Monday morning headlines

Rupert meets the family: He and his reps will be making all kinds of promises today about the WSJ remaining editorially independent if the Bancroft family, who have voting control of Dow Jones, agree to sell the place to News Corp. But Murdoch told the WSJ that he's not willing to give the family control of an editorial-oversight board to protect DJ's editorial independence. Such a board should comprise "people with absolutely no business connections to me nor the family," adding, "I can't put down $5 billion of my shareholders' money and not be able to run the business." From the WSJ:

News Corp. would be willing to explore a structure similar to that historically used by Reuters PLC, according to people close to News Corp. This arrangement gave the Reuters trustees veto power over any deal, something they will maintain in the newly combined Thomson-Reuters company. The arrangement also granted trustees broad rights and privileges. No shareholder could own more than 15% of the company's shares without the trustees' consent. As part of the deal with Thomson Corp., Reuters trustees must be "consulted" before any editor-in-chief of Reuters is appointed or removed.

GE still likes NBC: The network's horrendous ratings year that led to last week's network shakeup – not to mention a $1 billion drop in ad revenue - doesn't seem to have rustled any feathers at parent GE. Well, at least GE CEO Jeff Immelt was talking up the importance of content in a digitized age during an LAT interview. "There are more reasons to hang in there and see the business improve and see how the next hand gets played as it pertains to changes in the industry like digitization and globalization," Immelt said. Still, he admitted that NBC Universal was a less obvious fit with the rest of GE than, say, aircraft engines. He wouldn't talk about the departures of Kevin Reilly, but he did get into some other stuff:

Q: How involved are you? Were you helping pick pilots for NBC's new fall schedule? A: I've always had a hand in how NBC worked. I usually watch all of the pilots and I'll watch the shows that made it and didn't make it, but not for the purpose of picking. But for the purpose of saying, "Hey, I really like 'Chuck.' " Like any other business of GE, I want people to know that I care about them.

Q: NBC's prime-time problems continue to dog the entire company. What portion of NBC's prime time goes to the bottom line of GE?
A: I think it's less than 1%. You just never want to rationalize the lack of success…. There are very few things inside the company that are as important to me as making sure NBC restores and returns to its levels of performance, both financially, which we will do quickly, but also in terms of perception, which will take time.

Silverman assembles team: NBC's new entertainment head has named 34-year-old Katherine Pope to be day-to-day head of NBC Universal Television Studio. Teri Weinberg, who has run scripted (non-reality) programming at Silverman's Reveille production company, is in line to take over most of Pope's old duties, according to Variety.

While all's well now, Pope's future at the conglom had been in doubt in the days leading up to the Memorial Day weekend after she and [NBC Universal CEO Jeff] Zucker clashed; Zucker apparently had reneged on promises to put Pope in charge of all studio development. In fact, Zucker was negotiating to bring Silverman into the company, with him and [Marc] Graboff taking oversight of both the studio and the network. Once Graboff and Zucker signaled that Pope was back in their good graces, it became apparent she would take control of the studio (assuming Silverman didn't have any objections). "Jeff Zucker and I have worked together a long time and we have a great relationship. Most of the time we agree, and there are times we don't agree," Pope said of her dust-up with Zucker, noting she was uncomfortable that reports of their disagreement leaked out.

Cable slump: The May sweeps were pretty awful for TNT, which lost 15 percent of its audience from May 2006, and ESPN, which lost 29 percent from a year earlier. All told, nine of the top 10 ad-supported cable networks posted single- and double-digit viewership declines. NY Post

Surprise Chapter 11: At least to those of us who haven't been paying much attention to Amp'd Mobile Inc., an L.A.-based wireless phone company that had generated a ton of blue chips investors in the past couple of years - including MTV and Universal. But along with the $360 million in investor money was $100 million in debt, including $33 million owed to Verizon wireless for using its network. The company filed for Chapter 11 on Friday, just 17 months after launching its service. Among the possible casualties: founder and CEO Peter Adderton. NYT

Big insurance deal: Newport Beach-based Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has agreed to be acquired by the Blackstone Group for $1.1 billion in cash and stock. Alliant has more than 20,000 commercial clients and is owned by the New York-based investment firm Lindsay Goldberg and by the company's management and employees. Current management, employees and headquarters are expected to stay the same. The deal comes nine months after Alliant announced plans to buy the U.S. operations of London-based Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Plc. Reuters

Hilton plans global expansion: The Bev Hills-based hotel chain has signed deals to develop more than 55 properties in Russia, the United Kingdom and Central America. It's part of Hilton's strategy to push into underserved international markets. All the projects are planned to be built through 2012. Last year, tentative plans were announced to build as many as 100 hotels throughout India and China. Reuters

Refinery overhaul planned: Now that it has purchased Shell's Wilmington refinery, Tesoro has announced plans to spend $1 billion over five years to avoid breakdowns and boost production. The big investment is supposed to boost the Wilmington refinery's fuel-making capabilities by 20 percent. Tesoro's purchase of the Wilmington refinery was part of a $1.76-billion deal that also included a Shell distribution terminal, petroleum inventories and 278 Shell-branded gas stations in Southern California. Maintenance problems have been a key reason cited for production not keeping up with supply. LAT

Jacobs sues Roehm: That's financier Irwin Jacobs filing a defamation suit against fired Wal-Mart ad executive Julie Roehm, who had acccused him of cutting sweetheart deals with Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. Jacobs says that Roehm's claims are damaging to his personal reputation and that of his companies, including Jacobs Trading Co., which regularly does business with Wal-Mart. NY Post

Sportman's Lodge sold: Real estate investor and developer Richard Weintraub is buying the hotel and nine acres of surrounding property in Studio City for about $50 million. Weintraub plans to renovate the existing hotel to evoke, according to the Business Journal, the “mid-century cool” of the San Fernando Valley in the 1950s. They're also adding retail space, which isn't likely to win friends among homeowners groups who are fed up with traffic as it is.