• A&E has agreed to acquire Lifetime, which means it's not entirely out of the realm of synergistic possibility that Duane Chapman of Dog the Bounty Hunter will make a cameo on Project Runway sometime next season. Yay. [THR, NYT]
• The Daily News has dropped its restaurant critic, Danyelle Freeman, and doesn't appear to be making any plans to replace her. [P6, NYT]
• Another luxury magazine is coming! The Financial Times plans to bring its quarterly glossy, FT Wealth, to American shores this October. [Crain's]
• It's been nearly two years since Oprah announced plans to launch a cable channel, and the venture's been riddled with problems ever since. [LAT]
• Italian officials are now investigating Google for its "lack of transparency." Yes, the same Italy that's governed by a man named Silvio Berlusconi. [NYT]
• Larry David will be bringing the cast of Seinfeld together for a multi-episode appearance on the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Which makes sense considering it's not like Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, or Michael Richards have anything better to do, now do they? [EW, LAT]

• Reader's Digest Association filed for bankruptcy protection this week. But that's not stopping the company from launching a new magazine. [WWD]
• It's looking more and more likely that Don Imus is headed to Fox Business. Will bringing him aboard help revive the network? Yes and no. [Daily Finance]
• Magazine editor salaries are expected to fall 10% in 2009. [Folio]
• Josh Schwartz, the guy who brought you The O.C and Gossip Girl (the TV version, at least), is working on his first half-hour comedy series. [THR]
• What's Howard Stern going to do when his deal with Sirius expires? [NYDN]
• It looks like shady spin doctor Mark Penn is going to get to keep his Wall Street Journal even though he recently committed an act so shady, people who were well accustomed to his shadiness were surprised. [Gawker]