Super Bowl XLIV drew 106.5 million viewers in the US - making it the most-watched show ever in America. It beats the record of 106 million viewers, held by the last episode of M*A*S*H in February 1983. But the US population has grown by 31 per cent since then - and you can bet people around the world won't be watching repeats of the 2010 Super Bowl game in 27 years' time.

If Nova 106.9's David "Luttsy" Lutteral seems like the kind of bloke you'd like to have a beer with, well you can. In fact, if you've got the time and money, you can go all the way around central Europe and on to the famous Oktoberfest with him. The first thing to remember about Oktoberfest, though, is that it's in September, so don't mess up your holiday request. Details are here and on Facebook.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are reportedly suing Britain's News of the World for its erroneous report that they had separated. The paper claimed the couple had visited a divorce lawyer in December and agreed to divide up their fortune and custody of their six children. Media Guardian quotes the couple's lawyer, Keith Schilling, as saying:

"The News of the World has failed to meet our clients' reasonable demands for a retraction of and apology for these false and intrusive allegations which have now been widely republished by mainstream news outlets. We have advised them to bring proceedings, which they have now done."

Should the Australian publications that reprinted the allegations be worried?

No booze for kids; let them have soft drinks and get cancer. From news.com.au:

It seems Senator Barnaby Joyce isn't the only one having trouble distinguishing between billions and millions. The couriermail.com.au website can't quite decide, between the headline and story intro, how much the Moranbah ammonium nitrate plant is worth.

When is live not live? When it's on television and on delay, of course. It's something we in Queensland put up with every summer, when "live" shows from Sydney and Melbourne are, in fact, an hour old. So what's the big deal? Well, last night a lot of my Twitter friends were furiously tweeting for an hour about the ABC's Q&A program, featuring Kevin Rudd answering questions in Old Parliament House, Canberra. Meanwhile, Four Corners and Media Watch were playing on ABC TV here in Brisbane. After that, a promo came on with Q&A host Tony Jones announcing that the program would soon be coming up "live". If we're not going to win the battle on daylight saving in Queensland, at least we should be able to watch "live" programs as they happening - especially if we want to join in real-time debate and commentary online.

In the UK, 50 broadcasters are lobbying the government to delay the planned 2015 switchover to digital radio. While digital is well established in Britain, they argue that consumers will not be ready to abandon their analogue sets by then - and it will give time for the current DAB system to be upgraded to DAB+, as used here in Australia. Unsurprisingly, the manufacturers of digital radios back the current government timetable. More here at Media Guardian. Meanwhile, The Australian reports today that digital radio sales in Australia have exceeded expectations. Lara Sinclair reports that more than 100,000 units were sold in the first six months of digital broadcasting. I'm told, however, that given Australia's geography, a full switch-off of analogue services here is a long way away. I note, however, the Dick Smith is offering a DAB+ radio for $78 - the cheapest I've seen so far.

More from the Austereo Brisbane launch at GoMA on Thursday night ...
+ Don't expect to hear national drive stars Hamish and Andy in the breakfast shift (although I'm sure their bosses, and listeners, would love it). Andy Lee, who was one of the last to leave the function - well after the brekkie crews had made their excuses and headed for bed, with alarms clocks set for 3.30am) told me he and Hamish Blake are night owls who would never be able to get up early enough.
+ An Austereo executive told me Triple M Melbourne's latest breakfast experiment, led by Eddie McGuire, will absollutely pay off, despite it starting from a very low ratings base. He wouldn't be drawn on the future of Gus Worland and the Grill Team on Sydney's Triple M, however.
+ In the "formal" part of the evening, HG Nelson and Roy Slaven had the audience in stitches with their spray about how much they loved Brisbane (to the point, allegedly, where their Sydney and Melbourne bosses are telling them to shut up about it) and their pledge to keep the new Austereo promise that the future is loud. B105's Labby, Camilla and the Triple M Cage team - Ian "Skip" Skippen, Greg "Marto" Martin, Greg "Sully" Sullivan and Emily-Jade O'Keeffe - presented their plans for the year, while Hamish and Andy did a hilarious Q and A (with each other) aimed at getting the advertisers and agencies in the audience to open up their pockets.

Just for fun, here's a YouTube clip editing together Alfred Hitchcock's cameos in his own films. Can you spot him?

First the bad news: Hamish and Andy will be quitting their popular national drivetime show, heard in Brisbane on B105. Now, the good news: not just yet. Andy Lee told me at the Austereo Brisbane launch at GoMA on Thursday night that the duo wouldn't be doing radio forever. But, they will remain a double act - they are, he stressed, old mates who had always worked together, unlike some of the media's artificially created teams. With management reps both in Australia and the US, where they've already performed a well-received turn on The Jay Leno Show, Hamish and Andy are open to offers down the track. But, Lee says, it's got to be the right project at the right time. Lee (right) and Hamish Blake were certainly a hit with the ladies at the Brisbane launch, although some attendees (below) also sought out the company of Triple M's HG Nelson (aka Greig Pickhaver) and Ian "Skip" Skippen.

Austereo had its advertisers and media launch in Brisbane on Thursday night, and the message was that they are expecting to reach the No. 1 spot with B105 this year. My prediction is it'll happen by survey four, but Austereo bosses reckon they'll best Nova 106.9 by survey two or three. Also, Greg "Marto" Martin, from The Cage on Triple M, has confirmed that he will run for a seat at the federal election this year. He hinted at a team effort, with more than one candidate, and Cage member Greg "Sully" Sullivan revealed that he lives in prime minister Kevin Rudd's electorate, making him elegible to do a Maxine McKew. More on this story, including pictures from the big night at GoMA, to follow over the next day (or two).

The Telegraph in the UK is reportedly moving away from chasing more and more hits. Media Guardian quotes the Telegraph Media Group's digital editor, Edward Roussel, as saying:

The big focus for us now is yielding a sustainable business model. Rather than focusing relentlessly on the aggregated numbers of unique users and page impressions, we are now looking more at channels.

The Telegraph's mantra, apparently, is "content, commerce and clubs".

"How Rupert quit worrying and learned to love the iPad" is the title of this opinion piece by the ABC's Media Watch host, Johnathan Holmes. He says the big issue in media this year "will be whether the so-called heritage media - and especially those substantial bits of it owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation - will start charging for content online, and if so, how". But, as Holmes points out, when Apple boss Steve Jobs launched the iPad, it was with an app designed for the New York Times, not part of the Murdoch empire - although News Corp was very quick subsequently to jump on the iPad bandwagon. Drawing on Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff, Holmes argues that Murdoch's apparent strategy is flawed. News Corp, he says, wants to sell an electronic newspaper compiled by his journalists and editors to an audience that has already become too used to setting its own news agenda. And, of course, he wants to sell news to people who are accustomed to getting it for free. I guess the question is, will Murdoch - who has survived and prospered longer in the cut-throat media world than anybody in modern times - prevail again, or will he ride that bomb towards extinction?

Kyle Sandilands has been announced as one of the judges of Channel Seven's Australia's Got Talent. I wish him well in this fresh start. Honestly. Brisbane auditions will be held on Tuesday, February 9, at the University of Queensland Union Level 2, Union Complex (Building 22), Union Rd, St Lucia from 11am–6pm.