Craig Carton, a figure of some New York renown who used to host a popular morning show on WFAN and CBS Sports Network, was sentenced to 42 months in prison by a federal judge Friday for perpetrating a massive ticket fraud. Facing millions in gambling debts, which he blamed on an addiction to betting, Carton took part…

Mike Francesa, for decades the leading voice of New York sports via his longtime afternoon drive perch on all-sports pioneer WFAN, is kicking off a new digital chapter. In partnership with  with CAA Sports and Entercom, Francesa is launching a subscription service on Friday that complements his daily WFAN show, Mike’s…

CBS Radio — the operation that launched the entertainment company in 1927 — is about to have a new owner: CBS says this morning that it has a deal to merge the radio business into Entercom Communications, creating a company with 224 stations including 23 of the 25 biggest markets. The transaction, expected to close in…

The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 4.3% today after central banks in the U.S., Europe, and Japan said that they’d help supply cash to avoid a credit crunch if the European debt crisis worsens. That buoyed media stocks: The Dow Jones U.S. Media Index was up nearly 4.4%. CBS shares rose 5.8%, giving it the…

The federal government will have to slash $1.2T in spending, mostly beginning in 2013, if the 12-member congressional Super Committee can’t strike a deficit reduction deal soon. They still appear split — even though, as a practical matter, they have to reach an agreement by midnight in order to have something ready…

Everyone’s reacting today to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s startling decision to hold a referendum on the deal cut last week to save his country’s economy. The agreement is unpopular — lenders would wipe out about half of Greece’s debt if the country accepts austerity measures that would cut social…

The Dow Jones U.S. Media Index was down 3.5% today while the DJ Industrial Average was off 2.4% — and Goldman Sachs may have contributed to the imbalance: It downgraded the entertainment sector today to “neutral” from “attractive” saying that ad sales will be weaker than expected as the overall economy softens. That…

The bears are back. After a relatively calm week, stocks prices across the board — including in media — are tanking today following reports that point to rising unemployment and inflation, and weakness in manufacturing. An hour before the market close, the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and NASDAQ indexes for media stocks each…

UPDATE, 2 PM: The market deteriorated as the day wore on, continuing the worst market slump since 2008. The Dow Jones U.S. Broadcasting and Entertainment Index closed down 7.3% — exceeding the 5.6% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 6.7% drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500, and 6.9% fall at NASDAQ.  CBS…

EXCLUSIVE: This is exactly the kind of information that shareholders of Big Media need to know but rarely see. It’s considered a red flag when any public company pays one of its bigwigs — usually the CEO — three times more than the average for the four other top executives which the SEC requires them to list. So I’ve…