Monday morning headlines

Downtown project stalled: This was to be a $125 million mixed-use development near the Historic Core, the Toy District and the Civic Center. It's an unusual decision because construction is already under way – the plug usually gets pulled before this point. Developer Saeed Farkhondehpour tells the Downtown News that the economy and rising costs are to blame, though he's hopeful that construction will resume next year.

"Financing was all arranged; financing is still in place. I had to call the lender and tell him I didn't want to build something I can't rent out," he said. "That's been the concern for the past seven or eight months as it's been getting worse every month. The contractor came up with some 20% cost increases and that was like, let's just shut the damn thing down and forget about it."

Upfronts get going: Such as they are. The networks will cut back sharply on the normally over-the-top presentations of fall shows. Upfronts are supposed to help advertisers determine where to buy commercial time, but the writers strike reduced the number of pilots and gave the networks an excuse to low-ball the festivities. (NYT)

CW sells big block: Media Rights Capital, an emerging Hollywood player whose backers include ad giant WPP Group PLC., is buying a financial interest in a three-hour block of Sunday nights, starting in the fall. MRC will create programming in consultation with the CW, which is jointly owned by CBS and Time Warner. Here's an earlier LAT story. Below is a snippet from the WSJ:

Bringing in new investors is one way networks are trying to keep profits up, following a writers' strike that pushed viewers to cable and the rise of technologies like digital video recorders that have cut into broadcasters' ad revenue. The CW recently went so far as to stop streaming its buzzy show "Gossip Girl" online to force viewers to tune in. As TV networks head into this week's series of "upfront" presentations to advertisers, prime-time viewership on major English-language broadcast networks is down 9.6%, to an average of 8.3 million viewers this season, according to Nielsen Media Research. The CW is having a particularly hard time. The network's season-to-date viewership is down 22%.

Schwarzenegger urges tax breaks: With "Ugly Betty" most likely moving to NY, the governor is pushing for incentives to movie and television studios as a way of keeping productions in California. Tax credit proposals have repeatedly failed to clear the Legislature, and with the state facing a $20-billion budget deficit, this may not be a great time to bring it up. But the state of NY just passed legislation that triples his state's film tax credit. (AP)

Newsday sale in place: Tribune Co. will be selling the Long Island newspaper to Cablevision Systems for $650 million. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. dropped out of the bidding over the weekend. Analysts are wondering why Cablevision would want to buy a newspaper. (NYT)

IndyMac takes hit: The huge Pasadena mortgage lender lost $184 million and doesn't expect to make money for the rest of 2008. That reverses a more upbeat forecast earlier this year. The company is now concentrating on mortgages that can be sold to government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest sources of money for home lenders. (Bloomberg)

Emptier freeways?: The LAT has talked to a bunch of people who say that the roadways are a bit less congested these days, perhaps the result of $4-a-gallon gasoline. The most noticeable changes seem to be during midday and evening hours.

The Freeway Performance Measurement System, a computer database overseen by UC Berkeley and Caltrans, provides several examples. The morning commute from Simi Valley to Los Angeles averaged 61 minutes in April 2007 when gas cost a little more than $3 a gallon but fell to 55.1 minutes last month. Also significant are numbers from the Inland Empire, where the morning drive from Riverside to Ontario fell nearly 13% -- from 41.5 minutes in April 2007 to 36.2 minutes this April. Also down in early May was the number of incidents reported to the California Highway Patrol in Los Angeles County -- the belly of the traffic beast. Accidents and breakdowns are thought to cause about 50% of all congestion.

Plane-leasing company for sale?: L.A. billionaire Steven Udvar-Hazy, who sold airplane powerhouse International Lease Finance to financial powerhouse AIG in 1990 – and who stayed on as a major AIG shareholder – could be looking to split off the leasing company. AIG is heavily engaged in the subprime mess - it lost $7.8 billion in the first quarter - and there's concern that International Lease Finance could be impacted. From the WSJ:

Two people familiar with the situation say the degree of bad news from the parent company last week was unexpected at ILFC, and will likely prompt officials there to push for changes. According to a person familiar with the situation, possible alternatives include spinning off the leasing company, or selling it outright to another company or a group of investors.

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A Hungarian immigrant, Mr. Udvar-Hazy and his family escaped the Soviet occupation and moved to Stockholm in 1958, eventually settling in Los Angeles. Mr. Udvar-Hazy founded ILFC in 1973, and the company now boasts a fleet of more than 900 airplanes valued at more than $50 billion. Over the years, Mr. Udvar-Hazy has used his position to become one of the most-powerful people in the commercial aviation industry.