Sometimes we plebes underestimate just how difficult the royal duties of the crown princes of England can really be. Sure, some of us have to laboriously toil at our day jobs– the lucky ones that have jobs– but how many times does our job require following up a long flight with and “all-day summit aims to address how investors are propelling technological innovation that affects the entertainment industry?” That’s what the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were up to in Los Angeles today, having their ears talked off about the value of social media.

Bill O’Reilly may have taken a back seat to others on his network on the ideological front, but when it comes to defending Fox News from criticism, the Factor is the place to be. Last night, O’Reilly, with Fox Business Network’s Charlie Gasparino, took on new attacks from Variety and NBC, but O’Reilly emphasized this time that the fight he saw against Fox News wasn’t limited to ideological grounds or those of ratings– it’s a money issue, plain an simple.

TBS is not afraid of doing some collateral good to a competitor in the name of supporting their own talent. Several months removed from the debut of Conan O’Brien‘s new late-night program on their network, TBS is doing some unorthodox advertising, buying up ad space in Hollywood magazine Variety to endorse NBC’s Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien for an Emmy nomination.

The staff memo first hit the web yesterday by way of Romenesko, and now a day later, the fallout is continuing around news that Variety is doing away with several full-time film reviewers — including longtime chief film critic Todd McCarthy, who is probably one of the biggest industry names in entertainment media.

When Mail.com bought Nikki Finke‘s Hollywood bible of a industry gossip blog, Deadline Hollywood, for an undisclosed heaping pile of money last summer, the new pair also announced they would be expanding east. Now, Finke has announced that the forthcoming Deadline New York will be edited by 20-year Variety “superstar” Mike Fleming. And the Old Guard migration to the Web continues.

Oh the irony. Reports surfaced yesterday that two stalwarts of show business Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are changing their business models in a fight for survival. This was exclusively reported by Nikki Finke, the premier showbiz blogger who many see as the prime reason for the trades’ decline in both relevance and viability.

Army Archerd, who contributed to the trade publication Variety and kept daily tabs on various Hollywood doings for more than a half-century, has died. He was 87. Archerd’s spokeswoman said he died Tuesday at UCLA Medical Center of mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs strongly tied to asbestos exposure.

In the sea of congratulatory quotes and jolly press releases about Diane Sawyer‘s ascendence to the World News throne, Daily Beast reporter Rebecca Dana‘s report that Charlie Gibson was “livid” that Sawyer was taking his anchor slot on ABC stood out. But was it accurate?