Radio Replaces Commercials With Sponsors

(NEWSER) - After months of stops and starts, Clear Channel's board today gave the green light to a $19.5 billion buyout offer. The communications giant bit after Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, which have been bidding since November, gained the backing of two large shareholders. The successful offer was $39.20 per share, 20 cents more than a previously rejected bid. More»

...about $3.5M, up from last year's $3M

(NEWSER) - Big money, big money, no whammies? When it comes to Super Bowl XLVI, the big money sure has poured in: The commercial slots are officially sold out, at a cost of about $3.5 million for 30 seconds. The no whammies part remains to be seen... The Wall Street Journal reports that, bad economy and all, the price took a big jump over last year's $3 million. And this year's figure represents a 59% increase since 2001, a year in which 30-second commercials ran about $2.2 million. More»

'Can anyone be more stupid than Groupon?' wonders one blogger

(NEWSER) - Man, isn’t the plight of the Tibetan people hilarious? Groupon hit a real nerve last night with a Super Bowl commercial that seemed to exploit said plight for yucks. “The people of Tibet are in trouble. Their culture is in jeopardy,” says narrator Timothy Hutton. “But they still whip up an amazing fish curry.” The ad—part of a whole series of mock-PSAs—generated an instant backlash on Twitter and YouTube for its insensitivity, the Huffington Post reports. More»

'I don't know what the hell he was thinking'

(NEWSER) - Charles Barkley does not have a filter, not even if he’s talking about good buddy Michael Jordan. In an interview this week, spotted by the folks at Sports Grid , Barkley said exactly how he felt about the mustache Jordan sports in the latest round of Hanes ads—you know, the Hitler ‘stache. “When I saw that commercial, I had to do a double take,” Barkley said. “I don’t know what the hell he was thinking.” More»

UK mini-movie to be edited to 30 seconds

(NEWSER) - A blood-soaked UK ad warning of the consequences of driving while texting has made its way stateside, albeit in a highly edited form. The original ad clocks in at four minutes, showing in slow, excruciating detail the results of a fictionalized three-car crash. There's a lot of blood, dead teenagers, dead adults, even a dead baby. More»