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A jury ruled on Friday in favor of shareholders who said the French media group Vivendi lied to the public about its shaky finances, setting the stage for a possible distribution of billions of dollars in damages to investors.

The FCC is launching an inquiry into the future of media and its role in providing news and civic information. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that rapid technological change has caused financial turmoil that calls into question whether traditional media will continue to be the go-to provider of essential news and information. The commission issued a public notice teeing up some of the questions it wants answered and launched a web site to collect some of that input

"In its public FCC filing Thursday, Comcast expanded on its previous argument that buying a 51% stake in NBC Uni will not lead it to block out independent programmers and that it will actually have various public interest benefits. Those benefits fall into all areas that the FCC has promoted, such as diversity, localism, competition and innovation, Comcast argued in the filing."

This article talks about the new economic model for online news sources (the pay for what you use model that the NYT will switch to in 2011), and how it will actually be implemented on a user's screen.

UK regulators are considering relaxing rules that require public service broadcaster to sell advertising in their allotted commercial time at any cost.

In his feisty opening statement, Franken said: "I worked for NBC for many years. And what I know from my previous career has given me reason to be concerned--let me rephrase that, very concerned--about the potential merger of Comcast and NBC Universal. The media are our source of entertainment, but they're also the way we get our information about the world. So when the same company that produces the programs runs the pipes that bring us those programs, we have a reason to be nervous.... You'll have to excuse me if I don't just trust their promises and that is from experience in this business." The former SNL star and entertainment industry insider-turned-Senator is dead on with his concerns. As Free Press--the media reform advocacy organization founded by The Nation's John Nichols, media scholar Robert McChesney, and current executive director Josh Silver-- points out, the merger would result in Comcast controlling one in every five television viewing hours. It would lead to fewer choices of what you can watch and how you can watch it. Those cable bills that continue to rise would rise even higher, and if you don't use Comcast you might have to pay a premium to get NBC's shows. There will be even less access to local and independent programming as Comcast would promote NBC's shows at their expense. And, finally, there's the even larger issue of concentrating power and limiting access to free public interest media.

Big changes in measurement methodologies. Refocus on time-shifting measurement.

ESPN to launch a women's sports channel.

"The Oscar statuette became a pawn in a public brawl between the Walt Disney Company and Cablevision on Sunday, a dispute that prevented more than three million viewers from watching the beginning of the Academy Awards show until a tentative agreement restored the signal 14 minutes into the telecast."

"By being the first and, largely, the only publication pursuing the Edwards story through his denials of the affair and of fathering a child out of wedlock, The Enquirer is under consideration for a Pulitzer Prize, and it has strong support for its bid from other journalists. The success has Mr. Levine considering opening a Washington bureau to look for more dirt among politicians."

Publishers, newspapers, and magazines are looking to create new apps for the iPad.

What impact does media consolidation have on creative programming? This blog post explores the impact of media ownership on programming and creative labor, with quotes from WGA President John Wells.