No sale yet for Nielsen Business Media (NBM) but most of it is about two weeks away from being acquired by a consortium led by James Finkelstein’s News Communications, paidContent has learned from multiple sources. We have also learned that Lachlan Murdoch—yes, that Lachlan Murdoch— is considering joining the consortium. The parts being sold are the print and online, while events will be retained by Nielsen. Also, the sale doesn’t include all international territories. Magazines in the stable include some storied ones like Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, Mediaweek, Brandweek, Editor & Publisher; the full list of brands here. Out of the media/entertainment properties, THR and the A/M/B combine are hemorrhaging money, but surprisingly, considering the shape of the music industry, Billboard’s revenues have held up, our sources says, primarily as a result of its diversification beyond the main print brand and licensing revenues. The bank representing Nielsen is Quayle Munro, led by John Wickersham—the former president and CEO of NBM.

News Communications owns The Hill and Who’s Who, and is controlled by chairman Jerry Finkelstein and his son, James, who is president and CEO. (The pending sale to News Communications was first reported by TheWrap.com, but some of the other information has not stood up—including the insistence that a deal was coming today.)

Part of the joy of following Bill Simmons on Twitter is the feeling that he doesn’t hold back—that, plus not only he can be snarky as all get out when the occasion demands, his tweets, snarky or not, are usually spot on. (He has one of the highest “repeat out loud” ratings in our house.) But The Sports Guy went a tweet or two too far under the sports net’s social media guidelines, and is now serving a two-week Twitter time out. It’s not a full suspension, more like the half-game version Florida’s Urban Meyer tried to give a college football player earlier this season for almost gouging out an opponent’s eyes. Simmons is allowed to tweet about his new book and accompanying book tour. 

MySpace Music has now finalized a global licensing deal with the labels represented by Merlin, according to details tipped Friday to Digital Music News.  Both companies confirmed the relationship, thanks to resolution on a major sticking point related to equity. MySpace noted that Merlin - and other indies - are now structured to “benefit from the financial growth of MySpace Music” as part of a “growth participation plan,” the exact terms were not shared.

For Merlin, the deal includes participation in MySpace Music Board of Directors meetings, though specifics on Merlin’s equity stakes were also withheld.  The companies are planning an official announcement on Tuesday, and more details on the financial terms and stakes are likely to emerge next week.

Sony keeps flip-flopping over adding music downloads to the PlayStation Network (PSN). After scrapping plans to add a music store to the gaming network—complete with the ability for gamers to port tracks to the handheld PSP—comes news that the company will indeed expand the PSN into a full digital download store, with music, books, as well as mobile apps available. It has been tentatively (and blandly) named the “Sony Online Service.”

»  The NYSE has formally alerted Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) that it has six months to get its stock price back above $1, or face being de-listed. [MarketWatch]

»  Five ex-Googlers are putting working full time on what they hope will be the next big thing, Brizzly. [LA Times]

»  Hoping to be the Canadian Pandora, Listen.fm buys up the remnants of Streamzy. [TechCrunch]

»  What Walt Disney’s management style can teach the news industry about succeeding in a difficult marketplace. [OJR]

»  The New York Times’ board of directors amended its bylaws to make their future shareholders’ holdings more visible. [Fitz And Jen]

»  Can the FTC help non-profit journalism against aggregators the way it assisted smaller companies against Intel (NSDQ: INTC) in the 90s? [Nieman Lab]

Michael White, the PepsiCo vet who takes over as president and CEO of DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) Jan. 1, could make more than $35 million during his three-year contract, according to an SEC filing. His base salary is $1.5 million a year with up to 200 percent bonus based on meeting performance goals. Another $25 million is a three-year grant: half in stock options, half as performance restricted stock units, plus there’s the “usual” exec benefits. It’s a raise for White from PepsiCo, where he is retiring this year as vice chairman and CEO of PepsiCo International, especially if he hits all the numbers; his base salary there for the past three years was just under $3 million and his total package was just under $30 million.

By comparison, his predecessor Chase Carey made nearly $40 million from 2006 through 2008, roughly $6.65 million in salary with the rest in stock options, bonuses, etc. Carey’s new job, deputy chairman, president and COO of News Corp (NYSE: NWS). calls for as much as $43 million—in his first year.

Sony and Barnes & Noble may be launching two of the most high-profile challengers to Amazon’s Kindle, but supply chain challenges could keep both companies from denting Kindle’s popularity this holiday season. (Then again, Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) has had its own problems shipping Kindles over the holidays last year).

Updated: The NYT Bits reports that B&N has completely sold out of the Nook. All new orders will receive their devices starting the week of Jan. 4.

Offer-based ads seemed to be the secret to monetizing social games—and social network users, in general—that standard banner ads couldn’t provide. But amid ongoing accusations that the ads actually “scammed” users into paying for things they didn’t want and giving up their personal info, comes the inevitable: a class-action lawsuit. The suit, which seeks upwards of $5 million in damages, is being handled by Sacramento-based law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff (KCR). via Valleywag.

Times Publishing Co. has sold Governing magazine to e.Republic, a publisher of titles focused on state and local government and education. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The sale comes a few months after The Economist Group paid over $100 million to acquire Congressional Quarterly from Times Publishing. CQ was subsequently folded into The Economist’s Roll Call. For its part, e.Republic says it will maintain Governing as an independent title under publisher Fred Kuhn. It will likely share back office operations with e.Republic’s other properties, which include Government Technology, and Public CIO.

Quinstreet, the Foster City, CA-based vertical media and marketing firm that recently bought Insure.com and Internet.com, has filed for an IPO to raise as much as $250 million, according to its S1. Last month Quin paid $16 million for Insure.com, and its related media assets, and the month before it bought Internet.com division from WebMediaBrands (NSDQ: WEBM) for about $18 million. The company plans to list on Nasdaq under “QNST”.

The Daily Beast has named publishing vet Stephen Colvin as the site’s first president. Colvin has left his post as an EVP of CNET after two years. He was previously president and CEO of lad mag purveyor Dennis Publishing for 11 years. In his new post, he’ll handle all aspects of the business, the company said. Colvin reports directly to Tina Brown, the year-old IAC-backed site’s co-founder and editor-in-chief. Specifically, Colvin will be responsible for revenue generation, audience development, brand development and social media. He will also oversee the new Daily Beast/Perseus Books joint venture, Beast Books, and will develop an event series.

The morning-after paperwork from eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) as control of Skype shifts to a private investment group led by Silver Lake Partners offers a look at the post-split financials for both companies—and the kind of detail on Skype we aren’t likely to see much of now that it’s no longer majority owned by a public company. According to the SEC filing embedded below, Sykpe ended Q3 with $60 million in operating income on $508 million in revenue.