Super Bowl XLV posts record TV audience to become most-watched TV broadcast in US history. Chrysler's Super Bowl ad continues to reverberate as Volkswagen ponders what it’s actually getting out of buzz around “Little Vader” ad. Papa John’s keeps Super Bowl pizza mojo going with game-related promotions.

AOL's merger with Huffington Post is being closely watched as media/web bellwether.

British Airways projects pact with American Airlines will boost revenues.

Chipotle comes under immigration scrutiny for workers. 

Coca-Cola releases sustainability report.

Current TV, Al Gore’s outfit, expected to pick up Keith Olbermann.Continue reading...

The British version of Simon Cowell's other talent juggernaut, X-Factor, appears to be in a little trouble over accusations that the show has been clandestinely dabbling in product placement — a big no-no in the U.K., where laws governing commercials within programming are are "relaxing" (including "retroactively") but not quickly enough for Cowell.

The American version of X-Factor, set to debut next year, will have no such worry. The only troubling decision X-Factor product placement reps need to make State-side is which soda brand it should allow to fill the show with product. Deadline reports the show is holding a "a $50 million to $100 million auction" between Pepsi and Coke for sponsorship rights.

The big question: is it worth it?Continue reading...

The question has been asked before, but never so loudly and intensely as now: Does American Idol still have what it takes to remain America’s most-watched show? When the decade-old Fox reality series returns in January, will it remain king of the hill on prime-time television – or will its recent ratings slide intensify?

Such ponderings have new prominence, of course, because of the departure from the show of its symbolic father — iconic judge Simon Cowell — after nine seasons.Continue reading...