Back in February, we noticed something taking place inside Hollywood media: Both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety were putting themselves on the block. While Variety, from LexisNexis owner Reed Elsevier, was making its intent to sell a public matter, THR owner Nielsen publicly denied it was shopping itself around. Finally, this week and many months later, Sharon Waxman heard the same news — and added one tidbit to the gossip: the New York Times is supposedly a potential buyer.

Except, according to everything we understand, the Times is as much a player in this deal as, say, Rodale. That is: They're a big name publisher that always looks at these type of deals, but almost certainly won't be interested in taking on another (troubled) print liability. There's also some wild rumor about that Valcon, the name given to the six private equity firms that own Nielsen, might be interested in picking up Variety, too, and having total control over film studio advertising budgets.

Mainstream media stealing stories that break on the blogs? It's like 2001 all over again! A group of independent movie blogs who are tired of Variety and The Holllywood Reporter printing day-old blog news and claiming it as their own are banding together to boycott the trades. Now, because those bloggers aren't really buying the print edition of the trades, the way they'll be wielding their power is by refusing to link to either paper. Oooh, Internet warfare! [Folio]

For the first time in 78 years, The Hollywood Reporter is changing its logo. Oh! And also: The Nielsen trade is undergoing a "wholesale overhaul" of its whole brand. As you might expect, the relationship between publication and owner will grow closer, with the audience measurement firm providing THR with exclusive data, which only helps to serve Nielsen's interests in overcharging clients for inaccurate data, as already seen with Adweek. So look for a relaunched website, with a terrible look, and a relaunched print edition, which is promised to be "much tighter, with fewer jumps-a quicker read," which in industry parlance simply means "smaller."

Nielsen Business Media, publisher of Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, and The Hollywood Reporter, is laying off an indeterminate number of editorial staffers; it's not clear how much bloodshed there will be. (Not that it stopped Nielsen from

But expect more. While Nielsen may be a publisher facing the same ad dollar restraints as anybody else in the print realm, it's long been rumored they've been looking to sell NBM, even though they deny it. And what's the one thing a seller will do to make its properties look more attractive to a potential buyer? Cut costs across the line to boost margins.

Asleep at the wheel publisher Nielsen is promoting three execs in its ranks. Eric Mika will be The Hollywood Reporter's new VP and publisher. Howard Appelbaum will be Billboard's VP and publisher. Andrew Bilbao will be VP and COO of Nielsen Entertainment Group. All three will report to Gerry Byrne, who just replaced the incompetent John Kilcullen.

Rumors that Nielsen is looking to unload its business publishing arm – which includes The Hollywood Reporter and Mediaweek – is today being met with news that Reed Elsevier, owner of LexisNexis, might be selling off its business publishing unit.

The Reed Business Information unit, headed by Gerard van de Aast, includes magazines like New Scientist, trades like Broadcasting & Cable, Publishers Weekly, and, oh, a little publication called Variety — all of which might be on the auction block as part of a Reed Elsevier "restructuring." Which is a fancy way of saying that they're buying ChoicePoint, a risk-management analytics company, for $4 billion … and they need to find the cash from somewhere. (Haven't you heard the credit market is in shambles?)

What no major press outlet has done with the news, however, is connect the dots that the two trades responsible for sucking up to studios could both be on their way to changing hands.

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The Hollywood Reporter's double-back on Ray Richmond's "Merv Griffin is gay" piece has editor Elizabeth Guider getting plenty of flack … again. After Richmond's original article ran to the protest of many Hollywood insiders, it was removed from the paper's website, with Guider telling Merv's camp it was gone for good. But when the piece was reposted among blogger outcries, Liz never re-informed Griffin's camp. Cut to today, when a planned Merv Griffin tribute ad in THR never appeared. [DHD]