ratings

MTV's third-quarter ratings had its largest-ever year-over-year jump for its target 12-to-34-year-old audience, reflecting strong ratings from the Viacom Inc. unit for shows such as "Jersey Shore" and "The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards."

The mortgage-backed securities meltdown whose effects still haunt our economy sprang from a simple cause: The rules of the game gave big incentives to every player involved to ignore the problems and keep collecting their fees. And despite financial reform, those rules haven't changed much.

CNN is sick of being the punching bag of the cable news world. Explaining why the network replaced the head of CNN U.S., CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton cited what he described as unfair press coverage focusing on CNN's declining ratings, while ignoring its growing profitability.

CNN president Jonathan Klein has been hard at work this year remaking the network's primetime lineup, its most important programming block. But whether or not his effort proves successful, he won't be around to find out.

As American Idol continues to fall flat with viewers, advertisers are flocking to the Super Bowl, which may just turn out to be the Hail Mary pass that Fox Broadcasting needs.

Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo received some not so good news late Tuesday as Moody's Investors Service lowered their outlook to negative because of a new law that will likely lower the possibility of government bailouts.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC) equity analysts cut their rating for Amazon's (AMZN) stock to "neutral" from "buy", saying that growth for the online retailer is slipping. Analysts expect growth to weaken starting the in the third quarter, Reuters reported. Growth could be down as much as 28%...

MBIA has sued Merrill Lynch because the CDOs on which Merrill bought insurance from MBIA were AAA-rated junk. MBIA says Merrill knew the CDOs didn't deserve the top rating at the time it insured them. If this case succeeds, big banks may find dud ratings very expensive.

Ratings downgrades for Spain, Portugal and Greece have alarmed already-rattled credit markets, sending borrowing costs sky-high. As contagion spreads, Europe's politicians need to stop dithering over the bailout and take dramatic steps to reassure markets.

During Friday's hearings in Washington, ex-employees of Standard & Poors and Moody's told a dark, detailed tale of how the ratings agencies produced inflated ratings. The biggest factor: "The threat of losing business to competitor rating agencies."