NBC Executive and Leno Said to Have Clashed Over Jokes

NBC has aggressively denied recent reports that it plans to replace Jay Leno soon as host of “The Tonight Show,” but the network’s top entertainment executive, Robert Greenblatt, recently stirred up a bit of a feud with the late-night star over jokes about the network.

Three executives close to the situation reported this week that Mr. Greenblatt had taken offense to monologue jokes Mr. Leno made last month in the wake of news stories about NBC’s ratings struggles and how the network had fallen into fifth place in the sweeps month of February â€" behind the Spanish-language network Univision.

Specifically, on the night of Feb. 28, Mr. Leno referenced the news about NBC’s falling into fifth place by telling a series of jokes:

“For the first time in history NBC is going to finish fifth in the ratings period,” Mr. Leno said. “We are behind the Spanish-language network Univision â€" or as we call it here in Los Angeles: Cinco de Ratings.” He added a series of rapid-fire joks about how bad off NBC is including: “It’s so bad, ‘The Biggest Loser’ isn’t just a TV show anymore; it’s our new motto.” And: “It’s so bad, NBC called Manti Te’o and asked him to bring in some imaginary viewers.”

Mr. Greenblatt, who has the main responsibility for the network’s prime-time ratings, fired off an e-mail to Mr. Leno, according to those who were aware of the events, and complained. The executives who know about the conflict all asked not to be identified because of their ongoing dealings with NBC.

After the first e-mail from Mr. Greenblatt, two of the executives who know what transpired reported,there was an exchange of pointed e-mails between Mr. Leno and Mr. Greenblatt.

One of the executives who saw the exchange said that Mr. Leno was taken by surprise by Mr. Greenblatt’s comments and strongly defended himself, citing the fact that late-night stars poking fun “at their masters,” as the executive said, is in the long tradition of late-nig! ht comedy. Every late-night star, going back at least as far as Johnny Carson, has taken shots at network fortunes within the nightly monologue.

A representative for Mr. Leno said the comedian would not comment on the situation. Mr. Greenblatt was in meetings and was not reachable Friday night, a spokesman said.

This moment of conflict between Mr. Leno and NBC’s management preceded recent reports â€" denied categorically by NBC executives â€" that the network was preparing to make a change, moving out Mr. Leno and bringing in Jimmy Fallon, the star of its 12:35 program “Late Night.”

The rationale cited for the change was concern that ABC’s late-night star, Jimmy Kimmel, who was recently moved to go head to head with Mr. Leno, was staking a claim to the younger viewers that are of most economic value in late-night television.

So far, Mr. Leno has continued to win consistently in almost every rating category, including among viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, the chief targt for late-night advertisers. Mr. Kimmel won his first week against Mr. Leno in that category, but Mr. Leno has won every week since.

NBC has not provided much help. The network’s ratings in prime time have hit record lows in the past two months. NBC now regularly finishes first in the ratings in only three places: the evening newscasts, “Saturday Night Live” and Mr. Leno’s “Tonight” show.

Name Change at NY1

Time Warner Cable is discovering that there is more to a name change than just changing the name.

Among G.O.P. Voters, Little Support for Same-Sex Marriage

The decision by the Senator Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, to announce his support for same-sex marriage may come to be seen as a watershed moment for gay rights advocates. Mr. Portman’s announcement, which he said he made in part because his son is gay, has so far yielded relatively little pushback from Republicans on blogs and social media, or from other Republican office-holders. Instead, gay rights advocates are increasingly finding support from influential Republicans.

But the rank and file of the Republican Party may be different, and the polling suggests that they have largely not changed their views on same-sex marriage.

According to Pew Research polls conducted each year, supprt for same-sex marriage has increased to 62 percent from 43 percent among Democrats since 2001. Among independent voters, support has risen to 52 percent from 43 percent over the same period. However, only 25 percent of Republican voters supported same-sex marriage in Pew’s poll last year, barely changed from 21 percent in 2001.

Polling subsamples of voting groups like Republicans can entail high margins of error, but the Pew poll is largely consistent with other recent surveys.

According to an average of seven recent surveys on same-sex marriage, as shown in the chart above, only 26 percent of Republicans support same-sex marriage rights as compared with 54 percent of independents and 66 percent of Democrats. Attitude! s among Republican voters may shift on the issue by 2016, particularly if more respected conservatives like Mr. Portman announce their support for same-sex marriage, but it is less than clear that his position will reflect a broadly acceptable viewpoint among Republican primary and caucus voters by that time.

Among G.O.P. Voters, Little Support for Same-Sex Marriage

The decision by the Senator Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, to announce his support for same-sex marriage may come to be seen as a watershed moment for gay rights advocates. Mr. Portman’s announcement, which he said he made in part because his son is gay, has so far yielded relatively little pushback from Republicans on blogs and social media, or from other Republican office-holders. Instead, gay rights advocates are increasingly finding support from influential Republicans.

But the rank and file of the Republican Party may be different, and the polling suggests that they have largely not changed their views on same-sex marriage.

According to Pew Research polls conducted each year, supprt for same-sex marriage has increased to 62 percent from 43 percent among Democrats since 2001. Among independent voters, support has risen to 52 percent from 43 percent over the same period. However, only 25 percent of Republican voters supported same-sex marriage in Pew’s poll last year, barely changed from 21 percent in 2001.

Polling subsamples of voting groups like Republicans can entail high margins of error, but the Pew poll is largely consistent with other recent surveys.

According to an average of seven recent surveys on same-sex marriage, as shown in the chart above, only 26 percent of Republicans support same-sex marriage rights as compared with 54 percent of independents and 66 percent of Democrats. Attitude! s among Republican voters may shift on the issue by 2016, particularly if more respected conservatives like Mr. Portman announce their support for same-sex marriage, but it is less than clear that his position will reflect a broadly acceptable viewpoint among Republican primary and caucus voters by that time.

Maxim Magazine Exploring a Sale

Maxim, the lad magazine doling out advice and ribald humor that is especially appreciated in military circles, is on the market.

The magazine’s parent company, Alpha Media Group, announced Friday morning that its board of directors had decided to sell or find new investors now because it had “made the successful transition from a magazine property to a multichannel brand.” In a press release, Alpha Media also noted its investors were pleased with how it expanded its reach among 18 to 34-year-old men across media platforms.

“Young men are an elusive target in today’s fragmented media environment, and Maxim has emerged as the leading multiplatform brand with an inherent strength in reaching this key demographic,” Ben Madden, the magazine’s president, said in a statement.

In 2007, Felix Dennis, the British media mogul, sold Maxim, along with Stuff and Blender, to Quadrangle Capital Partners II. In 2009, Quadrangle walked away from its investment and ownership of Maxim was inheited by six private equity firms who were debtors on the deal. During the transition period, Maxim held its total circulation at about 2.5 million, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, and it remained extremely popular with members of the military.

But, like many magazines, its newsstand sales dropped precipitously, to 161,499 in December 2012 from 433,567 in December 2007. Its advertising pages dipped by 22.2 percent between 2012 and 2011, according to the Publisher’s Information Bureau.

Mr. Madden said this potential sale is not prompted by the latest struggles in the magazine world, but the interests of its owners.
“It was never a matter of whether we would be for sale,” he said in an interview. “It’s a matter of when.” He said Maxim’s investors had decided the time had come.

“If the price is not right or the best offer is not found, they will hold,” he added. “We certainly don’t need to sell.”

Hulu Names an Acting Chief Executive

The online video Web site Hulu, in a state of flux as its owners decide what to do with it, said Thursday that the person in charge of content for the site, Andy Forssell, would become its acting chief executive.

Mr. Forssell will succeed Jason Kilar, at least temporarily. Mr. Kilar, the founding chief executive of Hulu, said in January that he would step down by the end of March. He reaffirmed that plan in a message to Hulu employees on Thursday. Mr. Kilar hasn’t said whether he is taking a new job elsewhere.

The message to employees, subsequently published on the Hulu Web site, tacitly confirmed that the active owners of Hulu, the Walt Disney Company and News Corporation, are contemplating a change to the ownership structure of the company.

“Disney and News Corporation are currently finalizing their forward-looking plans with Hulu, and the senior team has been working closely with them in that process,” Mr. Kilar wrote. “Once the plans are finalized, a permanent decision will be made regarding the C.E.O. position.”

Comcast also owns part of Hulu, through its 2011 acquisition of NBC, but it gave up NBC’s management role of the site at that time. So it’s up to Disney and News Corporation to decide what to do. One of the companies may opt to buy out the other owners’ shares. Or Disney and News Corporation may choose to sell Hulu to a different company. Mr. Kilar did not indicate when a change could take place.

But until it does, Mr. Forssell will be in charge. He has been at Hulu since the beginning, and he is currently the senior vice president of content, meaning that he oversees relationships with networks like ABC and Fox and manages the acquisition of original video for the site.

Mr. Kilar said in his message that Hulu’s focus “remains on delivering a fantastic 2013 for customers and shareholders” and indicated that recors for revenue and subscriber additions would be set in the first quarter of the year, despite the owner uncertainty.

The Breakfast Meeting: Editor Charged With Hacking and Reform Talks in Britain Break Down

Matthew Keys, a 26-year-old deputy social media editor for Thomson Reuters, has been charged with helping the hacker collective Anonymous attack the Web site of The Los Angeles Times, Amy Chozick reports. Mr. Keys once worked as a Web producer at KTXL Fox 40, which, like The Los Angeles Times, is owned by Tribune Media. A federal indictment of Mr. Keys said that he provided Anonymous with login information for Tribune Company computers, encouraged the hackers to log on to the company’s server and damage it, and helped the group in an attack that allowed them to alter a feature on the newspaper’s Web site, the indictment said. Mr. Keys could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each substantive count.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain announced on Thursday tat talks on a government method for regulating the country’s unruly press had broken down and that he would seek his own proposal for a method of self-regulation, Alan Cowell and John F. Burns write. Mr. Cameron’s abrupt move comes after months of inquiries into a phone-hacking scandal. It underscores the divisiveness of the debate about press regulation, at present supervised by a self-regulatory body generally seen as feeble. A report on the phone-hacking scandal called for press regulation backed by parliamentary statute. Mr. Cameron risks alienating the Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partners with his Conservative Part! y, who might end up voting against his proposal.

The first upfront by NBCUniversal News put on a happy face even though the company has been without a president for more than a month and the “Today” show has trailed ABC’s “Good Morning America” in morning show ratings for months, Stuart Elliott writes. Matt Lauer, the co-anchor of “Today” whose tenure has been the subject of speculation and press scrutiny, strode onstage with his co-anchor Savannah Guthrie toward the end of the presentation to make light of the situation. “From the bottom of my heart, I promise to spend all my time and energy the next several weeks and months trying to keep Savannah out of the headlines,” Mr. Lauer said, drawing appreciative laughter. NBCUniversal News Group excutives did not directly address the issues facing the company but played up the benefits of advertising on “Today,” “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and “Squawk Box” on CNBC, which collectively reach 43 million people.

“The World According to Dick Cheney,” a documentary by R.J. Cutler that will be shown Friday on Showtime, contains insights and revealing moments but may prove dissatisfying for critics who long to confront Mr. Cheney, Alessandra Stanley reports. The documentary, a long interview with Mr. Cheney interspersed with news clips and journalists, is not an indictment or a spooky character study. It allows Mr. Cheney to make assertions without contradiction or follow-up questions and shows his utter complacency about blunders on his watch, like the fals! e informa! tion that led to the war in Iraq, Ms. Stanley writes. “I did what I did, it’s all on the public record, and, um, I feel very good about it,” Mr. Cheney says at the end. “If I had to do it over again, I’d do it in a minute.”

Conservative media is undergoing an identity crisis, with leaders in the field calling for a return to reporting basics and a move away from weaponized and sometimes inaccurate reporting, Dylan Byers reports on Politico. Representatives for major conservative media outlets will come together on Friday to discuss how they can gain more recognition and credibility with mainstream media outlets at the Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC organizers may have different ideas; they invited media figures like Dick Morris and Donald Trump to speak at the conference.