With everything from call centers to web site design being outsourced, the clear trend in the business world is to outsource almost any task that can be done cheaper and quicker somewhere else. Reports that CBS (NYSE: CBS) and cable news pioneer CNN, owned by Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) are in talks about outsourcing the news, should come as no surprise.

According to a story in The New York Times, "Broadly speaking, the executives described conversations about reducing CBS's news-gathering capacity while keeping its frontline personalities, like Katie Couric, the CBS Evening News anchor, and paying a fee to CNN to buy the cable network's news feeds. "

With CBS stuck in third place among major networks for years, and general viewership of the evening news falling due to alternative news outlets such as cable news, blogs and internet sites, this tie-up would make economic sense. CBS would be able to keep its brand name and substantially cut costs, as they would be able to take CNN news feeds from around the country.

Broadcast television is all about viewers these days. From Brian Williams to Katie Couric, the format, delivery and audience are all about moving targets and semi-celebrity more than content in many cases. Why? Because a whole new generation of news seekers can get their fixes on cellphones and laptops -- live -- 24 hours per day. Why wait until the next morning or the next evening to get your news?

In particular, Couric's personality -- which was marketed as bright and perky -- was intended to attract an audience who CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) execs thought would actually care. Turns out, they didn't. Now the re-branding of Couric with CBS's Evening News uses words like "impressive" and "poignant" to describe the peppy news host. Is anyone listening? Certainly not the younger and women viewers who CBS was trying to recruit with its previous Couric spunk.

CBS Corp. CEO Les Moovness said "I wish younger people would watch the news. It does not look like that is going to happen." Good call there, Les. Broadcast television news is part of the old media guard, not the new media instant fix. It's hard to think any younger viewers will plop down to waste 30 minutes of their time (with untargeted advertisements, no less) when all the news is available for free anytime. Question is: what is CBS going to do when the core audience starts turning off the tube? Re-market Couric yet again?

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Bear Stearns Companies Inc (NYSE: BSC), already forced to shut two hedge funds that bet heavily on the risky subprime-mortgage market, is now facing big losses in a third fund that has roughly $900 million in mortgage investments, according to people familiar with the matter, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
• Three months after announcing that it may sell itself to Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Crescent Real Estate Equities Company (NYSE: CEI) is expected to move ahead with the $2.9B sale for its exit from the public market, reported the Wall Street Journal.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to people familiar with the matter, Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), the largest chemicals group in the U.S., is considering making a counter-bid for ICI, which has a GBP7.8B bid from Akzo Nobel (NASDAQ: AKZOY), reported the Telegraph.
• The Telegraph reported that British Airways (OTC: BAIRY) has agreed to pay a fine of GBP121.5M to the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading and will also pay a fine to the U.S. Department of Justice because of its involvement in an alleged price-fixing scandal.

WEBSITES:

• Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) has fired four purchasing managers for their involvement in a purchasing scandal involving millions of dollars in kickbacks regarding the display of flooring products, reported CBS News.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is in talks with Hollywood studies over making new movies available for rental on its iTunes service, according to two studio executives familiar with the matter.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan may have added to subprime troubles by opposing a proposal for the Fed to use its authority to send examiners to the offices of consumer-finance lenders that were units of Federal regulated bank holding companies.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Bush administration has repeatedly defended Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) against anti-competitive conduct accusations, including the rejection of a complaint by Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), reported the New York Times.
• A major Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) partner for the company's 787 Dreamliner program - Vought Aircraft - is falling behind in obtaining parts for the plane's fuselage sections, reported the Seattle Times.

WEBSITES:

• Senator Joe Lieberman said yesterday on "Face The Nation" that the United States should launch strikes against Iran if the government does not stop aiding anti-American forces in Iraq, reported CBS News website.

In yet another sign of the decline of network television news, General Electric Co.'s (NYSE: GE) NBC dumped "Dateline" anchor Stone Phillips. He won't be the last high-priced talent to be shown the door.

As ratings continue to decline for news programs at NBC, Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE: DIS) ABC and CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) profit pressures are intensifying as shareholders demand to see a return for the money being poured into these shows.

That's why Phillips won't be earning nearly as much at his next job as the $7 million USA Today says he earned at NBC. Odds are best that he'll wind up at News Corp's (NYSE: NWS) Fox News Channel, Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) or another cable network such as the Discovery Channel which is now home to former "Nightline" anchor Ted Koppel.

In the wake of Philips' departure, TV personalities up and down the dial are probably quaking in their designer clothes wondering whether they will be next. It's a well-founded fear.

Networks are less patient than ever.

If entertainment programs don't immediately catch on, they are gone after a handful of episodes. Ratings are just as important to news programs. Though nightly news programs have been in decline for years, they still make good money for the networks.

Ratings points translate into advertising sales which translates eventually into profits. No TV star is immune from fiscal realities.

That's why Philips got pushed out the door. "Dateline" has morphed into a program dedicated to catching pathetic sex offenders. His services as a newsman were no longer needed.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is going even more local with a just-announced partnership with 16 CBS affiliates that will let the Internet portal leader feature video clips from local and late-breaking television stations from across the country at Yahoo!. This happens just one week after Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) had announced the purchase of online video leader YouTube, which has generated fears and shudders in the halls of some large media and web properties -- all fearing that Google's growing dominance is going to cause them grief. They're probably quite correct.

Yahoo!, which remains the web's top overall destination for now, has had a hard time coming up with a top-shelf competitive solution to Google's enormously popular Internet search engine business. As with its latest stab codename Project Panama, recently delayed again, Yahoo!'s moves as of late have been those of a follower and not a leader.

It's quite true that Yahoo! doesn't have the war chest of cash Google does, but that's no excuse. While bigger competitor Google is a Wall Street darling as of this year (for the most part), Yahoo! -- like Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) -- has been in a perceived position of perpetual catchup.

Will this new local news broadcasting deal bring in more viewers to Yahoo!'s web empire, or will it just keep existing eyeballs on Yahoo! for longer periods? Either would be a nice result. Yahoo! hopes to cash in on advertising that will no doubt accompany the new local Internet broadcasts, since it has been trying to squeeze cash out from its web empire as Google pulls in billions a quarter now just from its search business.

This Yahoo! "experiment" will be interesting to watch; it will either be a middling success or a complete, no-viewers flop, but I doubt it will be a smash. At the same time, Microsoft's partnership with online TV search service Blinkx will be equally worth watching.