Yesterday, Viacom told Wall Street that its third quarter had been better than most analysts expected. Today Time Warner delivered a similar report: Revenue was on track, but cost savings improved the bottom line. That won’t help hundreds of Time Inc. employees who face job cuts this quarter. Meanwhile, the company can’t ditch AOL soon enough: It has already spent $100 million prepping it for a spinoff this year.

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Would you pay $30 a month to watch TV via iTunes?

That’s the pitch Apple has been making to TV networks in recent weeks. The company is trying to round up support for a monthly subscription service that would deliver TV programs via its multimedia software, multiple sources tell me. The industry finds this idea both tempting and terrifying.

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Vevo, the music industry’s version of Hulu, now has its own version of Providence Equity, the outside investor that took a flyer on the Web TV and movie joint venture: Abu Dhabi Media Company has purchased a stake in the company from owners Universal Music and Sony. No financials released, though I’m told the deal values the JV at $300 million.

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Want to get Michael Jackson’s new single? You will be able to get it on iTunes this month, contrary to earlier reports. But there’s a catch: You’re going to have to buy some of the late singer’s other songs, too.

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Who’s going to be the first Web star to make it to the movies? One alarming possibility: Lucas Cruikshank, better known to a staggering number of YouTube viewers as “Fred.”

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Pumped for some pigskin this Sunday? Me too. But actually watching a game this weekend, or most of the year, may be tricky for a big swath of the NFL’s fans. Will they be forced to look in the Web’s dark corners to get their fixes?

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Another “things are looking up, sort of, maybe” report from medialand: A survey of advertisers says that many of them intend to increase their spending in the coming months. Except for those who say they’re going to decrease spending. Bigger picture: A year ago, things started getting downright terrible, which is going to make it a lot easier to say that things have improved today.

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There is no shortage of places to watch TV shows free on the Web. There’s a glut of them, really. But here comes another: AT&T Entertainment. How is it different than Hulu, TV.com, Sling.com, Fancast, etc.? It’s not.

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Earlier this summer, Twitter was blamed for torpedoing movies like “Bruno” and “Funny Business.” Now the micromessaging service is being heralded for giving Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” a big boost. Actual evidence that Twitter has any effect at all on box office revenue is scant at best. But this is a story Hollywood is going to love anyway.

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So now that the RealNetworks attempt to get into the movie-copying business has been rebuffed by a federal court once again, I’ve got a question: Why, exactly does RealNetworks want to be in the movie-copying business?

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Amazon’s Q2 was just what Wall Street was expecting–which in Wall Street’s perverse logic means that Wall Street will be disappointed. Amazon delivered net sales of $4.65 billion and earnings of 32 cents per share; consensus called for $4.67 billion and 32 cents. Jeff Bezos might have been able to allay investors’ worries, but he was a no-show for the conference call.

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Jay Maynard, a.k.a. “The Tron Guy,” is famous for dressing up like, well, one of the guys from the movie “Tron.” But while that distinction made him one of the early breakout stars on YouTube, it hasn’t made him rich. Or at least, not wealthy enough to afford the customized airplane he bought last year for $140,000. He’s auctioning it off on eBay at a fire sale price.

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Web video watchers are college kids who spend all day pirating movies and TV shows, right? Well, maybe some of them are, but new survey data argues ordinary Americans are plenty comfortable watching TV online, especially when they don’t have any other choice.

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There are plenty of question marks surrounding Vevo, Universal Music Group’s new music video site that’s scheduled to launch later this year with a big assist from Google’s YouTube. But here’s one answer: The venture will be run by Rio Caraeff, who currently oversees UMG’s digital business.

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YouTube generates billions of views but no profits. That’s because Google’s video site only sells advertising on a small portion of the clips it shows. That may be changing, argues Bernstein Research’s Jeffrey Lindsay.

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