NBC\'s \'Tonight Show\' Cuts Staff

By BRIAN STELTER

The NBC network on Friday instituted budget cuts at the “The Tonight Show,” a television mainstay that has played home to Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and now Jay Leno.

Between 20 and 25 “Tonight” staff members were laid off, according to a person with direct knowledge of the cuts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details of the restructuring are private. To stave off additional staff reductions, Mr. Leno took a sizable pay cut, said the person, who would not specify the amount. Some producers also agreed to salary reductions in order to keep their jobs, according to Deadline Hollywood, which earlier reported news of the cutbacks.

“Jay's foremost concern is for the wonderful people who work for ‘The Tonight Show,'” said Bruce Bobbins, a spokesman for Mr. Leno. “He did what was necessary to ensure their well being.

The cuts came as a surprise to some because “The Tonight Show” is the highest-rated of all the late-night talk shows on American television. On an average night this season, “The Tonight Show” has attracted 3.67 million viewers, about 20 percent more than “The Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS.

But the show's budget was inflated by late-night standards. It was increased when Mr. Leno was moved into prime time in 2009, and remained high even after the experiment failed a few months later.

Mr. Leno's “Tonight Show” salary has been estimated at $25 million in the past. He also makes many millions of dollars each year through other appearances.

In 2009, the company that makes “The Late Show” for CBS agreed to a budget cut, but no layoffs were reported at that time. Earlier this year Mr. Letterman's contract was extended through 2014.

After factoring in the cutbacks on Friday, the “Tonight Show” budget will be roughly back to pre-2009 levels, The Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday. Despite t he restructuring, viewers are not expected to see any changes to the show, according to the person. The network, part of NBCUniversal, is owned by Comcast, which took control of the business about 18 months ago from General Electric.

Friday Reading: West Nile Cases on the Rise

By ANN CARRNS

A variety of consumer-focused articles appears daily in The New York Times and on our blogs. Each weekday morning, we gather them together here so you can quickly scan the news that could hit you in your wallet.

A Lesson for Homeowners

By BUCKS EDITORS

Paul Sullivan writes this week in his Wealth Matters column about force-placed insurance - insurance that a lender buys when it concludes that a homeowner does not have adequate hazard, flood or wind coverage. But the problem is that this insurance is almost always more expensive than the homeowner could buy in the open market. In addition, the coverage may be redundant or not needed at all. But homeowners have been reporting that they have a difficult time getting their lenders to remove the insurance.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed stricter rules on when and how lenders notify borrowers that this insurance is going to be bought for them. The agency has asked for comments on its proposed rules and plans to issue the final rules early next year.

But the lesson to be learned with force-placed insurance is a basic one in consumer finance: the burden is on borrowers to understand what they are being charged for and to complain if they think the charges are unfair.

Have you had to deal with force-placed insurance? Tell us about your experience. And can you offer advice to others?

About Your Underinsured Motorist Policy

By RON LIEBER

In my Your Money column this weekend, I sought out more detail about the auto insurance case that lit up the Internet this week. It's a complicated tale, involving Progressive Insurance and family members of Katie Fisher, who was killed in a car accident. They were trying to make a claim on her underinsured motorist policy, since there was an underinsured motorist at the wheel of the car that hit her.

The tricky thing about this type of insurance is that you can make a claim on your policy only if somebody else is at fault, which makes it different from automobile insurance coverage for liability. Given the tough time that the Fisher family had in getting their claim settled, I'd be curious to hear from others who have tried to use their underinsured motorist policy. Did your insurance company try to point the finger at you, too? And how did the claim work itself out?

I realize that many of you may want to use this forum to criticize Progressive some more, but that's all we've read related to this case for several days now. I'd rather keep the discussion here focused on how underinsured motorist coverage works and how best to make your insurer pay up.

The Breakfast Meeting: Guilty Verdicts in Pussy Riot Case, and China\'s Media Strategy

By NOAM COHEN

10:59 a.m. | Updated Three members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot were found guilty on Friday over a stunt they staged in February against Vladimir V. Putin in the main Moscow Russian Orthodox cathedral, David Herszenhorn reports. The scene in hot, overcrowded courtroom with the three women behind bulletproof glass was being streamed live by Russia Today, fueling worldwide interest in the prosecution of the band members, who have received support from musicians around the world including Paul McCartney and Madonna. The judge sentenced each to a two-year prison sentence. The YouTube video of the incident is at nearly 450,000 views.

China's inroads into Africa started with assistance in large construction projects, but lately have been enhanced by a pervasive media strategy, Andrew Jacobs reports. In Kenya, for example, there are two China-based TV networks and a radio statio n, while articles and photographs from its news agency Xinhua appear in popular English-language newspapers. In many ways, China is following a Western template, hoping to bolster its image and influence around the world, particularly in regions rich in the natural resources.

After long objecting to the terms of carrying the NFL Network, the New York-based Cablevision relented and on Friday the network began offering it to subscribers, Richard Sandomir writes. The deal leaves Time Warner Cable, with 12.3 million subscribers, as the last major cable operator not to carry the NFL Network. Executives at Time Warner Cable have viewed the channel as too costly for what they consider little more than a package of football games.

• In the latest dispute over carriage fees, Cablevision stopped carrying stations owned by the Tribune Company on Friday, including WPIX in New York, Reuters reported.

The impasse between Ecuador and Britain over the fate of Juli an Assange means that a man who for many years slept on friends' and supporters' couches now has a fixed address in the heart of London's exclusive Knightsbridge district, John F. Burns writes. But the question of when he will next be able to leave that address, home to the Ecuadoran Embassy, is anyone's guess. His sleeps on an air mattress on an office floor, and, friends say, Mr. Assange has a computer with a broadband connection and, Mr. Burns writes, “regular deliveries of takeout food, carefully inspected by the police.”

The top editors of the student newspaper at the University of Georgia, and much of the staff, resigned on Thursday over what they said was increasing interference by nonstudent managers, Richard Pérez-Peña reported. The newspaper, The Red and Black, is owned by a nonprofit publishing company independent of the school, and has long had an editorial adviser, who, according to the student editor in chief, would be given veto power. For now, the y have moved to a new site: Red and Dead.

 

Times Co. Discloses Pay Package for Incoming C.E.O.

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

The New York Times Company is paying its new chief executive, Mark Thompson, an annual salary of $1 million and an immediate signing bonus valued at $3 million.

The compensation package was detailed in securities filings released on Friday morning. In addition to the signing bonus - which will be paid in stock and stock options - Mr. Thompson is eligible for an annual bonus of $1 million.

He is also eligible to receive a separate $3 million bonus for 2013 for meeting long-term incentives, to be paid out over three years.

The bonus payments are not guaranteed unless Mr. Thompson meets certain goals set by the company.

Except for the signing bonus, Mr. Thompson's compensation is much the same as that of his predecessor, Janet L. Robinson, in terms of annual salary and bonus eligibility. Ms. Robinson left the company in December.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., The Times's publisher, announced Mr. Thompson's appointment Tuesday afternoon, concluding an extensive search. Mr. Thompson had previously been the director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation, but had stated his intention to leave the job after the London Olympics, which ended on Sunday.

Mr. Thompson was involved in expanding the BBC's digital and global presence, areas that have become more crucial to the Times Company's strategy in the face of significant challenges to the print newspaper. Mr. Sulzberger had made clear his intention to select someone with deep digital knowledge and experience across a variety of platforms. After Mr. Thompson arrived from London on Tuesday afternoon, he said in an interview that “it's a privilege” to run the organization and called its newsroom “the envy of the world.”

Mr. Thompson is expected to start his job in November.

Amazon Crowns \'Hunger Games\' as Its Top Seller, Surpassing Harry Potter Series

August 17, 2012, 11:20 am

By JULIE BOSMAN

Take that, Harry Potter.

Katniss Everdeen has triumphed over the boy wizard, Amazon announced on Friday, as the company's sales of the “Hunger Games” trilogy have overtaken those of the Harry Potter series.

Sara Nelson, the editorial director of books and Kindle at Amazon, said in a statement that since the debut of “The Hunger Games” in 2008, the series has “taken the world by storm, much as Harry Potter did a decade before.”

“Interestingly, this series is only three books versus Harry Potter's seven, and to achieve this result in just four years is a great testament to both the popularity of the work and, we think, the growth in reading digitally during that time,” she said.

The sales include print and e-book formats, making the “Hunger Games” trilogy Amazon's best-selling series.

Sarah Gelman, a spokeswoman for Amazon, declined to produce specific sales figures. Kyle Good, a spokeswoman for Scholastic, the publisher of both series, said that Scholastic has 150 million copies of the Harry Potter series and more than 50 million copies of the “Hunger Games” series in print in the United States.

The “Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins, the story of a postapocalyptic world in which children are sent to fight each other to the death, has been a huge seller in e-book format and has crossed over from a teenage audience to reach millions of adults. The Harry Potter series was unavailable for sale in e-book until March.

Amazon said last week that E.L. James, the author of the “Fifty Shades” erotic trilogy, is the best-selling author in history at the British Amazon.co.uk, passing J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series.

Calls Escalate for Presidential Debate Aimed at Minorities

August 17, 2012, 12:28 pm

By AMY CHOZICK

The calls for an additional presidential debate moderated by (and aimed at) minorities escalated on Friday.

Ralph B. Everett, the chief executive of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a research and analysis center that focuses on the socioeconomic status of blacks and other minorities, sent a letter to Janet H. Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates. He urged her to reconsider the commission's rejection of a plea by Univision to stage a presidential debate moderated by its own Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena, or another host of Hispanic origin.

“It has long been the practice of the television industry to avoid placing people of color in front of the camera ,” Mr. Everett wrote. He said he hoped the commission would embrace Univision's proposal “by adding more debates to the calendar.”

On Wednesday evening Mr. Ramos used the nightly Univision newscast to invite President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney to participate in a “forum” on the Spanish-language network.

“We ask it to reconsider its decision to deny Univision's request for a forum to be hosted by two of the nation's most respected journalists,” Mr. Everett said in his letter.

Ms. Brown was not immediately available to comment on the letter.

A large portion of Hispanic viewers gets its news exclusively from Spanish language television and radio. Mr. Everett ticked off data points in his letter as evidence that minorities need the candidates to address issues of pressing importance to them. While the nation's overall employment rate was 8.3 percent in July, the rates for African Americans and Hispanics was 14.1 percent and 10.3 percent, re spectively.

Fees Dispute Prompts Blackout of WPIX by Cablevision

By BRIAN STELTER

WPIX, the New York City affiliate of the CW network, is being blacked out in homes serviced by Cablevision, a major New York metropolitan area cable company.

The blackout took effect overnight because Cablevision and the owner of WPIX, the Tribune Company, are arguing over the price to be paid for retransmission of the station. It is becoming common for the owners of such stations to ask for retransmission fees. Sometimes disagreements between stations and cable companies lead to short-lived blackouts of programming.

In this case, Tribune said that Cablevision “unilaterally removed” WPIX and three other stations (WPHL, WCCT and KWGN) from its cable systems while the previous retransmission contract between the two companies was still in effect. This happened “in the middle of negotiations with Tribune and without warning,” Tribune said in a statement Friday morning.

Until now, Cablevision has not paid any retransmission fees specifically for the four stations, according to Tribune. “What we have proposed amounts to less than a penny a day per subscriber,” Tribune said.

Cablevision, however, says the fees would add up to tens of millions of dollars over the course of years. “The bankrupt Tribune Company and the hedge funds and banks that own it, including Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo Gordon & Company and others are trying to solve Tribune's financial problems on the backs of Cablevision customers,” the cable company said in its own statement.

It continued, “Tribune and their hedge fund owners are demanding tens of millions in new fees for WPIX and other stations they own. They should stop their anti-consumer demands and work productively to reach an agreement.”

United Nations Is Looking to Spur a Billion People to Act

By TANZINA VEGA

Is one weekend enough time to mobilize an additional 750 million people to do something meaningful? Perhaps, if you combine celebrity power, huge global brands and a humanitarian message from the United Nations.

To commemorate World Humanitarian Day this Sunday, the United Nations has teamed up with Beyoncé Knowles and brands like Coca-Cola and Hershey's with the goal of having one billion people - that's billion with a “b” - declare via social-networking that they will do something to help others. So far, more than 250 million people have signed up, but the clock is ticking.

United Nations officials say they hope to increase awareness about the day, which was created in 2008 to commemorate the lives of 22 people who were killed in a bombing at the organization's offices in Baghdad in 2003; among the dead was Sergio Vieira de Mello, the high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations.

“Humanitarian work is something that goes beyond the traditional aid work that humanitarians do,” said Kirsten Mildren, a spokeswoman for the project. “This year we're really trying to make it something that it becomes a household name.”

The United Nations worked with the independent advertising agency Droga5 on the campaign, which began last Friday with a performance by Ms. Knowles inside the General Assembly hall. (The agency also worked with Jay-Z, Ms. Knowles's husband, on the campaign for his book “Decoded.”)

Standing in front of a massive 10,304-square-foot screen showing images of humanitarian workers around the world, Ms. Knowles performed the song “I Was Here” from her 2011 album, “4”; the campaign takes its name from the song.

Before the performance, Anderson Cooper, the evening's M.C., conducted a series of interviews with humanitarian workers and other guests. The event was recorded and will be part of the vide o that Ms. Knowles will release for the song on Sunday as part of the campaign.

Teaming with brands and celebrities like Chris Brown, Jackie Chan, Coca-Cola, Gucci, People magazine and Michelle Obama is expected to help amplify the message even more. Participants are expected to use Facebook and Twitter to send a message saying what good deed they plan to do.

“We can reach a community of close to 50 million people,” said Wendy Clark, the senior vice president for integrated marketing communications and capabilities at Coca-Cola. “Brands can amplify anything.”

Ms. Clark said the company planned to spread the message on its Facebook page and through Twitter accounts for the Coca-Cola brand and has also encouraged company employees to do the same on their personal social-media accounts.

Tanzina Vega writes about advertising and digital media. Follow @tanzinavega on Twitter.

\'Sparkle\' Brightens Midday at the Multiplex

By MICHAEL CIEPLY

CULVER CITY, Calif. - It takes a lot to get an audience applauding during a movie at 2 o'clock on a hot afternoon. But “Sparkle” did the trick, at least three times, during a showing at the Pacific Theaters Stadium 12 here on Friday.

The clapping hands came in, and around the climactic final production number, which features Jordin Sparks, the former “American Idol” star, in her title role as the aspiring singer-songwriter, Sparkle Anderson.

The auditorium wasn't large, but it was reasonably packed with an older, largely female audience that was racially mixed, though the film's cast is almost entirely black. And the viewers were notably happy with the film they'd come to watch. Whitney Houston was all over the screen. Her big gospel performance was definitely big, and her final screen moments were like a ghostly appearance. There she was, taking leave of the audience in a morality tale about drugs and the tre achery of fame.

But it was Ms. Sparks who got the spontaneous applause, for her appearance in an old-fashioned movie about someone struggling to become somebody - the kind of plot that made hits of “Flashdance,” “Chariots of Fire,” “Working Girl,” and any number of films from the ever-more-distant past.

“Expendables 2” is virtually certain to outsell “Sparkle” this weekend. But Sony Pictures, which is releasing “Sparkle” under its TriStar label, is likely to be pleased with the film's performance, if the viewers who were watching a few short blocks from the studio's Culver City lot on Friday have anything to say about it.