” to make a  positive impression with consumers than those appearing in digital media (NY Times/TV Decoder)
• Microsoft has bought Navic Systems, a company that helps advertisers place spots on TV programs, for an undisclosed amount (paidContent.org)

It’s one of the big weeks for advertising (well, in terms of parties and sunshine), so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check in on Cannes. More than 12,000 advertising types have gathered in the South of France to toast the industry — and perhaps even collect an award.

This is an interesting year for Cannes, where a lot of the chatter at parties and meetings will likely be about either the recession or the rise of online advertising, Reuters notes.

The festival, in its 55th year, awards excellence with the so-called Lions trophies and hosts seminars and workshops. In a sign of how crucial the Internet has become to advertising, the Film Lions awards now includes films for Internet and mobiles.

The $40 billion online advertising market remains a bright spot in a global industry facing dire times with soaring oil prices and an economic slowdown denting clients’ budgets.

Even though Cannes gives a nod to new media these days, AdWeek writes that the event is nonetheless struggling to keep up with the times. Like the industry itself, Cannes is ”an old institution struggling to reinvent itself in a new-media environment.” 

In many ways, Cannes is a perfect reflection of the ad industry. The city itself is glamorous and beautiful, yet downright gauche and a little scruffy at times. The week of seemingly non-stop events and parties is inspiring and fun, while at the same time depressing in its ephemeral hedonism.

As for economic worries, well, ad executives won’t let those stop them from having some fun, AdAge tells us.   

Skyrocketing gas prices, credit crises, procurement officers: none of these can stop the ad-world extravaganza that is Cannes. This year’s festival will be the biggest ever, complete with more entries, more delegates (especially more marketers), more agencies planning beach bashes or lavishly catered parties, and an even bigger presence — and yacht — for Microsoft.

The Australian also noted that the hot ticket of the week is no less than its boss, News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch and Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin.

Meanwhile, USA Today points out that the first batch of winners on Monday “illustrate more than ever that agencies are crossing into each other’s areas of expertise as mediums continue to converge.”

The top direct advertising award went to JWT India for a print ad in The Times of India. While it was an ad promoting the newspaper, it was also the launching pad for a campaign, which included TV, mobile, video and outdoor, urging people to get involved and “lead India” in honor of the country’s 60th anniversary of independence.

In sales promotion, HBO won the Grand Prix for a multimedia campaign by BBDO, New York.

Keep an eye on: 

• One of Walt Disney’s biggest jobs is uncovering talent that appeals to 8- to 12-year-olds “tweens” so it can keep flowing the pipeline of clean-cut Disney Channel stars (WSJ.com)
• The U.S. newspaper business still has not seen the bottom of a persistent deterioration in advertising revenue, and growing Internet revenue will not compensate for the declines, McClatchy Co Chief Executive Gary Pruitt said after the publisher cut about 10 percent of its work force (Reuters)
• NBC Sports is investing in World Championship Sports Network, a small TV network that broadcasts Olympic sports year-round (The Hollywood Reporter)

(Reuters photo of seafront in Cannes)

Finally, some movement.

It seems that the head of U.S. Federal Communications Commission Kevin Martin will support Sirius Satellite Radio’s proposed purchase of rival XM Satellite Radio.

The Washington Post and others are reporting that Martin decided to support the deal after the companies agreed to concessions intended to prevent the new company from raising prices or stifling competition among radio makers.

A decision has been a long time coming. Seventeen months ago the two companies announced they would merge, bringing entertainers such as Oprah Winfrey and shock jock Howard Stern under the same banner. The Justice Department approved the deal in March, but the companies are still waiting for the FCC.

The question is, have the delays made the whole issue mute? Have iPhones and every other sort of portable music/phone/camera/microwave oven gadget made concern over the XM/Sirius combination seem… well… dated?

Keep an eye on:

• Carl Icahn, who launched a proxy battle in May to replace the board of Yahoo says the deal Yahoo forged with Google “might have some merit” (Reuters)
• A bigger, meaner “The Incredible Hulk” crushed the competition at North American weekend box office with a $54.5 million take, but still fell short of its predecessor (Reuters)
• Time Warner hopes to move swiftly to find a buyer for AOL’s dial-up business after the company completes its separation from the Platform A advertising division in the next month, unnamed sources told the (NY Post).
• Canada’s Nortel Networks is challenging larger rival Cisco Systems with a negative advertising campaign, saying that Cisco’s equipment uses twice as much energy as that of Nortel’s (WSJ).
• The Associated Press will attempt to set standards on how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on its copyright (New York Times).

What would a combined InBev/Anheuser-Busch do with advertising? It’s one of the questions already being tossed around in the wake of InBev’s $46 billion bid for the brewer of Bud and Bud Light.

One obvious problem for Anheuser-Busch, which spends about $475 million each year on advertising, is that their marketing focuses heavily on the idea of being an All-American beer and company.

That may not play so well when you’re owned by a company based in Belgium, we reported.

As Ted Parrack, chief strategic officer of Colangelo, a Connecticut-based marketing agency, told us: “How do Americans think about beer? Guys make beer. Corporations don’t make beer. Something called InBev makes Budweiser? And there’s nobody named Busch around? What?”

The Wall Street Journal brought up Anheuser-Busch’s big sports marketing efforts, writing that they could be cut back.

One area that is potentially vulnerable is sports marketing. Anheuser, one of the largest sports marketers in the world, spent about $300 million last year for sports sponsorships, up 11% from the year earlier, according to IEG, a Chicago-based research unit of WPP Group that tracks sponsorships.

Anheuser is affiliated with dozens of sports, from baseball to equestrian competitions. It sponsors sports leagues big and small, including Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and Major League Lacrosse, and even the U.S. polo team. This summer, the company is one of the official beers of the Beijing Olympic Games.

But we think the best headline about the deal goes to The Nashua Telegraph, which splashed “This Bud’s for vous” across its business pages. The New Hampshire paper talked to Nashua resident Rob Masek.

“(He) envisions the Belgian takeover of an American beer having the same affect as when German auto manufacturer bought out the U.S.-based Chrysler. People stopped buying Chrysler cars because of the perception it was a weaker product, he said.

Masek can see people attending a NASCAR event questioning those who would dare drink a Belgian beer. ” ‘What are you doing? It’s un-American,’ ” Masek imagines the conversation going.

We’ll see how this one plays out. In the meantime, sit back. Have a cold one.

Keep an eye on:

• The head of Tribune Co’s publishing division and publisher of the Chicago Tribune is retiring, a week after the company’s new leaders said they would overhaul their newspapers to cut costs and try to attract more readers as they struggle with dismal advertising sales and falling circulation (Reuters)
• A controversial push by the Screen Actors Guild to defeat a recent accord negotiated by a rival union has touched off an open rebellion within Hollywood’s largest actors guild (Los Angeles Times)
• News and information company Bloomberg LP could be a hotly contested asset if a stake went on the block, although the most likely buyer was seen by some as founder and billionaire Michael Bloomberg himself (Reuters)
• News Corp’s MySpace plans to launch a global redesign next week in an attempt to widen its demographic and boost user engagement on the site (Reuters)

(Photo: Reuters)

Susan Lyne is leaving Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, but the shakeup at the lifestyle brand probably isn’t over yet. 

Lyne steered the company through some rough waters as chief executive (let’s not forget she ran things as Martha Stewart trudged off to prison) and now she’ll be replaced by Wenda Harris Millard and Robin Marino. That’s right, Millard and Marino. Co-CEO’s. Two at the top. Power sharing.

How often does that work? ”They are fairly rare and they typically don’t work out to be that great,” said Noble Financial research director Michael Kupinski.

Wall Street’s reaction? Shares fell by about 6 percent yesterday.

Both Millard and Marino joined the company under Lyne’s watch, and have bigtime experience in advertising and retail merchandising. Marino was previously president and chief operating officer at luxury designer Kate Spade, while Millard served as a high-ranking ad executive at Yahoo.

On paper, it would seem a good combination for a media company with footholds in both advertising and retailing. Besides, Millard points out that she and Marino already coordinate closely. “We saw an opportunity for even more collaboration,” she said in an interview with Reuters.

Paul Bernard, who runs executive-coaching and management-consulting firm Paul Bernard & Associates, noted in the Wall Street Journal that the track record of power-sharing deals in the corporate world is “dismal.”

“Inevitably what will happen is someone will be pushed out,” he said.

As one media insider told us yesterday, these sharing things are often an attempt keep everyone happy and onboard — and just as often have the opposite effect.

Keep an eye on:

• A fierce battle has broken out among top executives at Live Nation over the concert-promotion company’s ambitious strategy to reshape the struggling music industry by making wide-ranging but expensive deals with artists such as Madonna and Jay-Z (WSJ.com)
• The Screen Actors Guild on Wednesday continued its campaign against a rival actors’ union’s tentative contract with Hollywood producers (Hollywood Reporter)
• Apple will make less money off each new iPhone, but Wall Street expects only a minor impact on the company’s bottom line as the cheaper price spurs mass-market buying (Reuters)

(Photo of Susan Lyne from Reuters)

 The heat is definitely on at Yahoo.

As though it weren’t under enough pressure, the board now has Carl Icahn warning them that they will be held personally liable for approving a controversial employee severance plan.

Oh, and shareholders suing the company now want a speedy trial related to failed merger talks between Yahoo and Microsoft, saying they would like to get to court before the company’s August 1 annual meeting.

Here’s the upshot of the fight over the severance plan: Shareholders suing the company argue that the board is free  to reorganize Yahoo’s work force as it sees fit without fear of triggering the severance benefits.

But the catch, they say, is that if Icahn’s board slate prevails, then Yahoo shareholders will be forced to fund the costly severance payouts to departing workers.

Yahoo denied assertions made in the lawsuit in a response filed with U.S. regulators.

Let’s forget the courts for a second. Perhaps of more immediate concern is the public relations battle that Icahn is waging against Yahoo. Yesterday, after a speech to the New York Financial Writers’ Association, Icahn told Reuters, “If they continue with this line, I believe they (the board) may be personally liable.” 

He also called the board’s actions “reprehensible.”

“These board members get $10,000 a week to go to a few boondoggle meetings,” he said during the speech.

You can imagine that Yahoo’s boardroom isn’t the place you really want to be spending your summer.

Keep an eye on: 

• The new iPhone wasn’t the only Apple blockbuster franchise displaying a slimmer frame Monday - a dramatically skinnier CEO Steve Jobs was, too (NY Post)
• Pearl Jam has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless’ V Cast service to sell select tracks from the authorized live bootlegs that will be available in conjunction with the band’s upcoming summer tour (Billboard)
• U.S. officials are facing a potential glitch in a program designed to help television viewers make the switch to digital TV next year (Reuters)
• Landmark Communications has distributed information to potential bidders on Dominion Enterprises, its portfolio of advertising websites and publications, now that its attempt to sell The Weather Channel is nearing its final stages (FT.com)
• FiLife, a personal finance venture from IAC/InterActiveCorp and Dow Jones & Co, will open its site to a public test on Wednesday after a year in development and much media speculation over its future (Reuters)

(Photo: Reuters)