Metro, the free morning national newspaper, has hinted at record profits of more than £9m in 2010, but ruled out bidding for one of Jeremy Hunt's proposed local TV station contracts. Metro, which is published by Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), has an audited circulation of 1.38 million and is distributed across 50 cities.

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Italian newspaper ad sales through September were down 23 percent, while magazine ad sales sank 29 percent, Bloomberg reported today.

Meanwhile, TV ad sales for the same period rose 3 percent over the year prior, according to ANSA news wire.

The data was compiled by Federazione Concessionarie Pubblicità, a national advertising agency association.

The reported slide in revenue comes amid an investigation by Italian authorities that Google's search services suppress the appearance of commercial news publications online, allegations reported by ClickZ in August.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's scandals were reported to have boosted newspaper sales in the country, but only in the short term. Reporting on the scandals have also proved costly for some publications, who have been sued by Berlusconi. La Repubblica, Italy's most read daily, is being sued by the prime minister and is now promoting a petition to support press freedom, the paper's editor-in-chief announced in Prague last month.

Cox Media Group Inc. announced on Wednesday the reorganisation of its media businesses that will see contribution to radio, television and newspaper content by the company's editorial staffers.

"This new concept is another step toward fulfilling Cox Media Group's vision of operating as a fully-integrated media company," Sandy Schwartz, president of Cox Media Group, stated in the announcement. "Sharing expertise and best practices across all of our media properties allows us to better serve consumers and advertisers in our changing environment. In addition, each of Cox's media properties will benefit from expanded shared services such as Research, Sales, Digital, Finance, Human Resources and Engineering."
The three separate mediums and their brand names will continue to operate independent news and editorial functions; however, the radio, television and newspaper networks will now share knowledge, talent and resources. Cox hopes the new model will result in increased operating efficiency and cost savings.

At present no jobs will be lost due to the reorganisation.

"We're creating a leadership model to better reflect the reality of today's media marketplace. As the boundaries between traditional and digital media merge, it's important to have leaders in place who can think broadly across the media landscape as they guide our way forward," added Schwartz.